Photo personally provided by Kevin M. @ Inside Track
Photo personally provided by Kevin M. @ Inside Track
Has this been an outstanding year, or what?! Steve is matching and breaking almost every Busch Grand National record. He is the highest finishing rookie in 20 of the 28 races, not surprising when you consider the records he holds. . . and we still have 2 more races to go! The win at Richmond was Steve's fourth top-5 finish in a row, with a win on August 16th at Michigan Speedway starting it off. The only thing left is a pole, and he came so close at RIR, qualifying in 2nd. Take a look at the Rookie of the Year page for all the records he holds.
Here's Steve with his trophies from his three victories this year:
Bell South / Opryland 320
Nashville, Tenn.
April 19, 1997Detroit Gasket 200
Brooklyn, Mich.
August 16, 1997Dura-Lube 200 by Trak Auto
Richmond, VA.
September 5, 1997
On September 20th, at Dover Downs, Steve broke yet another Rookie of the year record, with yet another top 10 finish. This week's 5th place finish is his sixth straight top 10 finish! He also extends the record number of top 5 finishes to 11. Qualifying morning, on September 19th, was a tough one for Steve. During the morning practice session, Steve crashed with Danny Edwards, Jr. , although later reports said that he brushed the wall. However, he drew a 40th spot for qualifying, allowing more time to work on the car setup. He qualified in 17th place with a lap time of 00:24.754 (145.431 mph). He actually tied with Mark Green, but gained the 17th place over Green's 18th place start.
The AllPro Bumper to Bumper got underway on October 4th, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Going into the race at Charlotte, N.C., Steve has led 12 of 26 races and is tied for third with Elliott Sadler for number of wins with 3. (Martin and LaJoie have won 5 each.) NASCAR is experimenting with changing the Busch qualifying. Instead of the usual 1 round, all or nothing run, there will be 2 rounds of qualifying. First round, according to NASCAR Online, it is a 1 lap run, with positions 1 - 28 being set. Positions 29 - 32 go to provisional starters. Second round qualifying is a 40 lap "hooligan race." The top 10 finishers advance, filling spots 33 - 42, plus a 43rd and final spot available for a former NASCAR Busch Series champion.
Steve made it in first round qualifying, with a lap time of 00:31.179 (173.193 mph). Both Randy LaJoie and Todd Bodine took provisional spots, 29 and 30 respectively, which gave Steve a better shot at increasing his lead in the points race. It certainly seemed to help, as Steve came in 6th place, ahead of both Randy (15th) & Todd (20th). The spotlight of the race fell, once again, on WC regulars, furthering the questions about awarding points to full-time Winston Cup drivers.
Coincidentally, Steve got his first BGN run last October at Charlotte. It was a humbling experience, with a lesson in patience!
"I was already signed on with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. for 1997 and it was a deal where they wanted me to start getting some experience in the Busch car, kind of like I'm doing with the Cup car this season. So we ran the fall Busch race at Charlotte last year. We had a decent qualifying run and had a great race car. I got up to eighth. We were running good and pitted. When we pitted, I skidded through my stall and they had to push me back. I came out 25th or so and had just got back up in the top-10 again. I was behind Jeff Green, and I was going to pass him. Dale (Earnhardt) was on the radio and told me to go get that 3 car. I ended up spinning around and backing into the wall. It was one of the first lessons I had on patience." - Steve, 10-1-97
The weekend of Oct. 19, 1997, Steve headed to Fontana, CA, for the Kenwood USA 300. This was BGN's first trip to the newly opened 2 mile California Speedway. (The first trip to the state of California ever for BGN as well) So far, everyone who has raced here has had the highest praise for the facilities. (Unlike Texas!) Qualifying began Friday night at 7:30 pm ET, and this time it was like WC, with positions 1 - 25 being determined in the first round. Saturday, October 18th, positions 26 - 38 were determined in second round qualifying, beginning at 2:00 pm. Provisional positions filled the rest of the field. The race was run on a sunday, as the Winston Cup series had the weekend off.
Before the season began, Steve had 3 goals he wanted to obtain this year. A pole, a win, and a top ten finish in the points standings. Friday, October 17th, Steve finally obtained the last remaining goal. He nailed the pole position with a lap time of 00:41.106 (175.157 mph)! He brought the car that won at Michigan, giving him that fabulous gas milage that helped him win there. ("Is this AC Delco Chevy Monte Carlo good on gas or what?") Needless to say at an inaugural race, Steve set the qualifying record as well.
