The Not so Ole Days but good none the less
Upset at Daytona - Greg Sacks
But on July 4, 1985, Greg Sacks was in the right place at the right time in the right car.
And with the right crew chief, innovator Gary Nelson.
DiGard, then owned by Bill Gardner, had decided to add a second research and development car for the race to help primary driver and 1983 points champion Bobby Allison. Sacks, a Long Islander who had driven parts of three seasons for his family team, was chosen - partly because he had finished sixth in that season's Daytona 500 and signed to a one-race deal. Nelson, now NASCAR's director of research and development, took that same Chevrolet - which DiGard had leased from Sacks for the Firecracker - and used revolutionary "front end geometry" and suspension techniques - some of which are illegal now - to create a car that was fast despite a slight shortfall in horsepower.
Sacks' team had sparse equipment, a jack that barely worked, one decent airgun, decrepit gas cans and worse yet, inexperienced crew members. He was supposed to run 10 to 15 lap segments and roll to the garage for measurements and parts changes, as if the race were an elaborate test, but when he qualified ninth and was competitive in the race, it became apparent to Nelson he owed Sacks a chance to win.
Sacks battled Bill Elliott - already a seven-time winner that season - but pit stops cost him lots of time. On his final stop, Sacks was amazed to find a new crew in his pit stall. Among them were Robert Yates, then a DiGard engine builder, now the owner of two Nextel Cup teams, and Jimmy Makar, then of Tim Richmond's Raymond Beadle team and now an executive at Joe Gibbs Racing.
"It was pretty much a bunch of rag-tag guys from cars that had fallen out of the race," Makar said.
Sacks got out fast and Elliott, who led 103 of 160 laps, surrendered the lead with nine laps to go because he had to pit with gas mileage issues. Sacks won by 23.5 seconds.
"Robert Yates came from Bobby's pit down to my pit to fuel my car because we were coming in fifth and going out 20th on each stop," Sacks said. "Jimmy Makar came down to change a tire. Someone else was on the jack, people came from other teams to get us out fast on that last pit stop. It was a great community effort and it was really uplifting to me to have so many people encouraging me and supporting me to win that race."
