A look back at NASCAR most memorable moments - Good and bad
Over the course of the last decade, NASCAR has seen its share of bizarre, outrageous or downright astonishing moments.
From stunning life-saving moves to reactions to tragic events, these moments happened on and away from the track and left fans talking or gasping about their impact. Some were sad, some were moving and some just left you shaking your head and wondering what someone was thinking.
Here's a look at some of the more bizarre or outrageous happenings over the last decade of racing in NASCAR:
• Leader Sterling Marlin is penalized for getting out of his car to check fender damage during a red flag in the 2002 Daytona 500, costing him the race.
• Retired Marine Larry Hicks rescues team owner Jack Roush after his private plane crashes in a lake near Troy. Ala. Roush makes a full a recovery while Hicks became a national hero. “He was drowned,” Hicks said.
• Drivers threaten to boycott September 2000 race at New Hampshire after deaths there of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin. NASCAR responds with restrictor plates, leading to a boring race in which Jeff Burton leads every lap. “It sucked,” driver Rusty Wallace said.
• Controversy erupts over the broken seat belt that allegedly contributed to Dale Earnhardt’s death, leading to enough accusations and conspiracy theories to make a suspense thriller. A subplot is another legal battle over Earnhardt’s autopsy photos. There were lawsuits, countersuits and charges of a cover-up, prompting NASCAR Chairman Bill France Jr. to say, “NASCAR didn’t make it for 50 years by going around lying and throwing a con job out there to the world.” Ultimately, NASCAR’s own six-month investigation resulted in a 321-page, two-volume report that concluded that Earnhardt died from a “perfect storm” of circumstances, including the “broken” seat belt.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins at Daytona five months after his father’s death at the same track – crossing the finish line as his father’s famous No. 3 flashed in the sky like a bat signal – leading to charges that the race was “fixed.”
• NASCAR, Goodyear apologize for a tire debacle that led to a caution flag every 10-12 laps in 2008 at Indy. Both the sanctioning body and NASCAR work diligently in the next 11 months, testing tires and compounds to make sure that a repeat is not seen at the track.
• Kyle Busch, already a polarizing figure in NASCAR racing, wins at Nashville Superspeedway and immediately smashes the Les Paul, hand-painted guitar trophy in victory lane. Fans are aghast and critical. “Pete Townsend? I think [Ozzy Osbourne] has done it, too," Busch said discussing the rock-star move. “I think Kiss has even done it. Everybody has done it, except race car drivers. All them sorry saps, they take it home in one piece and put it on their shelf, man. I break that thing up and spread it within the team so everybody has got a piece.”
• The 2001 New Hampshire race is postponed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The one-day show is run on the Friday after Thanksgiving, with Robby Gordon winning after wrecking series champion Jeff Gordon.
• Jeff Gordon plays a zoo worker, a fighter pilot and a loser named Rickye Funck as the guest host of “Saturday Night Live.”
• In his first race as a team owner for new manufacturer Toyota, Michael Waltrip makes national headlines and causes one of the biggest cheating scandals in years when NASCAR officials find illegal fuel in his car during qualifying for the 2007 Daytona 500.
• Rookie Regan Smith beats Tony Stewart to the finish line at Talladega in 2008, but Stewart is declared the winner after NASCAR officials ruled that Smith passed below the yellow line that mark the out-of-bounds area.
• Hendrick Motorsports recruits Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive Kyle Busch’s damaged car at Texas after Busch left the track after a wreck. Earnhardt Jr. is later hired to replace Busch at Hendrick.
• Fans at Talladega throw beer cans at Jeff Gordon after he wins to tie Dale Earnhardt on the all-time win list on Earnhardt’s birthday.
• Bottlegate erupts in 2004 when Gordon, who is sponsored by Gatorade, knocks a Powerade bottle off his car in victory lane at California. Teammate Jimmie Johnson is later fined $10,000 for blocking a Powerade bottle in victory lane at Pocono.
• NASCAR apologizes for scoring fiascos at Dover and Pocono in 2004 that led to a 25-lap caution period at Dover in an attempt to reset the field and that then nearly cost Jimmie Johnson a win at Pocono.
• Four-letter words: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is fined in 2004 for crude language on TV after his win at Talladega, starting a trend that led to other drivers being fined for on-air obscenities.
• International Speedway Corp.’s attempt to develop a race track on New York’s Staten Island becomes a political hot potato, leading to controversy and a public hearing that ends in a near riot. The project is soon dropped.
• Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray announce in 2005 that they have signed contracts with other teams – for 2007. The early signings lead to deals that allow both drivers to leave for their new teams in 2006.
• Mark Martin announces his retirement and holds his “Salute-To-You” farewell tour, only to return the next year to run a partial Cup schedule. Martin, 50, then unretires and returns to full-time action in 2009 and then signs a contract extension to keep him with Hendrick Motorsports through 2011.
• A year after getting arrested and suspended from his team for verbally abusing sheriff’s deputies in Maricopa, Ariz., Kurt Busch was made a “special deputy” by the county sheriff in 2006.
• After ISC buys Martinsville Speedway, it does away with the famous Martinsville hot dog, drawing the ire of competitors and NASCAR President Mike Helton, who orders the return of the chili-smothered red dogs.
• After being released by team owner Ray Evernham, Jeremy Mayfield sues, alleging Evernham neglected his team as he had an affair with Erin Crocker, the team’s driver in what is now the Camping World Truck Series. (Evernham and Crocker married this year.)
• As part of his new image at Penske Racing, Kurt Busch has cosmetic surgery to have his ears pinned back. “A little slicker. I’ve got it working in the draft now,” Busch said.
• Dodge pulls its factory support from Bill Davis Racing, accusing Davis of helping Toyota enter the Truck series. Dodge later sues Davis.
• Truck series driver Aaron Fike is suspended after his arrest for heroin possession. He later says he raced while on heroin, leading to NASCAR’s random drug testing.
• Jeremy Mayfield is suspended by NASCAR for violation of the substance abuse policy in May 2009 after NASCAR claims he tested positive on a drug test. Mayfield claims that it was a false positive resulting from a combination of over-the-counter allergy medicine and a prescription drug used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Both sides then sued in a legal case that has come to include Mayfield's stepmother, defamation claims and that has involved high-profile attorneys Bill Diehl and then Mark Geragos as Mayfield's attorney.
Source: A look back at NASCAR most memorable moments - Good and bad
From stunning life-saving moves to reactions to tragic events, these moments happened on and away from the track and left fans talking or gasping about their impact. Some were sad, some were moving and some just left you shaking your head and wondering what someone was thinking.
Here's a look at some of the more bizarre or outrageous happenings over the last decade of racing in NASCAR:
• Leader Sterling Marlin is penalized for getting out of his car to check fender damage during a red flag in the 2002 Daytona 500, costing him the race.
• Retired Marine Larry Hicks rescues team owner Jack Roush after his private plane crashes in a lake near Troy. Ala. Roush makes a full a recovery while Hicks became a national hero. “He was drowned,” Hicks said.
• Drivers threaten to boycott September 2000 race at New Hampshire after deaths there of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin. NASCAR responds with restrictor plates, leading to a boring race in which Jeff Burton leads every lap. “It sucked,” driver Rusty Wallace said.
• Controversy erupts over the broken seat belt that allegedly contributed to Dale Earnhardt’s death, leading to enough accusations and conspiracy theories to make a suspense thriller. A subplot is another legal battle over Earnhardt’s autopsy photos. There were lawsuits, countersuits and charges of a cover-up, prompting NASCAR Chairman Bill France Jr. to say, “NASCAR didn’t make it for 50 years by going around lying and throwing a con job out there to the world.” Ultimately, NASCAR’s own six-month investigation resulted in a 321-page, two-volume report that concluded that Earnhardt died from a “perfect storm” of circumstances, including the “broken” seat belt.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins at Daytona five months after his father’s death at the same track – crossing the finish line as his father’s famous No. 3 flashed in the sky like a bat signal – leading to charges that the race was “fixed.”
• NASCAR, Goodyear apologize for a tire debacle that led to a caution flag every 10-12 laps in 2008 at Indy. Both the sanctioning body and NASCAR work diligently in the next 11 months, testing tires and compounds to make sure that a repeat is not seen at the track.
• Kyle Busch, already a polarizing figure in NASCAR racing, wins at Nashville Superspeedway and immediately smashes the Les Paul, hand-painted guitar trophy in victory lane. Fans are aghast and critical. “Pete Townsend? I think [Ozzy Osbourne] has done it, too," Busch said discussing the rock-star move. “I think Kiss has even done it. Everybody has done it, except race car drivers. All them sorry saps, they take it home in one piece and put it on their shelf, man. I break that thing up and spread it within the team so everybody has got a piece.”
• The 2001 New Hampshire race is postponed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The one-day show is run on the Friday after Thanksgiving, with Robby Gordon winning after wrecking series champion Jeff Gordon.
• Jeff Gordon plays a zoo worker, a fighter pilot and a loser named Rickye Funck as the guest host of “Saturday Night Live.”
• In his first race as a team owner for new manufacturer Toyota, Michael Waltrip makes national headlines and causes one of the biggest cheating scandals in years when NASCAR officials find illegal fuel in his car during qualifying for the 2007 Daytona 500.
• Rookie Regan Smith beats Tony Stewart to the finish line at Talladega in 2008, but Stewart is declared the winner after NASCAR officials ruled that Smith passed below the yellow line that mark the out-of-bounds area.
• Hendrick Motorsports recruits Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive Kyle Busch’s damaged car at Texas after Busch left the track after a wreck. Earnhardt Jr. is later hired to replace Busch at Hendrick.
• Fans at Talladega throw beer cans at Jeff Gordon after he wins to tie Dale Earnhardt on the all-time win list on Earnhardt’s birthday.
• Bottlegate erupts in 2004 when Gordon, who is sponsored by Gatorade, knocks a Powerade bottle off his car in victory lane at California. Teammate Jimmie Johnson is later fined $10,000 for blocking a Powerade bottle in victory lane at Pocono.
• NASCAR apologizes for scoring fiascos at Dover and Pocono in 2004 that led to a 25-lap caution period at Dover in an attempt to reset the field and that then nearly cost Jimmie Johnson a win at Pocono.
• Four-letter words: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is fined in 2004 for crude language on TV after his win at Talladega, starting a trend that led to other drivers being fined for on-air obscenities.
• International Speedway Corp.’s attempt to develop a race track on New York’s Staten Island becomes a political hot potato, leading to controversy and a public hearing that ends in a near riot. The project is soon dropped.
• Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray announce in 2005 that they have signed contracts with other teams – for 2007. The early signings lead to deals that allow both drivers to leave for their new teams in 2006.
• Mark Martin announces his retirement and holds his “Salute-To-You” farewell tour, only to return the next year to run a partial Cup schedule. Martin, 50, then unretires and returns to full-time action in 2009 and then signs a contract extension to keep him with Hendrick Motorsports through 2011.
• A year after getting arrested and suspended from his team for verbally abusing sheriff’s deputies in Maricopa, Ariz., Kurt Busch was made a “special deputy” by the county sheriff in 2006.
• After ISC buys Martinsville Speedway, it does away with the famous Martinsville hot dog, drawing the ire of competitors and NASCAR President Mike Helton, who orders the return of the chili-smothered red dogs.
• After being released by team owner Ray Evernham, Jeremy Mayfield sues, alleging Evernham neglected his team as he had an affair with Erin Crocker, the team’s driver in what is now the Camping World Truck Series. (Evernham and Crocker married this year.)
• As part of his new image at Penske Racing, Kurt Busch has cosmetic surgery to have his ears pinned back. “A little slicker. I’ve got it working in the draft now,” Busch said.
• Dodge pulls its factory support from Bill Davis Racing, accusing Davis of helping Toyota enter the Truck series. Dodge later sues Davis.
• Truck series driver Aaron Fike is suspended after his arrest for heroin possession. He later says he raced while on heroin, leading to NASCAR’s random drug testing.
• Jeremy Mayfield is suspended by NASCAR for violation of the substance abuse policy in May 2009 after NASCAR claims he tested positive on a drug test. Mayfield claims that it was a false positive resulting from a combination of over-the-counter allergy medicine and a prescription drug used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Both sides then sued in a legal case that has come to include Mayfield's stepmother, defamation claims and that has involved high-profile attorneys Bill Diehl and then Mark Geragos as Mayfield's attorney.
Source: A look back at NASCAR most memorable moments - Good and bad
