What is Your Favorite Darrell Waltrip Story?

Darrell Waltrip, driver of the No. 66 Route 66/Big Kmart Taurus, has only two races remaining in his stellar NASCAR Winston Cup career. The three-time champion ranks second in career series wins with 84 and is tied for first in the modern era with 59 poles. Besides his ability to win races, Waltrip is also know for his ability to tell stories. This week Ford Racing turns the tables by asking for some favorite Waltrip stories from those who have worked with him throughout the years.

Jeff Hammond, crew chief of the No. 97 John Deere Taurus, was crew chief for two of Waltrip's three championships in 1982 and 1985 when they both worked for Junior Johnson. The two will be reunited next season in their new roles as television analysts for FOX Sports.

JEFF HAMMOND, Crew Chief --97-- John Deere Taurus -- "It was right about this time of year in 1984 between Halloween and Thanksgiving and we were in Atlanta. At that particular time Jimmy Makar was working for us and we had gone out the night before and gotten some Halloween masks for a local party. When we went to the race track the next day we brought the masks with us. Well, the trailers back then had side doors, but we used to put the motors up in the nose of the trailer. There was no such thing as a driver's lounge, but there was a driver's compartment to hang the uniform and on that particular day it rained in Atlanta so we decided rather than eat lunch at the track we were gonna jump in the car and run down the street and go get us something down the road a little ways. Darrell said, 'Hang on a second. Let me run up there and change my uniform.' Darrell is always notorious about when he takes his uniform off he'll unzip his uniform halfway to his waist and put his shirt on before he does anything else. I decided I was gonna have a little bit of fun, so I ran up in the truck ahead of him and I put on this mask -- it was a wolfman mask -- and I put it on and got inside the closet. It just so happened that he had already kind of started taking the top part off and he just reached up in there and about the time he popped the button and pulled the door open I jumped out. It just so happened he had his uniform down almost around his knees and he was trying to run and jump and scream all at the same time. He was literally hopping backwards just screaming. The only thing that scared me was that we had the side door at the top of the trailer open and he almost fell out. So, for about the next month every time he went to go change uniforms he carried a ball peen hammer with him and he said, 'I will get you back if you do it again,' so that was one of the times I got him really good."

Buddy Parrott, general manager for Roush Racing, is concluding his 30th year in NASCAR Winston Cup racing. He began his career in 1970 as part of Harry Hyde's championship team with driver Bobby Isaac and later served as Waltrip's crew chief during their days together at DiGard from 1976-80.

BUDDY PARROTT -- "We were running a close, close race with Neil Bonnett up at Richmond, Virginia and it was coming down to the last couple of laps. He and Neil were running pretty hard together and at that time Neil was driving for J.D. Stacy and going into the last corner of the white flag lap coming to the checkered, Darrell got into Neil and gave him a little competitor's tap, so to speak. Neil went up in the wall and Darrell went on to win the race. Now they bring champagne to victory lane and spray it all around, but on that day we didn't have to worry about that because people were throwing beer cans and stuff in there. We were ducking constantly and you could hear the beer cans sailing over your head and spraying you because they were open. We didn't have to worry about drinking any beer that night because the fans made sure we had enough, but that's because everybody loved Neil Bonnett. I did too and Darrell did too, but, anyway, after the victory lane deal the customary thing at that time was to walk across the race track. They didn't have cars or anything for you to ride, so the driver walked across the race track, through all the race fans, up to that little old booth. So Darrell grabbed me by the arm and said, 'C'mon, c'mon, you're going up to the booth with me.' I said, 'Darrell, I don't need to go up there,' and he said, 'Oh, yes you do too.' So I was his bodyguard and we were able to make it through the crowd without getting slaughtered. I tell you, that Richmond, Virginia crowd was pretty tough, but back then it was "Jaws" it wasn't Darrell Waltrip. I mean, everybody booed him and everything else, but we had a great time. He was a great driver and still is a great driver and a great friend. I wish him well in his new endeavors. Darrell was quite a competitor and brought a lot to the sport. Darrell and Richard Petty brought us through an era that was really important, but now I guess it's a time where we'll go on and see who comes up next."

Robert Yates, owner of the No. 28 and 88 Ford Tauruses driven by Ricky Rudd and Dale Jarrett, worked with Waltrip from 1976-80 when they were part of the DiGard operation of Bill Gardner. Yates served as engine builder while Waltrip handled the driving duties.

ROBERT YATES -- "We were at Wilkesboro and he got Bobby Allison mad, so Bobby got him sideways down the frontstretch and carried him down and sent him into the turn one wall. Darrell was up against the fence and at that track they had big chicken wire, I mean maybe four-inch or six-inch wire, and he was sitting there and hollering on the radio, 'Come get me, come get me. The fans are gettin' me.' And the fans were reaching through the wire at him. That was back when they were calling him "Jaws," so I ran down to the corner. Back then you could go out on the race track, it was no big deal, so Buddy (Parrott) and I and a couple of other people ran down and got a hold of the back of the car and literally picked it up and got him off the wall. We got a truck that we hauled the race car with and drove it across the race track so we could put a chain to it and get it out of there. So we got it back in and I put four tires on, and I remember I was breathing so hard I swallowed my gum. We finally got it ready to go back out and here comes DW. He has nothing but a radiator sitting in the front of the engine there and he's going after Bobby Allison. He was gonna get him with that radiator. We were hollering at him, 'Darrell, don't hit him. You don't have anything but a radiator up front,' but you could tell he didn't care. He was gonna go get him. Bill Gasaway saw the same thing and back then the tower was right there on the inside of the race track, so he jumped out of there. I think he missed all of the steps on the way down, but he came flying down to our pits and told us to tell Darrell that if he got near Bobby Allison he was gonna park us forever. That was the kind of excitement that used to go on in those days. We weren't always on the best end of the deal, but we could always laugh about it and talk about it. I'm sure from the grandstands it was pretty exciting to watch. We had a lot of good times and won something like 35 races and sat on 56 poles, so when you do things like that you have a pretty good time."

Travis Carter, owner of the No. 66 Route 66/Big Kmart Taurus, has raced with and against Waltrip since 1972. Carter served as a championship-winning crew chief in 1973 with Benny Parsons and 1978 with Cale Yarborough. He also had a successful run with Harry Gant and car owners Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds from 1981-88.

TRAVIS CARTER, Car Owner --66-- Route 66/Big Kmart Taurus -- "One of the things I remember most about him was the very first Winston race at Charlotte. We had Harry Gant with Skoal and Darrell was driving with Junior in the Budweiser car, I think. We were ready for that race, but the thing about it was that they had the rules a certain way in regards to changing tires within a certain window. My style has always been to try to do it differently than everybody else, so we did a different strategy and got a big, big lead about halfway through that race. We had about a half-lap lead and we were actually out of sight. I was clocking and I noticed he started comin' and he kept comin' and he kept comin' and he kept comin'. With two laps to go he passed us and beat us by a couple of car lengths, but then when he crossed the finish line the engine exploded in about 150 pieces. I said, 'Man, I don't know if I've ever been more disappointed with a race in my life.' That guy, I just knew we had his butt beat, but he pulled it out some way."

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO RUN AGAINST HIM EVERY WEEK? "We finished second to him in a lot of races with Harry Gant. I think they were probably a little better than we were and there's no question the guy was a great driver. He could figure out a way to win all the time. We had a lot of good races against him over those years."

WHAT'S THIS SPORT GOING TO MISS MOST ABOUT HIM? "He may continue to be in a position to add some entertainment to it, but I think just his wit and his anecdotal style will be missed. He's the kind of guy who can captivate and audience and entertain people, and there aren't that many of those guys around anymore. A lot of these guys are pretty serious about what they're doing, not that he never was serious, but it's in a different world today and it takes a guy who is really, really focussed and concentrates 100 percent of his effort on the job at hand."