“We knew we had a great car, but (we) were also apprehensive in how it was going to perform. We qualified well but had to change the type of tires we were running. You never really knew how it was going to go.”
Darrell Waltrip
Editor’s note: This is the 12th in a 40-part series highlighting 40 of the greatest wins in the history of Hendrick Motorsports to finish its 40th anniversary season. A new installment will be released each day from Nov. 22, 2024 through New Year’s Eve. Votes were taken from Hendrick Motorsports employees as well as representatives of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Racing Insights with all unanimous selections being ushered in automatically. The remaining wins were deliberated and decided upon by a small panel.
CONCORD, N.C. - NASCAR history is filled with legendary moments, but few are more iconic than hall of famer Darrell Waltrip’s emotional triumph in the 1989 DAYTONA 500 at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway.
The outgoing stock car personality had conquered all comers in 1981, 1982 and 1985 to capture three NASCAR Cup Series championships, collecting numerous race victories and poles along the way. He was among the sport’s biggest stars and in 1989, drove one of its most recognizable race cars – the bright orange-and-white No. 17 Tide Chevrolet from Hendrick Motorsports. Paired with long-time, title-winning crew chief Jeff Hammond, Waltrip was at the top of American stock car racing throughout the 1980s.
Yet, there was still something missing. A big something. Waltrip had never won the DAYTONA 500, falling short in each of his first 16 attempts.
To begin Speedweeks in 1989, testing had gone well, as the Randy Dorton-led engine shop built some of the fastest restrictor-plate engines around. The organization had experience too, winning the 1986 DAYTONA 500 with Geoff Bodine behind the wheel. Optimism was high inside the Hendrick Motorsports garage, and the good vibes didn’t stop there.
Never into superstition, Waltrip still tells people how intriguing it was that certain numbers seemed to be lining up in his favor.
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| RACE FACTS | |
|---|---|
| Date: | Feb. 19, 1989 |
| Venue: | Daytona International Speedway (DAYTONA 500) |
| Winner: | Darrell Waltrip |
| Hendrick Motorsports win: | No. 20 |
| Laps led by winner: | 25 |
| Starting position of winner: | 2nd |
| Top 10: | 1. Darrell Waltrip; 2. Ken Schrader; 3. Dale Earnhardt; 4. Geoff Bodine; 5. Phil Parsons; 6. Rick Mast; 7. Alan Kulwicki; 8. Rick Wilson; 9. Terry Labonte; 10. Eddie Bierschwale |
| Did you know? | While Waltrip won the 500, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Schrader may have had the week's best car. Schrader won the Clash, the DAYTONA 500 pole and his Daytona Duel race and remains one of only two drivers to ever accomplish this feat (Buddy Baker, 1979). |
“It just so happens that when you’re driving car No. 17 and it’s your 17th DAYTONA 500 and you just kind of start looking at all the possibilities,” Waltrip told NASCAR.com in a 2019 story. “My name (Darrell Lee Waltrip) has 17 letters in it. Our house is actually built on lot 17. My golf handicap is 17. The purse was $1.7 million. It was ’89 – 8 and 9 … 17.
“So many things added up to 17. And I’ve said this before, I told (crew chief Jeff) Hammond, I said, ‘I think there’s some good things happening here. We’re either going to win it or we’re going to finish 17th. I’m not just sure which.’”
While the numbers were fun to talk about beforehand, what was about to happen on race day would matter the most. Waltrip had a fast racecar, qualifying second to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Ken Schrader in single lap time trials.
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Waltrip was poised for his best 500 yet.
Then everything changed.
NASCAR made rules updates after qualifying had concluded. Officials informed Waltrip the tire package the team had been using was no longer legal, dramatically impacting their setup beginning with the Daytona Duels. Starting on the pole, Waltrip faded back as his qualifying race unfolded, holding on for an eighth-place finish.
“We knew we had a great car, but (we) were also apprehensive in how it was going to perform,” Waltrip said in a phone interview last week. “We qualified well but had to change the type of tires we were running. You never really knew how it was going to go.”
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“You saw his reaction in victory lane. This guy was a three-time champion, and he finally wins the biggest race on the calendar. He had already won the championship three times. He was a bona fide superstar in the sport. He was a future hall of famer. For him to finally win the DAYTONA 500 in the 17th try, it was big.”
