Tom Higgins' Scuffs

'Playing with pain?' Neil Bonnett wrote that book in NASCAR

By Tom Higgins

Richard Petty drove several races in the 1970s, including at Alabama'S dangerous, ultrafast Talladega Superspeedway, with a broken bone in his neck.

King Richard kept the injury secret from NASCAR officials for fear they would sideline him.

Dale Earnhardt drove very hurt several times, once hiding a painful "'barrel fracture" of the knee from NASCAR lest he be sent to the sideline.

Perhaps most famously, Earnhardt competed at the Watkins Glen road course in New York in 1996 despite a broken shoulder. Although he had to shift gears in the turns, Earnhardt won the pole and finished fifth in the race.

However, probably the greatest "tough man" feat in NASCAR history was accomplished by the late Neil Bonnett early in the 1988 season.

Bonnett, the affable, immensely popular Alabamian, won three straight races while nursing a horrendous leg injury.

Included was a triumph in the Goodyear 500K, an event that opened The Thunderdome, Australia?s first superspeedway, which was located near Melbourne.

Bonnett was hurt when a tire failed on his car in the Oakwood Homes 500 on Oct. 11, 1987 at the track then known as Charlotte Motor Speedway. He slammed savagely into the fourth-turn wall, and his Pontiac continued along, scraping the barrier, to almost the start/finish line.

Bonnett's right hip was broken and his right leg fractured in several places. He essentially was pinned in the wrecked car and it took an emergency crew almost a half-hour to extract him. Bonnett was in such pain that a doctor crawled into the car with him and gave Neil a shot to ease his suffering.

The prognosis was not good.

It initially appeared that Bonnett might even lose the leg, certainly would be crippled for life and his career as a race driver imperiled.

"I came within a whisker of quitting," Bonnett would concede later. "I was hurt so bad there seemed no sense in trying to go on.

"But I got so much support from fans through their letters that I decided to devote myself to trying to come back."

Bonnett began a tough regimen of physical therapy.

Four months later his RahMoc team, owned and led by Bob Rahilly and Butch Mock, entered a Pontiac for him in the season-opening Daytona 500.

"When I went through the tunnel to get to the track at Daytona it was a victory for me," said Bonnett.

Bonnett earned the 14th starting spot at Daytona International Speedway and came on hard to finish fourth, watching as his 'Bama buddies, Bobby and Davey Allison, staged the greatest 1-2 father and son finish in NASCAR history.

It was Valentine's Day, and Bonnett won a lot of hearts with his gutsy performance.

The following Sunday, Bonnett wasn't to be denied in the Pontiac 400 at Richmond Raceway in Virginia. He made up two laps lost because of tire problems, then took the lead with 58 laps to go and got the checkered flag 1.12 seconds ahead of runnerup Ricky Rudd.

The triumph ended a non-winning streak of 16 months for Bonnett.

Almost immediately after the race Bonnett and several other Winston Cup Series drivers were in the air, bound for Australia.

Down Under, the outgoing Bonnett proved a huge hit with adoring Aussie fans.

In the race, he outdueled old pal and mentor Bobby Allison and Dave Marcis for the victory as the three essentially finished with their cars nose-to-tail.

In an infield tent used for the press conference following Victory Lane ceremonies, Bonnett had almost everyone in tears as he told of the travails he'd faced in rallying from injury.

Said one tearful Aussie fan, watching from behind a rope restraining the crowd, "Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt are the Yanks we really want to see, but tonight our hearts belong to Neil Bonnett."

The long flight home took a lot out of all "The Yanks," who went to Australia, but especially Bonnett.

"I felt good initially after getting home on Tuesday," he said. "But Thursday into Friday I had a major sinking spell."

It showed in time trials for the Goodwrench 500, set at N.C. Motor Speedway near Rockingham on March 6.

Bonnett qualified 30th in a field of 41.

However, from the time the green flag showed it was obvious that Bonnett and his team had a potent car that could contend for the win.

On the 122nd of the race?s 492 laps on the 1.07-mile track in the Sandhills he took the lead for the first time. And he stayed near the front the rest of the way.

With 20 laps remaining Bonnett made a daring, close-call pass of leader Lake Speed coming off the fourth turn to take the front for good.

"I wanted to try and pass Lake with 10 laps left," said Bonnett. "But he was strong, and I figured the longer I waited to go around him, the tougher it would be.

"Also, I saw Lake was smoking his tires in trying to put Bill Elliott a lap down. I figured he might have gotten his tires a little hot too handle, so I decided to go around him."

Bonnett, with a steel plate and a lot of screws in his right leg riding along, beat Speed to the checkered flag by 0.62 seconds for a third victory in as many Sundays.

It was the third win for Bonnett at the track nicknamed "The Rock" and the 18th of a career that has led to his induction into several motorsports halls of fame.

A grinning Bonnett left the N.C. Motor Speedway press box with this playful comment:

"I've put fishing on my calendar for the next eight days, so there isn't any sense in anyone trying to reach me."

Sadly, Bonnett was destined never to win again.

On April 1, 1990 a multicar crash in the TranSouth 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway left him with a head injury that caused amnesia for months.

Upon recovery, Bonnett became one of ESPN?s most popular racing commentators ever in the booth.

But he still yearned to drive, and in 1993 mounted a comeback bid.

