Tom Higgins' Scuffs

Cope rewarded as Earnhardt is denied in 1990

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the run-up to the 2010 Daytona 500, Tom Higgins reflects on key races from each decade. This installment, the fourth of a five-part series, is about the 1990 race, won by Derrike Cope.

"Even after 20 years, I can close my eyes and still feel the sun shining warmly on my face in Victory Lane," Derrike Cope said recently.

Even after 20 years, I still hardly can believe the sight that unfolded on Feb. 18, 1990, at Daytona International Speedway for millions of eyes to see.

With only a mile to go in the Daytona 500, leader Dale Earnhardt, who had dominated NASCAR's most important race, suddenly, stunningly slowed.

Cope, running a close second on the 200th lap at the storied 2.5-mile Florida track, swept by Earnhardt's faltering car and took first place. The journeyman driver then held off former Cup champions Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott by mere feet in a dash to the checkered flag.

A crowd estimated at 150,000 and a national television audience watched in shock.

Ricky Rudd followed in fourth place and then, limping to the line in fifth, came Earnhardt.

Cope widely was rated the biggest surprise winner of a major event in all of  motorsports history.

Derrike, 31 at the time, indirectly conceded to that during the Victory Lane proceedings.

"I absolutely can't believe it," he said in the celebratory moments immediately after his first Cup triumph. "Not in my wildest dreams ... This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

"Dale had dominated all race long and there was no way I was going to pass him. As the last lap began I was trying just to beat Terry and Bill for second place.

"Then, Dale had a tire suddenly go down and he slowed up. A bunch of stuff was coming from under his car. The tire was shredding. He did a heck of a job holding onto the car."

While roaring down the backstretch, Earnhardt had run over a sharp piece of bell housing that had fallen off a lapped car.

"I hit some debris right in front of the chicken-bone grandstands," said Earnhardt, referring to the cheaper seats. "I heard a piece of it hit the bottom of the car and then hit the right-rear, and the tire popped.

"You can't see all that stuff on the track in time to miss it. I was just sitting there in complete control. None of them could have got by me."

Earnhardt, driving a Chevrolet Lumina fielded by Richard Childress Racing, had led 155 laps, 146 more than anyone else. He once rolled to a whopping advantage of 30 seconds, leading the Motor Racing Network anchor Eli Gold to say, "Dale is in another area code."

Indeed, Earnhardt looked to be home free to win the Daytona 500 for the first time in a career that by then had produced 39 victories and three Cup championships.

However, on the 193rd lap, a rival's spin forced a yellow flag. All the front-runners pitted except Cope and Bobby Hillin. Earnhardt stopped and took on four tires.

When the restart came on Lap 196, the running order was Cope, Hillin, Earnhardt, Labonte and Elliott.

Earnhardt immediately powered back into the lead. Cope, also driving a Chevrolet, was able to hang onto Earnhardt's bumper in the draft, staying in position should there be a miracle for him or a disaster for Dale.

There was: That metal shard that punctured the tire on Earnhardt's famous, black No. 3 Chevrolet.

"Dale moved up about a half lane," continued Cope. "I figured that him slowing so suddenly was going to cause a big chain-reaction pile-up in the third turn. I was waiting for someone to hit me.

"When that didn’t happen, I just turned that baby of mine left and said, 'Please stick!' "

Cope's No. 10 Chevy owned by Bob Whitcomb held traction.

But his crew, led by colorful veteran Buddy Parrott, didn't know that.  They couldn't see Turn 3 from pit road.

"I've been in racing a long time and I thought I had developed an ear for crowd reactions," said Parrott. "When I heard the screams and saw the fans jumping around, I hung my head.

"I said to myself, 'Well, I guess we wrecked.' Then I saw that red-and-white car of ours coming down the track, and before I knew it the boys on our team were pounding on me in excitement."

Parrott laughed.

"I've always wanted to go out on top, so I want to announce my retirement. ... Nah, I'm going to stick around to enjoy this. It's truly quite a deal."

While the Whitcomb team rejoiced, Earnhardt and his crew coped in the garage area with deep disappointment.

"We outrun 'em all day," said Earnhardt, who had remained in his car for a bit to compose himself. "They didn't beat us. They lucked into it.

"But give Derrike credit. He ran a good race. He was sitting there poised to win if something happened. I can't believe it did happen, but you never take anything for granted in racing. I never thought I had it in the bag. At the end, I was just counting off the corners ..."

