Remembering Kenny Irwin and the #42 Legacy
By: Andy Kondratick
Kenny Irwin was a young man on his way to a successful driving career. He was still trying to find his place in the sport and still looking to get his first big win. His life was cut short before he was able to reach his full potential.
Irwin burst into the sport with a bang when Robert Yates named him the driver of the famed No. 28 Texaco Havoline Ford in 1998. He earned one fifth-place finish and four top-10's in his rookie year and went on to clinch the 1998 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year title. Even with his rookie success, the critics were claiming that Irwin couldn't live up to the standards that former driver Ernie Irvan and the late Davey Allison had set in the No. 28 Ford. Irvan and Allison's records were unprecedented and would be hard for any driver to match. This measure of success would be especially hard for a young, inexperienced rookie to live up to.
Irwin and the Yates team were able to earn two more top-five finishes in 1999, including a third place finish at the Dayona 500. But tension seemed to be rising with the young driver and his organization. It was rumored that he would leave the team at the end of the 1999 season.
The growing criticism and the lack of solid performance with the Yates team sent Irwin to drive for Felix Sabates in the No. 42 BellSouth Mobility car at the start of the 2000 season. He ran 17 races under the roof of the No. 42 team and was still looking for that elusive first win before he lost his life in a practice run at New Hampshire International Raceway on July 7, 2000. His parents, Kenny Irwin Sr. and wife Reva, lost their only son to something he loved to do. Irwin was killed instantly as his car slammed into the wall in Turn 3 and landed on its roof before coming to a halt. It was a sad ending to a young man's life, a man who died while trying to pursue his dreams.
Call it irony or just coincidence, the loss of the #28 Texaco Havoline car and the #42 making its way back on a car for the first time since Irwin’s death, it is a perfect remembrance for Kenny Irwin and his family. Felix Sabates is co-owner of the team now and the #42 has the Havoline Logo on it with a young driver looking toward a great future in NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series. All of this combined repeatedly made me think of the career that Kenny Irwin could have had if that tragic day didn’t come.
I think it would be the best fitting final memorial for Kenny Irwin if Jamie McMurray pulls out all the stops and performs the miracle of racing on the track, like we all know he is capable of, and becomes the first Winston Cup Champion to be a Rookie of the Year Winner. I know Kenny would have taken that #42 to new heights but there would be no better way to continue the legacy of the number and remember the famous drivers who drove it, except for a determined young man going after his dream.
This has been one fan’s opinion. - Rogue Reporter Andy
E-mail me at roguereporter@comcast.net
Kenny Irwin Jr Memorial Foundation -
The Dare To Dream Camp - http://www.kennyirwinjrfoundation.org
February 11, 2003 -
The Number 42 has long been one of record in NASCAR history. Ever since the very first Daytona 500 when Lee Petty drove his #42 into Victory Circle. With the start of the 2003 season I see Jamie McMurray and the #42 Havoline Dodge and it brings back memories for me of a young and talented racecar driver named Kenny Irwin.