By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
February 17, 2005
10:00 AM EST (15:00 GMT)
Michael Waltrip had to have been the happiest person at Daytona International Speedway when the rain came a second time on Feb. 16, 2003. Waltrip walked to Victory Lane, umbrella in hand, after the 45th Daytona 500 was stopped after 109 laps.  |  | NASCAR ACCELERATION | |
| ALSO IN 2003 ... |
| • | Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Arab Emirates calls for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to step down to avoid war. The sentiment is later echoed by Bahrain and Kuwait |
| • | Land troops from United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invade Iraq. |
| • | George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing end of major combat in the Iraq war. |
| • | Martha Stewart and her broker are indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigned as chairperson and chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living. |
| • | In the World Series, the Florida Marlins beat the New York Yankees 4 games to 2. |
Courtesy: Wikipedia
|
|
Thirty-three cars were still on the lead lap at the time. However, Waltrip's teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was not, having lost three laps to change a balky battery. The Infiniti G35 coupe was Motor Trend's Car of the Year for 2003. A 2003 Infiniti G35 two-door coupe had an original list price of $29,100, meaning Waltrip could have purchased Infiniti G35s for the entire field and still have $168,106 left over to lease several houseloads of furniture from Aaron Rents. On June 22, a thunderstorm that pounded south central Nebraska dropped a soccer ball-sized hailstone that measured seven inches in diameter and had a circumference of 18.75 inches, the largest hailstone ever recorded in the United States. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, large hailstones can fall at speeds faster than 100 miles per hour. Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz had a hit with "Get Low" in 2003. If Waltrip had wanted to see the hailstone, the 722-mile trip from his hometown of Owensboro, Ky. to Aurora, Neb. would have taken 12 hours in an Infiniti -- or five hours and 23 minutes at Waltrip's race-winning average of 133.870 mph, a little longer than the time it would have taken the hailstone to complete 500 miles. In January, Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva became president of Brazil and Pascal Couchepin became president of the Confederation in Switzerland. In March, Hu Jintao replaced Jiang Zemin as president of the People's Republic of China. In December, Paul Martin became Canada's Prime Minister. In October, Californians recalled Governor Gray Davis and replaced him with actor Arnold Schwarznegger. In December, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. "How's the World Treating You" by James Taylor and Alison Krauss won a Grammy Award in 2003. In January, the leaders of eight countries released a statement supporting the United States' plans to invade Iraq. In February, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations Security Council. In March, three gulf states call for Hussein to step down to avoid war. On March 17, President George W. Bush gave Hussein an ultimatum to leave Iraq or face military action. The first American bombs dropped on Baghdad on the 19th and land troops invaded that country starting on the 20th. On April 9, U.S. forces seized control of Baghdad and on May 1, President Bush made a speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, announcing the end of major combat in the Iraq War. There were a number of lasts in 2003. On July 30, the last old-style Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Puebla, Mexico. On Oct. 24, the Concorde made its last commercial flight. On Feb. 1, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas on re-entry, killing all seven astronauts. It remains the last shuttle mission to this point. - Click here for more Daytona Countdown. | 
