1991 Budweiser at The Glen

1991 Budweiser at the Glen

Race details
Race 18 of 29 in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Watkins Glen short course from 1971–1991, before the Inner Loop was added. Watkins Glen short course from 1971–1991, before the Inner Loop was added.
Date	August 11, 1991 (1991-August-11)
Official name	Budweiser at the Glen
Location	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.428 mi (3.909 km)
Distance	90 laps, 218.52 mi (351.81 km)
Weather	Warm with temperatures approaching 81 °F (27 °C); wind speeds up to 14 miles per hour (23 km/h)
Average speed	98.997 miles per hour (159.320 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports
Laps	39
Winner
No. 4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins Ned Jarrett Benny Parsons

The 1991 Budweiser At The Glen racing event was officially sanctioned as part of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Taking place on August 11, 1991, at Watkins Glen International, this race was the 18th race completed out of the 29 attempted during the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. The race was won by Ernie Irvan driving the #4 Chevrolet Lumina for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, but was marred by an early crash that claimed the life of veteran driver J. D. McDuffie.

Summary

The entire race took approximately two hours and twelve minutes to complete.

Terry Labonte, driving the #94 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme for Billy Hagan, qualified on pole for the race. Irvan, who won the race, qualified third. Five cautions were given out for eleven laps. Ricky Rudd finished second behind Irvan in the #5 Chevrolet Lumina for Hendrick Motorsports, and Richard Petty recorded his final career top ten finish in the #43 Pontiac Grand Prix by finishing ninth.

ESPN carried the race as part of its coverage of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Their normal broadcast crew was spread across the track. Bob Jenkins led the call of the race from the main straightaway. Benny Parsons reported from the track in Turn One. Ned Jarrett reported from the track in Turn Five. Jerry Punch and John Kernan were pit reporters.

Lap 5 Crash

On the fifth lap of the race, a huge crash halted the event. McDuffie, driving the #70 L.C. Whitford Racing Pontiac Grand Prix, was racing Jimmy Means, driving the #52 Alka-Seltzer Pontiac Grand Prix, into the track's Turn 5. Suddenly, a chain reaction of mechanical failures in McDuffie's car sent him careening across the track with no way to stop as his brakes had failed. McDuffie plowed into the tire barrier guarding the fence with enough force to cause his car to fly into the air and do a 180-degree turn in mid-air. Means slid across the track right behind McDuffie and crashed into the tire barrier just under the flipping McDuffie. McDuffie was killed instantly. The #70 landed on its roof and Means, uninjured, walked over to McDuffie to see if he could help him out. After looking inside the upside-down #70 car, Means stood up and began waving frantically for assistance . The race was red-flagged for nearly two hours after the accident. Later, as the race was restarting, NASCAR Winston Cup Media Director Chip Williams relayed to both the television audience and the national radio audience listening on MRN that McDuffie had died from his injuries sustained in the crash. On ESPN, Bob Jenkins then eulogized McDuffie before Benny Parsons spoke directly to McDuffie's widow, Ima Jean. Parsons had lost his wife two months earlier. McDuffie was credited with a last-place finish of 40th. A brief ceremony honoring McDuffie was held during the 1992 Coca-Cola 600 race held the following year.

"Jean, I know exactly what you're going through sweetheart. And, you fans out there, you wonder how these guys can get in these cars can go back out and restart this race. Hey, it's their job, it's what they do and there's a hundred thousand people here this afternoon to watch them do that job. There's not a one of these drivers that wants to be in that racecar right now, they want to be in the garage area hugging their wife, their girlfriend, their mom, their crewmembers, whoever. I don't want to be here now, I want to be over there looking at Ned, looking at Bob and just not saying anything. But we've got a job to do, and that's report to you who wins, who loses, and what happens during the day. Jean, we all love you and we're sorry."

Benny Parsons, addressing J.D. McDuffie's death on ESPN.

This incident was the second serious accident at Turn 5 that year. During June's Camel Continental sports car race, Tommy Kendall crashed in the same area after losing control of his vehicle and broke both of his legs. Coincidentally, Kendall was scheduled to take part in this particular race prior to his accident driving the #42 Pontiac for Felix Sabates in place of an injured Kyle Petty, but his injuries allowed Bobby Hillin, Jr. to take over the ride for the Budweiser at the Glen. (Hillin finished 18th.)

