Swervin' Irvan proves he can take a punch
By Mark Zeske
SportsLine Staff Writer
Ernie Irvan stands 31st in the Winston Cup standings, so far away from the points leader that he is about to be lapped. In 13 starts in 1999, Irvan has just two finishes in the top 10 and has never been a threat to win.
If anyone best represents the No Fear philosophy, it's Irvan. The comeback cowboy of auto racing, Irvan has stared death in the eye. And death blinked.
Irvan, in fact, does wear the No Fear brand. The driver is such a good friend of the Simo brothers, owners of the in-your-face apparel company, that the Simos have sponsored him and formed ownership teams with him. And when Irvan released his autobiography early during the 1999 racing season, the Simos gave him permission to use No Fear as the title.
IRVAN GREW UP JUST A COUPLE of miles away from Laguna Seca Raceway in California and fell in love with racing. As a young adult, Irvan decided to leave home with $300 and a map to North Carolina, the hub of stock car racing. A couple of years later he found himself welding grandstand seats at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the day and racing at nearby Concord (N.C.) Motorsports Park at night.
Irvan eventually made several Winston Cup starts for a variety of teams before getting his big break late in the 1990 season with the Morgan-McClure team. Irvan showed he had more than just potential, needing just 105 starts to claim nine poles and seven victories, including the 1991 Daytona 500.
Yet Irvan drew harsh criticism for his aggressive style, which often led to pinball-type incidents in which multiple cars went bouncing off everything in sight. His hard-charging approach earned him the nickname of "Swervin' Irvan."
Ultimately his style got him in trouble with his fellow NASCAR drivers. A couple of the sport's biggest names, legends Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty, told him things had to change. So Irvan showed up at the drivers' meeting before a race in Talledega and apologized, promising to take a safer approach.
IN 1992, FOLLOWING THE DEATH of driver Davey Allison in a helicopter crash, Irvan took over behind the wheel of the famous No. 28 car of Robert Yates Racing. Ernie immediately blossomed, earning five victories, seven poles, 21 top-10 finishes and 18 top fives in just 29 starts.
 |
| Ernie Irvan has seen it all in auto racing -- from the top to the bottom.(Allsport) |
Irvan was at the pinnacle of his sport when a tire went flat during a practice session at Michigan Speedway in August 1994. The car, speeding along at nearly 200 mph, slammed into the outside wall, and in an instant, Irvan was critically injured.
No major bones were broken but his heart and brain were bruised. Irvan's lungs collapsed, and he had fractures at the base of his skull. He lapsed into a coma and was given just a 10 percent chance of living.
Remarkably, Irvan awoke from his coma in three days. A year and several operations later, Irvan was back in the No. 28 car. The only visible sign of his ordeal: a patch over his left eye to compensate for blurred vision.
He proved he was ready by finishing in the top 10 twice in his three starts late in the 1995 season. He raced with Yates Racing for all of 1996 and 1997, with one of his three victories in those two years an emotional triumph at Michigan Speedway.
IRVAN AND YATES PARTED COMPANY in 1998 because the sponsor of his car wanted a new driver. But Irvan quickly regrouped, signing with the MB2 team, and now drives the popular No. 36 car sponsored by M&M/Mars.
"I've been as high as you can get in this sport, and I've been as low as you can get," Irvan said. "And I've been a lot in the middle. The path on the way up is really, really hard. The path on the way down is like falling from a tree. The path even back to the middle is definitely hard.
"It's a tough sport."
But not too tough for Irvan, who's still standing after taking some of the best punches this unforgiving sport has to offer.
|