He never got to count the last two, at least not as the leader.

"What a heart-breaker," said Childress. "We've come close in this race the last few years and had something happen to deny us right near the finish. But this one really stings.

"I'm sure all of us are going to be sick a couple times tonight."

Childress revealed that the culprit – the piece of metal that cut the tire – had been retrieved and given to him.

"Waddell Wilson (Rudd's crew chief) found the thing," said Childress. "It had bounced up off the track and stuck in the radiator of Ricky's car."

Cope also was to receive a piece of the broken bell housing a bit later. He had run over the debris, too, cutting a tire in three places so deeply it likely wouldn't have held together another lap.

During the victor's interview in the press box, Cope remained humbled.

"I know you folks are stunned," he said. "I'm stunned.

"I'm not exactly a big name in this sport. I'll admit before anyone that I have a long way to go. I need a lot more experience."

The fabulous feat by such a long shot drew attention far beyond the realm of NASCAR followers.

Telegrams poured in from all over, including one from Joao Pereira Bastos, then Portugal's ambassador to the United States. Cope has some Portuguese-Cherokee ancestry through his mother, the late Delores Marie Azevado Cope.

Said the ambassador's wire: "I salute the Portuguese in you and claim part of your success on behalf of the country of your ancestors. Portugal was once second to none on the high seas. I am glad that it is now winning on the race track."

No NASCAR driver ever has been honored similarly.

"It's overwhelming," Cope said at the time. "I'm extremely thankful."

But for a knee injury Cope sustained, Portugal might have been praising him for playing pro baseball instead of driving a race car.

As a catcher at Whitman College in 1978 in Washington state, where he grew up, Cope was considered a top prospect.

"My dream of signing a contract was lost when I blew out my left knee in a collision at home plate," said Cope.

Derrike then turned to motorsports. He made his first Cup start at California's old Riverside Raceway road course in 1982. He made a brief run for rookie of the year in '87.

He secured a regular ride in '88, but listed only 48 big-time starts prior to going to Daytona in 1990. He had a single top five finish and 12 more in the top 10.

He'd started the Daytona 500 just twice previously. This caused whispers that his win was a "fluke."

Cope quieted that on June 3, 1990, when he impressively made up a lost lap to triumph again, mounting a charge to take the Budweiser 500 at demanding Dover Downs.

Cope appeared to be on his way. But the victory in Delaware proved to be his last in the series.

Rides became scarce and sponsorship hard to gain in ensuing years.

But through the intervening two decades Cope has persevered to continue a motorsports career, competing in each of NASCAR's three major series.

For this year, Cope and Dale Clemons formed Stratus Racing. The team expects to field Nationwide Series and Truck series entries. Cope plansa to drive.

Cope also will run a limited ARCA Series schedule. When he isn't entered, the team plans to enter some ARCA events with his nieces, Amber and Angela Cope driving.

The Earnhardt story has become legendary. He continued as a championship contender and winner well into the 1990s. But victory in the Daytona 500 eluded him despite repeated strong runs.

Finally, in 1998, after 20 years of trying, Earnhardt dramatically captured the Daytona trophy that he wanted more than any other.

Just three years later Earnhardt, a winner of 76 races and a record-tying seven championships, lost his life in a crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

At the time of the crash, Earnhardt was running third behind Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Both drivers were in Chevrolets owned and fielded by Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Many fans rank Earnhardt's stirring triumph in 1998 as the great race's most memorable, a standing it could keep for a long time.

And Cope's conquest in the Daytona 500 two decades ago? It is just as likely to continues as the race's biggest upset.

Cope, a gentlemanly, gracious driver, undoubtedly will feel the Florida sun of Feb. 18, 1990, warm on his face forever.

Baker finally gets his Daytona 500 win

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the run-up to the 2010 Daytona 500, Tom Higgins reflects on key races from each decade. This installment, the third of a five-part series, is about the 1980 race.

Buddy Baker was beyond exhilarated.

"It's going to be a long time before this smile fades from my face," the witty Baker said, beaming. "No one could get it off right now even if they used mortician's wax!"

The reason for Buddy’s glee:

After 19 years of trying in the Daytona 500 and often coming agonizingly close to victory, NASCAR's fun-loving “Gentle Giant” finally had won.

