Alan Dennis Kulwicki (dated December 14, 1954 - April 1, 1993), dubbed "Special K" and "Polish Prince", is an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) racing car driver. He started racing at a local short track in Wisconsin before moving on to the regional auto tour series tour. Kulwicki arrived at NASCAR, the highest and most expensive stock car rack in the United States, with no sponsorship, limited budgets, and only racing cars and pickup trucks borrowed. Despite starting with minimal equipment and finances, he was awarded the 1986 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award for racing drivers for well-funded teams.
After Kulwicki won his first race at the Phoenix International Raceway, he debuted what would be his trademark "Lap Poland victory". Kulwicki won the 1992 Winston Cup with what became the closest margin in NASCAR history. He died early in 1993 in a light plane crash, and therefore never defended his championship. He has been inducted into several famous races and has been named one of the 50 greatest NASCAR racers.
Kulwicki is known as a perfectionist and does things his own way. An engineer with trade, his scientific approach to NASCAR racing inspires the way teams are now running. Despite the lucrative offer from top car owners, he insisted on driving for his own racing team, AK Racing, for most of his NASCAR career. Described by his publicist as "the type of person who is very hard to know", he remains a bachelor all his life.
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Kulwicki grew up in Greenfield, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee known as the Polish-American neighborhood, near the Milwaukee Mile racetrack. After her mother died, her family moved in with her grandmother, who died when Kulwicki was in seventh grade. A year later, his only brother died of a hemophilia-related disease. Kulwicki attended Pius XI High School, a Roman Catholic high school in Milwaukee, and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1977. His knowledge of engineering has been cited as a contributing factor to his success as a driver, for helping him better understand the physics of race cars. He first ran on the local track as an amateur while in college before becoming a full-time professional racer in 1980. A devout Roman Catholic, Kulwicki always competed with the Saint Christopher piety medal in his car.
Maps Alan Kulwicki
Racing career
Early racing career
Kulwicki started his racing career as a 13-year-old kart racer. His father built the engine as a crew chief for Norman racing cars and Roger McCluskey the United States Automobile Club (USAC). Because his work involves the trip, Kulwicki's father can not help his son in most kart races, so Kulwicki's skills are often tested trying to find someone to transport his kart to the track. Even when Kulwicki sought his father's advice, he usually did most of his own work. "I showed him how," said Gerry Kulwicki. "And he said:" Why do not you do it? You can do it better. 'And I said,' Well, if you do it for a while, you can do it better. ' "
Many local-level American racetracks host their own championship seasons. In Wisconsin, many locations held land and racing short asphalt tracks. Kulwicki began driving local stock cars at the Hales Corners Speedway and the dirty Cedarburg oval tracks. In 1973, he won the rookie of the year award at Hales Corners Speedway in Milwaukee, a suburb of Milwaukee, and the following year began spurring the final model - the fastest and most complex type of car running at the local level - on the same track. That season, he won his first feature race, at the Leo Racetrack in Oshkosh.
Kulwicki moved from a dirt track to an asphalt road in 1977. He also worked with racing car builder Greg Krieger to research, model, engineer, and build innovative cars with more torsional stiffness than any other final model. Increased stiffness allows the car to handle better around the corner, which increases its speed. Racing at the Slinger Super Speedway, he won the track championship in 1977. In 1978, Kulwicki returned to Slinger; In the same year he started racing the final model at Wisconsin International Raceway (WIR), completing all three points in a rookie season on the track. In 1979 and 1980, he won the WIR final model championship.
In 1979, Kulwicki began competing at regional level until a national event approved by the USAC Stock Car series and the American Speed ​​Association (ASA), while remaining an amateur racer until 1980. When Kulwicki ran against the NASCAR champion of the future ahead of Rusty Wallace in the ASA series, both became friends. Kulwicki's highest peak in the ASA season points championship was the third place, which he achieved in 1982 and 1985, with five career victories and twelve pole positions.
NASCAR Careers
1980s
Kulwicki raced in four NASCAR Busch Grand National Series series (now Xfinity Series) in 1984. At that time, the Busch Grand National Series was regarded as the NASCAR feeder circuit, a proving ground for drivers who want to step into the organization's premier circuit Winston Cup. Kulwicki fulfilled the second fastest qualification and finished second in his first NASCAR career race, which took place in Milwaukee Mile, several city blocks from where he grew up. Later that year, he finished seventh in Charlotte and fifth at Bristol. The following year, Kulwicki occupies the sixteenth position in the Busch Series race of the opening season in Daytona. Although he won a pole position at the event that year in Milwaukee, he completed the fourteenth because of engine trouble. Busch Kulwicki series manages to catch the owner of the car's eye Bill Terry and he offers Kulwicki a chance to race for him at some Winston Cup events.
In 1985, Kulwicki sold most of its goods, including its short track racetrack, to move about 860 miles (1,380 km) to the Charlotte area of ​​North Carolina. He only keeps a few things; his pickup truck loaded to pull the trailer full of furniture and equipment. The electric fire two days before he left his truck was destroyed, so Kulwicki had to borrow one to pull the trailer. Upon arriving in the Charlotte area, she appears unannounced at Terry's store ready for the race. The veteran NASCAR driver was initially amused by Kulwicki's arrival on a national tour: He was a driver from the northern United States when the series was primarily a southern series, he had a mechanical engineering degree when several other drivers had finished college, and, with only six starts, has limited driving experience in SMP Busch Series. Kulwicki is described as being very studious, hardworking, unceremonious, and something of a loner. He often walked in the garage area in his racing uniform carrying a suitcase. Kulwicki started his first career at the Winston Cup in Richmond on September 8, 1985, for the Ford Hardees No. team. 32 belongs to Bill Terry. That season he competed in five races for Terry, with his 13th highest finish.
Kulwicki started the rookie season in 1986 with Terry. After Terry decided to end support for his mid-season racing team, Kulwicki lowered his own team. He started out as a one-man team when another team had dozens of people in supporting roles. Originally the driver, owner, head crew, and head mechanic, Kulwicki had difficulty getting and keeping crew members because he found it hard to trust them to do the job with the excellence he asked for, and because he was hand in racing car maintenance until it became a "control freak". He looks for crew members who own their own racing cars, believing they will understand what they are going through: working for hours and caring for themselves on a very limited budget. Famous crew members include crew chief, Paul Andrews, and crew of the Army commander, Tony Gibson and Brian Whitesell. Crew's chief and future owner, Ray Evernham, lasted six weeks with Kulwicki in 1992. Evernham later said, "The man is a genius.There's no question.This is not a matter of people just feeling like he's a genius.This guy is a genius. "With one car, two engines, and two full-time crew members, Kulwicki won the 1986 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award." With a car, two engines, and two full-time crew members, Kulwicki won the 1986 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award. He has competed in 23 of 29 shows, with four top 10 finishes, three unfinished races (DNF), averaged 15.4 finishes, and only had one result below 30th place. Kulwicki finished 21th in the Winston Cup points standings for the season.
For the 1987 season, Kulwicki got the main sponsor from Zerex Antifreeze and changed his car number to seven. He took his first pole career position in the third race of the season, at Richmond. Later in the season, he again earned the fastest qualifying in Richmond and Dover. Kulwicki almost won his first Winston Cup race at Pocono, finishing second after Dale Earnhardt's winner past him on the last lap. With nine top 10 finishes, eleven DNF, and an 18.2 average finished in 29 events; Kulwicki finished 15th in the Winston Cup standings this season.
In 1988, Kulwicki hired Paul Andrews as head crew after Andrews was recommended by Rusty Wallace at the 1987 NASCAR Awards. That year Kulwicki won his first NASCAR Winston Cup race at the second race of last season at the Phoenix International Raceway after race leader Ricky Rudd had motor problems in end of the race. Kulwicki led 41 laps and was won by 18.5 seconds. After the race is over, he spins his car and makes, what he calls, "Polish victory lap" by driving in the direction (clockwise) on the track, with the driver's side facing the fans. "It gives me a chance to wave to the crowd from the driver's side," Kulwicki explained. Andrews recalled, "He wants to do something special and something different for his first win and only the first."
It's a long journey and it takes a lot of hard work to get here, but it has made it all worthwhile. When you work for something that is so difficult for a long time, you wonder if it will be worth it for all the anticipation. Believe me, that's for sure. And what do you think about the lap of my Polish victory? There will never be another first win and you know, everybody splashes champagne or stands in the car. I want to do something different for the fans.
He finished the 1988 season with four pole positions in 29 events, nine top 10 finishes including two second places finish, twelve DNF, and an average finish of 19.2. Kulwicki occupies the 14th position in the standings Winston Cup points for this season.
Kulwicki started his own engine development program for the 1989 season. He has four second places finished that season and holds the lead points after the fifth race of the season. The team dropped from fourth to fifteenth on points due to suffering nine engine failures over sixteen races in mid-season. In 29 races, he has six pole positions, nine top 10 finishes, and finishes 14 in points in the season. The team has a new workshop built during the season.
1990s
Junior Johnson, owner of one of the top NASCAR teams, approached Kulwicki at the start of the 1990 season to try to get him to replace Terry Labonte at No. 11 Budweiser Ford. Kulwicki refused, stating that he was more interested in running his own team. He won the second Cup race at Rockingham on 21 October 1990, and finished eighth on points that year, his first finish in the top 10 points in a single season. In 29 races, he has thirteen top 10 finishes and one pole position.
Prior to the 1991 season, Zerex ended their sponsorship for the Kulwicki team. Junior Johnson came calling again, looking for a driver for the second team he had turned on the last time he saw Neil Bonnett behind the wheel in 1986. Kulwicki rejected Johnson's $ 1 million bid that thought he had a sponsorship deal with Maxwell House Coffee. Johnson then went to Maxwell House himself and obtained a sponsorship for his new car, which Sterling Marlin rented instead. Kulwicki was forced to start the season without a sponsor, paying all the team's expenses from his own pocket. In the opening race of the season, Daytona 500 1991, five cars race against a paint scheme representing various branches of the US military to show support for American forces involved in the Gulf War. It was the first use of a special paint scheme in NASCAR history. The Kulwicki car is sponsored by the United States Army in a race deal. After running the second and third races of the season with a white car without a sponsor, Kulwick's fortunes found the sponsors changed for the better at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
At that time, Hooters sponsored a car driven by Mark Stahl, another driver-owner in the Cup series. Unlike Kulwicki, Stahl is a part-time participant who has difficulty making races. Hooters' car failed to make the field for Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 and the Atlanta-based chain, wanting a place in the race, approached Kulwicki without sponsorship to gauge his interest. The principals agreed to at least a one-race deal, which became a long-term deal when Kulwicki recorded the eighth place in the race. Later in the season, Kulwicki won a Bristol night match for his third career victory. In 29 races, he has eleven top 10 finishes, four poles, and finishes 13 at points.
1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship
Kulwicki passed Dale Jarrett with 27 laps left in the Food City 500 race on April 5 at Bristol to clinch a narrow victory. It was his fourth Winston Cup victory. After the race, he has never left the top five points of the season. Andrews attributes a consistent touch of Kulnowi to the performance of newly adopted radial tires throughout their lifetime. He said, "It's hard to control them, and the ability of the driver to work with that car during training in order to manage the car means so much more than has ever happened." Kulwicki's second win of the season was in the first race at Pocono. Discounted as a competitor for the season championship during the year, Kulwicki is expected to fade from the dispute. He qualified for pole position for the Peak AntiFreeze 500 race on Sept. 20 in Dover but dropped at the start of the race and finished 34th.
Kulwicki is quite vocal that his 278-point deficit might be his failure, and that the Dover races will keep him from competing for the title of the season. He was quoted as saying, "This might get us out of the deal." On October 11, Mark Martin had a narrow victory over Kulwicki at Mello Yello 500 in Charlotte. For the second race in a row, points leader Bill Elliott has a problem, which makes six riders in the title range with three races remaining. Elliott had another problem in the second to last race, and his cracked cylinder head allowed the winner of Davey Allison's race to take the lead, with Kulwicki's fourth-place finishers second in season and third Elliott points.
The 1992 Hooters 500, the last race of the 1992 season, is considered one of the most important races in NASCAR history. This is the last race for Richard Petty and the first for Jeff Gordon. Six riders are close enough in the standings to win the championship that day. Allison leads Kulwicki's second place with 30 points, Bill Elliott by 40, Harry Gant by 97, and Kyle Petty with 98 and needed to finish sixth or better to clinch the championship. Kulwicki received approval from NASCAR and Ford to change the letters "Thunderbird" in his bumper to race to "underbird" because he felt like an unseeded man in a fight for the championship. During Kulwicki's first break, the first gear in the car transmission was damaged. Andrews said, "We have to leave the pit road in fourth gear, because we have broken the metal parts there, and just by leaving it in fourth place, you will not move the metal as much as possible.we can only hope that the loose part of the metal is not go in there and break the gears in half.We have three or four pits stops after it breaks down.I am holding my breath all day. "Allison races in sixth place, behind Ernie Irvan, when Irvan tires explode with 73 (out of 328) laps left at the event. As a result, Allison ran beside Irvan's spinner and his car was too damaged to continue. Kulwicki and Elliott were left to duel for the title. While leading at the end of the race, Andrews counts the right rounds for his final pit stop so Kulwicki will be guaranteed to lead the most laps and will earn five bonus points. Kulwicki made the final pit stop only after leading enough laps to guarantee bonus points. To save time, the pit crew makes a special fuel pit stop. Not changing tires allows them to be available to encourage the car to not jam, because the car must start moving with higher gears. Because the fuel team man rushed to add gasoline during a quick stop, he did not add the desired amount to the tank. As a result, Kulwicki must save fuel to ensure that his car is still running at the end of the race. Elliott wins the race and Kulwicki uses his fuel to finish second. Kulwicki won the 1992 Winston Cup by defending his 10-point lead over Elliott. He celebrated the championship with a second Polish victory lap. Always aware of his performances for potential sponsors, Kulwicki brushed his hair, making a national television audience waiting for him to emerge from his car.
