| Major League Baseball has its Home Run Derby and | | | | its shorter frontstretch oval, and Junior remembers |
| the NBA its slam dunk / three-point contests. Such | | | | those pre-events fondly. He strongly suggests that |
| contests have spiced up the respective all-star | | | | fans would enjoy seeing legendary names drive |
| weekends of those sports, giving NASCAR incentive | | | | imitation models of the stock cars they once steered |
| for putting on its first Pennzoil Victory Challenge, a | | | | to stardom. Watching David Pearson, Richard Petty, |
| burnout contest highlighting the tire-smoking abilities-a | | | | Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Rusty |
| ritual normally reserved for victory celebrations-of | | | | Wallace and others go at it again would not only sell |
| five chosen drivers at this month's All-Star Challenge | | | | tickets, but would bring added exposure to the sport, |
| at Lowe's Motor Speedway. | | | | and to the all-star Challenge on the weekend before |
| The celebratory burnouts will feature current drivers | | | | Memorial Day celebrations begin. |
| demonstrating three parts of a post-race triumph: | | | | A race involving all-time greats would also bring |
| smoking tires after a drag-like start, a pair of | | | | old-timers back into a sport many of them have |
| 360-degree donut spins, and a precision sprint to | | | | dismissed after NASCAR left the trail they once |
| Victory Lane through strategically placed traffic | | | | paved-with far fewer rewards. Some of the legends |
| cones. The competition will be timed with the drivers | | | | say that NASCAR's body templates make the |
| subject to penalties. | | | | so-called 'stock' cars too identical beyond a distinct |
| H.A. "Humpy Wheeler, president and general manager | | | | color scheme and a barely observable nose |
| of Lowe's Motor Speedway and one of NASCAR's | | | | difference. Such uniformity obscures the personality |
| top promoters, has been hyping the competition with | | | | of the sport, they claim, and a trip down memory |
| thoughts of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch displaying | | | | lane on four wheels with some of the sport's |
| the same pomp and flair that has given grounds | | | | pioneers would bring a drift of nostalgia and keep |
| crews more clean-up time in some burned-out infields | | | | more of the 45-and-up crowd in tune. |
| after their wins. | | | | Hershel McGriff, named one of NASCAR's top 50 |
| Among other plans being discussed for future all-star | | | | drivers of all time despite just four wins in his |
| weekends is an old-timers race featuring retired | | | | on-and-off career, laments the look and feel of the |
| greats of the sport in a shortened race of | | | | modern stock car, claiming that sameness leads to |
| undetermined length. The cars, safety equipment, | | | | blandness. McGriff recalls once driving his Oldsmobile |
| and other details would also need to be worked out. | | | | from Oregon to a race at Darlington, finishing ninth, |
| The herald of the re-born idea, the one who made it | | | | and then driving back home. Now 77, he may be too |
| public, is Dale Earnhardt Jr. The Hendrick Motorsports | | | | old to participate in an old-timers event, but he would |
| icon likes having a burnout competition but is more | | | | certainly watch. |
| partial to his suggestion, saying he'll probably skip the | | | | Times were tougher then, but drivers in NASCAR's |
| Victory Challenge if asked to participate. If he wins in | | | | golden era sure had fun. It might be good to catch a |
| the meantime, he could change his mind. | | | | glimpse of some of those guys each year in a brief, |
| In the early to mid-1990s, the Concord, N.C., track | | | | 20-lapper. |
| held what was called The Winston Legends race on | | | | |