And Baker did so in rousing, record style on Feb. 17, 1980, averaging a stunning 177.602 mph at Daytona International Speedway, where the 500 looms this year on Feb. 14.

Big Buddy’s speed easily smashed the previous mark for stock car racing’s biggest show, 161.550 mph set by A.J. Foyt in 1972.

At the time in 1980 Baker's feat ranked as the fastest 500-mile auto race ever run anywhere, including ultra-fast Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Three decades later, his speed remains the record at Daytona.

Baker's rivals had seen it coming.

"The deal," said Richard Petty, destined to win seven Daytona 500s, "is that we're going to be following Buddy for a long, long time all through the race if his car holds together."

The car, an Oldsmobile, was so quick that during race week someone nicknamed it "The Gray Ghost."

Other drivers told NASCAR officials that Baker's Olds, which had a black and silvery-gray paint scheme, was so speedy that it was blending into the asphalt as Buddy overtook them. Cup director Dick Beaty consequently took the unprecedented step of ordering Day-Glo pink strips taped to the car's grille.

Buddy tried to play it cool about his chances, but the great prospect finally overcame him.

"I'm flying," he conceded 24 hours before the 500's green flag.

Then he echoed Petty. Said Buddy: "I'm running laps at 197 (mph). I'm going to win if nothing goes wrong."

Starting from the pole, which he'd won at 194.009 mph, Buddy led 30 of the first 33 laps on the 2.5-mile track in the car owned by Harry Ranier and engineered by Waddell Wilson. Baker then eased off a bit and watched Petty, Neil Bonnett, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Dale Earnhardt battle at the front.

Baker reasserted the power of crew chief Wilson's engine on Lap 88 and stayed ahead through Lap 180, when he pitted.

But it wasn't a runaway.

Just before the final series of pit stops began, Baker was in a tight aerodynamic draft with Allison, Bonnett and Earnhardt.

As the crew awaited on pit road, Wilson ordered a fuel-only stop.

"How much do you value this gas can?" crewman Buck Brigance excitedly asked Wilson. Brigance, a former motorcycle racing champion, was the gas man on the team.

"Why?" Waddell asked him.

"If you'll let us jab a hole in the bottom of it after I lift it up, the gas will flow into the car faster."

"Do whatever it takes, but get every drop of gas into the tank," said Wilson. "We'll need it to finish."

As Brigance inserted the nozzle of the 11-gallon gas can into the car, another crewman punched a hole in the bottom with a putty knife.

The fuel went in far more rapidly than usual.

"Knowing how impetuous Buddy is, I had reached in around his window netting and grabbed him by the neck of his uniform," recalls Wilson. "I wasn't going to let go until Buck signaled he had finished the fueling.

"I was very concerned Buddy would take off too early.

"The very instant Buck finished, Buddy almost simultaneously dropped the clutch. Buck didn't quite have the nozzle all the way out of the car, so Buddy pulled Buck into me. Buck and I both went sprawling down pit road."

The tumble was worth it.

As the front-runners got back up to full speed on Lap 182 following the pit stops, Baker held a six-second lead over Bonnett.

Buddy appeared home-free.

However, he had been in great position to win the Daytona 500 several times before, only to be cruelly denied.

In 1971 bad strategy in a late pit stop cost him. He led 157 laps in '73, but experienced engine failure six laps from the finish. He had led by a half lap in '75 when his car quit running without warning.

In '78 he was the leader with five laps left and his engine broke again. In '79 he dominated the preliminary events during Speed Weeks, but on the 500's very first lap his engine started missing and he lasted only 38 laps, finishing 40th in a 41-car field.

"All this was rushing through my mind at the end of the 1980 race," recalls Buddy. "I couldn't help but wonder if something bad might happen to me again."

So Buddy stayed on the throttle, padding his lead to 13 seconds.

With such a comfortable advantage, Wilson implored his driver by radio to slow down and conserve fuel.

Baker refused to back off.

"I can't hear you," Buddy told Wilson in a sing-songy voice.

In the pits Wilson was furious.

The radio communication between crew chief and driver became heated.

What was said?

"It sounded like a busy Saturday night in Junior Wong's kitchen!” Baker revealed later.

Who?

Wong was a fishing pal of Buddy's and mine. Junior ran the Ho-Toy, a small, popular Chinese restaurant in Charlotte. The place usually was packed on weekends, and the conversation in the kitchen was almost unintelligible.

Turns out the Baker-Wilson argument was academic.

A rival's blown engine forced the last three laps to be run under caution, assuring that Buddy would have enough fuel to finish. Baker took the checkered flag followed by Allison, Bonnett and Earnhardt.

It appeared that Earnhardt's Olds was strong enough to make a run at Baker. However, Dale's crew left a lug nut off during the last pit stop and he lost a lap whenhe was forced back onto pit road.

Buddy, the son of NASCAR pioneer Buck Baker, watched as his own sons, Bryan and Brandon, bawled in Victory Lane as emotions overflowed.

"The Daytona 500 is a measure of a driver's career," said Buddy. "Because I had such awful disappointments before, winning lifted the world off my shoulders.

"Winning this race is something you're always remembered for."

Wilson recalls an amusing exchange he had with Ranier in Victory Lane.

"Harry, naturally, was excited about winning not only the race, but a record purse.

"Harry said, 'We won $102,000!'

"I said, 'We won $92,000. I paid a fabricator $10,000 to put the body (sheet metal) on the car just right. He had to work a lot of overtime.'

"That price was unheard of at the time. I figured I'd be fired on the spot. But Harry was so tickled he just shrugged it off."

Ranier passed away a few years ago.

Wilson maintains a tie to the sport as an adviser to a transmission manufacturer.

Buddy retired from the cockpit in 1993 and subsequently joined his father in several motorsports halls of fame.

Buddy has worked as an analyst on telecasts of races and as a consultant to various teams.

He presently hosts a call-in show on Sirius radio on Mondays and Tuesdays from 7-10 p.m. And Monday (Jan. 25) is his 69th birthday.

Give him a ring and ask about the Daytona 500 of 30 years ago and his ride in "The Gray Ghost."

You'll hear a great tale.

Hamilton wins a thriller in Petty Superbird

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the run-up to the 2010 Daytona 500, Tom Higgins reflects on key races from each decade. This installment, the second of a five-part series, is about Pete Hamilton's victory in the 1970 500-miler at "Big Bill" France's big track in Daytona Beach, Fla.

It seemed a monumental mismatch.

Pete Hamilton, a relative newcomer to NASCAR's major series, vs. savvy, seasoned pro David Pearson, stock car racing's "Silver Fox."

In this case, on Feb. 22, 1970, during the Daytona 500, David turned out to be "Goliath."

Even at that point in his storied career, Pearson was a giant. He had won 57 races and three championships. In contrast, Hamilton listed only 19 starts and one top-five finish.

As the race wound down four decades ago at Daytona International Speedway, Pearson was the leader in his No. 17 Holman-Moody Ford. Hamilton, newly hired to drive a sleek, needle-nosed, rear-winged No. 40 Plymouth Superbird for Petty Enterprises as a teammate to Richard Petty, was in second place.

With 14 of the 200 laps remaining on the 2.5-mile Florida track, the engine failed in a Plymouth driven by Dick Brooks, forcing a caution flag.

Both Pearson and Hamilton pitted for fresh tires. Pearson's Charlotte-based crew opted for two right-sides only. Hamilton's team from little Level Cross, N.C., replaced all four tires.

Maurice Petty was the crew chief for Hamilton. Also in Pete's pit helping with the calls was Richard Petty, who had fallen out of the race on the seventh lap when his car's engine broke.

When the green showed, Hamilton surged into the lead on Lap 192, showing surprising power. He had led just four laps previously.

Although Hamilton was in front, Pearson was poised perfectly for an aerodynamic slingshot pass.

With two laps to go Pearson made his move entering the fourth turn. Pearson slipped slightly as he attempted to dive inside. The bobble was just enough for Hamilton to stay in front. He took the checkered flag three car-lengths ahead for his first big-time victory.

It was the greatest upset in the 12-year-history of NASCAR's most famous race.

Just like in the Bible, "Goliath" had fallen. And he had been beaten by a fairly inexperienced 27-year-old driver from Dedham, Mass., the son of a Harvard Ph.d.

"I felt I could run fast enough to keep David from slingshotting me if I could get in front," said the delighted, blond, lanky Hamilton following the race. "I thought my four fresh tires were going to be stronger than his two. And that's how it turned out.

"But for a split second when David made his move going into Turn 4 with two laps left…"

Both drivers appeared to lose traction just a bit.

"Did we get out of shape?" Hamilton said, responding to a question. "Did we ever!"