Kulwicki managed to overcome a deficit of 278 points in the last six races of the season with a fifth, fourth and second finishing finish. Kulwicki won the championship for his high and consistent performance. It was the closest title win in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series to the implementation of the Chase for the Cup format in 2004. Kulwicki was the last-driver owner to win titles for nearly two decades, first Cup winner with bachelor's degree, and first born Cup champion in the northern state. The song played during a short tribute to Kulwicki at the year-end awards banquet is Frank Sinatra's "My Way". During preparations for the party, the Elvis 'My Way' version was found, but Kulwicki insisted on the Frank Sinatra version.
Honorary Championship
Kulwicki returned to his home town of Greenfield for Alan Kulwicki Day in January 1993. The gym at Greenfield High School was filled and surrounded by four to five thousand people. Local television crews filmed the event. Kulwicki signed autographs for six hours.
In celebration of the championship, the Hooters sponsor made a special "Alan Tribute Card" used in all signature sessions during the 1993 season. Kulwicki did not change his shopping habits after winning the 1992 championship. "The only thing I really want to buy is a plane" he said, "but it turns out Hooters has a pair I can use."
Death
Kulwicki died in a plane crash on Thursday April 1, 1993. He returned from sightings in Knoxville Hooters on a Hooters company plane on a short flight in Tennessee before the spring spring race at Bristol. The aircraft slowed and fell just before the final approach at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport near Blountville. The National Transportation Safety Board linked the accident with a pilot's failure to use an aircraft's anti-ice system to clear ice from the engine's inlet system.
Kulwicki is buried at St. Cemetery Adalbert in Milwaukee; the funeral was attended by NASCAR President Bill France, Jr. and many drivers. The Kulwicki racecourse driver was driven from a rain track later on Friday morning while other teams and media watched him move slowly around the track with a bouquet of black flowers above the grille. In 2008, Kyle Petty described the slow lap as "the saddest thing I've ever seen on the racetrack... We just sat and cried." Kulwicki has competed in five NASCAR races of the season with two Top 5 finishes, and was ranked ninth in the points at his death. In his career, he won five NASCAR Winston Cup series, 24 pole positions, 75 Top 10 finishes, and one championship in 207 races.
His car was driven by roadside specialist Tommy Kendall on the ramp and by Jimmy Hensley on the other track. It was spurred for much of the 1993 season until the team was sold to Geoff Bodine, who operated it as Geoff Bodine Racing.
Kulwicki was selected to compete in the 1993 International Race of Champions (IROC) series as the reigning Winston Cup champion. He competed in two IROC races before his death, finishing ninth in Daytona and eleventh in Darlington. Dale Earnhardt raced for Kulwicki on the last two IROC races, and prize money for the races and their fifth place with the combined points completed to Winston Cup Racing Wires Auxiliary, Brenner Children's Hospital and St. Louis charity. Thomas Aquinas Church.
Legacy
Three days after Kulwicki's death, Bristol race winner Rusty Wallace respected his short-track rival by making a culinary win at Hungarian Wallace. Davey Allison died on July 13, 1993; competitors who have brought sticker No. 7 to commemorate Kulwicki add sticker No. 28 for Allison. After the final race of the season, Dale champion Earnhardt and the Wallace winner ride a lap of Polish victory on the sides that carry flags for Kulwicki and Allison. Kulwicki finished 41th in the final points standings despite competing in just five races. Seven months after Allison's death, Neil Bonnett died in Daytona. Racing Champions issued a die-cast version of the No. 1 car. 7 owned by Alan Kulwicki which is a tribute to Kulwicki's 1992 title.
The USAR Hooters Pro Cup Championship, "Four Champions Challenge", was named to commemorate four airplane crash victims. Founded in 1997, the challenge is a four-race series, with each race named after one of the four killed in the crash: Kulwicki, Mark Brooks (son of Hooters owner Bob Brooks), Dan Duncan, and pilot Charles Campbell.
