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Waltrip Takes the 500
by Steve Wingate
February 18th, 2001: A day that will live forever in the minds of NASCAR fans everywhere as the day that saw a long overdue victory for a seasoned driver and the passing of the series' greatest driver. I'm going to miss Earnhardt as much as anybody, perhaps more than some, but I want to use this page to talk about something other than the tragedy we all witnessed. Besides, I've done that else where on this site with my tribute to Dale Earnhardt. To be honest, I've had a hard time being happy for Michael in the wake of what happened. Whenever I think about the Daytona 500, I have a hard time seeing anything but that black car hitting the wall or a noticeably shaken Mike Helton suddenly appearing on my TV screen later that night. I want to use this article to congratulate Michael Waltrip and to help myself (and maybe a few more fans) work through this a little bit.
I can't begin to tell you how touching it was to see Darrell cheering his brother on in those last few laps. Darrell is insanely enthusiastic to begin with, but the drama on the track had him wound up like I have never seen him before. Darrell never stopped believing that his brother could win a race, and those last few laps only confirmed his faith.
Michael's fans never stopped believing in him, either. For sixteen years, people have been saying: "Will this be Michael's year?" Not: "Will he ever win?" but always "When?" Its been obvious that Michael has talent... that much is evidenced by his strong finishes and wins in non-points events and Busch wins.
So why, then, did it take him so darned long to win his first race? That's simple.... equipment. Michael has never driven for a winning team with the exception of the Wood Brothers. His first cup team, owned by Dick Bahre, never fielded a winning car. His second ride, Chuck Rider's Bahari Racing, also had no success in Cup, and was eventually sold in 1999 and became Eel River Racing. Eel River has had a multitude of difficulties as well, not the least of which was losing primary sponsor Viagra to Roush Racing for the 2001season. Then came the Wood Brothers in 1996, whose success has been spotty since the rise of multi-car teams. The Woods saw success in 1991 with Dale Jarrett and once more in 1993 with Morgan Shepherd, but have not visited victory lane since. By the time Michael joined in 1996, they were working on their third winless season. They started their sixth this year. Then you have Jim Mattei Motorsports in 1999, another single car team that saw success under owners Alan Kulwicki and Geoff Bodine, but quickly faltered after losing the Exide sponsorship to Jack Roush. The team is still winless under Jim Mattei. Don't get me wrong here, I have nothing against any of these teams, and would love to see any of them visit victory lane, but facts are facts.
Single car teams are just not making it anymore.... when was the last single car win? Wasn't it Rudd in '98? With more and more teams taking on a second and third car, the little guys with just one car can't compete. Even the great Morgan McClure is a shadow of it's former self. Owner-driver combos aren't working either. So, how could Michael Waltrip have been expected to pull off a win under such circumstances? The odds were clearly against him.
When Dale Earnhardt tapped Michael to pilot the third car for DEI, I think everyone knew that this would be his big break. It seems that everything fell into place as never before.... a ride with a well-financed multi-car team with Dale Earnhardt as a boss. Dale picked Waltrip instead of pulling his Busch driver Ron Hornaday into the series as a rookie. Earnhardt had already traveled the "rookie route" twice and wanted a seasoned driver for the newest addition to the DEI stables. Waltrip knew that Dale would demand success, but accepted the challenge. We all know the rest of the story-- DEI has swept the first two races of the year, giving Michael his first win, and Steve Park his second.
The Boss would be proud.
2001 Car Guy of Benchfield