An Australian Adventure, Part I

   Prologue: In late February of 1988 NASCAR sanctioned what amounted to an exhibition race in Australia at a sparkling new speedway near Melbourne, The Thunderdome.  It held the potential of being a great  adventure for those lucky enough to be going, including me.  The trip proved more than equal to the promise.  Over the next few days "Scuffs" will recount some of the stories from two decades ago, including a heart-warming triumph by the late Neil Bonnett.

    For one of the few times in NASCAR's  so-called modern era, which dates to 1972, the winner of a major race wasn't going to hold a post-race press conference.
    Never mind that Neil Bonnett had just scored a deeply dramatic victory on  Feb. 21, 1988, taking the  Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway in Virginia just four months after almost losing his right leg in a crash during the Oakwood Homes 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
   Like the lyric in an old country song by Jerry Reed, Bonnett, still limping badly from his injury, "had a long way to go and a short time to get there."
   The popular Alabamian was among a group of NASCAR drivers from various divisions heading halfway around the globe to Australia to compete in a race the following Sunday.    After an abbreviated Victory Lane ceremony, Bonnett had to leave the Richmond track immediately with his peers to catch flights that eventually would take them Down Under.
   Chauffeurs charged with getting the group to the Richmond airport faced a nerve-fraying challenge in fighting post-race traffic.  They drove down medians, along sidewalks and even through the yards of homes.  Still, some didn't make it before their plane heading to the West Coast and a connecting flight to Australia left the gate.  An agent had the pilot taxi back, open the door and let the drivers on board.
   Behind him, Bonnett left a brouhaha of major proportions at the Richmond raceway.
   Several rivals vociferously were contending that Bonnett hadn't won the race.  Ricky Rudd even  filed an official protest with NASCAR.

    "There's no question we won the race and Richard Petty finished second," said a fuming Rudd.  "I had  chances in the late stages to pass Neil several times, but I figured why do it when I was leading the race.  Me and my guys got cheated out of Victory Lane."
   Said Petty: "Darrell Waltrip actually finished second, so where does that put me?  First.  Me and Darrell were running 1-2 at a time when they showed Dale Earnhardt leading.  We made up a fictitious lap."
   Asked why he didn't protest, Petty laughed.
   "I've been racing 30 years and this has happened before and it'll happen again," he explained.  "Someboy just made a human error and they messed up.  They ain't going to change it."
   Added Waltrip: "NASCAR really complicated things.  How they can justify this deal where they change the finishing order around is beyond me.  There's not a soul in the garage area who agrees with them.  They're just going to have to work on the scoring system with so many good cars running now, and that's a constructive criticism."
   There was, however, a "soul" on a plane flying into the sunset that agreed with NASCAR:  Neil Bonnett.
   "We were on top of the scoring ourselves," he said of the Rahmoc team owned by Bob Rahilly and Butch Mock.  "In fact, we felt like I ran an extra lap.
   "Ricky should have tried passing.  But I could have shown him a lot faster race car."
   Bonnett arrived in Australia approximately 24 hours later to learn that Rudd's protest had been disallowed.  The finishing order among the top five at Richmond was Bonnett, Rudd, Petty, Waltrip and Sterling Marlin.
   Meanwhile, members of the media, NASCAR officials and others traveling to Australia didn't start the trip until Monday morning. Included were me and my buddy and fellow journalist, Steve Waid.
   We flew from Charlotte to Los Angeles, sat through a long layover and then boarded an overnight flight to Melbourne with stops in Honolulu and Sydney.
   As we cleared Aussie customs, Steve and I were bleary-eyed from lack of sleep and a bit too much free alcohol while winging over the darkened Pacific Ocean.  We'd made an agreement: I would pay for the rental car if Steve would drive it.  No way was I  going to try and adjust to a car's steering wheel being on the right side nor to driving on the left side of the road.
   As we left the airport for the super highway leading into Melbourne my pal Steve reached to his left to flip the turn signal to indicate that he was merging into traffic.  Instead, the windshield wipers came on.
   We could see passing motorists pointing and laughing at us.  I'm sure they were saying, "Tourists!"
   The turn signal lever was on the right side of the steering wheel post.  Everything seemed located opposite what it was on cars back home in the U.S.
   I burst into laughter.
   Steve looked at me somewhat angrily.  "You think this is easy?" he said.  "Then you drive."
   "It's not you, boy," I replied.  "I'm laughing at the sign on the building over there."
   The sign read "Smash Shop."
   All around it were wrecked cars.
  "Smash Shop" is Aussie for an auto body shop.
  "This is going to be a lot more fun that I ever imagined," I thought to myself.  "And I imagined a lot."
   Somehow, Steve negotiated a myriad of traffic circles and we made it to the elegant Old Melbourne Hotel and checked in.
   In the lobby we found several fellow NASCAR visitors from America lamenting lost luggage.
   Driver/car owner D.K. Ulrich's stuff had gone to Singapore.
   There was no avoiding a chuckle at the plight of NASCAR scorer Earl Sappenfield.  He had begun his journey in Jacksonville, Fla., and told the airline agent at check-in that he wanted his  baggage checked all the way through to Melbourne.  A trace showed that's where it had gone--to Melbourne, Fla.!
    Steve and I were carrying our luggage to rooms across the hotel's courtyard when NASCAR buddies Kyle Petty and Michael Waltrip drove up.  Both were grinning and their eyes were sparkling with amusement.
   "Obviously, you boys already are having a good time," Steve said.
   "Yesterday we went to a topless beach, today we went to an all-nude beach and tomorrow we're going to a hands-on beach!" gushed Waltrip.
   He was only kidding about the latter part.   

  Next: Of Netball and White Pointers.