20 years! Two decades! That’s how long RacingJunk.com has been in business, and we are celebrating this milestone by looking back at some of the good, bad, ugly and just plain weird things that happened in the race and performance space 20 years ago! Every Thursday, we’ll throw it back to the end of the millenium and check out what 1999 had to offer (aside, of course, from Prince!). Want to share? Tag us with #RJ20Years in your social posts!
The 1999 Daytona 500 was the 41st incarnation of this exciting event, and was memorable for winner Jeff Gordon’s three-wide pass, and for the fact that Gordon was also the pole sitter at the start of the race – he was the first driver to win the Daytona 500 from pole position since 1987.
Just a year earlier, Gordon had been named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers. He proved that the honor was more than merited with that daring three-wide pass, which almost brought his race to a messy end as he narrowly avoided smashing into a damaged car. On the final lap, he successfully held off defending Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt as the veteran driver repeatedly attempted to pass him.
I picked up watching Jeff Gordon in Saturday night thunder in the 80s. The swindels had it locked up till Jeff came on the scene. After that nobody else could buy a check. Jeff has a record that will never be beat. jeff was national champion at every car and class he ever raced, except Nascar’s busch class.