Nascar has a long and storied history, but it also has a past littered with “What If?” questions. Join author Mike Mackler as he takes a look back at stock car racing’s 100 most-intriguing hypotheticals in “100 Stock Car Racing ‘What Ifs’”, the book available on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle formats. Here’s a preview of one of the one hundred “What If” questions asked throughout the book:
9. What if Davey Allison won the 1992 Winston Cup championship?
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| What might have been... |
Background: The finale to the 1992 season has been dissected to death, but here’s a quick overview—six drivers enter the race with a shot at the championship, three of them (Davey Allison, Bill Elliott, and Alan Kulwicki) having legitimate chances to win it all in Richard Petty’s last race (and Jeff Gordon’s first).
What Actually Happened: Ernie Irvan suffered a blown tire with 74 laps to go and slid in front of Davey Allison’s car, knocking Allison out of the race and the championship chase, eventually allowing Kulwicki to win the championship on strategy by 10 points over Elliott.
What Could Have Been the Turning Point: What if Ernie Irvan had either managed to avoid sliding into Allison’s way, or simply not blown his tire in the first place?
What COULD Have Happened: Allison could have held on to clinch the championship, even if he’d been outraced by Elliott and Kulwicki that day, thanks to his 30 and 40 point leads over Kulwicki and Elliott respectively.
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| The Underbird triumphed that day |
And if THAT Happened…: One of the most-popular drivers the sport had ever seen would have won his elusive Cup championship in the year in which many still say he should have won it. The Allisons would have become the only father-son combination other than Lee and Richard Petty to win Cup championships, and Robert Yates would have won his first championship several years ahead of when he actually did.
What Else Could Have Happened: Sadly, we still would have wound up with a defending champion perishing, as both Allison and Kulwicki would die in separate non-racing accidents during the 1993 season. However, history would likely look back more-fondly on Allison’s racing career with a championship, instead of asking simply what might have been. However, Nascar would also lose arguably its biggest underdog (or, more accurately, underbird) stories in history with Kulwicki’s championship.
Why It Had to Turn Out The Way It Did: Not only do tires tend to blow out at the most inopportune times, but there’s no guarantee that Davey would’ve held on to clinch the championship that day.