|| *Comments on the 1988 Checker 500:* View the most recent comment <#36> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Anonymous posted: 04.30.2004 - 1:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR's first race at Phoenix and Alan,s first cup win. 2. MASH_guy posted: 06.08.2005 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Also, the birth of the famous "Polish Victory Lap". 3. Steve posted: 05.17.2006 - 6:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Alan started 21st, which is the worst starting position for Alan in a race that he won. Benny Parsons' final race finish is a Top 10 (he was in a crash at Atlanta in his final start), believe it or not, Derrike Cope's 16th place finish was his best finish of the 1988 season, and Indianapolis legend Johnny Rutherford made his final start in the Cup Series. 4. Kevin posted: 08.15.2006 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) The first win for Kulwicki, first race at Phoenix, the first cup race I ever attended! It was a big deal in Phoenix, The Cardinals where playing at Sun Devil Stadium against the 49ERS. No one was at the game, everyone was at the race!! At that time the biggest crowd to attend any sporting event in Arizona!!! 5. Anonymous posted: 11.07.2006 - 7:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ricky Rudd dominated most of this race before he blew up leading with a handful of laps left. Kulwicki inherited the lead and then cruised to the flag with his pit crew errupting in celebration. 6. 3fan4eva posted: 05.13.2007 - 4:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First race in my home-town and the last of 35 starts for Johnny Rutherford at a track where he had alot of sucess in Open-Wheel....congrats to the underbird Kulwicki one of the smartest men to ever get on a race track 7. Haywood posted: 03.29.2008 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) No offense, but no one has ever attended a Cardinals game in Arizona. It's no surprise everyone was at PIR. 8. Kevin posted: 07.29.2008 - 8:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was the Cardinals first year in Arizona and they were not the bad that year. They still had Neal Lomax!!! 9. RaceFanX posted: 11.14.2008 - 12:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rutherford's first start in seven years 10. jp posted: 03.01.2009 - 3:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rutherford & Bill Schmitt both caught fire at the same time in a multi car wreck. 11. Stadler And Waldorf posted: 09.03.2010 - 1:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) AK's win made him the 14th different winner for the season, setting a new high mark for different winners in a season. 12. Schroeder51 posted: 09.30.2011 - 2:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A HUGE crash right at the halfway point as Greg Sacks and Rick Wilson tangled on the frontstretch gobbling up a number of cars, among them Johnny Rutherford, Bill Schmitt, Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, and Roy Smith. As mentioned both Rutherford and Schmitt's car erupted in flames and a lengthy caution period ensued. 13. Sebastien posted: 12.18.2011 - 12:00 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) #24 Collins had "Coors Light" as an associated sponsor. #07 Schmitt was in fact #03 Schmitt (numbers are clearly shown on sides & roof). Weird that a mistake like this happened as late as 1988. According to Rick Wilson it was Greg Sacks who started the big mess at mid-race. 14. myself posted: 01.26.2012 - 10:52 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 12. Schroeder51 posted: 09.30.11 - 2:01 pm A HUGE crash right at the halfway point as Greg Sacks and Rick Wilson tangled on the frontstretch Honestly........is anyone surprised by this? 15. Schroeder51 posted: 08.28.2013 - 12:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cautions: 1. #15 Brett Bodine, oil on track (Laps 14-19) 2. #52 Jimmy Means, #68 Derrike Cope spin, turn 2 (Laps 24-27) 3. #24 Gary Collins accident, fronstretch (Laps 44-54) 4. #3 Dale Earnhardt, #73 Joe Ruttman spin, backstretch (Laps 65-71) 5. #23 Eddie Bierschwale, oil on track (Laps 150-157) 6. #03 Bill Schmitt, #4 Rick Wilson, #6 Mark Martin, #30 Michael Waltrip, #31 Johnny Rutherford, #79 Roy Smith, #88 Greg Sacks accident, frontstretch (Laps 160-176) 16. james-0-matic posted: 02.20.2014 - 12:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jim Sauter's career best start, 5th 17. Mile501 posted: 11.19.2017 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I didn't even think about this until Matt Kenseth mentioned it in his post-Homestead interview this evening, but it is pretty neat that Kenseth got his final career win at the same track--Phoenix--where fellow Wisconsin native Alan Kulwicki got his first career win 29 years earlier, and Kenseth paid tribute to Kulwicki last week with a Polish victory lap. 18. RaceFanX posted: 11.27.2017 - 9:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Alan Kulwicki's winning Zerex Ford Thunderbird from this race is now displayed at the Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville, North Carolina. One source I've found said the car was also a rebodied "Sirloin," the old T-Bird he drove all season to Rookie of the Year honors in 1986 in an incredible one-car effort, but I've never been able to confirm that with other sources. Anyone know? 19. Altracing posted: 05.23.2018 - 7:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There was a caution in between the Earnhardt crash and Bierschwale's engine failure for a blown motor from Jim Brown's #1 car 20. Yeet posted: 08.15.2018 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is there a reason why all the DNQs have a number ending with a W? 21. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 08.15.2018 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) #20 They were Winston West teams running for points in that series, this was one of several "combo" races the two series would run through the '70s, '80s and '90s, usually at places like Riverside/Phoenix/Sonoma 22. Corey posted: 08.15.2018 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Up to 1997, some of the West Coast races were combination races between Winston Cup and Winston West (predecessor to the K and N West division). Those W's indicate that the driver ran in the Winston West series. 23. ShinyMew151 posted: 08.15.2018 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Just there to signify that they weren't cup entries 24. Yeet posted: 08.16.2018 - 12:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ahh, thanks fellas! 25. Jimnsimforever posted: 12.15.2018 - 12:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's a good thing both Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace must have terrible marksmanship with a revolver. They drew at the exact same time and were only standing 10 feet apart. Dangerous stunt to be pulling when a championship was still on the line between them. 26. GGDC posted: 12.23.2018 - 7:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) there's a typo, Gary Collins sponsor is "Wax Shop / Coors Light" not "Nex Shop" 27. Seibaru posted: 05.15.2019 - 10:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rutherford's car was surprisingly not written off. It was later purchased by Morris Bice of Tennessee and used in the Sportsman Division. It was, of course, indirectly involved in Russell Phillips' crash. 28. Foyt14 posted: 03.05.2020 - 12:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution laps are incorrect for the third and fourth Caution 3 should be laps 44 to 47 for the 24 Green Flag from lap 48 to lap 48 Caution 4 should be lap 49 to lap 54 for the 3 and 73 29. SweetRich posted: 03.05.2020 - 12:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators for the race were Bob Jenkins and Ned Jarrett with Dick Berggren and Jerry Punch on pit road. 30. RightRear posted: 04.03.2020 - 4:51 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Fox just announced they are going to be reairing this race 31. Anonymous posted: 04.03.2020 - 5:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Thats odd cause this aired on ESPN! They've only been talking nascar lately due to iracing right. Maybe they'll air another one. Well if they aired the 1987 winston 500 they can with this one too. 32. Evan posted: 04.03.2020 - 7:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Alan's only win with a '88 T-Bird, and his first of only two wins with Zerex and only win in this scheme. Also, NASCAR didn't like Alan doing a Polish Victory Lap at first and they told him to "NEVER" do it again. But Alan proved everyone wrong and then-guess what?-he did another Polish Victory lap again after his 1992 championship. After Alan lost his life, the celebration took on a new life as many drivers including Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace also did victory laps in Alan's honor. In documents I have read, it states that Alan did the reverse lap drivers side toward the fans to thank the fans for coming out in support of the drivers and also a nod to his Polish heritage. 33. RaceFanX posted: 04.12.2020 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ricky Rudd has this one won until the motor started overheating going south on the Quaker State #26 Buick. The Rooster tried to nurse it home as best he could but ultimately gave out within proverbial sight of the finish. In the closing laps the car started to smoke more and more and the crew began to ready for Rudd to pit so they could top off the radiator and try to salvage something but ultimately the motor gave out before Rudd could pit so Ricky took it straight from the lead into the garage as he retired the car. Rudd would bounce back from this heartbreaker to finally win at Phoenix in 1995. Rick Wilson's car was badly damaged in a multi-car crash in this one but the Kodak team got the #4 Oldsmobile back out after some hardcore repairs and removing all of the Cutlass' front body work. Wilson was able to gain some vital points by going back out and making laps to move up a few more spots. 34. RaceFanX posted: 04.12.2020 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race set up Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace's one-on-one battle for the championship in the final race at Atlanta. Dale Earnhardt's bid for a third-straight NASCAR Winston Cup championship officially came to an end here as he was mathematically eliminated from contention going into the final race of the year. The Man in Black came into this race a distant third, meaning he had to pick up some major points and hope the other two hit trouble, but he ended up in an early crash with Joe Ruttman and lost a lap as a result. Earnhardt salvaged an 11th but with both title contenders in front of him his championship hopes were shattered. 35. zuel660 posted: 04.15.2020 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Rudd picked up a $10,000 bonus for being the leader at the halfway point of the race. 36. Igla posted: 04.21.2020 - 7:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) What terrible luck for my favorite driver ever - Ricky Rudd. At least he got the bonus for leading halfway through the race. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: