The 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 43rd of professionalstock car racing in the United States and the 20th modern-era Cup Season. It began February 10 and ended November 17. Dale Earnhardt of Richard Childress Racing won his fifth Winston Cup championship at the conclusion of the season. The season was marred by the death of driver and team owner J. D. McDuffie, who was killed in a wreck at Watkins Glen.
A bevy of new Pit rules were introduced at Daytona to start out the 1991 season, in response to the death of a Melling Racing rear tire changer in a pit road accident at Atlantathe previous November. The new rules changed the complexity of the races, and over the course of the season, they would be tweaked and revised. By mid-season, most of the more complicated rules were scrapped, but a few were made permanent. The pit road speed limit (at all times) and use of the "lollipop" style signboard were the significant changes made permanent (and remain to this day).
The 1991 season introduced the past champion's provisional (also known as the "Petty rule"), which allowed a former Cup Series champion to claim the final starting position in a race if he failed to qualify on speed, and if he was too low in the points standings to secure an ordinary provisional spot. If there were two or more former champions that failed to qualify, the Champion's Provisional would be awarded to the most recent champion. This rule was implemented after Richard Petty failed to qualify for four races in 1989, resulting in a drop in ratings that season.[1][2]
The 1991 season was also the final year for Buick as a full-time manufacturer in the series; Buick cars would run only limited schedules in 1992 and 1993 before leaving the series for good.
The Nashville Network debuted as a cable television partner with the Cup Series in 1991. For 1991, there were five television networks broadcasting the 29-race Winston Cup Series schedule: CBS, ABC, ESPN, TBS, and TNN.
This would be the last season until 2017 without Jeff Gordon.
The Busch Clash, an invitational event for all Busch Pole winners the previous year, was held February 10 at Daytona International Speedway. The #10 of Derrike Cope started in first (the starting grid was determined by a blind draw).
After several years of mediocre competition, the race's format was slightly re-tooled. Instead of a single 20-lap sprint, the race was divided into two 10-lap segments. After the first 10-lap half, the caution was displayed (caution laps did not count), freezing the field. The field was inverted for the second 10-lap half. Prize money was awarded for finishing positions in both halves, encouraging drivers to race hard during the first segment, and not hold back or "sandbag" in order to start up front for the second half.
A bevy of new Pit rules were introduced at Daytona to start out the 1991 season, in response to the death of a Melling Racing rear tire changer in a pit road accident at Atlantathe previous November. The new rules changed the complexity of the race, and would be tweaked and revised over the next several races.
Earnhardt was again a dominating factor, but for the 13th time in his career, he came away empty. After a late-race caution, Irvan led, Earnhardt was second and pole-sitter Davey Allison was third. Earnhardt and Allison battled door-to-door for three laps while Irvan inched out to a slight advantage. Finally, with three laps remaining, Allison and Earnhardt touched, sending both of them into a wild spin. The race finished under caution with Irvan scoring the most significant win of a NASCAR Winston Cup competitor's career. Sterling Marlin, in his first race with Junior Johnson, finished second followed by Joe Ruttman, Rick Mast and Earnhardt. Irvan won the first leg of the Winston Million races and qualified for the $1 million bonus. To collect the Winston bonus, he would have needed to win two of the three remaining "Crown Jewel" races, the Winston 500, Coca-Cola 600 or Southern 500, a feat which he failed to accomplish this year.
Fueled by his Daytona disappointment, Earnhardt rebounded with a heart-stopping 1+1⁄2 car length victory over Ricky Rudd. Ironically, the door-to-door battle between the two Chevrolet drivers proved to be a prelude to the chase for the $1 million NASCAR Winston Cup points title. Earnhardt left Richmond with a 340–318 point lead over Rudd. The two drivers would remain 1–2 all season long, occasionally trading the point.
This was the first live flag to flag Winston Cup Series race televised on TNN. Both races at Rockingham, along with Dover, and the series penultimate race at Phoenix, switched from ESPN to TNN starting in 1991. This was after ESPN moved some races to tape delay at the last minute in 1990. ESPN likewise decided to drop some of the longer, less-prestigious events, in favor of freeing up their schedules in favor of other sports (which they were rapidly gaining rights to at the time). This was not the first race ever on TNN, however. Previous Winston Cup races had been shown tape delayed on American Sports Cavalcade.
