The story of this print.
17... The lucky number!
Darrell Waltrip had all sorts of numbers in his favor before the 1989 Daytona 500.
The signs and signifiers all added up. To this day, he still says he doesn’t necessarily subscribe to the belief that numbers have some higher mystique. And yet...
“I really don’t,” Waltrip says. “It just so happens that when you’re driving car No. 17 and it’s your 17th Daytona 500 and you just kind of start looking at all the possibilities.
My name (Darrell Lee Waltrip) has 17 letters in it.
Our house is actually built on lot No. 17. My golf handicap is 17. The purse was $1.7 million.
It was ’89 — 8 and 9 … 17.”
Those coincidences were too numerous to miss, Waltrip pulled crew chief Jeff Hammond aside to discuss them before the race.
Would those recurring 17s would be a promising bellwether or an ill-fated omen?
“So many things added up to 17,” Waltrip said. We’re either going to win it or we’re going to finish 17th. I’m just not sure which.’ ”
When it came to the finishing order, the cosmic number 17 stopped there.
Darrell Waltrip’s long-sought Daytona 500 victory was a dream come true on Feb. 19, 1989, thanks to a strategic gamble, a car named Betty and a fuel-sipping final run to the checkered flag*. A memorable victory that deserved a print!
Darrell Waltrip had all sorts of numbers in his favor before the 1989 Daytona 500.
The signs and signifiers all added up. To this day, he still says he doesn’t necessarily subscribe to the belief that numbers have some higher mystique. And yet...
“I really don’t,” Waltrip says. “It just so happens that when you’re driving car No. 17 and it’s your 17th Daytona 500 and you just kind of start looking at all the possibilities.
My name (Darrell Lee Waltrip) has 17 letters in it.
Our house is actually built on lot No. 17. My golf handicap is 17. The purse was $1.7 million.
It was ’89 — 8 and 9 … 17.”
Those coincidences were too numerous to miss, Waltrip pulled crew chief Jeff Hammond aside to discuss them before the race.
Would those recurring 17s would be a promising bellwether or an ill-fated omen?
“So many things added up to 17,” Waltrip said. We’re either going to win it or we’re going to finish 17th. I’m just not sure which.’ ”
When it came to the finishing order, the cosmic number 17 stopped there.
Darrell Waltrip’s long-sought Daytona 500 victory was a dream come true on Feb. 19, 1989, thanks to a strategic gamble, a car named Betty and a fuel-sipping final run to the checkered flag*. A memorable victory that deserved a print!