1999: THE ENVELOPE, PLEASE
So 1999’s NASCAR season has finally come to an end. Within the season were many events worthy of comment and worthy of "awards." So, the envelope, please:
1999 NASCAR DRIVER OF THE YEAR – Tony Stewart. The winningest rookie in 35 seasons, Stewart rewrote NASCAR’s modern era record books for rookies.
IDIOCY DEFINED OF THE YEAR – Kenny Irwin. His debut season in the Yates #28 only earned him the scorn of other drivers and also the wrath of his team owner. 1999 turned out to be the keeper, starting with the crash he started at the Daytona 500. He finished third at Daytona and from then on was just another lapped car. He started the year knocking Dale Jarrett into traffic, and he ended it by drilling John Andretti on pit road.
BREAKOUT DRIVER OF THE YEAR – Dale Earnhardt Jr., from a poor first third in the Busch Series to six wins and another title. He then backed it up with several strong runs in
IROC, none better than his door-banging finish with his Dad at Michigan.
BEST TEAM – Joe Gibbs Racing
MOST IMPROVED TEAM – Bill Davis Racing
COMEBACK TEAM – RCR Enterprises
COMEBACK DRIVER – Dale Earnhardt
BREAKOUT TEAM – Roush Performance #99 Ford
CHUTZPAH OF THE YEAR – Jeff Gordon deploring the quality of driving at the NAPA 500 at Atlanta.
CAR OF THE YEAR – Pontiac. Sure, Ford won the manufacturer title, but Pontiac emerged from five seasons of obscurity to grab nine wins. Three Pontiacs finished in the top ten in points.
FAN OF THE YEAR – Kim Burton – she’s held this award since her tearful performances at Texas and Martinsville in 1997.
NON-STORY OF THE YEAR #1 – Ricky Rudd’s seasonal winning streak, now ended at sixteen seasons.
NON-STORY OF THE YEAR #2 – Darrell Waltrip
SHOCKER OF THE YEAR & MYSTERY OF THE YEAR – NASCAR’s TV deal with NBC and Fox, and elimination of CBS-TNN and ABC-ESPN. The mystery lies in why NASCAR did not attempt a four-way network split – one that could provide more money to NASCAR at less cost to the individual networks.
SEMI-SHOCKER OF THE YEAR – The return of Dodge to NASCAR competition. I say semi-shocker because Dodge’s return has been rumored for years, and in a sense it was inevitable. The big shock of this deal was Ray Evernham’s involvement.
FINISH OF THE YEAR #1 – Goody’s 500 at Bristol. Cliche warning – it ended with a bang.
FINISH OF THE YEAR #2 – Terry Labonte by an eyelash over Joe Nemechek at the Touchstone 300.
PHOTO OF THE YEAR – Dale Earnhardt, Sr. and Jr., rubbing doors for the win in IROC at Michigan – we’re still not sure who Teresa was rooting for more.
RACE OF THE YEAR – Winston 500 at Talladega
RACE SHOCKER OF THE YEAR #1 – Jeff Burton’s win at New Hampshire after Stewart and Andretti ran out of gas with two to go.
RACE SHOCKER #2 – Elton Sawyer winning at New Hampshire.
WEEKEND OF THE YEAR – April at Talladega. IROC goes to Dale Earnhardt on last lap, Terry Labonte beats Joe Nemechek in a photo finish in BGN, then Earnhardt ends a long losing streak in the Diehard 500.
SCANDAL OF THE YEAR – The consistent failure of Goodyear tires.
HUSTLE OF THE YEAR – Tony Stewart’s 1,100 miles of Memorial Day Sunday.
ROBBERY OF THE YEAR – Cal Wells swiping Tide and McDonalds sponsorships from teams who needed them more than he did.
CRASH OF THE YEAR – Dave Marcis at Pocono, his head almost slamming the wall.
HEARTWARMER OF THE YEAR – Joe Nemechek’s win at New Hampshire.
HEARTBREAKER OF THE YEAR – Jeff Burton over Ward Burton at Rockingham. Even Jeff seemed frustrated at beating Ward.
WORST MOVE OF THE YEAR – Gordon squeezing full throttle between Rusty Wallace and a surprised and much slower Ricky Rudd at Daytona.
1983 JOE RUTTMAN SEASON AWARD – Mike Skinner. He was fast out of the box, then faltered as the season went on.
WORST RACE OF THE YEAR – A tie between the Brickyard 400, Homestead, and the KMart 400 at Michigan.
RACE CALL OF THE YEAR #1 – MRN’s Allen Bestwick and Barney Hall at the Touchstone 300 at Talladega, stammering on as NASCAR studied the photo-finish video and finally declared Terry Labonte the winner.
RACE CALL #2 – PRN’s Doug Rice, Mark Garrow, and Chuck Carland at the Goody’s 500 at Bristol.
MOST NAUSEATING DRIVER SPEECH OF THE YEAR – Terry Labonte at Bristol in August.
FRUSTRATION OF THE YEAR – Petty Enterprises, competitive week in and week out yet with only one win.
DOWNFALL OF THE YEAR – Roger Penske. At the start of the year he still had racetracks, his own CART chassis, a good deal with Mercedes, and a sweet deal with Goodyear. He had to sell his tracks, he lost Mercedes and his chassis, and Goodyear quit CART racing on him.
DOWNWARD SLIDE OF THE YEAR – Jeff Gordon. He won two races after Ray Evernham left, then couldn’t stay on the lead lap.
GOOD IDEA OF THE YEAR – Goodyear’s latter season conversion of its tires to handle more like bias-plies.
UNRESOLVED CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR #1 – The Latford Point System.
UNRESOLVED CONTROVERSY #2 – Slowing the cars down.
OMINOUS SHRINKAGE OF THE YEAR – The Craftsman Truck Series, a series once touted as becoming bigger than Busch Grand National, now a series unable to stand on its own.
WRONGLY IGNORED HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR – The memorial to Tim Richmond on the tenth anniversary of his death. NASCAR should have been made to pay attention to it.
MOST TELLING SIGN OF THE YEAR – Car owner Felix Sabates was not at the track when Joe Nemechek finally grabbed his first win.
EMBARRASSMENT & WARNING OF THE YEAR – Poor ratings for the Homestead race.
GOOD SIGN OF THE YEAR – 38 lead changes at the Atlanta race a week after the Homestead debacle.
PIVOTAL RACE OF THE YEAR – Winston 500 at Talladega. All recognized that Dale Jarrett had to finish to keep his point momentum going, and for awhile it seemed he would get lapped. But then he roared into victory contention and finished second, all but locking up the title.
SUREST SIGN WE’RE ALL GETTING OLD OF THE YEAR – Seeing a blossoming Taylor Nicole Earnhardt in victory lane.
BEST VICTORY LANE CELEBRATION – John Andretti at Martinsville.
PASS OF THE YEAR – Rick Mast taking the lead at Pocono.
GUARANTEE OF NEXT YEAR – Darrell Waltrip will DNQ a lot.
Well, that’s the wrap on 1999.