1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series

Bobby Hamilton won the pole for NASCARs return to Thunder Road.

The race didn't go five laps before disaster struck:

Contrary to what Benny Parsons said towards the end, none of the drivers actually knew until after the race.

Andy Sammonds felt the day was a shitshow. Not only had he DNF'd, but Ricky Rudd won the race and took the points lead.

Next stop: Michigan.

After last week's tragedy, everyone was drained. They just wanted to move on and forget the whole thing. McDuffie's death, though, hung over everyone at Michigan International Speedway, and it certainly showed in the practice times. Hell, Bill Elliott, despite not running his best, won the pole. That's how drained everyone felt. Now, death wasn't anything new in NASCAR. Four drivers alone had died in 1988 (Ernie Irvan, Derrike Cope, Rodney Combs, and Buddy Arrington), two in 1989 (Jim Sauter and Grant Adcox), one in 1990 (Rob Moroso), and now two in 1991 (Rick Mast and JD McDuffie). But McDuffie's death was different. Here was a perennial underdog. He had made 653 starts in the Winston Cup Series without a win. He'd been running before it was the Winston Cup, when it was the Grand National Division, there were 60 races on the schedule, and the schedule was dominated by short tracks and dirt ovals.

It was no surprise that during the driver's meeting before the race, everyone unanimously agreed to race their hearts out in McDuffie's memory. And race their hearts out they did. A relatively clean race, the only major incident occurred when Katie Sammonds lost the steering and she hit the outside wall hard.

Andy Sammonds considered this day the opposite of last week. He finished in third ahead of Ricky Rudd, who finished in 22nd at the end of the lead lap. As a result, he regained his points lead. The win, meanwhile, went to Mark Martin, with Dennis Malone finishing second. Belle Johnson finished sixth.

Next stop: Bristol.

Andy Sammonds started on pole for the Labor Day weekend tradition, and led the most laps. He was on his way to the win before he was squirreled up by lap traffic, allowing Sterling Marlin to win under caution.

Sammonds finished second, ahead of Ricky Rudd, meaning he widened his points lead slightly.

Next stop: Richmond.

Dale Earnhardt started on the pole and won another chaotic Richmond race. A pile-up on the first lap took out Richard Petty, while Belle Johnson hit the wall at the entrance of pit road.

That's where the huge controversy began. Replays by TBS showed the other car involved in the pit wall crash, Harry Gant, make no attempt to avoid hitting Johnson. It was soon determined that Gant had intentionally taken Johnson out. After the race, Andy Sammonds, who had crashed out and lost the points lead to Ricky Rudd, went after Gant, who finished eighth, and decked him while he was being interviewed by Dave Despain, causing a huge brawl between Sammonds and Gants pit crews, soon joined by Johnsons. Katie Sammonds, the only PCR driver who finished, was able to pull Andy out of the chaos.

When asked why he did it, Gant stated he thought women in general don't belong in NASCAR, saying he did intentionally wreck Johnson, and would gladly do the same to other active female NASCAR drivers such as Katie Sammonds, Kelly Walker, Shawna Robinson, and Patty Moise.

It went even deeper, when it turned out Gant had been payed by none other than Ricky Rudd to take Johnson out in hopes of distracting Andy enough that he would crash and give up the points lead. Rudd had always seen Andy as a "snot-nosed punk" who only got the ride at PCR by way of his father.

NASCAR nation was shocked that Rudd would turn to such dirty tactics. And NASCAR itself took severe action. Andy Sammonds got off scot-free due to being the victim of the whole conspiracy. As for Rudd and Gant...