Remembering Alan Kulwicki, 28 years later

 

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      Today, April 1st 2021, marks 28 years since the untimely passing of Alan Kulwicki, the 1992 Winston Cup Series champion, and undoubtedly a NASCAR great.

Alan Kulwicki was a one of a kind individual. In 1992 Kulwicki, the Wisconsin native, became the first non-Southerner to earn a Winston Cup Series title. Not only was Kulwicki able to win, but he was able to outsmart the rest. 

In a time where NASCAR teams were transforming from groups of self taught mechanics, to to very intelligent engineers, Alan Kulwicki was much more than just a driver. Kulwicki was able to calculate gas mileage and tire wear, all from behind the wheel of his car. Alan Kulwicki was also one of NASCAR’s last great owner-driver combinations. Kulwicki purchased what eventually became AK Racing from his former team owner Bill Terry. Until his death in 1993, Kulwicki worked hard as both a team owner and a driver, successfully juggling the many difficulties that it entailed.

In his career, Alan Kulwicki scored only five NASCAR Cup Series victories, though its believed that Kulwicki would have most definitely achieved more had he survived. Kulwicki’s reign as the 1992 Winston Cup champion was short lived, as only 6 months later he was one of four individuals to tragically pass away during a plane accident in Blountville Tennessee. 

Alan Kulwicki died in that plane crash in transit to Bristol Motor Speedway for that year’s April 4th Food City 500. Strikingly absent from that race, that Sunday’s winner, Rusty Wallace, performed Kulwicki’s iconic “Polish victory lap”, which was a calm and collective backwards lap around to track to commemorate each of his wins. Bristol Motor Speedway later went on to name the grandstands in turn 1 and 2 after Kulwicki. 

That 38 year old, intelligent (but always willing to learn), new champion will forever live on in NASCAR tales and history. He is deeply missed today on the anniversary of his passing.