The race started with Steve leading the first 34 laps, before giving way to Bobby Labonte. It was an up and down day for Steve, as he dropped way back shortly after giving up the lead. Then, a 30+ second pit stop, due to his crew starting to remove left side tires on a 2 tire pit-stop, and having to put them back on to get him out, put him back to 20th. However, he quickly moved through the field, and was back up to 4th position. The race become one of gas milage over talent alone. Steve stopped for a quick splash of gas, because he knew he couldn't make it, even though so many drivers had said they were going to try to make it without stopping. Bobby Labonte was first to run out of gas, dropping out of the lead he had for most of the race, putting Todd Bodine into the lead. One by one drivers began running out of gas because they decided to stay out, leaving Steve in second behind Todd. With more that 15 seconds between them, almost half the track, he had no chance to race for the win. Todd was able to make it on only one pit stop, which was incredible! This was Todd's first win of the '97 season, and Steve's 8th top-10 finish in a row. (only one of which was not a top-5)
"The place kind of drives like Michigan, it's just a little flatter in the corners. It will make for great three and four-wide racing, just like Michigan. We won Michigan and we have our Michigan car here and we're running pretty good right now." - 10-16-97 "You can almost run wide open here. We kept going out and making qualifying runs and going a tick faster and a tick faster, but we still needed two or three tenths (of a second). The car had a 41.0-second lap in it, but I had to figure out how to extract it out of the car." - 10-17-97 "We really wanted to have a shot at the title, but finishing second is better than third. Finishing second usually sounds pretty good, but it didn't last week at California Speedway. That's the first time second place has bothered me." - 10-22-97
"I've heard nothing but good things about California Speedway. Everybody is new at California, but I think with the adaptability I've had all year long, if we can adapt to the new track quicker than everybody else, it might give us a little advantage. I think we have a chance to win all of these last races. That's the confidence I have in the team. The way the last half of the year has been going, we're caught up back at the shop and we've got some great cars ready to go. It's just a matter of getting tuned in." - 10-7-97
Between the WC division, and BGN, Steve has been on a non-stop pace for weeks, and the recent week off was undoubtedly good for him. He goes into the last 2 races of the season, only 105 points out of second place in the BGN points run! First place is virtually out of the question, with Randy holding a 305 point lead on Steve, but second os a very realistic goal. To quote steve: "The ultimate goal is to win it all, but if we can't do that, second wouldn't be too bad for a rookie team." Here are Steve's thoughts on the last two races of the BGN season.
"They've changed Homestead all around, and I think we're going to go down there and test. It's the last race of the year, and we don't want to find ourselves in the position of being second in the points with a chance of winning the championship going to a track that I've never been to before, especially with the change in configuration." - 10-7-97
"I think Rockingham owes me one. We went there at the beginning of the year, and I really liked that track. We ended up crashing in the first 20 laps of the race. (finishing in 32nd) We had a good race car, but we got a broken oil line and we crashed. We've got an ACDelco-sponsored race coming up there, so we'll go back with this ACDelco Monte Carlo and hopefully win that race."
North Carolina Motor Speedway was the site of the ACDelco 200 on October 26th. Both BGN and the Winston Cup series are in Rockingham. Not only are both races sponsored by AC Delco, but Steve is running in both of them. Friday, October 24th, he ran a time of 00:24:578 (149.017 mph), which started him in 31st position. He finished Saturday's race in 6th, giving him 12 top-10 finishes out of the last 13 races, this being the 9th in a row. Todd Bodine's unfortunate crash brings Steve within 16 points of 2nd place in the points race, and will add extra excitement to the finalé. His drive to the front of the pack earned him Big A Auto Parts' Man of the Race award as well. This week's highlight is Randy Lajoie's clinching of the 1997 Busch Grand National title by finishing ahead of Todd Bodine. This is Randy's 2nd title in a row, and BASE Motorsports' 3rd title in a row. (Johnny Benson was the driver in 1995) Additionally, Mark Martin's win broke the all-time BGN wins record, 32. The record was previously held by Jack Ingram. Congrats to both of them!
On November 9th, the 1997 Busch seasons wrapped up in Homestead, Florida. Randy Lajoie already clinched the title, but 2nd place was a tight race, with Steve only 16 points behind Todd Bodine. 
