Of the 83 drivers who have competed in at least one of NASCAR's mid-season all-star races since the format began in 1985, Dave Mader III might be the name recognized by the fewest number of fans. But for Mader, the 1992 The Winston was hugely productive, both from a career and personal standpoint.

The second-generation driver and native of Maylene, Ala., made just 10 career Cup starts over a five-year span, but he was in the right place at the right time when the series came to Charlotte Motor Speedway in May of 1992.

"That definitely, I would say, would be the highlight of my career," Mader said last week from his home near Mobile. "Just the hoopla about it was fabulous. I met my wife at the first practice that night."

During the offseason, Bill Elliott had jumped at an offer to drive for Junior Johnson, leaving Harry Melling without a driver for his No. 9 Ford. Melling put Phil Parsons in the car for Daytona and Rockingham, then turned to Mader at Darlington.

He finished 34th there, wound up 16th at Bristol, led seven laps en route to a 21st-place finish at Martinsville and finished in the middle of the pack at Talladega. And that led up to The Winston.

"Phil Parsons drove the first two races and I drove it the next five," Mader said. "So I was in the car at that point of the year.

"At that time, as far as I understand, Junior's car wasn't in and Bill went to Junior, so Junior got in because of Bill. And I got in because of the owner, Harry Melling. That's how it worked then."

According to Mader's recollections from the events of 18 years go, he feels like he has the right to stake his claim as the first driver to get on the track for the first practice for the inaugural The Winston under the lights.

Here's how Mader remembers things:

"We were there for the first practice under the lights. Two weeks before this was to go off, they were going to have a practice. They threw the switch and some big junction box shorted out and the lights didn't come on, and everybody was there: [Dale] Earnhardt, Rusty [Wallace] and Mark [Martin] and [Ricky] Rudd, six or eight of them. But the lights didn't come on and it didn't happen.

"So the part had to come from somewhere like Sweden, so they couldn't get it right away. So the lights hadn't been turned on until that first night practice. They turned the lights on, and we happened to be leaning against the front end of the car, the red No. 9. And there wasn't anybody in the garage area, at least not that we noticed then."

"[Former NASCAR technical inspector] Dick Beatty was the director, and he was coming down through there, and everybody but me I guess was in a crowd following him. I was thinking, 'What in the world is going on?' They got to our car and stood on either side of it and my crew chief, Gene Roberts, says to me, 'What did you do?' And I had no idea."

"Everybody's around the car now -- Darrell [Waltrip], Earnhardt, all of them. They went and had a meeting and said, 'Who's going to go around the track first?' Nobody's been around it under lights, and they all said, 'Well, I'm not going to go.' (Continued)