He Did It His Way...

   It hardly seems it happened 15 years ago, the Hooters 500 of 1992 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
   Capping an incredible rally, Alan Kulwicki edged Bill Elliott by 10 points to win the Winston Cup Series championship.  The difference came down to Kulwicki, fielding his own Fords, leading one more lap than Elliott, who won the race.  Kulwicki finished second.
   That season's finale 500 will remain especially notable in NASCAR history for two other reasons as well.
   It was the last of Richard Petty's record 1,184 starts at stock car racing's top level in a career that produced 200 victories and seven championships.
   It was the first big-time start for Jeff Gordon, who has continued on to presently stand with 81 wins and four titles.  Gordon, who has spent his entire big-time career with Hendrick Motorsports,  leads the current chase for a fifth title by 53 points with  five races remaining, counting Sunday's upcoming Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at the Atlanta track.

   Wisconsin native Kulwicki considered himself such a long-shot for the coveted championship that he had removed the "T" from the name Thunderbird on the front bumper of his car so that it read  "Underbird."
   He had entered the season's 29th race trailing standings leader Davey Allison by 30 points.
   In the 23rd race on Sept. 20, 1992, Kulwicki had fallen to 278 points off the lead when he crashed at Dover, Del.   His car was so badly damaged his crew hardly could get it loaded on the transporter.
   "Realistically, this probably finishes us off in the championship race," said a downcast Kulwicki.  "I don't like to give up, but I know it probably will be hard to come back now."
   However, in the following  five races Kulwicki finished 6th, 12th, 2nd, 12th and 4th to put himself in position to at least challenge at Atlanta.
   The championship seemed the popular Allison's for the taking.  All he needed to do was finish fifth and no one could beat him regardless of the 500's outcome.
   However, Davey was swept into a crash with Ernie Irvan on the 254th of the 328 laps at the 1.522-mile Georgia speedway.  He wound up 27th after repairs to his car, completing 285 laps.
   The Allison wreck left Kulwicki and Elliott the only championship contenders.  Elliott had entered the race 10 points behind Kulwicki and 40 down to Allison.
   Elliott appeared poised to win both the race and his second Winston Cup crown.
   His Ford, fielded by Junior Johnson, was fast and running smoothly.  Elliott had it in front for 102 laps.
   But Kulwicki led 103 laps, earning five bonus points.  As a result, Kulwicki--who finished 8.06 seconds behind--and Elliott both earned 180 points.
   Johnson has since contended that a miscalculaton in the pits cost his team the title.
   "The guy that was supposed to be keeping our lap counts got distracted while trying to shoo away spectators from getting to close to our pit stall," said Johnson.  "He let Bill come in too early on our final pit stop for gas.  We were leading at the time, and if Bill had stayed on the track one more lap  we'd have won the championship."
   Kulwicki led the lap while Elliott was stopped, and that was the difference-maker.
   Kulwicki  radioed his crew chief, Paul Andrews,  moments after taking the checkered flag.
   "Did what happen that I think just happened?" Kulwicki asked.
   A jubilant Andrews assured him it had. 
  Kulwicki, who first had come south to race in 1985 at the urging of Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler, became the last owner/driver to reign as champion. He had turned down several top rides to maintain his own team.
   One of those offers was from Johnson.
  “Alan had it all,” says Johnson. “He had the knowledge of what made a car work and then he could drive the heck out of it. He was good with sponsors.  If he had come with me, I could have just sat back and turned everything over to him.”
   Kulwicki held an engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin.
  The Hooters 500 was anti-climatic for Petty and Gordon. Both were involved in crashes and finished 35^th and 31^st respectively.
  It was a special, festive evening in early December when NASCAR held its post-season awards program at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.
   A video tracing Kulwicki’s career was played. The accompanying song was Frank Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way.”
  It was a touching tribute, and there were a lot of misty eyes in the Grand Ballroom as the video ended.
  Afterward, Kulwicki hosted a joyful party in another of the hotel’s big rooms. Normally a quiet, conservative-type fellow, he drank champagne from the slippers of several ladies.
  Someone started a Conga line and “The King,” Richard Petty, led it.
  Sadly, Kulwicki got to enjoy his championship only until April 1, 1993.
  On an icy night he was killed in the crash of a private plane near Tri-County Airport in Tennessee while en route to a race at Bristol.
  Almost unbelievably, on June 13, ’93, Davey Allison was gone too, losing his life in a crash of a helicopter he was piloting while attempting to land at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.