Milwaukee County honors Kulwicki in 1996 by creating the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Park, located near the corner of Highway 100 and Cold Spring Road in Greenfield (Map Area). Chairman Hooters, Robert Brooks donated $ 250,000 to build a 28 acre (0.11 km km) park, featuring the Kulwicki museum inside the Brooks Pavilion.
Bristol Motor Speedway named its tribunes in turns one and two to honor Kulwicki, as well as the terrace above the stands. The 2004 Busch Series race in Milwaukee Mile was named "Alan Kulwicki 250" in honor of Kulwicki. Wisconsinite Paul Menard spun his car after winning the 2006 Busch Series event and wore a Polish victory lap in honor of Kulwicki. Slinger Super Speedway has been holding the annual Alan Kulwicki Memorial race since 1994.
Kulwicki was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002. He was inducted at the Lowe Motor Speedway Court of Legends in 1993, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993, the Talladega-Texaco Hall of Fame in 1996, the Bristol Motor Speedway Heroes from Bristol Hall of Fame in 1997, the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2010. Kulwicki has been nominated to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Kulwicki's success as a driver-owner sparked a small trend among NASCAR veterans. Geoff Bodine, his younger brother, Brett, Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott, and Joe Nemechek, all started the race team shortly after Kulwicki's death. However, nothing is as successful as Kulwicki. Sprint Cup racer Tony Stewart is the only proprietor-driver at NASCAR who currently runs a full schedule but retires in 2016, although the team is fully funded by one of the owners of Gene Haas.. Robby Gordon often calls Alan an inspiration to him as owner-driver, and chooses no car. 7 as a tribute to Kulwicki.
Slinger Super Speedway started Memorial Night Alan Kulwicki in 1993; has continued its annual anniversary in 2016. In 2010, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee created the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Student Center in the Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Building. The center, together with a scholarship for engineering students, was made possible in part by a donation from Thelma H. ​​Kulwicki, the late stepmother of the racer, who also donated much of the centrally located memorabilia.
In May 2012, the Milwaukee County Historical Society announced plans for a special exhibition celebrating Kulwicki's life and career to open in early 2013. The exhibit is called "Alan Kulwicki: A Champion's Story".
Driver Development Program Alan Kulwicki
In 2015, Kulwicki's friends initiated Alan Kulwicki's Driving Development program to "help qualified drivers on their way to achieve their dreams... while at the same time keeping Alan Kulwicki's memory and heritage alive." This field is narrowed to 15 applicants and the program gives $ 7777 to support the career advancement of seven drivers. Drivers are judged on their on-track performance as well as off-track activities, social media presence, and community engagement. Winners receive seven times $ 7777 ($ 54,439) and trophies. Winners of the program are:
- 2017 Cody Haskins
- 2016 Alex Prunty
- 2015 Ty Majeski.
Other Participants in Each Class
- 2018 - Cole Butcher, Justin Carroll, Derek Griffith, Molly Helmuth, Justin Mondeik, Brett Yackey, Brittney Zamora
- 2017 - Braison Bennett, Cole Butcher, Justin Mondeik, Michael Ostdiek, John Peters, Brett Yackey 2016 - Jeremy Doss, Dave Farrington, Jr., Cody Haskins, Quin Houff, Michael Ostdiek (replaced Natalie Decker after he tried to qualify for the NASCAR World Camping Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway), Brandon Setzer
- 2015 - Steve Apples, Justin Crider, Dave Farrington, Jr., Reagan May, Bryce Napier, Cole Williams
Media
Father Dale Grubba, the priest who leads Kulwicki's funeral, released a biography of his friend titled Alan Kulwicki: the champion of NASCAR Against All Odds in 2009. This book became the basis for feature low cost movies. , Daring to Dream: The Alan Kulwicki Story , was released on April 1, 2005. The film tells the life of Kulwicki from the final model racing at the Slinger Super Speedway, through his resurrection to the NASCAR champion, and ends with his death.. The film was made by Wisconsin Kulwicki fans for less than $ 100,000. The movie star, Brad Weber, is a Kulwicki fan and praises the late driver by being his inspiration to become an actor.
Motorports career results
NASCAR
(lock) ( Bold Ã, - Pole position is given by qualifying time. Italics - Pole positions received by points standings or practice time. * Ã, - Most lead round. )
Winston Cup Series
Daytona 500
Busch Series
International Champions Contest
(key) ( Bold Ã, - Position pole. * Ã, - Most rounds lead. )
References
External links
- Alan Kulwicki driver statistics in the References-Racing
- owner Alan Kulwicki's stats at Reference-Racing
- Movie review from Dare to Dream: The Alan Kulwicki Story by Speed ​​Channel
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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