NASCAR: Darlington Record Club induction banquet

• Dave Rodman
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Sun Sep 1 14:21:31 EDT 1996

UNOCAL/DARLINGTON RECORD CLUB INDUCTION BANQUET

The annual induction banquet for the Unocal/Darlington Record Club was held
Friday night at the Darlington Country Club. The 1996 inductees, the fastest
qualifier from each make of car in the previous year's Mountain Dew Southern
500, were John Andretti (Ford), Dale Earnhardt (Chevrolet) and Ward Burton
(Pontiac).
	Record Club members present were outgoing President Geoff Bodine, Bobby
Allison, Donnie Allison, H.B. Bailey, Buck Baker, Dick Brooks, Neil Castles,
Bill Elliott, Bobby Hillin, Ernie Irvan, Junior Johnson, Bobby Labonte, Elmo
Langley, Dave Marcis, Ed Negre, Cotton Owens, Benny Parsons, David Pearson,
Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Lake Speed, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough.
  	The inductees from the 1996 Mountain Dew Southern 500 will be Busch Pole
winner Dale Jarrett (Ford), Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) and Rick Mast (Pontiac).
All three first-time inductees set qualifying records for their respective
makes of car.

JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 37 Kmart/Little Caesars Ford) -- This is the biggest
thing to happen to me since I've been in Winston Cup racing. I've won just
about everywhere, but this is the first thing I've won in Winston Cup. This
has been a tough year and I needed something like this to remind me that not
all is bad -- there's plenty of good things there, too. (Andretti was
elected president of the club for 1997. As such he will conduct rookie
drivers' meetings at each NASCAR Winston Cup venue.) I think this is one
more notch of acceptance. This is a small club, an elite club. There's some
great champions in this club and some great champions who aren't. I didn't
follow NASCAR that close coming up, because I was in open wheelers and with
my uncle (Mario Andretti) and all. But I knew these guys' names and their
histories, and I never thought I'd be in a club that those people were a
part of. I don't know what I'm going to say to the rookies -- I'm the only
guy who's been president lately who hasn't won a race (in fact, 1995
President Bobby Labonte had not won a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race when he
was elected president in '94). It hasn't been that long ago that I was a
rookie so I think I can tell 'em the ins and the outs, how tough it can be
and what they can do to make it smoother. I guess I'll tell 'em when they're
heading for the wall to close their eyes and buckle down!
	
GEOFF BODINE (No. 7 QVC Ford) -- This club was a great idea (told that
Unocal's Dick Dolan had originated the club in 1959). It was a real learning
experience for me -- first I had to learn how to get up early! I learned how
to talk to the rookies, and how to be a story teller. I had to make up a lot
of stories! 

WARD BURTON (No. 22 MBNA America Pontiac) -- This is neat. Hopefully we'll
get back in this thing somewhere in the future. That's what we come to
Darlington for -- to run good. Whether it'll be next year or the year after
that, I don't know. But we'll be back at this (head) table. This is what we
come to the races for -- to be the best. Darlington is a neat place!