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Park honors, sheds tears

In the closing laps, Steve Park fends off his emotions and Bobby Labonte to triumph in the Dura-Lube 400.

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2001

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Its marquee driver died, yet NASCAR pressed on like always.

New day. New town.

As heartless as it may seem, that is how drivers, crew members and NASCAR personnel cope in the wake of tragedy. Monday, however, the sport let its guard down and wept with relief and exaltation in the warm winter sunshine.

Steve Park, hired by Dale Earnhardt in 1998, spent the last five laps of the Dura-Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway with tears streaming down his cheeks and his owner's hat hanging on the gearshift.

Earnhardt had died eight days before in a last-lap crash in the Daytona 500.

"To be able to fight back the emotions that I was feeling in the last five laps and do what Dale had taught me to do, to stand up on the seat and drive the hell out of that race car, was tough," Park said.

Sputtering out of gas and driving on tires so old he could barely keep his yellow Chevrolet from fishtailing out of control, Park led the final 55 laps for his second win and first without Earnhardt there to hug him hard enough to make his neck sore.

Park led at the start of the final lap and blocked Bobby Labonte exiting Turn4, holding off the defending Winston Cup champion by 2 car lengths. They had bumped the lap before.

Park's first victory came in August at Watkins Glen International.

"When you're working for Dale Earnhardt, it's not about running second," Park said. "You don't get a pat on the back for running second. You might get a pat on the back for winning a race. It's just the way he taught us. If you want to call it tough love, that's the way I was brought up by my mom and dad and that's what really kind of drew me to Dale Earnhardt.

"If you do something right, you might get one of those half-smiles underneath that mustache. But if you do something wrong, you're out bailing hay in the hot sun with him."

Park's victory and the circumstances surrounding the race, which took two days to complete after rain stopped it Sunday at Lap 52, capped an eerie chain of events.

It was in the final turn during the Daytona 500 Feb. 18 that Earnhardt crashed and died from a basal skull fracture after being bumped from behind. He was trying to help two of his drivers, Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr., sweep the top spots for the team he started in 1996.

A broken left lap belt, doctors said, might have contributed to Earnhardt's death.

Then on the first lap of the Dura-Lube 400 Sunday, Earnhardt Jr. wrecked head-on into the Turn 3 wall after being bumped from behind by Ron Hornaday.

He limped after climbing from the car. He will race Sunday in Las Vegas.

Park, who started second beside Jeff Gordon, took the lead Monday from Gordon on Lap 339 of 393. Labonte passed Gordon for second and began closing on Park.

He let off the gas on the final lap so he and Park wouldn't wreck.

"If I had been wheel-to-wheel with him that would have been different," said Labonte, who edged Earnhardt to win the race last year. "But I had my left front (bumper) on his right rear (bumper), so I wasn't far enough up to make a good enough challenge. ... I let up a little bit, but only because we're trying to protect ourselves. I didn't have enough of a challenge to not let up."

Gordon, who led a race-best 180 laps, finished third, but his car failed post-race inspection because of a height problem. Penalties could be forthcoming today. He was followed by Tony Stewart and Ricky Craven. Kevin Harvick, who replaced Earnhardt in a white No. 29 Chevrolet owned by Richard Childress Racing, was the top rookie.

He finished 14th.

"That's awesome," said Harvick, who is getting married Wednesday in Las Vegas. "Just to get the DEI family a win and do well for Richard Childress is pretty awesome."

When the race was over, Labonte pulled alongside Park and held out an Earnhardt hat while flashing a thumbs up.

Park circled back to the finish line on the cool-down lap. He spun and took a reverse victory lap. He held his Earnhardt hat out of the window until Waltrip stopped him on the frontstretch.

The two exchanged high-fives with their left hands and Park continued to Victory Lane, where he was handed a cell phone.

An emotional and enthusiastic Teresa Earnhardt, Dale's widow, was calling from the Dale Earnhardt Inc. shop in Mooresville, N.C.

"She was so proud of us, the whole team and this whole organization," Park said. "It's just amazing that a woman of her stature has been able to be so strong with the losses that we have suffered and able to continue and support not only what her and her husband had set out to do a few years back, but also give our teams the support that they need in good times and in bad times.

"Fortunately today, we were able to celebrate the good times with her."

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