|| *Comments on the 1997 The Winston:* View the most recent comment <#39> | Post a comment <#post> 1. 3fan4eva posted: 05.03.2007 - 9:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Car Numbers #24 Jeff Gordon #18 Bobby Labonte #5 Terry Labonte #3 Dale Earnhardt #23 Jimmy Spencer #6 Mark Martin #88 Dale Jarrett #25 Ricky Craven #10 Ricky Rudd #94 Bill Elliott #7 Geoff Bodine #99 Jeff Burton #22 Ward Burton #44 Kyle Petty #4 Sterling Marlin #21 Sterling Marlin #17 Darrell Waltrip #2 Rusty Wallace #28 Ernie Irvan #43 Bobby Hamilton 2. daniel posted: 07.25.2007 - 1:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon's sponsor is also Jurassic Park in this race to I guess advertise that Steven Spielburg film. 3. DieselDan posted: 10.28.2007 - 2:26 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Hendrick Motorsports brought the now infamous "T-Rex" car to this race. It wasn't illegal, but so cutting edge NASCAR told Hendrick never to bring this car to another race ever again. 4. BurtonRuddFan posted: 12.05.2007 - 11:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race showed some of Gordo's legend Skills. How did Mr.Excitement finish in the top 5? Well, a solid lead-lap run for Kyle Petty. 5. stricklinfan82 posted: 04.28.2008 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Eligibility Requirements for the 1997 All-Star Race: - all active 1996 and 1997 race winning drivers: 1.) Dale Jarrett - 2/96 Daytona 2.) Dale Earnhardt - 2/96 Rockingham 3.) Jeff Gordon - 3/96 Richmond 4.) Terry Labonte - 4/96 North Wilkesboro 5.) Rusty Wallace - 4/96 Martinsville 6.) Sterling Marlin - 4/96 Talladega 7.) Ernie Irvan - 7/96 New Hampshire 8.) Geoff Bodine - 8/96 Watkins Glen 9.) Ricky Rudd - 10/96 Rockingham 10.) Bobby Hamilton - 10/96 Phoenix 11.) Bobby Labonte - 11/96 Atlanta 12.) Jeff Burton - 4/97 Texas 13.) Mark Martin - 5/97 Sears Point - all All-Star Race winning drivers from the last 5 years: 14.) Michael Waltrip - '96 All-Star race winner - all active former Winston Cup Champions: 15.) Bill Elliott - 1988 Champion 16.) Darrell Waltrip - 3-time champion - Previous Years' Winning Drivers Until Field Reaches 19 drivers: 1995 Race Winners: 17.) Ward Burton 18.) Kyle Petty 1994 Race Winners: 19.) Jimmy Spencer - 1997 Winston Open winner: 20.) Ricky Craven 6. hyperacti posted: 06.02.2009 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) That T-Rex car was so revolutionary that Nascar added pages of rules immediately after this car raced and won. That car single-handedly changed the rule book. Hendrick always employs the best in the biz, Rex made one helluva ride. 7. 18fan posted: 09.19.2009 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) After this race both Martin and Jarrett were complaining about NASCAR's rule change to shorten the spoiler on the Fords. Earnhardt said something about Mark's crying. 8. RaceFanX posted: 10.28.2009 - 11:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It truely is the "Breakfast of Champions"... Dale Earnhardt drove an orange #3 in this event for Wheaties cereal. As part of the sponsor deal, Earnhardt became the first NASCAR driver ever to appear on a Wheaties box. 9. Unser1 posted: 03.03.2010 - 12:23 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Tying in with a commercial campaign CITGO had at the time, Michael Waltrip ran this race with a car painted like a dalmatian. He joked after the race that his car "painted like a dog ran like one" with this clip featured over the closing credits of the Waltrip brothers "Beyond the Glory" episode on FSN. Bobby Labonte spun thru the infield during the opening laps after contact with Mark Martin. He came up the race track but thankfully was not hit by anyone (although Spencer almost hit the wall trying to get woed up) and later came back to be the best of the rest on this night when Gordon had the field covered. 10. RaceFanX posted: 02.12.2012 - 1:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors: #24 Jeff Gordon- DuPont Refinishes / Jurassic Park: The Ride #3 Dale Earnhardt- GM Goodwrench / Wheaties 11. RaceFanX posted: 02.28.2013 - 5:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lap Leaders: B.Elliott 1-8, D.Earnhardt 9-12, D.Jarrett 13-17, D.Earnhardt 18-24, D.Jarrett 25-30, T.Labonte 31-43, B.Labonte 44-60, T.Labonte 61-61, J.Gordon 62-70 12. Nascar24NBC posted: 06.05.2013 - 12:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jurassic Park The Ride Rocks! 13. Epic#24 posted: 10.30.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Mess with the T-Rex and He'll bite you racers out :D 14. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 01.07.2017 - 4:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Green flag: Lap 1-3 Caution 1: Lap 4-8: #18 spun frontstretch Green flag: Lap 9-30 Caution 2: Lap 31: end of segment 1 (caution laps do not count in segment endings) Green flag: Lap 31-60 Caution 3: Lap 61: end of segment 2 (caution laps do not count in segment endings) Green flag: Lap 61-70 15. Blue posted: 01.11.2017 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (3) (1) The T-Rex took a massive bite out of the competition in this one. 16. Geoff22 posted: 11.25.2017 - 9:48 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Can you imagine the penalties that would be handed down to a team nowadays if they showed up with a car like T-Rex? That car was arguably one of the most brilliant feats of engineering the sport has ever seen. Truly a masterful exploitation of the grey areas of the rule book. There's was an in-depth article floating around online years ago about that car. It told the whole backstory about how T-Rex came to be and how it subsequently ended up being outlawed. It's well worth a Google and the read for anyone interested in the technical side of racing. 