In the wake of both serious incidents, Watkins Glen International track officials decided to reconfigure the track and added a chicane called the Inner Loop to the entrance to Turn 5. As of 2016 the track is laid out in such a manner that race organizers can use the chicane or bypass it in favor of the traditional setup, depending on the series.

Race

When the race restarted, Terry Labonte maintained the lead. On lap 20, Labonte cut a left-rear tire and spun entering turn one, bringing out the caution to retrieve his tire. Ernie Irvan ran up front until he spun out of the lead in turn six on lap 48. Irvan re-entered the track in fifth place. A caution for rain came out on lap 59. The shower was brief and Ken Schrader emerged in the lead after pitting shortly before the caution. Schrader led until lap 68 when he broke a camshaft in turn five and coasted back to the pits. Later that lap, Kim Campbell spun in turn five, hitting the wall with the back of his Oldsmobile and bringing out the fifth and final caution of the day. The race came down to a three car battle between Irvan, Mark Martin, and Davey Allison for the victory. On the final lap, Martin attempted a pass for the lead entering turn one. Irvan blocked the attempt forcing Martin to slam on the brakes. This disrupted the balance of Martin's Thunderbird causing him to spin and Davey Allison to spin in avoidance. Irvan drove to a seven second victory. Martin finished third while Allison had trouble restarting his car, finishing tenth. Coming out of the final turn, Bill Elliott and Hut Stricklin spun across the finish line, finishing seventh and eight respectively.

Results

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Team	Constructor	Laps	Points
1	3	4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	185
2	22	5	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	175
3	2	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	90	165
4	21	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South	Ford	90	160
5	14	21	Dale Jarrett	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	90	155
6	7	17	Darrell Waltrip	DarWal Inc.	Chevrolet	90	150
7	19	9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing	Ford	90	146
8	30	12	Hut Stricklin	Bobby Allison Motorsports	Buick	90	142
9	31	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	90	138
10	9	28	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	90	139
11	23	19	Chad Little	Little Racing	Ford	90	130
12	28	22	Sterling Marlin	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	90	127
13	26	10	Derrike Cope	Whitcomb Racing	Chevrolet	90	124
14	29	75	Joe Ruttman	RahMoc Enterprises	Oldsmobile	90	121
15	8	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	90	123
16	27	53	John Paul, Jr.	Team Ireland	Chevrolet	90	115
17	11	24	Dorsey Schroeder	Team III Racing	Pontiac	90	117
18	16	42	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	Team Sabco	Pontiac	89	109
19	17	8	Rick Wilson	Stavola Brothers Racing	Buick	89	106
20	38	54	Jim Derhaag	Hakes-Welliver Racing	Oldsmobile	88	103
21	40	30	Michael Waltrip	Bahari Racing	Pontiac	88	100
22	4	11	Geoff Bodine	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	86	102
23	12	7	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing	Ford	82	94
24	39	13	Oma Kimbrough	Linro Motorsports	Buick	80	91
25	18	26	Brett Bodine	King Racing	Buick	77	88
26	34	55	Ted Musgrave #	U.S. Racing	Pontiac	76	90
27	33	98	Jimmy Spencer	Travis Carter Enterprises	Chevrolet	72	82
28	15	33	Harry Gant	Precision Products Racing	Oldsmoble	71	79
29	32	68	Bobby Hamilton #	TriStar Motorsports	Oldsmobile	70	76
30	6	25	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	78
31	37	20	Kim Campbell	Moroso Racing	Oldsmobile	64	70
32	5	90	Wally Dallenbach, Jr. #	Donlavey Racing	Ford	58	67
33	10	66	Lake Speed	Cale Yarborough Motorsports	Pontiac	55	64
34	1	94	Terry Labonte	Hagan Racing	Oldsmobile	47	66
35	24	1	Rick Mast	Leo Jackson Motorsports	Oldsmobile	41	58
36	25	15	Morgan Shepherd	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	33	55
37	20	71	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	Chevrolet	11	52
38	13	44	Irv Hoerr	Labonte Motorsports	Oldsmobile	8	49
39	36	52	Jimmy Means	Means Racing	Pontiac	4	46
40	35	70	J. D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing	Pontiac	4	43
# Rookie of the Year candidate Source:

References

Preceded by 1991 DieHard 500

NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1991

Succeeded by 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400