Honestly, pacing NASCAR cars ain’t something folks talk much about – till you start digging like I did yesterday. Picture this: I’m sippin’ coffee watching old Daytona footage when that mystery car catches my eye, y’know? The one holdin’ back snarling Chevys like some traffic cop. Hooked me real good.
My Rabbit Hole Dive
First thing I did was raid my own garage – found dusty VHS tapes from the 90s with that iconic Corvette pace car footage. Couldn’t spot details though, so I hauled butt down to the local library’s microfilm room. Spent two hours squintin’ at newspaper archives till my eyes crossed.
Key things jumped out:
- 1973 Daytona crash chaos – Turns out the pace car driver panicked when leaders wrecked behind him and floored it! Took three laps to catch the pack again.
- Dodge’s sneaky promo stunt in ’88 – They painted identical twins as pace car and race car. NASCAR banned ’em next season callin’ it “confusion tactics.”
- That Pontiac Bonneville – Only open-top pace car ever used got torn apart by debris when Dale Earnhardt’s tire exploded beside it.
Piecing Together Ghost Stories
Hit a wall around midnight though – kept hearin’ old-timers mention a pace car “fireball incident” in ’76 but zero records existed. Almost gave up till I remembered Joe Weatherly’s nephew runs that dive bar by the speedway. Drove straight over at 1AM.
Guy slams his Budweiser down: “Uncle Joe hated that Plymouth Fury! Said its brakes glowed cherry red every restart.” Turns out it did burst into flames post-race – NASCAR scrubbed all photos to avoid bad press. My hands were shakin’ typing that nugget into my phone.
Why Bother?
Frankly? These pace cars saw more drama than most winners. That hunk of metal pacing superstars absorbed fistfights, tornado warnings, even a stolen camera saga in ’03. Left me thinking how much history we ignore just ’cause it ain’t leadin’ the pack. Might dig into safety truck stories next week – heard wild stuff ’bout those too.
