By The Commish

In a season that started in tragedy, the 2001 Winston All-Star race was supposed to offer fans and teams alike a much-needed break. It turned into one of the more bizarre events in the history of the sport. First, there was qualifying in the dark Friday after a transformer failure left Lowes Motor Speedway in the. Then Happy Hour was canceled for the power outage. And on Saturday May 19th, thunder and lightning stirred the sky over the speedway before the race started. At 9:23, the green flag dropped and a light rain began to cover the track just north of Charlotte.

As the field entered turn 1, pole-sitter Rusty Wallace's car shot up the track and nearly pancaked the wall with its right side. He regained control, but Kevin Harvick fishtailed on the wet track and smacked the wall. As cars frantically tried to check up, Jeff Burton's car spun in front of Jeff Gordon.

Gordon, trying desperately to cut to the inside, clipped Burton’s bumper and both hit the wall. Gordon's wounded car came down the 24-degree banking, where Michael Waltrip's car T-boned it just behind the driver’s seat, to the cheers of some in the crowd. Then the skies opened and a downpour began.

Fortunately, no one was injured. "That thing went sideways so quick I don't know what happened," Gordon said. "It didn't look like it was raining that hard when we took green. But when we got down there it was raining. We were lucky that there weren't more cars involved in it. We could have lost more cars." In a normal points race, Gordon's night would have been over. His team and the teams of the three other wrecked cars were bitterly disappointed. "We got to turn one and 20 of the best race car drivers in the world all got wiped out," Waltrip said. "In NASCAR's haste to put on the show it seems as if, perhaps, we started the race on a wet track. I guess in this big-time world of stock car racing that the show must go on."

Because only completed green-flag laps counted in the Winston and possibly because, in hindsight, officials had started the race too soon, NASCAR invoked the "except in rare instances" clause on the entry form and the four teams were allowed to go to their backup cars. Robin Pemberton, Rusty Wallace's crew chief, said he was confused by the ruling, but that it was ' fair because the race started under wet conditions. "I think they made a mistake, and they called it a mulligan, and I thought that was pretty good," he said.

The decision was made while Gordon was being examined in the infield care center for a sore neck sustained in the wreck. "My neck snapped bad," he said. "I had on a HANS device and I tested it tonight. I hit at a nasty angle and not as hard as it could have been, but at the worst possible angle. It stretched my neck. You don't realize how far you stretch. My wrist was a little sore, because I was holding too tight on the steering wheel." Several weeks later, Gordon would tell Larry King that he thought the HANS had saved his life that night. After all, the impact and angle were frighteningly like those that killed Dale Earnhardt.

A photo of that night, prominently displayed in the Hendrick museum, shows more than a dozen crewmen led by Randy Dorton frantically working on the car in the garage. When Gordon saw them thrashing, he forgot about his aching body and got ready to race. "I saw everyone at Hendrick Motorsports chipping in to get that car ready and that really inspired me. Everyone just had sweat rolling off them and they were digging to get that car back out there and I said 'Man, if that car is even close we're going to go get them. If I win in this backup car, that'll be quite a story," Gordon said.

The three-time Winston Cup champion uttered those words at about 9:30 p.m. No one knew if there would be time to finish preparations, but a long rain delay gave the teams time to ready the car and pass inspection. Jeff Burton's team even changed his engine in 34 minutes, 6 seconds, with the help of mechanics from all Roush teams and the assistance of Roush customer Len Wood, before the event resumed at 11:33 p.m.

Gordon began to move through the field almost immediately, taking advantage of a lap 20 caution flag to take four fresh tires and restarting tenth; Jeremy Mayfield held on to win the first 30-lap segment. Gordon’s fourth-place finish turned into a ninth-place restart as the top 12 cars were inverted for the middle segment, giving Elliott Sadler the lead. Tony Stewart moved to the front to win the second segment. Gordon rode his bumper in the closing laps, then pitted and took four new tires before the final 10-lap shootout began. He was second on the re-start, but needed only two laps to pass leader Ward Burton, and easily held off Dale Jarrett to win the race. He charged to the front for the win the half-million dollar prize in his backup machine.

"I'll tell you what, it just says a lot about this race team," Gordon said. "They just work their tails off to not only put great primary cars out there, but to have a great backup car in the truck. To be able to pull it off the truck in this situation and win The Winston is just awesome. I just can't say enough for them and their effort," Gordon said early Sunday morning. “I didn't care how long it took. I never imagined I'd be in victory lane (with a backup car). I didn't even know we could do that in The Winston, so thank Winston and whoever else made up that rule," he said. "These are not backup cars," he said of the winning car. "There are not too many sleds in our stable. This is certainly a great way to start off a Sunday morning."

With the victory, Gordon tied Dale Earnhardt in career all-star race victories. "I don't think you can tie him (Earnhardt) in anything," Gordon said of his late rival. "He is above and beyond anything that I can do in a race car. Having three (all-star victories) and him having three is very special. He did special things in our sport." Gordon also reflected on what the effort could mean. "I think this could be a turning point for this team," Gordon said. "This could be just the type of thing that makes everything come together."

His words proved prophetic. The momentum the team took from that race helped propel Gordon to his fourth Winston Cup championship. And later that year, when Gordon’s new race shop opened on the Hendrick campus, its display area featured a quotation inspired by the Winston victory: "Teamwork is the fuel that allows common men to do uncommon things." On a wet and wild night in Charlotte, Gordon and his race team showed that it could lead them to the pinnacle of their sport.

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