It's a crime that the North Wilkesboro Speedway is standing empty and dilapidated now. It looks like a ghost town. NASCAR never should have turned its back on its roots.

Anyone else think that Larry Mac looked a bit like Jon Gruden in 1990?

And now Brett Bodine works for NASCAR and drives the pace car, what irony

Obviously, North Wilkesboro needs to be purchased and every effort under the sun should be put into getting NASCAR back to N. Wilkesboro. Just Saying

Who’s here after the 2022 announcement of the revival of NWS!

Not only would this end up being Brett Bodine's only career Cup Series victory, it would be Buick's final Cup Series victory. Also, Kenny Wallace, the driver who wrecked to bring out that fateful caution, was making his first ever Cup Series start.

0:19 I don't think NASCAR would ever say that today.

Honestly, you'd think by 1990 that NASCAR would have introduced mandatory electronic lap charts and scoring, most other championships were already doing this by that year

I still thought it was cool the way Bill France handled that situation despite the scoring error. He knew that this was probably going to be the only shot Bodine would ever have at winning a race.

Here is exactly what happened. They did leave out a couple things. Brett was leading and he pitted. He went a lap, maybe 2 down. On fresher tires he was catching the leader Earnhardt. Earnhardt pitted not long after which put Brett back on lead lap when caution came out, but not the lead. But what i think upsets a lot of people is, once the caution came out, Brett pitted again. Had 4 fresh tires compared to 10 or so laps for everyone else, and was also given the first spot. So not only was he given the first spot when he should have theoretically been the last car on the lead lap, he was given the first spot WITH fresher tires.

You know something is screwy when a Bodine finishes a race, let alone wins one.

NASCAR, please, please, please bring North Wilkesboro back. Re pave the track, re do the grandstands, and modernize the garage area and bring this Great track back for crying out loud.

NASCAR is reaping what it has sown. They turned their backs on the fans and the communities that made them. What needs to happen is another sanctioning body form, return to Wilkesboro, Rockingham, Darlington for a second race, throw in a couple of Hickory dates, and couple other short tracks and then charge a reasonable ticket price. The fans would return and then NASCAR would be on the outside looking in.

Nascar needs more tracks/racing like this. I kept feeling like I was going to my local short track the entire time I watched this video. This is what made Nascar good.

I love how NASCAR's ridiculous officiating is still prevalent even today.

***** What I thought after watching the whole last part of the race in another KZfaq channel: · Brett pits from 3rd and looses a lap · Dale and Darrel (1-2) pit · Because of track position, Brett somehow overtakes Dale and Darrel · Kenny crashes out · The pace car picks Dale even though Brett was leading a couple of cars ahead · CONFUSION STARTS: Brett pits under caution · Brett is put on the lead even though he pitted under caution · Darrel passes Dale and tries to attack Brett but he can't · Brett wins, Darrel 2nd, Dale 3rd *THE PROBLEM?* Brett pitted under caution, he should've been the last guy on the lead lap since nobody else on the lead lap pitted during that 15-minute-long caution

All through the 90's and early 2000's i followed nascar religiously never missed watching a race and attended several races when they started the chase bs i really lost interest i think its absolute bs that they take away the points cushion that a driver and team busted there asses to build all season long and earn the championship and then just go ok last handful of races everyone starts out with a clean slate then one mistake by another driver could completely screw the driver that busted his ass to gain a huge points lead at the drop of a hat. Then the car of tomorrow made it even worse and the last straw cutting the race into segments. If i'm being honest the day we lost Dale SR. is when i really started to stop watching, i watched every race the rest of the season to see the tributes the tracks did for Dale but after that i just didn't honestly have that want to watch anymore. That day was a huge blow to nascar as a whole

And this is why we now have computerized scoring... Keep in mind that computer scoring was already being used in Formula 1, as well as IndyCar... and yet NASCAR still felt that manual scoring was more efficient...

Brett won this race. Dale had a long pit stop and pitted 15 laps after Bodine. Bodine was out there for 15 laps with fresh tires before Dale pitted. Brett's stop was around 21 seconds. Dale's was around 25 seconds.

here how you fix this. throw the red flag and figure it out. not let them continue to count laps

The day NASCAR began going downhill is (a) when North Wilkesboro Speedways closed its doors. And, then (b) the Death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. Since then, the Cup series has changed sponsors and also Points system- which has Killed the sport.

Considering the screw job they gave to Mark Martin that year, no surprise. Perhaps one balanced out the other in their eyes for Earnhardt.

I live in N. Wilkesboro, drove by the track last week, it's falling apart, such a shame.

I'm listening to the Dale Jr. Dowload with Geoff Bodine as the guest. They just mentioned, in passing, the '89 wreck between Earnhardt and Rudd that gave Bodine the win. So I went to watch a replay of that. So this video shows up in my feed so I go ahead and watch it. I didn't think much of the controversy at the time, because I knew my guy Earnhardt was behind due to that slow last pit stop. And yes, Waltrip has always been a bit of a crybaby. I still don't know if NASCAR got this right or not. I do know that my guy had a fabulous year and won the championship. And the 1991 championship as well.

No way bodine gained a lap and a half when they all made equal pit stops, also in those days there was no lucky dog, so bodine shouldve been on the tail end, just like DW said

Sunday's scoring issues in Martinsville that put the race under caution for 29 laps somewhat reminded me of this. Only difference is they didn't score a driver who was on the tail end of the lead lap as being the leader of the race. For those that didn't watch this Sunday, there was a long green run that lead to green flag pit stops. A caution came out on lap 356 when Carl Edwards melted a bead in one of his tires and hit the wall. Some drivers were trapped a lap down on pit road when a majority of the front runners hasn't completed their stop. It caused a lot of mixed confusion in the tower and among teams trying to figure out if their driver was or wasn't on the lead lap. Jimmie Johnson's day was almost ruined when he stalled on the backstretch cause of a fuel pickup problem, Chad Knaus wanted to bring Jimmie to pit road even with the pits closed cause he didn't want to take a chance on Jimmie running out of fuel, but as it turns out, it was an error on Jimmie's part, as he hit the engine kill switch by accident. I guess he still pitted when the pits opened, I can't swear to it though, he restarted 4th, led the final 92 laps, and still won the race. I know NASCAR took their time to sort it out and get it right, and I'm confident that they did. I can't say as much for the 1990 North Wilkesboro Spring Race, as I'm convinced after watching and listening to this video that Darrell Waltrip was the winner that day. In spite of the scoring debacle that took place this Sunday, Jimmie Johnson went out there and earned the victory, he didn't have the dominant car for the entire race, but he had the best car when it counted the most. In contrast, I feel like the 1990 North Wilkesboro victory was somewhat handed to Brett Bodine on a silver platter.

@4:07- 4:12 when NASCAR was still NASCAR, I miss these times

Miss NASCAR...REAL NASCAR!

happened at Las Vegas in todays NNS race after a bs debris caution

I remember that day well. Brett Bodine didn't win that race, it was given to him as a present from Nascar. Too bad for him that they never were in the giving mood anymore.

The most controversial race of the 20-year run of NASCAR on GMA was the 1990 First Union 400 that was aired by GMA Radio-Television Arts on April 23, 1990 at 2:30 P.M. Brett Bodine won his only NASCAR Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, in what became Buick's last ever NASCAR Victory

They don't make it clear whether the caution came out during pit stops or not. Classic Speed Channel not paying attention to detail.

He knows damn well he didn't win it, too.

Thank goodness for electronic timing and scoring that has been around since 1993, removes any chance of human error in the scoring

If Nascar wants to save itself, highly unlikely, return to this track. Run a double-header, one Sat. and one Sunday. You'd get 100,000 showing up to watch it. Nascar also needs to run VIR in Danville, VA, a superb sports car track that historic stock cars run on in Sept each year. Large speedways over a mile generally suck. I haven't been to a race in 20 years and don't intend to. Nascar screwed its historic base of fans- Southerners with Confederate heritage.

That Carolina asphalt was hot enough to fry my King Racing Buick. Brett Bodine.

should of red flagged it til they got "their order" right instead running out green laps. Should of done same thing at Dover I think in 04 or 05 when they had same issues when Newman wrecked.

I wish they still raced there. Great track.

Never saw a race a N. Wilkesboro but sure would go if they brought it back.

