By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
February 6, 2005
07:21 AM EST (12:21 GMT)
A patient Davey Allison dodged a 14-car accident that wiped out most of his competition, then led all but five of the final 102 laps on his way to victory in the 34th Daytona 500 on Feb. 16, 1992. Allison learned his lesson from a practice crash earlier in the week that forced him to go to his backup Ford. He avoided getting caught up in the big crash, which sidelined Sterling Marlin, Bill Elliott, Ernie Irvan and Dale Earnhardt, among others.  |  | NASCAR ACCELERATION | |
| ALSO IN 1992 ... |
| • | Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General (Jan. 1) |
| • | The 'Michelangelo' computer virus begins to affect computers (March 6) |
| • | Carlos the Jackal is sentenced to life imprisonment (June 1) |
| • | Buckingham Palace opened to the public for the first time (Aug. 7) |
| • | Kent Conrad of North Dakota resigns his seat in the U.S. Senate and is sworn into the other seat from North Dakota, becoming the only US Senator ever to have held two seats on the same day (Dec. 5) |
Courtesy: Wikipedia
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The Ford Probe GT was a Motor Trend Car of the Year award winner. A 1992 Ford Probe GT two-door hatchback retailed for $14,857, so Allison could have bought Probe GTs for all 14 Ford drivers in the 1992 Daytona 500 with his first-place check for $244,050, and still have had enough money left over for a $36,000 down payment on a new home, which had an average cost of $144,100. In August, the 78-acre Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minn., on property that once housed Metropolitan Stadium, home of the Twins and Vikings. Within four years, the New York Times reported that the Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in the United States, had attracted more visitors than Disney World, the Grand Canyon and Graceland combined. If Allison had wanted to drive a Ford Probe GT from his hometown of Hueytown, Ala., to Bloomington, Minn., the 1,092-mile trip would have taken about 18 hours by way of the highway, or six hours and 49 minutes at the race-winning speed of 160.256 mph. Crime and punishment were the catchwords in 1992. In February, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison. Later in the year, Russian serial killer Andrew Chikatilo was sentenced to death. In March, boxer Mike Tyson was given a six-year sentence for raping a teen-aged Miss Black America contestant. Former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations in July. In April, Mafia boss John Gotti earned a life term for murdering Paul Castellano. In May, Amy Fisher -- the Long Island Lolita -- was arrested for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco on the front porch of her Massapequa, N.Y., home. A "not guilty verdict" in the Rodney King beating trial set off a series of riots in Los Angeles on April 29, resulting in as many as 60 deaths, hundreds of fires and millions in damage. On Jan. 26, Boris Yeltsin announced that Russia would stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons. Lethal Weapon 3 earned $144,731,527 at the box office in 1992. In May, the 27th Amendment was ratified, barring Congress from giving itself a midterm or retroactive pay raise. In June, Vice President Dan Quayle misspelled "potatoe" while attending a New Jersey spelling bee. One of the duties of the Vice President is to preside over the Senate. President George Bush and Quayle were defeated by Bill Clinton and Al Gore in November's presidential election. On May 22, Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for the final time. The last episode of The Cosby Show was aired in April. Boyz II Men hit Cash Box's No. 1 for 10 consecutive weeks with End Of The Road, starting in September. Robert Schumann, a 10-year-old boy, became the youngest person to visit the North Pole on April 6. He visited the South Pole one year later. Yugoslavia was broken into Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. Czechoslovakia was broken into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Billy Ray Cyrus broke onto the charts with Achy Breaky Heart. → Click here for more Daytona Countdown. | 