Neil lost his life at age 43 on Feb. 11, 1994 in a crash while practicing for the Daytona 500.

Bonnett will be remembered forever by those who knew him for his smile and quick wit.

And a revered spot is reserved for him in stock car racing history as the driver whose grit defeated the devastation of his right leg to win three in a row just four months after he was injured.

Earnhardt dominates in '90, but win goes to Cope

By Tom Higgins

The most surprising-and surprised-winner in the long, dramatic history of the Daytona 500, which dates to 1959?

My nomination is Derrike Cope, who captured NASCAR's greatest race in stunning fashion in 1990.

Cope, then 31, seemed to be in a daze in Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway after taking the checkered flag.

"Looking back, it still seems surreal," Cope conceded in the year 2000 on the 10th anniversary of the triumph that emblazoned his name onto a list including the likes of Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison and Fireball Roberts.

Cope wasn't the only person dazed. So were approximately 150,000 fans in the grandstands and infield at the 2.5-mile track and millions more watching the race on live TV.

For most of the 200 laps the Daytona 500 appeared to belong to Dale Earnhardt.

The sport's immensely popular "Intimidator" had kept his black No. 3 Chevrolet, fielded by Richard Childress Racing, in front almost at will. Earnhardt led 155 laps, including the start of the final one.

Earnhardt seemed in strong control in pursuit of stock car racing's "Holy Grail" as he swept down the backstretch. A quest of a dozen years, often foiled in the last moments, seemed sure to be about to pay off.

And then, unbelievably, Earnhardt's car bobbled as he stormed into the third turn. Earnhardt veered toward the outer wall, enabling Cope, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott and Ricky Rudd to surge by.

In a furious finish, Cope held off his more-experienced rivals to win by 1 ½ car lengths as Earnhardt placed fifth.

Cope's Buddy Parrott-led crew on a team owned by New Englander Bob Whitcomb vaulted the pit wall, jumping and flailing arms in delirious disbelief.

What had happened to cause fate and fortune to flip-flop so quickly?

Earnhardt had run over a sharp-edged, broken piece that fell from a lapped car in front of him.

Said Earnhardt: "I hit some debris right in front of the chicken-bone grandstands (cheap seats) on the backstretch. I heard it hit the bottom of the car and then it hit the tire and the tire popped. You can't see everything on the track.

"I was in control, just sitting there. We outrun 'em all day and they couldn't have got by me. They didn't beat us, they lucked into it."

Then, in the next breath, Earnhardt was gracious.

"Cope ran a good race," said Earnhardt. "He was sitting there poised to win, but I still can't believe it happened."

Cope conceded he had needed a miracle to win.

He saw it developing in "a bunch of stuff coming out from under Dale's car, like maybe a tire was shredding.

"Dale moved up about a half a lane. I couldn't believe he was able to hold the car. No one else could have. I was waiting for him to spin out of control and then someone would hit me from behind.

"Then, I just turned that baby left and said, 'Please stick!'"

It did and Cope became a winner and a top-five finisher in NASCAR's premier series for the first time in a career that began in 1982. It was just his third Daytona 500. He had finished 33rd and 27th in the previous two.

While Cope was en route to the press box for the winner's interview, executives of the major CBS-TV station in his home state of Washington-KIRO-TV in Seattle - began damage control.

They had chosen to air a National Basketball Association game rather than the Daytona 500. And now a driver from nearby Spanaway, Wash., had won the race in thrilling, incredible fashion.

"My dad, Don, and a party of family and friends had to travel several hundred miles to a place where they could pick up the 500 on television," said Cope.

"I guess," continued Derrike with a mischievous smile, "the TV station back home is going to be hearing about it..."

No kidding.

About two hours after the race a NASCAR official announced that KIRO-TV had received so many irate telephone calls that it interrupted a movie after 30 minutes to show a tape of the Daytona 500.

After his formal press session, Cope met with a small group of motorsports reporters.

"I know you're stunned," he said. "I'm not exactly a big name in this sport. We're stunned ourselves.

"We came on a little bit at the end of the '89 season and figured we might win a race this year, but not the Daytona 500."

Cope won one more time in '90, taking the Bud 500 at Dover Downs in Delaware in June.

He hasn't triumphed since, but now, at age 48, Cope continues to try, alternately running at times for a variety of car owners and a team he fields himself.

Cope is of Cherokee-Portuguese extraction, and among the treasured memorabilia he has from 1990 is proclamation praising him from the government of Portugal.

Dale Earnhardt and Richard Childress came away from the 1990 Daytona 500 with a "trophy" too - that shredded tire.

Most teams would have thrown it in the dumpster, burned it, cut it into little pieces.

However, Earnhardt and Childress had the tire preserved, shellacked and mounted on a board like a trophy deer head.

It was placed in a prominent place in the RCR shop as a reminder of a mission yet to be accomplished in the Daytona 500.

That goal was reached in 1998 when Earnhardt finally won the great race.

He lost his life in a crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001.

"Like everyone, I remember Dale each time I return to Daytona," said Cope. "I remember him shaking my hand after I'd won, and that means a lot to me.

"Even as excited as I was, I recall a lot of what happened immediately after that race. It's embedded in my memory.

"Maybe the strangest thing is this: I can close my eyes and feel all over again how warm the sun was on my face in Victory Lane."