17. Rob posted: 11.25.2017 - 10:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To go from 19th to 1st in such a short race shows just how good that T- Rex car was. Its not like most of the field was easy to get around, lots of talent out there. 18. Dorsal Fin posted: 11.25.2017 - 11:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) @17 Yes, it's called "cheating" 19. M posted: 01.22.2018 - 10:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon, the T-Rex chassis, and that team certainly lived up to the Tyrannosaurus Rex on the hood of that Monte Carlo. That team and driver were simply on a whole different level above the competition. This race was a test run for a brand new setup and construction that was planned to be used on all of Jeff Gordon's cars for the future. That's right. If this car was allowed to continue to be run and the rules weren't changed, every single other team would have been forced to completely rebuild their chassis and setups in order to keep up, otherwise they would've gotten their doors blown off every week. NASCAR couldn't have that, so after the car passed inspection, they immediately re-wrote/changed pages of rules in the rule book so that the innovations made by Ray Evernham and the Rainbow Warriors were banned for future use. To show you how dominant Jeff Gordon and the Rainbow Warriors were, EVEN WITHOUT the T-Rex chassis and setup construction, they STILL went on to dominate the season, winning 10 races including the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 (from the pole), Southern 500 (AND the Winston Million), and BOTH exhibition races (The Winston and Busch Clash) among many others. You'll never see anything like it again. 20. Anthony posted: 05.17.2018 - 3:39 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @18: The car was legal. 21. oldschoolracing519 posted: 05.17.2018 - 7:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) yes the car was legal, BUT after the race the team was told NEVER bring that chassis to the track again. 22. Anonymous posted: 05.17.2018 - 8:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The car was definitely legal. I remember hearing Gordon and Evernham talking about it later. They were told to not bring that car back, and asked "why, what's wrong with it?", and were told by Nascar "nothing, just don't bring it back". There was also sort of a precedence for this. In 1985, Bill Elliott was dominating the superspeedways and was told coming into a particular race "don't stink up the show". He asked "what do you mean, is something wrong with the car?". He was told "nothing is wrong with the car. You can win, but if you stink up the show, we will find something wrong with the car. 23. RaceFanX posted: 05.20.2018 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) According to Evernham the #24 team did consider modifying T-Rex to fit the new rules and racing it again. They made a few changes to it but it was never quite as good as before and it ended up an interesting display piece rather than returning to competition...although it would get to turn a wheel in anger again during a display run up the hill at England's Festival of Speed in 2009 with Landon Cassill at the wheel. 24. Anthony posted: 05.22.2018 - 10:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How is leading 9 laps stinking up the show? How about Jeff Burton leading every lap at New Hampshire, or Truex leading 390 in the 2016 600. NASCAR wanted to create excitement. 25. Gabriel posted: 05.25.2018 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) When you're so dominant that NASCAR bans your car. 26. zuel660 posted: 09.18.2018 - 11:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) A harbinger of things to come, with a huge multi-car team using their vast resources to bury the competition, especially the small, single car teams..... 27. Jimnsimforever posted: 02.22.2020 - 5:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @24, I believe you are talking about post 22. The poster wasn't saying Gordon stunk up the show, he was talking about someone saying that to Bill Elliott 12 years before this race. Speaking of Bill Elliott. Before this race, during the prerace interview with him in his car for driver introductions is a little 1 1/2 year old Chase Elliott. Seeing things like that make me feel old. 28. SweetRich posted: 02.22.2020 - 6:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Commentators For The Race Were Eli Gold, Buddy Baker And Dick Berggren. The Pit Road Reporters Were Steve Byrnes, Glenn Jarrett And Matt Yocum. 29. RaceFanX posted: 03.13.2020 - 10:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ray Evernham was not happy that "T-Rex" got banned and noted it hurt the #24 team in the long run. With its cutting edge stuff now legislated off the track Evernham, Gordon, and the Rainbow Warriors had to go back to their older tech and found other teams that were focusing more on that were better equipped for the new rules focusing on it although they still held on to win the title in 1997 before some struggles early in 1998. Ray even quipped in the press in early 1998 that "other teams are now beating us with our own stuff." The #24 team still got the last laugh though as it shook off its early season issues to win a second-straight title in 1998. 