I've been reading a lot of comments about how NASCAR has been losing fans since it has ditched the small track. What I think is happening (I don't watch a lot of the sport myself but enough to see what's happening) is that the electronic age has caught up with the sport. People watch a sport and wanna see numbers. They want to see these guys go see fast as possible. With a short track, you don't see them build up to max speed on a straightaway. It's also the networks who pick up sports that have some say in how the sport is played, and the same goes for NASCAR. (We have TV timeouts in football games that would otherwise not be there and it would make the game go by faster, for example.)

All DW had to do was pass the 26

Yea look at nascar now... No fans.... They did to themselves

The best thing that could happen for North Wilkesboro speedway would be take up the asphalt and turn it into a dirt track. Then schedule a couple big Lucas oil series late model races and a couple big WoO sprintcar shows. Nowadays 1/2 mile dirt tracks are becoming very rare as the dirt world seems to be moving to all 3/8 mile facilities just like Nascar seems to have a love affair with mile and a half clones. So, a dirt track this size would be unique and have appeal.

What we need is some of these recently retired drivers buying these old tracks. They can fix them up and nascar would be somewhere is the track owner was a Earnhardt

And in 2019 NASCAR still wastes laps trying to figure out the running order

At 2:44 is that a wide open part in the Wall??

I am glad Brett kept that victory, as he would never fin another race

NASCAR 2022, still screwing it up!

If and when Kyle Busch ties (and maybe breaks) the consecutive win record set by Richard Petty, it should be noted that without this bullshit there would already be a tie with DW and Richard.

The announcer said during the race that 6 was leader. Then the yellow waved. 26 pitted and went 1 lap down. 3 and 6 pitted giving lead to 17. 6 beat 3 out of the pit. 17 pitted giving 6 lead. 26 was almost 1 lap down. Martin should have restarted 1. And I am not a Martin fan.

Brett Bodine pitted around Lap 305, while approximately half a lap down (10 or 11 seconds). According to Steve Waid from Winston Cup Scene, the Bernstein crew gave him a quick 4 tire change. Pit stop delta (time loss) with no pitlane speed limit would've been around 25-28 seconds (more than a lap). Fresh tires were valuable at Wilkesboro, as seen and explained in the broadcast, so Bodine was gaining several tenths of a second each lap. Waltrip and Earnhardt pit just before the Lap 320 caution for Kenny Wallace's crash. Earnhardt's stop is a little slow, and the moment before he exits the pits, Bodine passes by. For position. NASCAR sure made some bonehead calls before and after 1990, but this is a call they made correctly. You'll agree if you observe the facts from that day rather than the fact that Brett had never won in Winston Cup before or since.

NASCAR can’t get anything right. Then and definitely not now.

Was one of the best tracks what ruined nascar is all these big tracks like Vegas and Texas boring racing but plenty of seats that nobody sits in

Loved that old Trophy

Bodine didn't win anymore races because of his equipment. Bernstein spent his money in drag racing. I think King racing only ever won 4 races. Brett then went on to be an owner driver because nobody wanted him because of Geoffs reputation.

Brett won that race...Earnhardt pitted on green right after Brett did..the caution came out a lap later..Brett was on the lead lap when everyone pitted during the yellow...They're just pissed that a Bodine won!

Was at this race. Was only 11 years old so I didn't really know what was going on, just remember my old man being happy Waltrip didn't win. haha

I wonder how this would have gone in the 50s before radios

At least that's not possible these days with automatic timing, looping, and scoring. Pure cut case of humans fucking up and Brett Bodine his only cup series win!

Bodine was 3rd, he short pitted and the fresher tires allowed him to gain ground before Earnhardt and Waltrip pitted so it doesn't surprise me at all that he was ahead of them at the time of caution. He was also able to drive away after the fact so I don't see what all the fuss was about. He won it, case closed.

There was talk about Jeff Gordon buying the track

I remember this race. Man I can only imagine if this would happen in today's nascar. You fans would be in an uproar. Oh yes this race was shown in tape delay the Monday night after the race due to the NFL Draft that was on Sunday.

NASCAR shoulda said fuck it restart the race lol.

I was on pit rd that day. And that was drama. He was fast cant take that away.

It would of have been easy if they stop the race instead of 18 laps under the yellow but it was very different!

So from what I understand Brett Bodine was a lap down because he pitted and was laped by Dale and Waltrip who already was leading. When yellow flag came out Bodine was now on the tail end of lead lap. So when checker flag came out technically Brett Bodine was now a lap down when they moved him to the front. Bodine a week later should have turned in his win knowing this. This was Bodine's only career win which in reality he didn't. He knew he didn't win that race but kept quiet. Waltrip should have won when he beat Dale.

That's the main why NASCAR went to electronic scoring system just 3 years later. Why NASCAR didn't do this sooner or before the race itself, we may never really know. However, the bottom line is that Brett Bodine won the race according to NASCAR, and they have the final word.

To this day no one understands what happened. There are 100 different explanations...no clue.

I can't believe I'm related to bodine

Oh the humanity

Scoring before modern timing systems seems like it must have been a total nightmare. Does anyone know how it used to work? Like I'd think that there would at least be a Nascar official dedicated to scoring each car. It just seems like you'd need a lot of people keeping track.

Darrell and Junior took one away from Neil Bonnett at Nashville, turnabout is fair play!

When was computerized scoring first used in NASCAR?

Here's the deal, whether you're actually leading or not, there's not a team ever that will say, "No we're not leading". As for DW, he should tell us about the time he made up laps by cutting through the pits at the Snowball Derby.

I use to love NASCAR. I love Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons, Harry Gant, Darrel Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt... I Wanna go back to 80's.

yeah if I was Brett I don't think I'd feel bad, either. Part of winning a race, sometimes...most times... is a luck! And luckily, he got scored further ahead than he actually was. lol. At our local speedway in 2 of our last weeks I got scored finishing a position behind. Talk about annoying. But I know I wouldn't have complained in the other direction. lol

in all such a confusing race, but you know, that would be Bodine's only win, let him celebrate it, DW won 84 and Earnhardt's the best modern era driver of all time, they all had it going on for them

what shame what north wilkesboro speedway is now

Now a days Brett drives the pace car... Miss Smoke racing if he was in the lead he'd always bump the pace car

Them fans. You don't see races that packed anymore and even on larger tracks.

all these comments say how wilkesboro was outdated indont really understand.. what exactly did it lack? that other tracks didn't back then? sure it was small compared to like Charlotte butbnot every track has to be that "big"

Actually, if they picked up Dale Sr, he should have been the winner, not Bodine or Waltrip.

We deserved the win....even though we didn't win.😃😂😁 How many times in all sports/competitive events has the ruling body awarded the win to the "deserving" team/competitor? Dan Marino and Fran Tarkington "deserved super bowls in their careers, Charles Barkley "deserved" a championship. Too bad so sad.

I live in north wilkesboro

Wilkesboro is back racing. Not NASCAR but some other stuff!!!!

why is kenny wallace driving a busch car in a cup race?

"We deserved to win that race" He got the lead because of a mistake, and only held it because he had fresher tires and clean air. They should retroactively take that win back and give it to Darrel Waltrip.

Nascar has never been good since the mid 90s Its a shame that nascar turned into what it is.

I wish somebody have this whole drama and I will pay attention if they cussed

this is when racing was awesome,riveting had personality and excitement.i haven't really watched it since the mid nineties

hahaha... nice hair larry

No disrespect to Brett but just because you run good and have the fastest car DOES NOT mean you should have won the race. As the old saying goes the fastest car don’t always win the race. If that was the case half the victories in NASCAR would have been given to somebody who really didn’t win.

I can walk there and it makes me so sad that I wasn’t able to witness the glory of it all

Larry mcreynolds was a great crew chief but he was the beneficiary as a crew chief of two wins that were fraudulent and his driver didn't win. The other being the spring of 91 Sonoma race when the win was taken away from Ricky Rudd after he bumped Davey allison

Running half a lap behind the leader. Make a green flag pit stop come out a lap down. Leaders stop. Coution comes out that doesn't automatically make you the leader just because you think you have a good car. It sounds like bs to me

Kevin Harvick: That's why he's the pace car driver, because he didn't know (bleep) when he was racing.

As far as Nascar going downhill is concerned I live in Darlington go to the race every year but once my driver Clint bowyer is done I'll be done too not worth watching all the big names are gone and just a bunch of young punks anymore another thing anymore there is nothing stock about the cars before long they will have a prius in Nascar it's not run what you brought the only competition is the one with money and now like Martin truex his team folded and he won the championship the other year lost touch with what it's supposed to be

it was the 1st and last one and his last one. while there was question he didn't make him any better a driver

It's kind of like McDonald's it's gotten too big for its own freaking good

Nascar screws up everything they touch.