The Last Comeback: Tim Richmond's 1988 Daytona Journey

Richmond, on the other side of the finish line. The checkered flag to win the Firecracker 400. Tim Richmond, about to win the Budweiser at Glen. He raises his hand. Tim Richmond won the Budweiser at Glen. There's one guy, Harry Hyde, who is absolutely proud. Harry, you know at the beginning of the year you said that Tim Richmond was really going to be the cat to deal with, how do you feel now? I think he's great, I think he's great. I couldn't say enough for him. How many single girls came to see Tim Richmond tonight? Do you understand that everywhere you go?

Not all the time. I'm so proud of Harry and Tim this year. I don't know how many are going to win. He said he would win eight. Do you think you will win eight? I promised them he would win six, so I have two more to go. Well, Tim Richmond just got out of the car, receiving applause from the crowd. Number seven wins, they have a poster for him here. Now they tell me that you are going to change your lifestyle, what are you going to do now that the season is over? Well, right now we're going to move to Hollywood or somewhere here in Los Angeles and take some acting classes and do some public relations work and chill out in Los Angeles now. --See it next year. ---I will be here.

There's a lot of mystery in all this, Tim, from cancer to the flu to AIDS to alcohol. What is the beginning of this, what brought you to this state where you became so sick? I just wouldn't let myself think that I was sick. Last December, the question was whether Richmond would survive into the next hour. The question at this point is whether he will win his third straight game. Two weeks ago, in Pocono, Pennsylvania, he came home first. Then I went to Riverside California and did it again. The mischievous and extravagant. A big pilot is ready to try to make it three. ---Tim Richmond's brush with death

last

year doesn't seem to have taken much away from him.

Tim, you still have that fire, don't you? ---Yes, I am ready. Me, it didn't seem like I had lost anything there during the time I was sick. ---The crowd comes around and applauds and Tim Richmond, stretching for three in a row, lengthens the car a little and pushes it into first place. High side, Earnhardt working on it. Incredible racing As we have completed 149 laps... a car smoking in turn number one against the wall. It's Tim Richmond in car number 25. He drove it there, Bob, because smoke started coming out of the frontstretch. He kept it under control and directed it up and out of the way.

Although he returned in '87 and recorded two consecutive victories, his health was still not good. He resigned from Rick Hendrick's team amid rumors of drug abuse. Some say those rumors led to NASCAR's decision to implement a drug testing program by

1988

. We're not talking nonsense. NASCAR has said they're going to do drug testing next year, you're going to go and get the drug test and let that be the answer to that issue. ---Exactly. One driver who isn't here today but whose name has been in the headlines over the past few days is Tim Richmond President Bill France Jr. announced

last

weekend, without details, that NASCAR will implement a drug testing program next year.

Personally I can't say that I have seen anyone use drugs in our sport. You know there are all kinds of rumors and then you hear all kinds of things, but I personally have never seen it. And there may have been, and if there has been, we must put an end to it. The topic of conversation in this segment, gentlemen, is drug testing. Darrell, to your knowledge, is there a drug problem in NASCAR? As far as I know, no. I am not aware of any problems. I'm like everyone else, I'm like Steve, I'm like you. I hear many things.

You know, and we all have a phrase that we use a lot "that guy must be on drugs" when someone does something really crazy or strange. I think we take such importance to the drug situation in our sport, to the point that, at least as far as I'm concerned, I don't think it's an epidemic and I don't think it's a big problem and I'll tell you that. From the beginning. I was surprised in New York when Billy France stood up and said they were going to do the drug testing agreement because for two years some of us have asked why they don't do it.

We do it, not why... let's do it, just why don't we do it? Why are you so adamant against doing it? And they never wanted to do it, all of a sudden BAM, they didn't ask anyone, let's do drug testing. Has there ever been a time when drivers felt that another competitor had a problem and should not be allowed to compete in that event? Yes, last year a couple of times. I know of a few occasions where there were some drivers and some officials who were very alarmed. But I repeat, we don't know what we were, we don't know if we were alarmed by drugs or it was something else.

It's hard to say, we didn't have, you know, we weren't testing, so we didn't know. And it's a deal where you just look at a guy and say, "I think he's doing drugs," and it's hard to say, you know? In this segment we are going to talk with one of the most colorful and controversial figures in the recent history of motorsports. Extravagance is his trademark, but he has backed it up with excellent driving. He was Rookie of the Year in the 1981 Indy 500 and then set his sights on stock car racing. In 1986 he won more stock car races than any other driver, but a month later he began a mystery at the peak of his success: Tim Richmond became ill.

The press announcement said he had pneumonia, the rumors said the opposite. Tim said I'll be back. And, in fact, he made a triumphant return to the sport last May at The Winston. His fans were ecstatic and his performance was absolutely impeccable. He finished third in the race and completed that

comeback

by winning the next two events in which he participated. Then he disappeared from the racing scene again, abruptly abandoned by his team and seemingly out of the stock car game. And I think that has to be the initial question we ask Tim Richmond today. Are you out of the stock car game?

Well, I don't think I don't think I'm out of the stock car game. And let me make one thing clear: I have resigned from Hendrick Motorsports. I didn't, as some have written,... I wasn't fired or released. I quit. ---Because? The main reason I quit was I didn't want to have to, I don't want to say let them down again, but they were counting on me at the beginning of that season. Because of that pneumonia I had, I had to turn back. They had to change horses in the middle of the stream, that's when they put Benny in the car.

And then when I started getting pneumonia the second time, I said, you know, I can't let people count on me until I'm sure I'm going to continue and not have to. Going back and that was the main reason in my book why I quit Hendrick Motorsports. Tim, do you have a drug problem? I'm sorry, but that question has been asked more than once here, more than once by everyone, and I'm not going to answer that question. I'm going to let the Daytona drug test answer and NASCAR can answer for all of you. And if they don't answer me well, then I will have my little bottle and there will be another answer.