30. JohnG posted: 02.01.2021 - 6:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't believe at all that they banished the car to create parity. The car led 9 laps in the race. That doesn't sound like a dominating car to me that would destroy the parity of the NASCAR season. @22 I find that comment about Bill Elliott super hard to believe. And why would they only tell that to Elliott compared to the other drivers who dominated at different times? This forum loves to rip NASCAR apart just to rip NASCAR apart. 31. possum posted: 02.01.2021 - 8:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @30 - I don't think NASCAR banned T-Rex because that specific car was too fast, rather they banned it because the technology on it had too much potential for future development (and inspection headaches). Basically they were heading a problem off at the pass, before it became a major issue. As for the Elliott comment, I think someone has mangled the story. I think someone outside NASCAR advised Elliott not to win too easily, because if he did the rules would be changed. He wouldn't be the first guy to be told to sandbag and keep the advantage hidden. 32. Tarheel posted: 02.01.2021 - 8:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 30, it doesn't matter whether you believe the story about the T Rex car or not, because it's true. "The car only led nine laps". Here's an idea, look up a video of that race, watch it, and tell me it wasn't dominant. They started 21st in a short race and won going away. Here's a video of Ray Evernham telling the story, but of course what does he know about it? https://youtu.be/XQ-FS4pOCaE 33. Tarheel posted: 02.01.2021 - 8:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 30, the story about Elliott is true too, and somewhere that is on video too. 34. Corey posted: 02.01.2021 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @30 I think what happened was that NASCAR addressed a lot of the gray areas this car exploited. It basically made that it car illegal to race again. 35. Tarheel posted: 02.01.2021 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 31, I've seen an interview with Elliott in which he says "Nascar (an official) told me before the race, "you can win, but do not stink up the show or we'll find something wrong with the car"". I don't remember what race he stated that it took place before, but it was a taped interview. If I can find it, I'll post it. 36. ScottB posted: 02.02.2021 - 10:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Post #19 nailed it. NASCAR had a choice between banning the T-Rex style chassis, or giving it their blessing and forcing every other team to rebuild their fleet to remain competitive. They chose to ban it, and close the loopholes that allowed Hendrick to bring it to the track for this one exhibition race. 37. Tarheel posted: 02.02.2021 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) https://youtu.be/7d2Uf5JpOis This is a condensed version of this race. Gordon took the green flag in 19th, drove up to third and was quickly catching the top two in the first thirty lap segment. The field was inverted, so he started about 18th in the second segment and drove to fourth. He restarted the final ten lap segment fourth, took the lead on the second lap, and drove away. Look at how he was turning under other drivers going into the corner, and just when it looks like the driver on the outside had regained the momentum to pull back ahead, Gordon dropped the hammer in the center of the corner and blew by them. That's an excellent chassis, and that's what the T Rex car was all about. It could run the high line as well as the low line. 38. RaceFanX posted: 02.03.2021 - 10:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) T-Rex isn't the only special car from this race that was preserved in the years that followed. RCR saved the one-off orange Wheaties #3 Dale Earnhardt drove to a top-5 here here and displays the car in its team museum alongside the full collection of the Intimidator's special cars from the All-Star race and the exhibition races in Japan from this era. 39. RaceFanX posted: 02.03.2021 - 11:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon's T-Rex car didn't get that name solely in reference to the Tyrannosaurus Rex on the hood or the Jurassic Park: The Ride sponsorship. The name was also a reference to Hendrick Motorsports lead engineer Rex Stump; who oversaw its construction with the input of Ray Evernham and all of Hendrick's crew chiefs and engineers. The car was Rick Hendrick's idea and he told the crews to all work with Rex to bring their ideas together. It was Evernham's idea to turn it loose their experimental creation in the all-star race. After this race T-Rex ended up converted into a show car after the team's modifications and testing efforts to make it race legal again didn't bring the intended results. Hendrick Motorsports restored the car back to its configuration and livery from this race to go into the team museum in 2004. The Jurassic Park: The Ride T-Rex promoted was first opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in June 1996 and would have a long run, closing in 2018 to be upgraded into a new "Jurassic World: The Ride" attraction to promote later movies in the franchise. The ride was popular with guests, hence why Universal wanted to promote it in a NASCAR tie-in, and was cloned at Universal Studios Florida in 1999 and Universal Studios Japan in 2001. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: