Alan Kulwicki delighted the fans at PIR with his backward 'Polish victory lap.' Credit: ISC Publications, Inc.

Enduring Performance: 1988 Checker 500

Kulwicki posts first career win, celebrates with 'Polish victory lap'

If foreshadowing is the act of providing hints of a future event, the 1988 Checker 500 at Phoenix International Raceway left the names Kulwicki, Allison and Elliott eternally entwined.

An unheralded journeyman by the name of Alan Kulwicki would post his first Cup victory in NASCAR's first visit to the desert mile that season -- setting the stage for an improbable series of events that would culminate in Kulwicki's 1992 championship, at Bill Elliott's expense.

	Alan Kulwicki Credit: ISC Publications, Inc.
	Results 1988 Checker 500 Pos. Driver Make 1. A. Kulwicki Ford 2. T. Labonte Chevrolet 3. D. Allison Ford 4. B. Elliott Ford 5. R. Wallace Pontiac 6. G. Bodine Chevrolet 7. B. Hillin Jr. Buick 8. B. Parsons Ford 9. P. Parsons Oldsmobile 10. S. Marlin Oldsmobile • Complete results, click here

Kulwicki, the 1986 rookie of the year, had won four poles and finished second at Darlington and Martinsville earlier in the season. It appeared this wouldn't be Kulwicki's day when a stuck lug nut forced him to run on "three new tires and one old one for about 25 laps."

But when Rusty Wallace began to suffer from handling problems, Ricky Rudd took the lead and built an advantage over the field. Following Kulwicki's final pit stop on Lap 248, his Thunderbird began to reel in Rudd's Buick.

What looked to be a classic duel to the finish became anticlimatic when a radiator hose came loose on Rudd's car with 25 laps to go, forcing Rudd to drop out of the race after leading 183 laps.

"Between our last stop and the time Ricky fell out, we'd cut his lead from 8 seconds to about 3," Kulwicki said. "We certainly had a chance to catch him even if he didn't fall out. We'll never know now, but we had an excellent chance to win this race either way."

Kulwicki beat Terry Labonte to the line by 18.5 seconds, with Davey Allison finishing third -- yet another foreshadowing of 1992. Kulwicki then delighted the crowd of about 60,000 with a lap of the track in reverse, which he called "my Polish victory lap."

"I'd thought about it for a couple of months and been waiting to use it," Kulwicki said. "There'll never be another first win, and I wanted to do something people would remember me by."

Elliott's fourth-place finish allowed him to maintain a 79-point advantage on Wallace heading into the season's final race at Atlanta. Things were dicey early, as Elliott cut a tire and was out of sequence with the leaders for the rest of the day.

SUPERSTORE •   Alan Kulwicki •   Davey Allison •   Bill Elliott

One of those was Wallace, who led 68 laps before fading to fifth at the end.

"We got out here in pretty good shape, and I don't know what else to tell you," Elliott said. "I'll do what I have to do at Atlanta. All I have to do is finish in the top 20."

Even though Wallace would go on to win the final race of the year, Elliott's 11th-place performance at Atlanta would be good enough for him to claim his first championship.

Four years later, Elliott would once again come into Phoenix with a significant lead. However, a 31st-place finish -- coupled with Allison's second consecutive victory there -- would result in a 110-point swing, giving Allison the points lead heading into the season finale.

Just like Elliott in 1988, Kulwicki would go on to finish fourth at Phoenix in 1992 -- and claim the championship when Allison was caught up in a crash at Atlanta.

Kulwicki would win four more races, including twice at Bristol, before being killed in a plane crash on April 1, 1993. Two of Allison's 19 career victories would come at Phoenix. He was fatally injured when the helicopter he was piloting crashed in the infield of Talladega Superspeedway on July 13, 1993.