The tragic case of a Daytona 500 champion

He should have been a legend. A champion, perhaps multiple times. He won the Daytona 500, outrunning a trio of men named Earnhardt, Allison, and Petty, leaving them crashing in his wake. He was the stiffest challenge to Dale Earnhardt’s reign of dominance in the early 1990s, in 1994. In the opinion of many, that ‘94 Winston Cup crown should have been his.

Of course, blown tire at the fastest point of the high-speed Michigan Speedway’s two miles on August 20th ruined all of that.

Ernie Irvan survived the massive head injuries sustained in that crash, injuries that almost always kill or permanently incapacitate their victims. He endured a long, courageous recovery and returned to Winston Cup just 13 months after his crash.

Irvan won three races after making his comeback, including at Michigan in June of 1997 for his 15th and final win. He remained competitive, though a number of hard crashes, two in particular at Charlotte in 1996 and Talladega in 1998, took their toll. Eventually, another accident at Michigan, this time while practicing his self-owned NASCAR Busch Series car, brought his career to a harsh, fitting end.

If not for the fact that he should have been dead or in the permanent care of others after his ‘94 crash, rather than racing and winning those three times, one would have to lament the poor luck that cost him a number of other races he should have won.

He SHOULD have won. Just as he SHOULD have been a champion in 1994 and maybe in subsequent years. Just as he SHOULD have been a legend.

Alas, one of NASCAR’s most dynamic competitors of the 1990s has all but been forgotten.

There are a lot of drivers whom fans can talk about, sometimes extensively, though they became followers of the sport after those drivers’ careers had ended. Dale Earnhardt would be one example. Retired legends like Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, The King, David Pearson, the list is long.

Ask anyone who became a fan after August 20, 1999, the day Ernie’s career-ending crash occured, about the 1991 Daytona 500 champion, and you’ll most likely get a blank stare or some mumbled, incoherent ramble about his accidents or reputation as an on-track menace in the early ‘90s.

He should have had better. He deserved better. As talented as anyone who ran during his career, winning on superspeedways, intermediate tracks, short tracks, and road courses, Irvan had that pure, all-out, seat-of-the-pants driving ability for which Kyle Busch is admired today.

It is unclear whether or not Ernie Irvan will be honored one day with induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. To those who watched him compete, it should be clear that he would one day be in, and the statistics of winning 15 races, including the sport’s biggest, on a variety of circuits, should back that up.

SHOULD.

Just like Ernie SHOULD have had a full career and a career full of success.

Just like he SHOULD have been the man who outdueld perhaps NASCAR’s greatest driver ever for the 1994 championship.

Just like he SHOULD be regarded as a NASCAR legend, perhaps one still active, going door to door with his friend from the short tracks of the midwest, Mark Martin

Should.

But didn’t. Wasn’t. Isn’t.