GOOD OL’ BOYS AT GOODWOOD: CHEVROLET STOCK CAR CHAMPIONS RETURN TO THE FESTIVAL OF SPEED

DETROIT, March 22, 2002 – Darrell Waltrip was the original bad boy of NASCAR stock car racing. Long-haired, hard-drivin’, trash-talkin’, Waltrip was the man whose mouth ran as fast as his race cars. Christened “Jaws” by rival driver Cale Yarborough after an on-track encounter, Waltrip’s nickname stuck like axle grease. He was the driver the fans loved to hate.

But the years have mellowed both Waltrip and his critics. The irreverent racer who burst onto the NASCAR scene in 1972 is now a respected ambassador for America’s most popular racing series. He is an accomplished television commentator and an international symbol of stock car racing.

“When you have an image in a sport, it usually sticks with you for life,” Waltrip observed. “But stock car racing changed, and I changed with it. When I started out, being outspoken in the media and aggressive on the racetrack were not accepted. Now they are. I was just ahead of my time.”

Although he has retired from active competition, the three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion will return to the driver’s seat at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 12-14, 2002. He’ll reprise his run last year on Lord March’s driveway in a new machine – the GM Goodwrench Service Plus Chevrolet Monte Carlo prepared by championship-winning team owner Richard Childress and campaigned on the grueling NASCAR circuit by driver Kevin Harvick.

There are echoes of Waltrip’s outspoken ways in his brash declaration that he intends to set the outright Goodwood speed record with his heavyweight stock car – a vehicle better suited to a high-banked speedway than a narrow, twisting hill climb. But the combination of Waltrip’s indomitable willpower and a 750-horsepower Chevrolet SB2 racing engine promises to be entertaining.

“The theme of this year’s Festival of Speed is a celebration of heroes and legends, and Darrell Waltrip qualifies as both,” said GM Racing Executive Director Herb Fishel. “He was a hero to millions of stock car fans, and his accomplishments have made him a legend in the sport.”

“Chevrolet Motor Division was founded by race car driver Louis Chevrolet, and competition has been a part of Chevrolet’s heritage for more than 90 years,” Fishel continued. “GM Racing is proud that a champion of the caliber of Darrell Waltrip will represent the thousands of amateur and professional racers who have made Chevrolet synonymous with success in motorsports.”

While Waltrip has 84 career Winston Cup victories on his resume and three championship trophies in his collection, Chevrolet’s Monte Carlo has won more NASCAR races than any car in history. Chevy drivers have won a total of 21 championships in NASCAR’s 53-year history – a record that no other manufacturer can match.

The mystique of stock car racing began with midnight runs by southern moonshiners who delivered their illicit beverages under cover of darkness to avoid government agents. The clandestine contests between moonshiners driving souped-up sedans and revenuers have become part of the folklore of motorsports. The ’shiners modified their cars to outrun the law while transporting cases of “white lightning” – the potent whiskey made in backwoods stills. It was a small step from racing on country roads to competing on dirt ovals carved from the South’s red clay soil.

While stories of stock car racing’s early days may be more fanciful than factual, NASCAR legend Robert “Junior” Johnson was an eyewitness to the sport’s birth. Johnson went legitimate after serving time for running liquor (a violation for which he subsequently received a full presidential pardon), applying the driving skills he had honed on mountain roads to winning races on the tracks that were springing up across the nation. Johnson won 50 races, including the 1960 Daytona 500, before assuming the role of team owner. When he hired a brash young driver named Darrell Waltrip in 1981, the results were spectacular.

In a six-year stint with Johnson, Waltrip won 43 races and all three of his championships (1981, 1982 and 1985). To this day, he still regrets his decision to split with his mentor.

“I was the right driver for him, and he was the right car owner for me,” Waltrip recalled. “If we had stayed together, I feel we could have really dominated the sport.”

The technology of stock car racing has changed as dramatically as its personalities. Although the perception of NASCAR racecars as production vehicles persists, they are in fact purpose-built racing machines. Restrictive NASCAR rules compel teams to go to extraordinary lengths in pursuit of a competitive advantage. Wind tunnels, computer-controlled engine dynamometers, sophisticated data acquisition systems and dedicated R&D programs are ubiquitous.

GM Racing supports Chevrolet and Pontiac teams in NASCAR competition with equipment and technical expertise. Basic engine components are produced by GM and assembled by specialists. Body shapes are sculpted in the GM Aerodynamics Laboratory to optimize downforce and drag, and GM Racing engineers coordinate engine, chassis and safety development programs. Comprehensive support and an unmatched record of success have made GM products the choice of top NASCAR teams.

Stock car racing has come far since the days of “good ol’ boys” who raced their hot rod sedans on country roads. But for one magical weekend, Darrell Waltrip and Chevrolet will travel back to stock car racing’s roots when they race through the English countryside at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.