In Fine Voice To Crow.

   There's good news for fans of Fox Sports racing analyst Darrell Waltrip.
   The three-time NASCAR driving champion has regained his voice and will be part of the television team airing the Goody's Cool Orange 500 on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
   Two weeks ago Waltrip was suffering from inflamed vocal chords and it was painful to listen to the  rasping as he tried to fulfill his duties during the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
    Now, Waltrip has recovered sufficiently  to even crow, if he wishes, about the most controversial of the 11 victories he scored at the Martinsville short track, second only to Richard Petty's record 15 triumphs.
   I hope Waltrip will touch on that win in the  Goody's 500 on Sept. 27, 1987, because it remains among the most memorable incidents at the .526-mile layout that dates to 1949.  To get the checkered flag, Waltrip essentially wrecked both Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte and passed them in the race's last quarter-mile.
   "I shot into Terry, Terry shot into Dale and I shot into the lead!" a grinning, gleeful Waltrip said in Victory Lane.

   As Waltrip gloated, both Earnhardt and Labonte growled.
   "It's one of those deals where you win by doing anything you can," said Labonte.
   "If there had been 10 laps left, NASCAR (officials) say they would have brought Darrell in for consultation," said Earnhardt.  "But it was the last lap, so they ain't going to do nothing."
   Earnhardt was right.
   A NASCAR spokesman shortly declared the three-car tangle "a racing accident" and the finish of Waltrip, Earnhardt and Labonte was ruled official.
   "Amen!" shouted Darrell in the press box in the midst of a post-race interview.
   Here's how the wild windup unfolded almost 21 years ago at Martinsville:
   With just six laps to go in the 263-mile race Earnhardt held a seemingly insurmountable lead of 9.2 seconds, or about a half-lap.  It appeared he was certain to push his short track record in 1987 to 7-0.
   Then, on the 495th lap,  a cut tire caused Ken Schrader's car to tag the wall in turn four.  Bobby Allison spun as he took evasive action.
   The caution flag showed and all three leaders--Earnhardt, Labonte and Waltrip--dashed onto pit road for new tires.
   The restart came on Lap 498 and Earnhardt was able to hold the lead until the flagstand loomed just around turn four, 200 yards or so ahead.
   At this point Waltrip's right front quarter panel made contact with Labonte's left rear.  Labonte wobbled and caromed off Waltrip into Earnhardt, who also lost control.
   It looked like billiard balls bouncing off each other.
   And Waltrip's car was the cue ball.
   Waltrip, diving low, went around both rivals and sped to the finish line.  Earnhardt recovered in time to take the runnerup spot, 7.1 seconds behind.  Labonte salvaged third.
   "It would have been nice not to hit anybody," Waltrip said upon finally getting his first victory of 1987 after going 0-for-23 as a new member of the Hendrick Motorsports operation.  "But on the last lap when a track is slick and the brakes are worn down, anything can happen.
   "Terry gave me a little room on the inside.  It looked like he got alongside Earnhardt and that left me some room to make a move."
   Labonte, who had succeeded Waltrip in the ride fielded by legendary Junior Johnson, didn't see it this way.  Not at all.
   "On the last lap I was on the outside of Dale as we went into the second turn," said Labonte.  "He tried to put me into the wall and damn near succeeded.  I scraped the wall hard, but managed to pull in behind him.
   "As we went into the third turn, Darrell never lifted off the throttle, and he ran right over both me and Dale and took us out."
   Immediately after the tangle the crews of Earnhardt and Labonte had a confrontation on pit road.  They thought their drivers had wrecked each other and that Waltrip wasn't involved.  Then, they learned differently, and the barbs flew Waltrip's way.
   "Everything Waltrip's done in his career has supposedly been right and made him think that he's too good to do something like that," huffed Tim Brewer, Labonte's crew chief.  "Well, the halo sure didn't shine today.  I guess the evil in everyone comes out. 
   "What NASCAR should have done when Darrell came to the line is hold the checkered flag, then wave it for Dale as the winner with Terry second."
   Said Kirk Shelmerdine, Earnhardt's crew chief:  "It's disappointing not to get our seventh short track win in as many races.  I can accept getting outrun, but I can't accept getting robbed.  My wife's purse was stolen here in the spring and now I know how she feels."
   If Waltrip, with his recently regained voice, opts not to crow about  his '87 "two-for-one" pool-table-like move, he can tell a touching story instead.
   When Waltrip got into his race car  that day he found a rose with a note attached.
   The note read, "Honey, this is for you.  Win one for me."
   The name on the note was Jessica Leigh, and she was the infant daughter born to Darrell and his wife Stevie just 10 days earlier in Nashville, Tenn.
   "It hurts my heart to think about the controversey happening at the end of the race after getting that rose and the note," Waltrip conceded at the time.  His voice cracked slightly and his hands tremembled a bit.
   He quickly recovered, however, to add, "As most fans know, I like to nickname my race cars.  However, this one didn't have a name.  It does now--Rosy."