1994 Daytona 500

Fatal crashes in practice sessions

During Speedweeks, on the first day of practice for the Daytona 500, legendary driver Neil Bonnett crashed in turn four. Bonnett died at Halifax Hospital from massive head injuries. Three days later, reigning Goody's Dash Series (NASCAR's four-cylinder class) champion, Rodney Orr, making his Cup debut, lost control and spun in turn two. His car flipped and hit the catch fence with the roof above the driver's seat. Orr was killed instantly. After the deaths of Bonnett and Orr, NASCAR Veteran Jimmy Means announced his retirement from driving. Following these tragedies, a worried Rusty Wallace gave a lecture, calling out the drivers for over-aggression on the track, during the pre-race Drivers Meeting. In his lecture, Wallace was extremely critical of the drivers taking bold risks such as gambling on their tires, making overly-aggressive moves early in the races, and not taking much time to fix any damages to their car on pit road. Wallace stopped for a short bit midway through his speech to give fellow driver Ken Schrader a chance to speak during his lecture with Schrader saying "we had a reality check this week." In conclusion, Wallace told the drivers, "Use your damn heads please!" He was given a round of applause from the drivers and teams after his lecture.

In the middle of the Goodyear-Hoosier tire war, Hoosier released teams from their contracts three days following Orr's death. Hoosier received blame from some observers as the tires were the only linking factor between the two deaths. However, the criticism was purely speculative and NASCAR never blamed the tires for the deaths and never offered an official cause of the accident for either fatality.

An investigation done by the Orlando Sentinel blamed Orr's crash on a broken right-rear shock absorber mounting bracket. That same part was reportedly broken on Bonnett's car. NASCAR refused to comment on the outside investigation. In order to reduce drag, teams were using extremely aggressive suspension packages with extremely soft shock absorbers and springs at Daytona and Talladega in order to reduce drag. The cars often bottomed out, creating sparks, which became visible at Daytona during the October 1998 Firecracker 400, which had become a night race.

The extremely soft shock absorbers and springs, along with aged pavement (last replaced in 1979, subsequently replaced in 2011 following a red flag in 2010 for pavement breaking up after 31 years) caused the mounting brackets to fail. Following the 1998 Firecracker that allowed the drivers to see the bottoming out and sparks as the chassis hit the pavement, and injuries to drivers in 1996 (Elliott), 1997 (Martin), and 1998 (Irvan) from the excessively soft suspension, drivers noted to NASCAR about the dangers of the extremely soft suspension packages. NASCAR implemented rules in 2000 for all series mandating specification shock absorbers and springs supplied by the sanctioning body at Daytona and Talladega, where teams arrived at the NASCAR trackside office and are randomly assigned shock absorbers and springs that must be returned to NASCAR at the end of the race in order to stop this dangerous practice. This practice is not used at other circuits As of 2022, teams in the Cup Series are required to use specification shock absorbers and springs from seventh-generation specification supplier Öhlins for all races.

Summary

Rookie polesitter Loy Allen Jr. failed to lead the first lap. Ernie Irvan and Dale Earnhardt swapped the lead several times in the first 60 laps (which turned out to be a preview of the Championship battle), with Jeff Gordon leading briefly. The Big One happened on lap 62 when Chuck Bown and Kyle Petty touched in turn 4. Petty, Robert Pressley, John Andretti, and Rusty Wallace were done for the day. Hut Stricklin, Harry Gant, Bobby Hillin Jr., and rookie Jeff Burton, among others, were also involved. The race restarted with Daytona 500 rookie Todd Bodine in the lead. He was soon passed by Earnhardt and was then tagged by Gordon whom Todd thought he was clear of. Jimmy Spencer, Ted Musgrave, Brett Bodine, and Michael Waltrip were caught up in a chain reaction to Bodine's spin; Brett and Waltrip would continue.

The finish

The yellow flag was displayed with 60 laps to go when Morgan Shepherd spun, which made for interesting fuel mileage strategy. Earnhardt, Irvan, and Mark Martin came into the pits again for extra fuel. 1990 winner Derrike Cope led the field at the restart, only to be passed by Marlin and Irvan a couple of laps later. Irvan took the lead with 43 laps to go, but on Lap 180 he suddenly got loose in turn 4. He recovered the car, but Marlin retook the lead as Irvan fell back to 7th. With 12 laps to go, Irvan was repassed by Martin, whom he had passed a few laps before, but with eight laps to go the Ford duo tag-teamed Jeff Gordon for 3rd and 4th. The two Fords swapped positions with five laps to go, and Irvan passed Terry Labonte (who was hung up behind Jimmy Hensley) in the tri-oval with three laps to go. But Sterling Marlin's Morgan-McClure Chevrolet was untouchable, and he finally won a Winston Cup race in his 279th start after eight 2nd-place finishes. He broke Dave Marcis' previous record for most starts before his first Cup win (227th start, at Martinsville in 1975). Martin ran out of fuel with two to go, but he managed to take the white flag to complete 199 laps.

Race results

References

References

1. "Weather of the ''1994 Daytona 500''". The Old Farmers' Almanac.
2. "NASCAR puts in new shock rule". Las Vegas Sun.
3. (1994-02-20). "1994 Daytona 500". Racing-Reference.info.