1993 was a tragic year for NASCAR with the deaths of Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison, making that year one of the most painful in decades for the NASCAR community. 1994 was met with positivity and hope, but that would all soon be shattered before the first official race of the season.
Over the offseason we had several driver switches with the most notable being Terry Labonte going to the no.5 for Hendrick Motorsports, fans also saw the Petty 43 back on the track for the first time since 1992 as Wally Dallenbach was set to be the driver. Ricky Rudd and Geoff Bodine were also in the headings going into their debut seasons as owner-drivers, respectively. The biggest headline was Neil Bonnett making his return after suffering injuries in a 1990 crash, he would be behind the seat of the no.51 Country Time Lemonade sponsored Phoenix Racing car.
On February 10th,1994 a starting order draw for the Busch Clash took place along with qualifying for the ARCA 200. Ken Schrader drew the pole for the Clash set for Sunday as later on the ARCA series qualifier took place and in that qualifier fans in the stands and on tv saw a vicious crash. ARCA driver Andy Farr lost control of his car as it went on its side then up the track crashing head on into the wall at untold speeds where it then did several 360-degree spins, both in the air and on the track before it came to a rest with both the front and back of the car almost completely gone. Amazingly Andy Farr walked away after an impact so big that it actually broke the concrete wall in turn four. Farr was hospitalized and diagnosed with a cracked sternum and bruised heart.
First practice was set for the Daytona 500 and early on drivers already faced trouble with Rick Mast blowing a driveshaft and Sterling Marlin was thought to be leaking oil. The session was then stopped to check the surface of the track before restarting and at 12:45pm on February 11th NASCAR would lose Neil Bonnett after a fatal crash. The 51 car was almost completely ripped to shreds as it hit the turn four wall at
high speeds, he was 47-years old. It was then concluded that Bonnett’s Chevy broke a shockmount, but at the time NASCAR stated that it was driver error. Fellow drivers were outraged, saying that Bonnett was too skilled to have caused a crash like that; it was also strangely similar to Farr’s crash a day before. NASCAR would later retract their statement due to the outrage as not even through the first full weekend of the season there was already blood on the asphalt and controversy.
February 12th featured the Daytona 500 qualifying and the biggest story both in and out of the garages was Hoosier tire. The small tire company threw their hat back in to compete with Goodyear and teams had to decide what brand to go with. In winter testing it was Hoosier that ran on the most constant fastest pace compared to the Goodyear’s. Going into qualifying a third of the field ran on Hoosiers where Loy Allen became the first rookie to win the Daytona 500 pole.
Allen was also competing in the ARCA 200 as he looked to get the win at the famed track in ARCA and compete for a solid finish in the Daytona 500, driving for TriStar Motorsports.
February 13th was the day for both the Busch Cash and the ARCA 200. Dale Earnhardt won the first half of the Clash, getting $25,000 with Jeff Gordon winning the second half to win $45,000 driving the no.24 for Hendrick Motorsports. The ARCA 200 featured Loy Allen on the pole next to Tim Fedewa to lead a 43-car field to green. On lap 32 a violent crash would take place with the no.66 of Mark Thompson’s car going on its roof where it then flipped multiple times leaving only the chassis left. Thompson would be airlifted to the hospital and would stay there for a week due to broken ribs, abdominal bleeding and severe bruising sustained from the crash. Lap 50 would feature a crash under caution with the most notable driver being involved under the name Loy Allen as his car broke a tie-rod coming to the start. Mike Wallace would go on to win the ARCA 200.
Overall Loy Allen was undoubtedly one of the biggest stories of the weekend, with that said it overshadowed the fact that 17-rookies were making an attempt for the 500. Some notables included Jeff and Ward Burton, Steve Grissom along with John Andretti and Rodney Orr. Orr was just coming off a 1993 championship in the NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series, also being a champion motocross racer, he won races at the track on two wheels and looked to win on all fours. Coming into NASCAR in 1991 he looked for a safer form of racing and to help Rodney residents of his hometown collected donations at a local gas station for him to help with the racing expenses, in the small town of about 700 he was seen as a hero.
Driving an old Davey Allison car with an Ernie Irvan engine he attracted a lot of attention, posting the seventh fastest speed in winter testing. Roy made his first practice laps late Sunday where he found the car to handle totally differently than how it was in testing, making it extremely hard to control. At a 9am practice session on Monday Orr crashed, losing control of his car to mark the second death in just four days. The track was clear and dry with weather also in the best conditions a swing was slightly high, the car flipped at high speeds in turn two with the roof of the car slamming into the wall. This was the first time since 1956 where two drivers crashed in the same event, drivers and fans were stunned. After the crash respected veteran driver Jimmy Means would then announce retirement saying that he has no more desire to get back into a race car.
Both Bonnett and Orr had Hoosier tires and with no answers to the downpour of questions many assumed that the tires had a role in both fatal crashes. One year earlier Hoosier was forced to withdraw from the NASCAR Busch Series race at Daytona due to the tires. Drivers were split on the tire choice more than ever, many drivers and teams still backed Hoosier, but despite that the company still released every driver from their contracts to give them a free choice of what tire they prefer to use. With that occurring there were still very few teams that switched to Goodyear before the Twin 125s. Before the duels Rusty Wallace made a very passionate speech on driver safety and driving, everyone in the room was quiet while he was talking with long looks in their eyes. Ken Schrader would then speak up in an agreement with Wallace who then said that he bets that everyone in the room with him is scared to race along with their families who are scared for them. In the 125s there would be several spins and crashes with drivers running on Hoosiers with the most trouble out of the packs to lead to every team on Hoosier tires switching after the races.
The Daytona 500 was run with all of its 42 starters on Goodyear tires, the race would be won by Sterling Marlin. Marlin was driving a Chevy for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, he led 34 laps. Pole sitter Loy Allen did not lead a single lap and would finish p22, running 2 laps down. Hoosier still remains in NASCAR and racing as the company provides tires to many grass root racers and can be seen getting dirty in the World of Outlaws series. It is now going on to being 28-years since the speedweeks and Daytona 500 event took place, there has never been a tragic time in NASCAR of this caliber since.
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