NASCAR's Heartbreaking Moments: Jimmy Spencer - 1996 GM Goodwrench Service 400
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Jimmy Spencer had won two races in 1994, but those were at the restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega. Otherwise, Jimmy only had sporadic good runs. His aggressive driving style sometimes got in the way.
However, in the 1996 GM Goodwrench Service 400, many people (namely Dick Berggren and Randy Pemberton on the broadcast) believed that this race was Jimmy Spencer's finest performance to that point in his career. Jimmy started 28th, but quickly moved up to the 2nd position. He would take the lead away from Terry Labonte on lap 89. Those two would be the class of the field on this day.
After a red flag for Loy Allen's heavy crash, Spencer pitted before pit road was open. The issue was that he was running out of fuel and couldn't wait any longer. He had to restart at the tail end of the longest line.
That didn't matter to Spencer. He rocketed himself from the back up to 3rd place when Terry Labonte's engine expired. Spencer then took the lead from Ricky Rudd on lap 277 after a restart. He might've had his third career win, and first at a downforce track. Unfortunately, the motor went down to seven cylinders while leading. Then, the engine blew on lap 329 and finished 27th. He would have other good runs later on in his career, but he would never win again at the Cup Series.
Video is for awareness purposes only. All credit to NASCAR and TNN.
One you could do is The 2000 Winston 500, Richard Childress gave Dave Marcis a motor for this race and Marcis had his first truly competitive race in over 12 years running in the top 5 majority til his engine expired
I like this page a lot. this was one of the races that came to mind almost immediately after discovering it. This was by far Jimmy Spencer's best run even better than his two wins (although his 94 Talladega win was pretty impressive). Spencer had more heartbreak later in 96 by spinning out of the lead at the Southern 500 where he had another great run as his heartbreak there was overshadowed by both Dale Jarrett and especially Hut Stricklin that day. Spencer I think had another strong run at The Rock in 93 where he was good but he had trouble in the pits that cost him a potential win
At the rock in 93, one of the lug studs on the left rear was stripped and they could not initially change the left rear tire.
Jimmy also had a great shot to win the 1991 Bristol night race. Led over 100 laps. Was dominating and surprise surprise had mechanical issues.
I remember Spencer having good runs in the Banquet car in 91. the other major heartbreak from this Rockingham race was Bobby Hamilton
Spencer had a number of stellar runs and a few almost wins, he almost won the 1991 Bud 500 if they didn't have a bad pit stop.