Hamilton widened his eyes for emphasis and pursed his lips as if to whistle.

"When I came off the fourth corner still in front on the last lap, I thought I was close enough to the finish line that I could just hang on."

And that's what Pete did, much to the astonishment of a crowd estimated at 103,000. Thousands more surprised fans watched the 500 on big screens at arenas across the country on a television hookup that carried the Teleprompter brand.

It was a pay-per-view deal. Best I recall, admission was $20.

One of the sites for TV viewing was Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, the home basketball court of Wake Forest's Demon Deacons.

It was almost time for the race to start before the Teleprompter signal from Daytona finally was attained. The picture was rather blurred and it seemed there were only three cameras focused on the action. But for NASCAR devotees, it beat not being there, especially for such a stunning outcome.

(Race fans who nowadays complain about TV coverage don’t realize how lucky they have it.)

But I digress...

Understandably, Pearson was deeply disappointed after dominating most of the final 250 miles.

"I just went sideways when I tried to make that late pass and I couldn't get the lost ground back," said the star from Spartanburg, S.C. "My tires got hot and slick. We probably should have changed all four tires that last pit stop."

In the press box for the winner's interview, Hamilton credited Richard Petty for guidance that put him in position to win.

"Richard and I did a lot of talking in the offseason in preparation for me making my first start for the family's team," said Hamilton. "What he kept saying really helped me."

Which was?

A cliché probably as old as auto racing itself:

"To finish first, first you've got to finish."

Continued Hamilton, the tour's 1968 rookie of the year who nonetheless had no major circuit ride in '69:

"I remembered Richard's advice all through the race. I could have run with anybody. My car was a lot faster than I showed.

"But we had planned to take it easy until it counted, so that's what I did.

"Also, Richard is a genius when it comes to making a car handle in the turns. My car was more stable, it seemed, than any of the others."

King Richard, destined to win seven Daytona 500s, seven series championships and 200 races, agreed with Hamilton about both the strategy and the handling.

"Pete was patient and ran the fastest he did all day in the last 10 laps," said Petty. "He was beating David in the corners and that was the difference."

Hamilton showed his triumph was no fluke as he later swept both 1970 races at Daytona's fast sister track at Talladega, then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway.

Despite the success, Chrysler's racing brass moved Hamilton from Petty Enterprises to the team of Cotton Owens in 1971. Pete triumphed again at Daytona, but this time in the Firecracker 400 on July 4th.

Hamilton, hampered by the flare-up of a neck injury he had suffered in a Grand American Division race in 1969, made only five starts in 1972 and two in '73.

Although still a young man, he retired from the cockpit after this. But he didn't get out of racing.

Hamilton formed an Atlanta-based company and became very successful in building race cars, mostly of the short-track variety. Now 67, he's retired again.

Personable Pete didn't drive long enough to gain status as one of NASCAR's biggest stars.

But those who witnessed his sparkling victory in the Daytona 500 of 1970 never will forget him.

'Spur-of-the-moment deal' a Daytona winner

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the run-up to the 2010 Daytona 500, Tom Higgins reflects on key races from each decade. This installment, the first of a five-part series, is about the second 500-miler at "Big Bill" France's big track in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1960.

It’s a story of almost fairy tale proportions.

Call it “The Fox And The Greyhound.”

It happened just before, and then during, the 500-miler staged on Feb. 14, 1960, at Daytona International Speedway.

A whopping field of 68 cars qualified for the second running of the NASCAR race, held that year on Valentine’s Day at the Florida track.

Among the cars was a 1959 Chevrolet driven by Junior Johnson, a North Carolina mountaineer and former moonshine hauler who was en route to becoming a legend in his own time.

How the car came to be in the 500 of 1960 is the beginning of the tale, which endures as the race’s 52nd running looms — once again on Feb. 14.

Just eight days before the race a half century ago, the Daytona Beach racing shop of Ray Fox, a well-known crew chief/mechanic, received a visitor.

He was John Masoni, owner of the Daytona Beach Kennel Club, a dog racing track located just outside Turn 1 at the speedway.

“Masoni was proposing a spur-of-the moment deal,” recalls Fox, who still lives in the Daytona Beach area. “Masoni said very emphatically that he wanted a car in the race. I told him there was no way I could get one ready in that little bit of time. He left, but he returned the next day with a surprising offer.

“He said to me, ‘Whatever you charge to build and field race cars, I’ll double it.”

