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CONCORD, N.C. -- There was a heavy nod toward tradition in Tuesday's announcement of the format for the Monster Energy All-Star Race, an acknowledgement of a pivotal point in its history and a NASCAR highlight for all times.
After seven runnings in the 1980s into the '90s, the exhibition event already had many memorable moments but was still searching for a foothold on the NASCAR schedule. The outlandish idea to give the race an identity was either ridiculed as a gimmick or dismissed as something that couldn't be done. Yet in 1992, the All-Star event found a place among stock-car racing's grandest stages at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and remarkably, that stage was illuminated.
NASCAR and the track ushered in another age Tuesday, introducing a four-segment format, a tire-strategy option and a field-thinning elimination before the final 10-lap dash planned for the May 20 exhibition. But the 33rd running of the event will also coincide with the 25th anniversary of the sport-altering race billed as "One Hot Night." It will also feature the same number of laps -- 70.
Speedway Motorsports president Marcus Smith was just finishing up high school when the lighting project -- unheard of at the time for a track of its size -- began to take shape ahead of the race that was then known as "The Winston." Night races were frequent at NASCAR's local and weekly bullrings, but rare in NASCAR's top division with only Bristol and Richmond conducting their races under the lights at that time.
Smith, who celebrated his 44th birthday Tuesday, was working summers as an intern during the advent of "One Hot Night." while his father -- NASCAR Hall of Famer and track mogul Bruton Smith -- helped guide the track into the next century. Even then, as the event came under such scrutiny and suspense, Marcus Smith knew the advent of permanent lights at a 1.5-mile track had the potential to tilt the direction of the sport.
"It was tremendous. It was absolutely stunning for a big superspeedway to be lit and to run a NASCAR race at night," the younger Smith said. "Of course, some people said, 'Hey, we grew up racing on a Saturday night under the lights,' but it was a big adjustment. There was a lot of controversy. There were a lot of drivers who weren't sure about it, and so it was not something that was just a common occurrence like it is today."
The trepidation ahead of the full-moon Saturday night in May 1992 was real. Engineers with Iowa-based company Musco Lighting conducted multiple tests before the event, hoping to allay the concerns about potential shadows, dark spots, gaps in drivers' depth perception -- all valid worries when lapping a high-banked oval after nightfall at 180-mph-plus.
"You're worried about the unknown," said Jeff Hammond, who paired with Darrell Waltrip to win the inaugural All-Star Race in 1985 and was atop the pit box for the NASCAR Hall of Famer again in '92. "These were just some of the things going through my mind that night, but it turned out to be the wave of the future. It was well executed and couldn't have been any better. Bruton did an excellent job and the people at Musco that worked with them on the lights for the race track, they did their homework.
"In the end, I think the fans were just blown away with the fireworks that were going on. … We all got educated in a lot of different ways because of that one big, I guess you might say leap of faith that happened that night. You saw the end result that evening."
That closing act was one of the sport's greatest. Dale Earnhardt was nudged from the top spot on the final lap, leaving Davey Allison and Kyle Petty to settle it in a fender-scraping duel to the finish line. Allison prevailed, crashing after the checkered flag in a deluge of sparks that lit up the night.
What was once novelty is now the norm. Six of the eight tracks in SMI's speedway empire and 15 of the 23 tracks on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule have permanent lights -- a radiance owed to a crazy idea that hatched more than 25 years ago.
"It was definitely a night that I remember like it was yesterday," Smith says, "and I love that Charlotte Motor Speedway has played such a key role in NASCAR history and the highlights of the sport."
Programming info for the Monster Energy All-Star Race
When: Saturday, May 20, events start at 6 p.m. ET with the Monster Energy Open followed by the Monster Energy All-Star Race
Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway
TV: FS1
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio