|| *Comments on the 1997 Mountain Dew Southern 500:* View the most recent comment <#52> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. John posted: 04.28.2004 - 7:49 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Dale Earnhardt falling asleep on the start... a wall scraping, grinding, bashing, epic battle betweern Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett, and then Gordon and Jeff Burton making sparks fly at the end....then to top it off, Gordon taking home the million dollar bonus...what a race! 2. HomeDepotKid posted: 12.06.2004 - 4:42 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) It wouldn't have been suprising if Jeff Burton became the most popular driver in NASCAR if he delivered on this that day: "I tried to knock the shit out of him." If he did, however, NASCAR probably would have suspended him. NASCAR warned the drivers to avoid crowding Jeff that day. 3. bifflefan posted: 01.01.2005 - 12:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) earnhardt was relived by mike dillon 4. Anonymous posted: 04.15.2005 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) OMG, Dale is living THROUGH Mike Dillon... 5. MOST posted: 05.07.2006 - 7:19 am Rate this comment: (2) (4) heard lot's of folks saying this one was fixed a little bit. 6. XAC33 posted: 07.28.2006 - 6:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One of the most determined victories in NASCAR history. Gordons 24 bunch proved that they could win any race, anywhere, if they wanted it bad enough. Winning 3 of 4 races of such importance in one year, and Gordon's 4 straight wins in 98 are two feats likely to never be matched again. P.S. Bring Back North Wilkesboro 7. Matt posted: 01.13.2007 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ: Dave Marcis, Greg Sacks, and Morgan Shepherd. 8. myself posted: 02.19.2007 - 5:54 pm Rate this comment: (1) (9) I gotta admit....I actually LOL when Earnhardt fell asleep @ the wheel in the beginning of this one! 9. Anonymous posted: 03.04.2007 - 6:07 pm Rate this comment: (2) (3) "I gotta admit....I actually LOL when Earnhardt fell asleep @ the wheel in the beginning of this one!" You really do not know a thing about NASCAR... At all. He didn't "fall asleep." (LOL THAT WOULD BE HILARIOUS TOO BAD HE DIDN'T HIT THE WALL HARDER THAN HE DID) He passed out because of something that is unknown to this day. I don't think the best driver ever(Sorry, I mean 2nd best behind the best ever, Cale Yarborough. LOL, that makes ME laugh!) would ever fall asleep behind the wheel of a race car. But you probably will laugh harder knowing that because that's the sick type of person you are. 10. myself posted: 03.16.2007 - 3:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) Well, why don't you tell me how you really feel?! OK, I tell you Cale's the best ever & you make fun of it....DO EXPLAIN! 11. SK posted: 04.11.2007 - 4:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill Elliott turned in his most dominating performance since leaving Junior Johnson's outfit to start his own team, leading nearly half of the 500-mile distance. But he'd have to wait a few more years before he would be able to celebrate once again in victory lane. 12. The Real Thomas posted: 04.23.2007 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (2) (3) "NASCAR warned the drivers to avoid crowding Jeff that day." Sounds about right. Let's all make room for Rainbow Boy and his million bucks. 13. jackie posted: 05.07.2007 - 12:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 24 was not the fastest car this day but he gutted it out and got to the front and held on. J. Burton could have dumped him but he's not that kind of driver. Still have never heard why Earnhardt fell asleep at the start. 14. Billy posted: 08.03.2007 - 1:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill Elliott Won The Winston Million in 1985. 15. Spotty posted: 10.28.2007 - 6:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The rumor for years was that Earnhardt Sr had an allergic reaction to some kind of food he ate. 16. Anonymous posted: 11.04.2007 - 1:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The food was tomatoes. 17. DieselDan posted: 11.11.2007 - 2:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) How come J. Gordon's "money" doesn't show the $1,000,000 bonus but Bill Elliott's does from 1985? 18. Douche Bagolow posted: 12.09.2007 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I doubt the food was tomatoes. Earnhardt loved tomato sandwiches. 19. myself posted: 02.26.2008 - 12:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (5) Maybe Earnhardt was drunk & passed out. 20. Clayton posted: 03.10.2008 - 11:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Todd Bodine was in the 96 Car for David Green and wrecked early with Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt! 21. Ryan posted: 05.08.2008 - 6:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was acutally tomatoes and gatorade together. I read it in one of his books, needless to say he never had that combination again before any race again. He said the two opens up your pores to help you sweat more. 22. Anonymous posted: 05.08.2008 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe Earnhardt was drunk & passed out. Myself, you are wrong. Espn claimed Earnhardt suffered a dizzy spell. http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?series=wc&id=2074527 . 23. Art D posted: 06.26.2009 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 28th career win for J. Gordon 24. myself posted: 08.17.2009 - 2:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) I just LOL @ my own comment about earnhardt being drunk & passing out!!!! 25. Russ Shurtliff posted: 09.21.2009 - 6:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) HERE A LITTLE CLIP OF DIZZY DALE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cnL8XH3ZXA 26. Clayton posted: 12.18.2010 - 7:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Waltrip ran a scheme simular to his Mountain Dew Scheme to w/Junior Johnson. 