Fourth Of July Fireworks

   Throughout its history, dating to 1959, NASCAR's major July event at Daytona International Speedway has been noted for its pyrotechnics.
   Fittingly, for many years the race was named the Firecracker 400 and always was held on July 4th.  When it's run again on Saturday night it'll be the Coke Zero 400.
   It's likely the Sprint Cup Series event will be a sparkler.
   However, the rockets will have to zoom higher and boom louder to top what happened at the famous 2.5-mile track in July of 1987.
   Bobby Allison won a thriller in which he led just two of the 160 laps--the final two.

    The wild, wild race included Ken Schrader, a suprise contender to win, flipping on the final lap  while running third, going over Harry Gant's car and then sliding sideways across the finish line to finish seventh.
   Runnerup Buddy Baker, who finished 1.5 seconds behind Allison, returned to pit road thinking he'd won  the race.  Baker and most other drivers mistakenly thought Allison was a lap down instead of racing to triumph.
   Dave Marcis, a heavy underdog, seemed to have one of his biggest victories in hand, leading by 3.38 seconds and pulling away from second-place Rick Wilson with just  8 laps to go.
   Then, a tire failed on Wilson's car and he popped the wall coming off the fourth turn, forcing a yellow flag.
   This is where the drama really deepened.
   Throughout he race it had been apparent that Allison had the fastest car on the track.
   However, a tangle wih Sterling Marlin and Cale Yarborough on Lap 32 caused  him to lose a lap.  After this the savvy veteran from Alabama motored along relatively unnoticed by a crowd of 85,000--and his rivals--as he tried to regain the lost lap.  Wilson's accident finally enabled Allison to do so.
   When the restart came with five laps remaining Allison was in 13th place and seemingly faced a daunting task getting past so many other cars in 12.5 miles.
   He made it look easy.
  With drafting help from Baker, Allison swept by driver after driver.  He caught and passed Schrader for the lead in the third turn.
   "Without that last yellow flag we had little chance," conceded Allison.  "We'd have wound up maybe fourth or fifth.  Even with the caution there were a great many cars left in front of me on the restart.  Then there were only a few,  And then there none.  Nobody was left.
   "This just shows you never should give up."
  Both Schrader and Baker said not knowing that Allison wasn't a lap down made no difference.
  "I couldn't have done a thing with Bobby," said Baker.
  Added Schrader, "Bobby checked out.  He was just faster.  It would have made no difference knowing he was going for the win."
   Of his wild wreck, Schrader said,  "We didn't take on tires during the last pit stop, so my car was really pushing (understeering).  I was heading toward the wall, so I rolled out of the throttle by about 15 miles an hour, and someone unavoidably hit me in the rear.  I was aware that I was flipping.  I never blacked out or anything like that.  In fact, even while I was upside down I was looking for the finish line.
   "I finished seventh, huh?  I can't believe that many cars went by in that short a time.  Why, I didn't lift off the throttle the whole time I was upside down!" 
   Marcis wound up third and was deeply disappointed.
   "That last caution killed us," said Marcis.  "I could have held on easy if it hadn't come out.  Bobby Allison was right in front of me, so he at that time essentially was 2.5 miles behind.  I had drafted Bobby to build up my lead over Rick Wilson.
   "Dang!  I really wanted to win one at Daytona, and this probably was the best chance I'll ever have."
   Every NASCAR driver deeply desires a victory at Big-D, likely much more than anywhere else.  This is what leads to the fireworks like those of 1987, and those that probably will ignite Saturday night.