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By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
July 27, 2002
1:00 PM EDT (1700 GMT)
As I sauntered into the establishment trying to look cool and fit, my eyes fell upon 100 or so people that my retinas had not been absorbed in two decades.
Welcome to my 20-year class reunion from Clarence (NY) Central High School.
My lovely wife, whom I graduated with but it took 16 years after 1982 to get a date with her, was holding my hand upon entering and I couldn't have been prouder. Behind us was one of my closest friends since seventh grade, Gary Rifenburg.
Kind of appropriate since his dad, Dick Rifenburg, was the catalyst for my getting into communications altogether. "Big Rife" was an All-American tight end from the University of Michigan who caught a record-setting number of passes like a normal person catches a bus.
After his college days, he became a lineman for the Detroit Lions and then migrated to the Buffalo, NY area where he got into broadcasting. While he was working at a radio station there, he took Gary and I to work with him one day -- that was it for me as I knew right then I wanted to be in the media.
So, upon gazing across the buffet of faces and follically-challenged people, and playing "name that classmate in three seconds or less" that night, I got to thinking about NASCAR and where that was 20 years ago. Even that senior year in 1982 with my hair parted in the middle, feathered back and down to my shoulders with the tin grin from my braces I was following the sport.
Here are a few items of interest you folks might enjoy:
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By 1982, Richard Petty had already won all seven of his championships. Dale Earnhardt had garnered one and Bobby Allison had yet to win his. Darrell Waltrip had captured two of his three crowns and pocketed $873,118 in winnings that year.
Allison won the Daytona 500, Cale Yarborough was second and Joe Ruttman was third. The Winston had yet to be run.
Of the top-10 finishers in 1982, only Terry Labonte and Ricky Rudd are still competing. Tim Richmond, Dale Earnhardt and Neil Bonnett were still racing. Ricky Rudd was driving for Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt was driving for Bud Moore where he won one race that year.
Tracks like California, Chicago, Homestead, Indy, Kansas, Las Vegas, New Hampshire, Phoenix, Sears Point and Watkins Glen weren't on the schedule. Nashville, North Wilkesboro and Riverside were.
Martinsville was in its 27th year of operation and there were only 30 points races in Winston Cup.
Rusty Wallace entered only three races that year and registered DNFs in all for a total of $7,655 in winnings. Now, he has 54 wins, one championship and more than $30 million to his credit.
Waltrip's championship that year was worth $75,000 of the $300,000 prize money the R.J. Reynolds handed out in checks. This year, the champ will pocket $3.7 million of the $14 million. Talk about a raise, huh?
Alan Kulwicki had yet to make a Winston Cup Series start. Richard Petty was five wins shy of his 200, Harry Gant and Tim Richmond each won their first race.
Words like Silly Season, restrictor plate and aero push were never uttered.
Robert Yates, Rick Hendrick and Larry McClure weren't owners, yet. Junior Johnson was still an active member in the sport. Cale Yarborough made 16 starts and won three of them that year.
Kenny Wallace was the Illinois State Street Stock champion and graduated from high school the year before with the Class Clown title. Now there's a shocker, huh?
Sterling Marlin was 25-years-old, Mark Martin was 23, Bill Elliott was 27 and Rusty Wallace was 26. Ned Jarrett had been retired for six years and was 42.
On the other end of the spectrum; Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart were 11, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 11, Kurt Busch four and Casey Atwood all of two-years-old.
As time goes on, age does, too. I may have a little more grays and hopefully a lot more wisdom than I did in 1982. With a 17-year-old stepson, Justin, about to enter his senior year, I can look at him and see parts of my youth through what he is going through now.
Looking at how NASCAR has grown on the exposure and financial ends, I just wonder what things will be like in another 20 years. One thing is for sure --- I'll probably still be a part of the sport.
I mean, why stop now?
Tim Packman's column appears every Saturday on NASCAR.com. The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.
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