He was second fastest in practice Thursday, clocking a lap speed of 146.923. Friday he sat in the pole position for a while, but ended up in the 2nd spot. He qualified with a lap time of 00:36:551 (147.771 mph).. This was Steve's fourth front-row start of the season. He also was 2nd fastest in Saturday's practice, at 147.819 mph. Steve needed to finish about 5-6 places above Todd to take the second spot in the standings. Coincidentally, he came in 2nd place in both 1995 & 1996! (see the Modifieds page). Here are Steve's thoughts going into the final race of the season:
"Winning the rookie title means a lot, but it sure would be nice to finish second in the overall standings. Some people would be upset to finish second three straight years, and I really wanted to win both of those modified titles, but second on the NASCAR Busch Series as a rookie would mean a lot, and if we could do it next year, then we'd really have something to brag about. We're not going to start out thinking we can finish second on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit, but we didn't start this season thinking we had a shot at a second place, either. Next year will be another learning experience, and I just hope I can learn as much as I did this year with the No. 3 ACDelco Chevrolet Monte Carlo team." - 11-5-97
"We had some growing pains in the beginning of the year with a rookie driver, and we broke a couple of motors. The driver crashed a couple of race cars. We came off a seventh-place finish at Daytona to have a real up and down season at the beginning of the year. "We've been able to put together a streak of top-10's and top-5s in the second half of the season, and that's what a championship team is made of. If we could have had that type of consistency at the beginning of the season, maybe we could have given Randy a run for his money.
1997's Jiffy Lube 300 will be a race to remember for a long time. On the track that took John Nemechek's life earlier in the spring, his brother Joe not only dominated most of the day, but came away with the victory. Steve started the race by overtaking first place just before crossing the stripe for the first lap, and hanging onto the lead for a short while. Joe's dominance was evident early in the race, as he soon overtook first. Steve was in the top 5 for most of the race, in fact most often holding down the 2nd spot. On a regularly scheduled green flag pit stop Steve's spotter had to make a crucial call which could have made them the heroes of the race... or not. Just after Steve pulled off the track and onto pit road, a car spun out on the track. Figuring the caution flag was coming out, he sent Steve back onto the track in order to avoid being held on pit road. (during a caution, pit road is closed temporarily) Had the caution come out, he'd have been in great shape, unfortunately the flag never waived, and he had to turn around and come right back in for service. This put him 2 laps down, one of which he was finally able to make up. This was the only thing that allowed Todd to pass him up, as he stayed on the lead lap. Steve finished the race in 12th, the first car down a lap. Oddly, Todd Bodine finished 5 places ahead of Steve... had the positions been reversed, Steve would have been in 2nd by 6 points!
Regardless, Steve has had a season beyond many people's wildest dreams. Even his somewhat disappointing finish can't tarnish that. This crew has been phenomenal. The torch will be passed on to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will take over in the #3 ACDelco Monte Carlo Chevrolet next year. Personally, I'd like to join many others in wishing him all the successes imaginable next year. From here, all of Steve's attention will be focused on his Winston Cup team. When the flag drops at Daytona on February 15th, 1998, the new shop in Mooresville will be fully operational, and great things can be expected as Steve embarks on yet another rookie season.
On November 10th, Miami Beach, Florida was host for the NASCAR Busch Series Banquet. Steve came away from the night with 2 awards, one of which he clinched weeks ago, which was the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. He also came away with the MCI Fast Pace Award, which goes to the driver with the most Fast Pace Awards throughout the year. (...or should we say MCI / WorldCom ??) This award is given each week to the leading eligible driver with the fastest lap. Steve won 6 of these this year, with the fastest one clocked at Fontana at 172.8 mph. In accepting his award, Steve said he like the title of "fastest man on the track". When asked to name the greatest moment of this year, Steve had to note his 3 wins as leaving the biggest impression. Take a look below to see the awards, and what Steve had to say.
Raybestos Rookie of the Year
Winner: Steve Park, ACDelco Chevrolet
Award: $7,000
"I'd like to thank Tony Eury and the guys back at the shop who worked hard to give me a good car every week. The whole key to winning any point-based program is to be consistent."
Inaugural MCI Fast Pace Award
Winner: Steve Park, ACDelco Chevrolet
Award: $10,000
"I don't know if a rookie is supposed to be able to win an award like this. It just goes back to having a team that works so hard to give me a great car week in and week out. I'm happy to accept this award on the team's behalf."
Steve did say in an interview, for NASCAR Online, during the banquet that he really wanted to thank all the fans, and that he looks forward to seeing them all next year!
The following pages chronicle the 1997 BGN run:
#3 AC Delco Chevy Monte Carlo
Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
1675 Coddle Creek Highway
Mooresville, NC 28115
(704) 662-8000
(704) 663-7945 Fax
Owner: Teresa Earnhardt
Crew Chief: Tony Eury Sr.
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