Jeff Gordon 1993 Year in Review Episode 7

Описание: Jeff Gordon 1993 Year in Review
Episode 7 of 11

On July 12, 1993 Davey Allison was flying a helicopter to Talladega to watch Neil Bonnett, Neil's son David Bonnett and Jeff Purvis (who was driving for James Finch) practice their NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Busch Grand National Series cars during a private test. Allison bought the helicopter three weeks prior and brought ARCA Super Car Series driver Red Farmer with him. Allison crashed the helicopter while trying to land in the infield. Allison and Farmer were both injured and transported to Carraway Methodist Medical Center nearby, but Allison was in critical condition. Farmer, who had a broken collarbone and fractured ribs, fully recovered. Tragically, 32 year old Davey Allison died the next morning Tuesday July 13, 1993 at Carraway from his injuries. Later that day Davey Allison's father, Retired Winston Cup Series Champion Bobby Allison, holds a press conference and ESPN's Jerry Punch interviews Neil Bonnett who was first on the scene at the crash.

Two weeks later at Talladega Hendrick Motorsports entered an additional car, a car identical to Jeff Gordon's car but with the #46, in the Winston Cup race for TNN Motorsports Commentator and 1980 Daytona 500 Winner Buddy Baker to thank him. Buddy Baker's father, former NASCAR Grand National (Winston Cup) Series 2 Time Champion Buck Baker, owned Buck Baker Racing School which first taught Jeff Gordon how to drive a stock car during a class in 1990. Buddy Baker's brother, former driver Randy Baker, also taught at the school. Buddy Baker in 1993 helped with testing for Hendrick Motorsports and also gave advice to Gordon at request of Rick Hendrick. Baker also stood by as a relief driver at Daytona in 1992 for Hendrick driver Ken Schrader.

Baker's speeds in the #46 DuPont Chevrolet Lumina during practice at Talladega were good but officials made the team modify the cowl and he failed to qualify. Baker before his natural death in 2015 revealed that there was nothing wrong with the cowl. During practice he was informed that several other major teams had complained about him being in a fast car who were concerned for their safety. Baker was injured while driving in the 1988 Coca-Cola 600 which became life threatening and he had to have brain surgery. He recovered and returned in 1990 where he raced a few times with underfunded slower cars.

Bonnett, a colleague of Baker, was in the same situation. Bonnett was also a TNN Motorsports Commentator, 1982 and 1983 Coca-Cola 600 Winner, and was involved in a life threatening crash with a head injury in 1990 at Darlington. He recovered but did not race again. Bonnett began testing cars for Richard Childress in 1992 and 1993 to help his best friend and Childress' driver, 5 Time Champion and superstar Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt suggested that Bonnett should race again and it was agreed that his first race back would be at Talladega. Bonnett qualified 20th for the race in a Childress car that had a similar paint scheme to Earnhardt's car. It was also the same car that Earnhardt had drove to victory earlier in the month at Daytona. At 44:46 during a caution Bonnett talks to CBS Sports and states he does not feel he is no longer a safety threat to the other drivers. He then at 53:49 says "sometimes its not going to be the kind you can walk away" and "you have to pay the price when it happens." Bonnett in February 1994 died from a Daytona 500 practice crash.

Also during the race at Talladega Stanley Smith was injured in a crash. He was flown to Carraway in critical condition with head trauma. Officials feared the worst as they thought Smith was not going to survive. Smith along with his head injuries had a severed aorta in his neck, massive blood loss and was in a coma for days. A week later he improved from critical condition but was not released from the hospital until over a month later after having several surgeries. Smith made a full recovery but lost some vision in his left eye and had some slight paralysis on his right side. He was making preparations to race again at Talladega in 1994 but Bonnett's death changed his mind. Smith quit racing but later returned to lower divisions of NASCAR in 2001. In 2004 he won a AutoZone Elite Division Southeast Series race at Kentucky. Chad Knaus' first job in NASCAR was working as a mechanic and fabricator on Smith's team in 1991 prior to joining Gordon's team in 1993.

0:15 Talladega Private Test - In Memory of Davey Allison
4:29 Pocono
14:04 Talladega Practice/Qualifying
15:28 Talladega

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