When they rolled onto the track on November 8th for the NAPA 500 Steve started in the 17th position. He had a time of 00:29.158 (190.136 m.p.h.). Fellow roty competitor (and unofficial roty for 1998) Kenny Irwin took the pole. Practices this week varied a bit as far as speeds vs. placement with other drivers. On friday they had their fastest time of 00:29.139 (190.260 m.p.h.), but were only 25th fastest. On Saturday, they were only able to achieve a time of 00:29.833 (185.834 m.p.h.) - 29th fastest for the session. Happy Hour that evening went much better with a 13th place finish, however the time was only 00:29.665 (186.896 m.p.h.)

      Sunday's race ended up being an all night event! The start of the race was delayed about an hour, and then it was stop and go racing for a while after that due to intermittent showers. Everyone's opinions were asked as to what to do, and with rain showers forecasted for the next day the choice was to wait it out, and run under the newly installed lights. IRL had raced under them earlier in the year, so even though NASCAR has never tested under them, the track had been tested. So, after a seven hour delay, the fans were finally treated to a race... and what a race it was for Steve's fans!

      Sighs of relief were exhaled by all of Steve's fans, as he made his return to the track that took away his 1998 season hopes earlier this year. It may not have looked too spectacular in the box score in the newspaper on Monday morning, but anyone watching how Park knifed through traffic with some hair-raising driving and averted a near disaster on the last lap certainly understands why crew members were excited about a 17th-place finish. In addition, just before the green flag flew, the entire field came down pit road for a gas and go pit stop. In the bottleneck getting in and out of the pits, Park and Bill Elliott collided damaging the right side of the Pennzoil Monte Carlo. He returned to the pits, but fell to the rear of the 43-car field making his work doubly tough. When the green flag finally flew Park began racing toward the front. The high speeds and sweeping turns of Atlanta Motor Speedway making passing difficult and dangerous, but Park cautiously worked his way past many cars.

      Steve didn't get much help from yellow flags as NASCAR threw two caution flags to allow the teams to pit under yellow and avoid further accidents on the slippery pit road. Sterling Marlin's blown engine brought out the only other yellow flag. After the second pit stop yellow on lap 190, NASCAR announced that rain was returning to the area and the race would end in a 25-lap shootout -- shortening the race from 325 to 221 laps. Several teams gambled on two tire stops before the shootout so Steve dropped back to about 25th place. When the green flag flew the racing was never better as drivers drove three abreast into corners. Morgan Shepherd crashed hard on lap 198. When the race restarted on lap 204, Steve began passing more cars and as the laps wound down, he staged a wild duel with Ted Musgrave, Kenny Irwin and Rusty Wallace and a number of other drivers. At one point the Park and two others were three abreast in the corner and down the front stretch. Park climbed as high as 15th in the melee but Irwin and Musgrave closed up and on the final lap Park's car almost slid sideways through turn two narrowly avoiding disaster. The rookie driver saved the car and crossed the finish line a few seconds later in 17th place.

Ron Hornaday - 1998 Craftsman Truck Series Champ       Prior to the restart of the Winston Cup finale at Atlanta, Steve's DEI teammate Ron Hornaday became the first 2 time CTS champion. 1997 champion Jack Sprage won their finale race, with Ron finishing second - narrowly winning the cup by 3 points! It was an awesome race, and an awesome season. Thanks Ron!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 1998 Busch Grand National Champ       What an outstanding year for the AC Delco team! Steve's 3 rookie wins were awesome, but JR's 7 wins, and BGN championship just prove this team's strength. It's going to be great to see this whole team rise to the Winston Cup level in 2000 as Steve's series teammate. (they will run 5 races in 1999, keeping Jr's rookie status in tact) I'm proud to have been there in Texas to see the first one, and thankful to you, too, Dale, for a fabulous year!

More News