This was the last NASCAR race in this series not to be televised. It has been slated to air on ABC but was a two-day race because of rain early in the race. The majority of the race was not televised on TV (Motor Racing Network was able to cover the entirety of the race on the radio) and results were only available on local news.
It was this race where Alan Kulwicki first gained his iconic Hooters sponsorship. Hooters was initially Mark Stahl's sponsor, but after Stahl failed to qualify for Hooter's home race, Hooters moved their sponsorship to Kulwicki's unsponsored machine.
Sterling Marlin suffered second and third degree burns following a crash late in the race.
After numerous complaints about the pit road procedure where cars could not pit for tires under caution, NASCAR attempted a new procedure for cautions. When the pits opened, the blue flag waved to permit the odd-numbered cars to pit first. The second lap, the even-numbered cars (based on starting position) would then be able to pit. The blue-sticker cars lined up on the inside, the orange-sticker cars on the outside, and lapped cars to the rear on all restarts. Pit road was open for any car on green flag situations.
ESPN moved the finish of the race on tape delay because of a rain delay lasting 1 hour and 12 minutes.
NASCAR tinkered and modified the pit procedure one final time. The odd/even policy was abandoned. On the first lap of a caution flag after the field had lined up behind the pace car, all cars on the lead lap could pit. On the second lap of caution following the opening of pit road, all of the cars that were not on the lead lap could pit. The rule was waived if NASCAR called a "quickie caution". A new pit speed limit was implemented, and for the remainder of the 1991 season, cars would be run through pit road for tachometer readings. The use of a "second" pace car during cautions for the pit road (to control the speed) was abandoned. The pit speed limit was in place for all situations when a car was on pit road, including green flag stops. A violation of the speed limit on entrance was subject to a 15-second holding penalty before the car exited the pit. A violation on exit was subject to a stop-and-go penalty. A violation under caution resulted in being sent to the rear of the field on the ensuing restart.
Waltrip's victory set a modern era NASCAR record with seven different winners in the first seven races of the season (at the time). It was the overall longest such streak since 1964.
Sterling Marlin, still recovering from burns suffered in his accident the previous week, was relieved by Charlie Glotzbach shortly after the start of the race.
Dale Earnhardt becomes the 9th driver to win 50+ NASCAR races.
Ernie Irvan required relief from Dick Trickle during the race due to heat exhaustion. Trickle had started the race in the #34 Buick for owner Ken Allen, but finished last (32nd) after overheating problems popped up after only 12 laps.
Ernie Irvan was also the center of controversy after "The Big One" on lap 71, which took out 20 cars and injured Kyle Petty, who was out until the Southern 500 in September due to a broken leg.
During the Big One on lap 71, Mark Martin's car became airborne, lifting to its nose, but it did not flip over.
Harry Gant won the race on a gas-mileage gamble. He out-lasted Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, and reportedly ran out of fuel right after taking the checkered flag.
A mild controversy stirred up after the race, where it appeared Gant was being pushed by his teammate Rick Mast on the final lap (pushing is not allowed on the final lap). Video footage was inconclusive, and the results were unchanged. Gant and Mast insisted they were simply drafting very closely.
Dale Earnhardt would take over the points lead from Ricky Rudd. He would hold on to the lead for the rest of 1991.
The Winston Open, a qualifying race for drivers who are normally not eligible for The Winston, was held May 19 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Michael Waltrip won the pole. The top three finishers would be eligible to run in The Winston later that day.
During the festivities of The Winston, a special exhibition race of 22 retired NASCAR legends took place on a quarter-mile oval paved in the quad oval segment of the speedway. Elmo Langley battled Cale Yarborough on the final lap, and held him off for the victory by less than a car length. Dick Brooks started on the pole.
During the previous week's The Winston, the #11 Junior Johnson-owned Ford was thrown out of the track. Johnson, crew chief Tim Brewer, and substitute driver Tommy Ellis were suspended for 12 weeks for the engine being larger than the legal limit of 358 cubic inches. Regular driver Geoff Bodine was injured in a practice crash for The Winston at Charlotte and was out for two races plus The Winston. All three parties appealed; Johnson and Brewer's suspensions were cut to four races, and Ellis, who drove as a late substitute, had his suspension nullified. Here, Ellis finished the race in 16th, 4 laps down. During the ban, Johnson designated his wife Flossie as the car owner and changed the number of the car to 97.
A wild finish ended in controversy. Accomplished Trans-Am champion and NASCAR road course ringerTommy Kendall (substituting for the injured Kyle Petty) was leading Mark Martin with 4 laps to go, in Felix Sabates' #42 Pontiac. Going into the turn 7 hairpin, Martin slid by on the outside, but the cars made contact, and Martin spun out. Kendall suffered a flat tire, and limped back to the pits. With 2 laps remaining, Davey Allison who had been running third took the lead. Allison led Ricky Rudd into turn 11 as the cars were anticipating seeing the white flag. Rudd's nose got inside, touched Allison's rear bumper, and Allison spun out with the white flag waving. Allison refired, and got back on to the track to hold on to second position. The next time by, Ricky Rudd was displayed the black flag and penalized 5 seconds for "dirty driving." Allison, the second car in line, was given the checkered flag and declared the winner. Rudd officially dropped back to 2nd place, with the black flag being reduced to a 5-second penalty following Allison's time of victory. After the race, Dave Marcis, a lapped car who was right behind the incident and saw it unfold, claimed that Rudd's tap was not dirty, and in his opinion was simply drivers racing hard on the final lap.
Geoff Bodine returned after missing two races and The Winston because of an injury during a practice crash for The Winston.
A caution flag was thrown during the race for (oddly enough) a chicken attempting to cross the track.
This race was plagued by rain, even causing a red flag at one point, but it still ran to the full 500 mile distance.
During the race, the wife of ESPN color commentator Benny Parsons, Connie, died of an illness. ESPN announcers Bob Jenkins and Ned Jarrett broke word of her death coming back from a commercial. A video exists of the satellite feed, in which Jenkins and Jarrett were informed of Connie's passing (Benny Parsons was in North Carolina with her), and previewed an obituary slide that was shown after the commercial break.[5]
Bill Elliott, whose day ended early with a valve problem, would leave to return to his hometown of Dawsonville, Georgia, as his grandmother also died later on that same day (when interviewed after his car's problems developed, he mentioned that he had no word of his grandmother's condition at the time of the interview, but that she was still alive before the race began).
This race is probably best known for a wild crash involving the #17 of Darrell Waltrip and the #75 of Joe Ruttman on lap 119. Sterling Marlin got loose, slid into Alan Kulwicki, and Kulwicki slid into Ruttman. Waltrip and Ruttman hooked together on the backstretch and veered into the grass, jumping over part of the infield road course (both cars got all 4 wheels off the ground when this happened). Waltrip's car landed hard on the left side, dug into the dirt and grass, and barrel rolled while Ruttman's car spun back toward the racing surface.
This was Bill Elliott's last win for Melling Racing; he would drive for Junior Johnson beginning in 1992. It was also Elliott's only win in a car that was not red (it was a blue and white Ford Thunderbird, sponsored by Coors Light).
This race was the first race Benny Parsons covered for ESPN after the loss of his wife Connie three weeks earlier.
A bizarre sidelight emerged involving Terry Labonte (driving the #94 Sunoco Oldsmobile Cutlass). Labonte would drop out of the race after 8 laps claiming an engine vibration, but when the car was tested in the garage, the engine was working normally. By that time, however, Labonte had already left and with the team unable to find a replacement driver, it was ultimately decided that the car would not attempt to return to the race. However, more info about this came to light in a book called Behind The Wall by Richard Huff where Labonte stated that the wrong car type was brought to the track (Intermediate car instead of Superspeedway car) and Labonte refused to continue due to the car being so slow; it would not keep up in the draft.[6]
On lap 72, a major crash on the frontstretch happened involving twelve cars. Among those involved were polesitter Irvan, Earnhardt, and Stricklin.