27. Schroeder51 posted: 03.24.2011 - 5:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Right after Earnhardt had his problem, Todd Bodine (substituting for David Green after his heavy crash and flip at Bristol) blew his engine and slammed the turn 1 wall. Rusty Wallace slid on the oil and also slammed the wall hard, while Kyle Petty and Robby Gordon spun in the oil. Mike Skinner had a hard crash for the second race in a row when Robby Gordon turned him off of turn 4 and Skinner slammed the inside wall head on. 28. Rotor77 posted: 05.23.2011 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Myself is the perfect reason this site should require registration. 29. Neal posted: 06.02.2011 - 12:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wasn't there concern that Earnhardt's "dizzy spell" could have been a TIA or mini-stroke? 30. Evan posted: 07.18.2014 - 12:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors WINNER #24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Refinishes/Million Dollar Date Sources:I have a diecast of the car, and I watched the race and it's in the previews of the lead-up to the race. It signified Jeff's pursuit of the Million Dollar Bonus in this race. 31. kidracer posted: 01.15.2015 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was this the race where John Andretti got dumped and ran across the track to block Jeremy Mayfield? 32. Schroeder51 posted: 09.14.2015 - 12:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) If Jeff Burton had wrecked Gordon on the last lap like he said he wanted to...considering how INCREDIBLY unpopular Gordon was with the vast majority of NASCAR fans at the time, I have a feeling the crowd reaction would have been nearly the exact opposite of what it was when Earnhardt wrecked Terry Labonte on the final lap of the Goody's 500 in '99...They would have been whooping and cheering for Burton like crazy. As mentioned above, he probably would have become quite a lot of folks' new favorite driver, and he might have even won the Most Popular Driver award at the end of the year... Okay, I'm kidding a bit with that last comment (this was back when Elliott was a shoe-in to win the award every year, after all), but I have a feeling the fans would have eaten it up! 33. Big Mac Fan posted: 09.14.2015 - 12:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @32 Let's dig deeper into this. If Burton wrecked Gordon, and Gordon lost 15 points through positions, then Dale Jarrett would be your '97 champ. 34. Dylan posted: 03.28.2016 - 1:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I'm not 100% sure, but unless King Richard ever pulled it off, this may have been the only time in NASCAR history to this day that a driver won each if the three biggest races in the same season. Daytona 500, World 600, and Southern 500. 35. Dylan posted: 03.28.2016 - 1:55 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nevermind, actually it did happen only one other time. David Pearson did it in 1976. 36. Sean posted: 03.28.2016 - 9:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) LeeRoy Yarbrough in 1969 also even though the spring Talladega race did not yet exist. 37. SuperG posted: 04.24.2016 - 6:29 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Waahhhh, my favorite driver couldn't beat Jeff Gordon so the race was fixed!!! Waaaahhhhhh. If Burton did spin Jeff (obviously he didn't because he's a class driver), then it would be a true dick move. Truth be told, I wouldn't be surprised considering Burton was in a Roush car and I wouldn't put it past Jack to do something like that after he simply got beat. Of course, when Jeff nudges someone, bumps them, or moves them without wrecking them, he's evil and dirty and a punk. But it's perfectly fine when any other person does it. I'm fully convinced a lot of these Gordon haters (and I don't like that word) are just big babies who can't come to grips that Gordon is arguably the best driver in NASCAR. Try harder next time boys. 38. Braindead Zombie posted: 04.24.2016 - 6:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Hey look, Gordon7TimeWinstonCupChamp is back. 39. Josh posted: 07.26.2016 - 6:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) Dale Earnhardt had a really bad migraine headache at the start of this one, but insisted he stay in the car. Childress said he was "groggy" in an interview later. Sure enough, heading into Turn 1 of the first lap, Big E puts it in the wall. Mike Dillon finished out the race as the relief driver. I really believe Jeff Burton wanted to punt Gordon, but Gordon simply held him off. Burton could not have wrecked Gordon without taking himself out in the process. 40. RaceFanX posted: 09.02.2016 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Burton's crew chief Buddy Parrott apparently tried to egg on Burton to wreck Jeff Gordon on the last lap when they made contact. Burton tastefully decided against it...he later won a Southern 500 himself two years later anyway and became the racer who snapped Gordon's Southern 500 win streak. The Winston Million was only won the first year and the last year it was offered... 