Daytona Countdown: '02

Dubya wasn't only one choking: Marlin's gaffe paves way for Ward

Curiousity got the better of Sterling Marlin during the 44th Daytona 500 on Feb. 17, 2002, and it cost him a chance at a third 500 victory and more than $1 million.

After tangling with Jeff Gordon on a late-race restart, Marlin got out of his car to check for damage and yanked on the right-front fender, which caused him to be penalized to the back of the field with five laps to go.

NASCAR ACCELERATION •   Know Your NASCAR •   Tickets for Daytona •   2004 Daytona 500 highlights •   Get TrackPass for 2005! ALSO IN 2002 ... •   In Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison. (March 12)  •   In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl (March 21)  •   FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds (May 10)  •   At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" is sold for $76.2 million to Lord Thomson (July 10)  •   Brian Henderson retires from reading the news at Sydney, Australia, TV station TCN-9. At his retirement, he held the record for the longest-serving TV news anchor, having hosted the weekend evening bulletins on the station from 1957-64 and the weeknight evening news bulletins from 1964-2002 (Nov. 29)  Courtesy: Wikipedia

That handed the win to Ward Burton, whose Dodge held off the Fords of Elliott Sadler and Geoffrey Bodine on the last lap.

The Ford Thunderbird was Motor Trend's 2002 Car of the Year. The 2002 Ford Thunderbird Premium two-door convertible had an original list price of $35,965, so Burton could have purchased 39 T-Birds with his first-place check for $1,409,017.

The Euro was officially introduced as banknotes and coins in 12 European countries on Jan. 1. If Burton had been paid in Euros, his Daytona 500 victory would be worth approximately $2,006,478 today.

If Burton had wanted to travel to Paris (Idaho), Rome (Georgia) and Frankfort (Kentucky) to exchange his Euros, the round-trip excursion from his hometown of South Boston, Va., would have covered 4,360 miles -- about a 73-hour drive in the Thunderbird or 30 hours and 30 minutes at Burton's race-winning average of 142.971 mph.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released in 2002 and grossed $340 million. Kmart Corp. and WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002. Chapter 11 in Book Three of The Two Towers is "The Palantir." Plantar warts occur on the sole of the foot.

Queen Elizabeth II made ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani an honorary knight on Feb. 13, then celebrated 50 years on the throne with a ride in a gold coach from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral on June 4. New York's Empire State Building was lit in purple in her honor. The cathedral in St. Paul's, Minn., is on Selby Avenue.

After choking on a pretzel on Jan. 13, President George W. Bush had a busy year. In October, Congress passed a joint resolution which gave the President authorization to use the Armed Forces in a manner he determines to be necessary and appropriate. One month later, President Bush signed the Homeland Security Act into law.

With a five-day visit to meet Fidel Castro in May, Jimmy Carter became the first former or current president to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution that left Castro in power.

Fire and ice were part of the storyline in 2002.

The worst forest fire in Arizona history occured on June 18, when 462,000 acres burned. In July, a lightning strike set off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, burning another 499,570 acres. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, wildfires burned over 7.1 million acres of public and private lands during the summer of 2002, mostly in the western U.S.

Nelly's Hot In Herre hit No. 1 on the ARC Top 40 Singles chart for three weeks in 2002.

In May, the Mars Odyssey found signs of large water ice deposits on that planet's surface. In Janurary, Osama bin Laden's assets were frozen by the United Nations Security Council. In February, accusations of judging impropriety in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games at Salt Lake City -- Skategate -- caused the International Olympic Committee to award dual gold medals in pairs figure skating.

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