When the red flag was thrown for rain, Rusty Wallace's car was nearly out of gas. The red flag was out for over two hours before the track dried and the cars were started again under a yellow condition. However, after just running 1 lap under yellow the rain started falling again. Rusty Wallace was very close to running out of gas, so he was pushed around by Dale Earnhardt so that he wouldn't run out of gas. Once the field was given the white flag, Earnhardt backed off. Under NASCAR rules, this is legal unless it is the final scheduled lap of the race.
This was the final race J. D. McDuffie actually finished on track in. He finished in 25th, 27 laps down to the winner.
The race was marred by the death of veteran J. D. McDuffie in a Lap 5 crash in the Loop with the #52 of Jimmy Means. The other drivers were not informed of McDuffie's death until after the race.
The wreck that claimed J. D. McDuffie's life resulted in a nearly 2 hour long red flag to repair the Armco barrier and remove the two wrecked race cars.
McDuffie's crash was just one in a long series of big wrecks in the Loop-Chute area at Watkins Glen in 1991. Before this crash, Tommy Kendall had broken both legs in the IMSACamel Continental race in June after spinning out at 180 mph and hitting the Armco head on. Multiple drivers in the Winston Cup Series and in IROC crashed in Turn 5 during the August race weekend. A bus stop chicane (Inner Loop) was added before the entrance of Turn 5 for the 1992 season to slow cars before the entrance of what is now the Carousel.
Chip Williams, a media coordinator for NASCAR, made the first announcement of McDuffie's death, which was after the red flag period ended, in an interview with Jerry Punch of ESPN that was simulcast on Motor Racing Network.
This was Dale Jarrett's first career Winston Cup victory. Jarrett raced door to door to the finish line with the #28 of Davey Allison. The official margin of victory was 10 inches. The win was special to Dale's father Ned Jarrett who was in the ESPN broadcast booth for the telecast.[7]
Jimmy Spencer led the majority of the race and appeared to be on his way to his first victory, but two late pit stop errors cost him the victory and Spencer would eventually fall to mechanical issues. During the race, Rick Wilson needed relief from Bobby Labonte after Wilson was suffering from flu-like symptoms.[8]
This was Kyle Petty's first race since breaking his leg at Talladega in May.
No driver was eligible for the Winston Million; however, three drivers going into this race (Ernie Irvan, Davey Allison, and Harry Gant) were eligible for a $100,000 bonus from Winston if a driver were to win 2 out of the 4 NASCAR majors. Gant won the bonus by winning the Winston 500 and this race.
This was Harry Gant's 4th consecutive victory, tying the modern-era record for consecutive victories. Gant more or less dominated the race but crashed on lap 377 in Turn 3. The crash damaged the right front of the #33 Skoal BanditOldsmobile. This incident led ESPN's race analyst Benny Parsons to discount Gant as a threat to win the race. The team repaired the car the best they could (since this was Martinsville, this consisted of removal of sheet metal that could rub against the right front tire), and sent Gant back out. Gant proceeded to charge up through the field and overtook Brett Bodine for the victory with about 50 laps to go.
Dale Earnhardt passed Harry Gant for the victory with 12 laps to go, denying Gant a 5th consecutive victory. Gant had dominated the race when with just a few laps to go an O-Ring failed to give Gant limited braking for the final few laps allowing Earnhardt to pass.
Brett Bodine's 7th-place finish came despite having to start at the rear of the field due to an emergency pit stop prior to the green flag start when his car began leaking fluid during the pace laps.
Five days before this race, Richard Petty held a press conference at his Level Cross, North Carolina race shop. Petty said that instead of retiring at the end of 1991, he would race for one more year. The 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, his last as a driver, would be dubbed the "Fan Appreciation Tour". Petty denied it was a farewell tour because he "wasn't going anywhere".
With this race and continuing into the beginning of 1992, the Ford brand would win 13 races in a row (the last four races in 1991 and the first nine races in 1992)
This was the race in which Dale Earnhardt clinched his fifth Winston Cup championship. ESPN ran a comedic segment on "How to Steal a Championship" where two crew members from Davey Allison and Ricky Rudd's teams, which were second and third in points respectively, attempted to steal Earnhardt's driving uniform and helmet so Earnhardt could not start the race.[11] Those efforts were thwarted by longtime Earnhardt crewman Chocolate Myers and Earnhardt won by merely starting the race and completing the first lap.
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