1991 Budweiser at The Glen

The 1991 Budweiser at The Glen racing event was officially sanctioned as part of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Taking place on August 11, 1991, at Watkins Glen International, this race was the 18th race completed out of the 29 attempted during the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. The race was won by Ernie Irvan driving the No. 4 Kodak Chevrolet Lumina for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, but was marred by an early crash that claimed the life of veteran driver J. D. McDuffie. It also marked the final top-ten finish for seven-time Winston Cup Champion Richard Petty.

Summary

The entire race took approximately two hours and twelve minutes to complete.

Terry Labonte, driving the No. 94 Sunoco-sponsored Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme for Billy Hagan, qualified on pole for the race. Irvan, who won the race, qualified third. Five cautions slowed the race for 11 laps. Ricky Rudd finished second behind Irvan in the No. 5 Tide-sponsored Chevrolet Lumina for Hendrick Motorsports, and Richard Petty recorded his final career Top 10 finish in the No. 43 STP-sponsored Pontiac Grand Prix by finishing ninth.

ESPN carried the race as part of its coverage of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Bob Jenkins was the lead broadcaster, stationed in the broadcasters' stand on the front straightaway. Analysts Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett were stationed at different spots on the course, with Parsons reporting from the first turn and Jarrett from The Loop, the course's fifth turn. The broadcast crew was rounded out by Jerry Punch and John Kernan on pit road.

Lap 5 crash

The fatal crash that marred the race occurred involved two of the six owner-drivers in the race. J.D. McDuffie, as he had done for years, was driving his #70 Pontiac Grand Prix, for which he had obtained sponsorship from a local Watkins Glen-area construction company. The other car involved belonged to Jimmy Means, who also fielded his own Pontiacs at the time; this particular race saw his #52 carry sponsorship from Alka-Seltzer. (The other four owner-drivers in the race were the aforementioned Richard Petty in the #43 STP Pontiac, Darrell Waltrip in the #17 Western Auto Chevrolet, Dave Marcis in the #71 Big Apple Markets Chevrolet, and Alan Kulwicki in the #7 Hooters Ford.)

As the field entered the Loop on lap 5, the left front wheel spindle on the #70 broke, causing the wheel that was attached to it to come off the car and McDuffie to lose his brakes. He then made contact with the #52, which caused both cars to leave the racing surface at the exit to turn 5, heading down a grassy embankment where a tire barrier was placed in front of an Armco guard rail. Since his brakes had failed, and also that there was no gravel trap at the Loop to help him scrub off some speed, McDuffie could not slow or stop his Pontiac. Moments later, he struck the tire barrier with enough force to propel his car into the air and rotate 180 degrees before landing back on the grass, upside down; McDuffie was killed upon impact. Means was able to get the #52 slowed enough to where he did not make as hard a hit as McDuffie did; in fact, he actually went underneath the #70 as it was in the air before he came to rest just alongside the tires.

As Means emerged from his race car, he went over to the wrecked Pontiac to try to assist McDuffie. A few seconds after looking inside the cockpit of the #70, Means began frantically waving for track safety officials to come to the scene. Means then spoke to Ned Jarrett, who as mentioned before was stationed on the track just behind where the accident occurred, on the ESPN broadcast moments later that he hoped his fellow driver was okay but conceded the situation did not look good.

Just as the drivers completed the fifth lap, NASCAR threw the red flag and stopped the drivers on the front stretch. The race was red-flagged for one hour and 48 minutes, first to extract McDuffie from his vehicle, and then to allow time for track workers to repair the guardrail in that location. Later, as the race was restarting, Jerry Punch of ESPN and Bill Bowser of MRN were both present for the official statement from Winston Cup Media Director Chip Williams that McDuffie had died from his injuries sustained in the crash. On ESPN, Bob Jenkins then eulogized McDuffie before Benny Parsons spoke directly to McDuffie's widow, Ima Jean.

As he had mentioned, Parsons had his own experience in having to deal with a spousal death. Earlier that season, during the Winston Cup’s June race weekend at Pocono, he had stayed behind at his North Carolina home to be with his wife Connie as she battled a terminal illness. On the day of the race, which Jenkins and Jarrett called without him, Connie Parsons died.

McDuffie was credited with a last-place finish of 40th, while Means was credited with a 39th place finish. A brief ceremony honoring McDuffie was held during the 1992 Coca-Cola 600 race held the following year.

This incident was the second serious accident at Turn 5 that year. During June's Camel Continental sports car race, Tommy Kendall crashed in the same area after losing control of his vehicle — he, like McDuffie, lost a wheel before crashing — and broke both of his legs. Coincidentally, Kendall was scheduled to take part in this particular race prior to his accident driving the No. 42 Mello Yello Pontiac for Felix Sabates in place of an injured Kyle Petty, but his injuries allowed Bobby Hillin Jr. to take over the ride for the Budweiser at the Glen. (Hillin finished 18th.)

In the wake of both serious incidents, Watkins Glen International track officials decided to reconfigure the Loop and added a chicane to the entrance of the turn which was dubbed the Inner Loop. They did not, however, make this a permanent change and left the Loop turn as a whole in place, choosing to leave it to the sanctioning bodies of the racing series as to whether or not they wanted to use the chicane. Races using the short course, like the still-running NASCAR events, use the Inner Loop chicane. Races using the full course, like those run by sports car racing series and the IndyCar Series, usually use the original Loop configuration (not all do, however).

Race

When the race restarted, Terry Labonte maintained the lead. On lap 20, Labonte cut a left-rear tire and spun entering turn one, bringing out the caution to retrieve his tire. Ernie Irvan ran up front until he spun out of the lead in turn six on lap 48. Irvan re-entered the track in fifth place. A caution for rain came out on lap 59. The shower was brief and Ken Schrader emerged in the lead after pitting shortly before the caution. Schrader led until lap 68 when he broke a camshaft in turn five and coasted back to the pits. Later that lap, Kim Campbell spun in turn five, hitting the wall with the back of his Oldsmobile and bringing out the fifth and final caution of the day.
The race came down to a three car battle between Irvan, Mark Martin, and Davey Allison for the victory. On the final lap, Martin attempted a pass for the lead entering turn one. Irvan blocked the attempt forcing Martin to slam on the brakes. This disrupted the balance of Martin's Thunderbird causing him to spin and Davey Allison to spin in avoidance. Irvan drove to a seven-second victory. Martin finished third while Allison had trouble restarting his car, finishing tenth. Coming out of the final turn, Bill Elliott and Hut Stricklin spun across the finish line, finishing seventh and eight respectively.

Results

References

{{NASCAR on ESPN

Budweiser At The Glen
Budweiser At The Glen
Budweiser At The Glen
NASCAR races at Watkins Glen International