41. most1305 posted: 05.03.2017 - 1:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @31, no the race where Andretti ran after Mayfield with the summer New Hampshire race. I think Earnhardt had a mini-stroke or maybe a migrane headache, something like that. I remember this being a BIG DEAL at the time, lot's of talk about retirement, etc. There was also a point in this race where the 88 and 99 crew chiefs had a heated argument about pit procedures and blocking the other team in, it was Todd Parrott and his dad Buddy Parrott, haha. About 10 years ago I comment that some thought the fix was in, that's true, a lot of people did. NASCAR said to give Gordon plenty of room but I don't think it was fixed as much as suggested to let Gordon sort it out himself. I don't think anyone wanted to be on the end of history though wrecking a guy going for such a big thing, especially Burton. While many drivers would wreck their grandma to win a race, I think most realize what an accomplishment something like this is. 42. most1305 posted: 08.31.2017 - 7:55 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 20 years ago today! Only driver left active is Derrike Cope and he will run this weekend, crazy! Bobby Labonte has more starts maybe, Joe Nemechek, Jeff Green and Todd Bodine occasionally run on the lower series, Michael Waltrip ran a race this year but says he is done. That's it! 43. HD11 posted: 01.08.2018 - 11:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ernie Irvan's bizzare season continued. He had just gotten a lap back and as he was catching up to the field, the wrecked 12 of Jeff Purvis pulled down in front of Irvan and tore up the 28. It did damage to the cooling system and his pit stall was covered in water after every stop. They were pitting in front of Jeff Gordon and in a move of sportsmanship they asked NASCAR if they could move to a vacant stall to not impede the 24. NASCAR would not let them but it turned out not to be a factor. Jeff Burton was victimized by poor pit stops all day and the final one after brother Ward crashed right in front of the leaders did him in. By the time he climbed back to third, he was over three seconds back of Gordon and Jarrett with 25 laps to go but ran them down and made it very exciting for the win. 44. CJ posted: 04.23.2018 - 11:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Season best finish for Gary Bradberry. 45. Ryan posted: 06.12.2018 - 12:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @32 Jeff Burton just didn't have the berries to do anything like that. He just wasn't that type of a racer. Had it been Earnhardt, Jarrett, or Wallace they would have taken him out. 46. Tarheel posted: 06.12.2018 - 5:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I distinctly remember Jeff Burton saying in the post race interview "I was trying to wreck him (Gordon), I just didn't have enough grip" 47. M posted: 12.05.2018 - 7:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) Earnhardt wouldn't have had a chance to wreck Gordon, because the old man wouldn't have been able to catch him. Jeff was too fast for the competition. Earnhardt couldn't even manage to stay awake during the pace laps of one of NASCAR's crown jewel races. Likewise for Jarrett and Wallace. I had no problem with Jeff giving the bump and run or moving guys out of the way. When he did it, he never deliberately wrecked people. He moved them up out of the groove and they usually didn't finish too bad. From the time Jeff started in Cup, and until the end of his career really, a lot of the other drivers became really big crybabies who were jealous of Jeff's quick success. Jeff won "too many" races "too quick", and apparently that gave everybody license to wreck him without repercussions. Dale Earnhardt (More so his fans, Dale himself just raced hard and never really had anything bad to say about Jeff aside from playful ribbing), Rusty Wallace, Jarrett (who I don't really have a problem with), and ESPECIALLY the Roush guys all were HUGE crybabies/whiners, who couldn't stand that Jeff would win so many races and Evernham would make gutsy calls/gambles that would pay off. Nobody seemed to have a problem when Earnhardt or Wallace were winning 7-8-9-10 races a year, but Jeff Gordon does it and oh no, we can't have that. I'm glad Jeff never backed down. He was a clean driver who tried to race everyone how he wanted to be raced, but when push came to shove, he wouldn't take shit from anybody. You saw the evidence of this in 1998 after Rusty Wallace purposely crashed him at Richmond, and then Jeff went on to completely torch the field for the rest of the season, which culminated in him saying at the 1998 awards banquet, and I quote: "We had great tires this year," which was a nice parting shot to Jackass Jack Roush's accusations that the Rainbow Warriors were cheating just because Mark Martin and Jeff Burton couldn't keep up with them that year. 48. Jimnsimforever posted: 03.09.2020 - 10:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very odd that all the lead lap cars came in during the caution for rain with as nasty as it looked. Dale Jarrett was in the lead and they were telling him to stay out but for some reason he came in at the last second possible instead of staying out in case the race was called. Jeff Gordon came out in 1st after the pit stops and kept the lead for the last 72 laps that were left. You would think at least one car would've taken the chance to stay out and try and win the race that way with as bad as it looked. 49. 1995z71 posted: 03.19.2020 - 11:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Dillon was allowed to sub in for Dale Earnhardt despite a rule not allowing rookies to drive a car they didn't practice. 50. Onion posted: 03.20.2020 - 9:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Chad Little's 11th place here was the best result for a non-Ford Roush car. Of course, this is a completely useless stat, given that running Little's ex-ppc Pontiac in 1997 was the only time Roush used anything other than the blue oval in NASCAR. 51. Rich posted: 08.04.2020 - 7:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons. The pit road reporters were Dr. Jerry Punch, John Kernan and Bill Weber. 52. GregSacksIsYourGod posted: 10.17.2020 - 9:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) After a brilliant run to 3rd at Bristol, Dick Trickle backed it with another strong run at Darlington - he hung around the top ten all day and turned in a pretty impressive 13th-place finish, his best on a track that wasn't Bristol up to this point in 1997. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: