NASCAR fans get to stretch out their Independence Day holiday through Saturday night for the running of what I’ll always call the Firecracker 400. The July gathering at Daytona International Speedway of NASCAR stars is run at night now and “Firecracker” has been dropped from the official name of the race for years, but to me that “Firecracker” will always be the word that triggers my brain into racing anticipation.
The race was called the Firecracker 250 the first time it was run in 1959. The length of the event would be extended to 400 miles in 1963. The race retained the noble label until 1984 when the soft drink company Pepsi was attached.
The race was called the “Pepsi Firecracker 400” until 1989 when someone at NASCAR hit the delete button on the “Firecracker.” All of a sudden some of the magic of that race was gone for me. I had heard it called Firecracker 400 all through my childhood and to a kid anything related to fireworks seems pretty cool.
The event used to be run on the Fourth of July. It didn’t matter if it was a Monday or Thursday or any other day of the week. The race now runs on Saturday nights near the Independence Day holiday.
The majority of the NASCAR fans these days were not paying attention to the sport in 1989. A bunch of them weren’t even born yet and have no idea why this “Firecracker” thing eats at me so.
As a young NASCAR fan back in 1962 the Daytona 500, Firecracker 400 and World 600 were the brands for the major stock car events then. Winning one of those events was equal to being World Heavyweight Champion in boxing or World Series winners in baseball.
Eliminating “Firecracker” and “World” from the names of those events seem to lessen their importance somehow. I wonder if we’ll ever hear the “World” replaced with “Nike” to name the baseball championship series. Is it possible that in the future we could be calling it the “Pepsi Bowl,” instead of “Super Bowl?”
The “Firecracker” always conjured up images of July Fourth fireworks and the “World” in the title of the Charlotte race symbolized it was the longest, toughest and most revered motorsports event anywhere. There was extra importance to me as a fan for those events and some of that fascination probably was manufactured in my young mind by the names of those races.
The “Firecracker” and “World” are gone now. Off someplace where words go when we highlight them and press the delete key. NASCAR has already sold those pieces of their heritage to Pepsi and Coca-Cola. One can only wonder how long it will be before the “Daytona” is deleted from the 500 and replaced with something like the “iPhone 500 at Daytona.”
The Stats: Jeff Gordon heads to Daytona with the best report card among active drivers. Gordon has scored six wins at Daytona International Speedway and three of those have been Daytona 500 wins. His last win there was the 2005 Daytona 500.
Bill Elliott and Dale Jarrett have four wins each at Daytona. Jarrett’s wins were between 1993 and 2000. Elliott accumulated his trophies between 1985 and 1991. Elliott still holds the qualifying speed record at Daytona for a 210.364-miles-an-hour lap he clocked during 1987 time trials for the Daytona 500.
Sterling Marlin and Michael Waltrip have three wins each at DIS. Marlin won in 1994, 1995 and 1996. Waltrip’s wins were in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
The two-time winners among the active drivers are Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart. Stewart won last year and in 2005. Dale Jr.’s wins were in 2004 and 2001.
The drivers with one win at Daytona include Kevin Harvick (2007), Greg Biffle (2003) and Ward Burton (2002).
The top-five finishers of the Daytona 500 in February were Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Mike Wallace and David Ragan. Kurt Busch collected the bonus points for leading the most laps (95).
Nine drivers changed the lead 14 times. The other drivers leading more than one lap in the February race were Tony Stewart (35), Mark Martin (26), David Gilliland (18), Martin Truex Jr. (13), Matt Kenseth (6), Kyle Busch (4) and Kevin Harvick (4).
There were six caution flag incidents in this year’s Daytona 500 and in the 2006 Firecracker 400. The 2006 Pepsi Firecracker took just under two hours and 37 minutes to complete.
David Gilliland was the Bud Pole winner for this year’s Daytona 500.
This will be the last race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway for the old-style cars being used in the majority of the events this year. Drivers will begin using the new Cars of Tomorrow when they return for the 2008 Daytona 500.
Georgia Boys: David Ragan claimed the top-finish for Georgia drivers in New Hampshire Nextel Cup race. Ragan started 32nd, survived an on-track sheet-metal encounter with Kurt Busch and finished 15th in the race.
He was also the highest-finishing rookie driver for the event.
Ragan finished 18th in the4 Busch Series race at New Hampshire and is ranked fourth in the Busch point standings.
Reed Sorenson had a career-best starting spot at New Hampshire. The Peachtree City driver qualified third and finished 26th in the No.41 Dodge. Sorenson is ranked 27th in Nextel Cup points. He started 14th and finished ninth in the Busch Series race.
Bill Elliott collected 34th-place pay for his Nextel Cup run at New Hampshire in the No. 21 Ford. It was Bill’s sixth race for the Wood Brothers team.
Cobb County’s Bill Lester started fifth and finished 12th in the Craftsman Truck Series race in Memphis. Lester is 19th in the truck point standings.
Joey Clanton, of Fayette County, finished 30th in the truck event. Ken Butler III, of Lilburn, crashed and finished 33rd in the Memphis truck race.
Saturday’s Allan Vigil Ford 120 will air from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Newstalk 750 WSB Radio and www.wsbradio.com. For more race information visit our Fastcar Newsdesk at www.captainherb.net.