“I agonized about what to do. Finally, I said, ‘Well, maybe I can hunt up enough guys to help me get it done.’ I got the guys to my shop and put them to work.”

What Fox was taking on bordered on the impossible in that era of motorsports. Unlike today, there were no mega-operations employing dozens of specialists and utilizing computer technology that was unimaginable in 1960.

After getting the team he had hastily assembled to work, Fox phoned Johnson. Junior had no ride because Paul Spaulding, a team owner for whom he’d won several races, decided to quit the sport after the ’59 season.

“I liked Ray, so I told him I would come down and see what we could do,” Johnson remembers.

“I knew that Pontiac had a super good race car. And several top stars were lined up to drive for Pontiac, including Fireball Roberts and Paul Goldsmith and Cotton Owens. I knew it was going to be a challenge.”

Sure enough.

The No. 27 Chevy fielded by Fox, a car that featured paintings of a sprinting greyhound over the front wheel wells, was far off the speeds posted by the Pontiacs in practice.

“In some sessions we were 30 miles an hour slower,” says Johnson.

Following, partially excerpted from “Junior Johnson: Brave In Life,” an authorized biography that I co-wrote in 1999 with my friend Steve Waid, is what happened next in that Daytona 500:

“I about decided I was wasting my time,” says Junior. “I was ready to go home. I didn’t want to stay in Daytona and watch the Pontiacs lap me about every 10 or 11 laps. I had no enthusiasm for it.”

“Oh, hell, we were very slow,” agrees Fox. “We only had a little 348 cubic inch engine. The Pontiac engine was much better. I knew that. I was aware of the situation.

“On top of being outpowered, our car was a year old. The only reason I was in the race was because of the guy from the dog track making it so worth my while.”

Junior hinted for Fox to get another driver. However, Fox demurred, vowing to make the car faster. After a series of adjustments, Junior decided to try and run with a top Pontiac in practice.

What happened has become a rich part of NASCAR lore.

Johnson latched onto the rear bumper of Cotton Owens’ Pontiac and he was able to stay there.

Junior had discovered the phenomenon of the aerodynamic draft!

“I wanted to be sure of what I had hit on, so I went back out to practice alone,” says Junior. “The car was still the same — pretty slow.

“So I came back onto pit road and sat there waitin’ for some Pontiacs to come by. I got in with them on the track and I stayed up. They couldn’t shake me.

“I knew then I was right about the air creating a situation — a slipstream type of thing. I saw this gave us a chance to win the race.”

The Fox-Johnson entry finished fifth in a qualifying race, earning the ninth starting spot in the 500.

“I knew that while our car wouldn’t run all that fast by itself, it would draft like Jack The Bear,” says Fox, now 91. “And Junior had found out how to do that better than anyone. I knew that if Junior stayed around we had a chance.”

Staying around proved a challenge.

The race was marred by wrecks, including some of the spectacular variety.

“In one crash an engine came out of a car and went flying down the track,” says Junior, who was 28 at the time. “I missed it by inches and almost went into the lake in the infield.”

So many cars were wrecked that Bill France Sr., founder of both NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway, was forced to cancel the next two races on the 1960 schedule.

But that’s getting ahead of the story …

As the 500 wound down, many of the top Pontiac drivers no longer were in contention. Only Bobby Johns remained, holding the lead with Johnson a bit back.

“Then, coming off the second turn with 10 laps to go, one of the damndest things happened I ever saw on a race track,” says Johnson.

“The back glass popped out of Bobby’s car and flew into the air. The sudden change in the airflow around Bobby’s car caused him to spin into the grass along the backstretch. By the time he got straightened out and back onto the asphalt I was long gone.”

Junior swept to the checkered flag 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Johns as an almost disbelieving Fox and his makeshift crew celebrated on pit road.

Masoni was so delighted that he gave his share of the winnings, $19,600, to charity.

It was the biggest victory for both Johnson and Fox in their hall-of-fame careers.

As usual during Speed Weeks at Daytona, there will be many special gatherings this February. Among those on the schedule is the annual dinner of the Living Legends Of Stock Car Racing, an organization co-founded by Fox.

Richard Petty, a seven-time winner of the 500, will be there, along with three-time winner Bobby Allison and others.

But the stars that night will be Junior and Ray, the lead characters in “The Fox And The Greyhound” fairy tale of five decades ago.