Ken Willis, columnist, Daytona Beach News-Journal
The car Waltrip had affectionately nicknamed, “Betty” was in a very different place.
Raceday came and things were still a little rough. The new tire package altered the car’s handling, and the team continued to chase the setup. Waltrip’s car was bottoming out, hindering his ability to maneuver in the draft around the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
“I remember we struggled with the car throughout the race, as we made a bunch changes during every pit stop,” Waltrip recalled.
Despite the challenges, the No. 17 Tide Chevrolet remained competitive, running inside the top 10 for most of the race, avoiding numerous incidents along the way. As Waltrip noted, Daytona was newly re-paved, giving confidence to many more drivers and allowing those with less experience to race up front most of the day.
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“We dodged a lot of bullets during that race,” Waltrip remembers.
With 53 laps remaining, Hammond called Waltrip to the pits for one final stop, which included another big swing to improve handling.
“That adjustment worked, it kept the car from hitting the track as much and it was better to drive in those final laps. It wasn’t bumping as much,” Waltrip said.
The team was also gambling on fuel mileage. Both Hammond, and Waltrip’s wife Stevie, who monitored scoring and timing for the team, had calculated they could go the distance – if nothing went wrong.
Each lap down the stretch was tense. Waltrip scrambled to draft behind anyone he could find with every second behind another car saving ounces of fuel.
“We went for it. We shot our shot, and it paid off,” Waltrip recalled. “I remember the others like Earnhardt could only go 52 laps. We could go 54.”
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Fittingly, the late, great hall of fame broadcaster Ken Squier brought the race home in front of CBS’ national television audience, “Out of turn four, after 17 years of effort. The DAYTONA 500 belongs to Franklin, Tennessee’s Darrell Waltrip. He’s done it.”
Waltrip’s 74th career victory was his most significant. It was also win number 16 for Hendrick Motorsports.
In one of the most memorable post-race interviews in NASCAR history, Waltrip jumped out of the car and grabbed CBS Sports’ pit reporter Mike Joy (later FOX Sports broadcast booth partner) in a celebratory victory shake. Few will forget the moment.
“Ohhh … I won the DAYTONA 500! I won the DAYTONA 500!” yelled Waltrip, right before Joy attempted to ask his first question.
“Darrell, how long …”
“Wait, wait, wait … this is the DAYTONA 500, isn’t it?” Waltrip interrupted.
“You bet it is,” Joy responded.
“Don’t tell me it isn’t,” said Waltrip, looking towards the sky, “Thank God!”
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Waltrip went on to immortalize a dance known as the “Ickey Shuffle,” made popular by NFL star Elber “Ickey” Woods. The Cincinnati Bengals fullback celebrated touchdowns by famously outstretching the football in each arm, shuffling side-to-side before spiking the ball. For Waltrip, he ended his “Tide Slide” with a celebratory spike of his bright orange helmet.
“The one thing you don’t want in your career is a ‘yeah but,’” Waltrip later told NASCAR.com. “You don’t want to say all the things you’ve done, and ‘yeah, but you’ve never done this or yeah, but you’ve never done that.’ As you go through your racing career, in particular as you get to the end of your career, you always hope and think, have I got any ‘yeah buts’ out there? Are there any things that I could’ve done, should’ve done, wish I’d have done that I didn’t get to do? And Daytona would’ve been a huge ‘yeah, but.’”
Daytona Beach News-Journal sports columnist and auto racing beat writer Ken Willis, who has covered every Daytona 500 since 1983, perfectly captured the moment during a recent interview with HendrickMotorsports.com.
“At that point in time, in 1989 when Darrell Waltrip won the DAYTONA 500, it was the biggest moment of, ‘Hey, he finally won the DAYTONA 500,’” Willis said. “To this day, it’s the biggest except for 1998 (Dale Earnhardt).
“You saw his reaction in victory lane. This guy was a three-time champion, and he finally wins the biggest race on the calendar. He had already won the championship three times. He was a bona fide superstar in the sport. He was a future hall of famer. For him to finally win the DAYTONA 500 in the 17th try, it was big.”
There’s that number again.