acegear
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Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 973
Location: Enumclaw, WA
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 Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 5:14 pm Post subject: Classic Driver: Ernie Irvin |
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Ernie Irvan began racing karts at the age of 9, and won the California State Championship at the age of 15. From there Ernie went on to finish 2nd in his class at the National Championship races. Ernie then moved into stock cars in 1975 at the age of 16, winning his first race.
Ernie loved racing so much that he missed his high school graduation. Leaving California in 1982, Ernie headed east to the Mecca of stock car racing, North Carolina, with only $700 in his pocket. He arrived in Charlotte, and took any job he could find including welding grandstands at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
While working those odd jobs, Ernie started running late model stocks at the track Concord, NC racking up 9 wins through 1983. Ernie switched to a Firebird in 1984 winning twice that year, and 11 races the next year. Eventually, Ernie got his chance at Cup racing with his debut at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway driving #56 sponsored by Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet. In the five races he ran he came away with 1 top-10 finish.
1988 brought the opportunity for Ernie to run 24 of the 29 Cup races for that year. His best finish of the year was 11tth place, and he finished 26th overall, just missing the rookie of the year award by 3 points, the closest ever. 1990 saw Ernie move to the #4 Kodak Oldsmobile and earn his first pole, and 1st win finishing the year with 3 poles, 1 win, 6 top-5’s, and 13 top-10’s which was good enough for 9th in points overall.
Ernie started 1991 as he finished the previous season. Winning the Daytona 500, Ernie outpaced a star studded field, that just 4 years earlier he had watched on a borrowed black and white TV. But he wasn’t finished yet as he won on the road course at Watkins Glen, NY finishing the year with 2 wins, three second-place and four fourth-place finishes among his eleven Top-5 and nineteen Top-10 finishes in 29 starts and earning the 5th place spot in points overall.
The next couple of years brought Ernie 5 poles, 4 wins, 9 top-5’s, and 11 top-10’s. Midway through 1993 Ernie took over the Texaco/Havoline Ford that had been driven by Davey Allison before his tragic death in a helicopter accident. Driving the final 9 races of the season saw Ernie 2 poles and 2 wins to raise him from 9th to 6th in points for the season. After 20 races of the 1994 season Ernie trailed Dale Earnhardt, Sr. by only 27 points after having led for most of the season. Unfortunately, it all ended in a instant while practicing at Michigan. Leaving turn 1, Ernie had a right front tire go down sending him into the turn two wall at over 170 mph. With massive brain and lung injuries, Ernie was only given a 10% chance to make it through the night.
Clinging to life Ernie made it through the first two nights, then another week, until by early September he was released from the ventilator and transferred to Charlotte to begin rehabilitation. Less than 2 months later Ernie was on the stage at the NASCAR Driver Banquet receiving the Hard Charger Award. Even with missing the final 11 races of the season, he still was tied with Geoff Bodine with most poles of the season.
Throughout the first eight months of 1995, Ernie remained focused on returning to Winston Cup racing. He put himself through rigorous workouts to regain his physical strength; underwent extensive medical exams and additional procedures; patiently attempted to answer unanswerable questions; and survived microscopic scrutiny to prove that he was fit to drive a Winston Cup car. Finally, on September 16th, NASCAR cleared Ernie for competition.
After a rained-out qualifying eliminated him from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck field at Martinsville the week before, Ernie qualified his truck on the outside pole for the following weekend's event at North Wilkesboro on September 30th. Six laps after the green flag was dropped, Ernie was back in front, passing pole sitter Mike Skinner for the lead on Lap 6. Ernie led another 23 laps before mechanical problems sideline him. The very next day, October 1, he made his dramatic return to Winston Cup racing in the #88 Texaco-Havoline Ford of RYR. After starting in seventh position, he advanced to third by Lap 47 and took the lead on Lap 125. He held the lead for 31 laps and finished on the lead lap in sixth position.
Ernie capped his comeback with an outstanding performance at Phoenix. After being relegated to a last place start due to a wreck in practice, Ernie started his back-up car last in the 44-car field. He quickly moved through the field to seventh by Lap 75, then took the lead by taking on only two fresh tires during the first round of pit stops. Despite the fact that seven-time Winston Cup Champion Dale Earnhardt had four new tires, neither he nor anyone else could catch Ernie for the next 110 laps. Before he retired with engine failure on Lap 197 of the 312-lap race, Ernie led more laps than any driver.
Ernie finished the 1995 season with a solid super speedway performance. Starting 26th in the season ending race at Atlanta, Ernie had the # 88 Texaco-Havoline Ford in fourth by the middle of the race and advanced to second before a late race pit stop relegated him to a seventh place finish. In only 3 starts, Ernie had 2 Top-10 finishes.
As promised, Ernie returned to the #28 Texaco-Havoline Ford in 1996 with the same crew on duty as he had the day of the Michigan accident. His comeback season got off to a great start when he earned a front row berth for the season opening Daytona 500 beside teammate Dale Jarrett. During Speed Week, Ernie captured a dramatic victory in the 125-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500. As the season progressed, Ernie won the pole position for the spring race at Talladega, then scored victories at New Hampshire and Richmond.
On his way to a Top-10 finish in the Winston Cup points standings, he collected 12 Top-5 and 16 Top-10 finishes, and led 15 of the 31 events.
In his final season driving the RYR Texaco-Havoline Ford, Ernie notched his 15th career win. The dramatic victory came in June at Michigan Speedway, the track that nearly claimed his life three years earlier. Ernie ran up 5 Top-5 finishes, 13 Top-10's and 2 Pole positions and earned $1,614,281. Ernie finished the year 4th in the Winston Cup Points standings.
In 1998 Ernie joined MB2 Motorsports to drive the # 36 Skittles Pontiac. During the year he scored 11 Top-10 finishes with three pole positions despite missing the final three races while recovering from injuries suffered at Talladega (October). Ernie finished the season 19th in the Winston Cup points standings while the highlight of the year was the birth of his son, Jared, on February 9th.
1999 saw Ernie continuing to drive the # 36 for MB2, but with a different sponsor. M&M Mars (parent corporation of Skittles) decided to emblazon the popular "M&M's" characters on the car. As a result, the "M&M's" Pontiac easily became the most recognizable and popular car on the Winston Cup circuit.
On August 20th, exactly 5 years after his near fatal accident there, Ernie crashed at Michigan while driving his own # 84 Irvan-Simo Federated Auto parts Pontiac in a practice session for the Busch Series race. Ernie was again airlifted from the track and was diagnosed with a mild head injury and a bruised lung as a result of the accident. Two weeks later, surrounded by his wife and two children, Ernie announced his retirement from driving at a tearful press conference in Darlington, SC. Ernie finished his Winston Cup career as a driver with 15 victories, 22 poles, 68 Top-5's, 124 Top-10's and over 11 million dollars in career earnings.
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A win is a win, and second place is never good enough |
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