Because I know, I know if it's dirty or if it's clean and it's clean. Pneumonia, you've said it all along. Rumors, as we said, have claimed that drugs, AIDS and every kind of thing imaginable took Tim Richmond out of the racing mainstream. Can you answer the question about the drugs: were they drugs? Well, you know I'm done being defensive on this topic. What I'm going to do is when it's time for Daytona, whether I drive a race car or not, I'm going to go there and put my money into trying to get a Winston Cup competitor's license.

I'm going to have some people there with me to take the exams... not to take the exam, but how can I say it? If when I put something in one bottle I put it in another, I will do a physical exam and then we will know the results. If I have a valid NASCAR competition license, we will know if the test was dirty or clean. We're not talking, NASCAR has said they're going to do drug testing next year, you're going to go and get drug tested and let that be the answer to that issue. Exactly, but what that also leads to is the next obvious question: Are you going to try to get back into Winston Cup racing, do you have a chance to do so, are you qualified for the Busch clash because you won a pole last year, but you don't have transportation.

Well, I don't have transportation right now. I've been contacted by a couple of car owners and I can understand why there might be a bit of hesitation. There have been a lot of rumors going around and I think the drug testing there will stop a lot of those rumors and make it easier for maybe a car owner to make the decision to put me in their... in their race car and hopefully win the Busch Clash and such. time the Daytona 500. Before we started, you told me that you have a racing dream and that it has nothing to do with stock cars or Indy cars.

No, my dream since the first day when I started. Thinking about race cars was putting 3,000 horsepower up my ass, and that means a fun car and that's what I always wanted to do, go drag racing. ---He will be a racing driver. Is your health such that you can compete in a full Winston Cup season? The bottom line is I won't...never go back unless the schedule changes and I do a full Winston Cup tour for the Winston Cup championship. The Winston Cup championship is very important, but I don't think it's as important as, you know, enjoying the time, the time it takes to do it, I won't do it.

Several accusations, including drug abuse and AIDS, were leveled against Tim Richmond last year, but he continues to fight back against the criticism. Next Tuesday, Richmond will meet with Bill France Jr. of NASCAR. to discuss Tim's possible return to Winston Cup racing. Step 1 in Tim's return was a meeting with NASCAR officials and after that meeting, I asked him about step 2. Well, as far as I'm concerned, it went very well and NASCAR says they have no problems with me. welcomed me. They would like to see me return. I want to come back. I have no problems with them and now that we have cleared it up, I now need a ride so I can return.

You know, everyone was talking about Tim having some drug problems. Tim was sick with the flu or pneumonia or something and it depressed him. And they tried to prove that he had drugs and you know he's undergoing drug testing and, you know, he's been in the hospital and surely, if he had been on drugs, he would have revealed himself when he went to the hospital. Because no one in the hospital keeps secrets. So I don't feel like Tim was doing drugs. I think Tim had other problems and I hope Tim can fix his problems and come back.

From Daytona International Speedway, CBS Sports is pleased to bring you the

1988

Busch Clash live. Hello everyone. I'm Chris Economaki In auto racing, the driver who was fastest in the qualifying rounds wins the number one starting spot: the coveted pole position. And today's rich 20-lap race is for NASCAR's fastest men of 1987. There's one man who belongs in this lineup who isn't: Tim Richmond. And for more on that story, let's go further to my CBS broadcast colleague Ken Squier. ---Chris, a year ago Tim Richmond qualified for this race and missed it, it was severe pneumonia. This year he will miss the race again after qualifying, it is just as serious.

NASCAR made this statement yesterday: "Tim Richmond has been suspended indefinitely following a urinalysis test conducted under the guidelines of NASCAR's substance abuse policy." Richmond tested true positive for a banned substance covered by NASCAR's substance program. He was examined and tested on Thursday. The test was performed by Dr. Forrest S. Tennant on Friday and the launch took place yesterday. Just a few hours ago I spoke with Tim Richmond here in Daytona and this was his reaction. He came back, he said he was positive for two substances and they had no choice but to suspend me. I mean, I'd bet you any amount of money that they would give anything if they hadn't done this test because now they can't let me out on the track until, you know, if I went out on the track I hurt someone or whatever and it's found out that They were aware of this test before entering.

So you know, they would, so I understand his position here. I've only maintained that... you've made a mistake, I've made mistakes in my life, which means a mistake was made in this drug test. One way or another I'm not guilty of it. I asked one of the officials the question: If I hadn't asked for the test, if I hadn't asked for it, would they have asked me for one anyway? And his response was, "You'll never know, will you?" This is something that we were, that could happen, you know, we knew that there was a possibility that one day someone would get caught in one of these situations.

It has happened, I guess we will have to wait and see the outcome of Tim's situation. I have to say personally that Tim is here and trying to run the race and the things that happened around him being here, you know, the drug test... it's a good time to make it effective. Now some vicious rumors have started about me since my pneumonia illness. I was trying to endthese rumors and reassure competitors, since these rumors were unfounded. Have you used drugs or prohibited substances in 1988? -No, I haven't ----At some point while you were a Winston Cup driver? ----No, I do not have.

Without Tim Richmond, a dozen big stars lined up for the first big race of stock car sprint weeks on Monday, NASCAR announced the second test was clean and said Richmond's license would be reinstated. Then on Tuesday, officials revealed that until he passes a physical exam he cannot run and cannot pass the physical unless he presents medical records from his 1987 stay at a Cleveland hospital where he was reportedly treated for pneumonia. . Tim Richmond, who can't drive a Winston Cup car after two controversial drug tests, is discussing his next move with his lawyer, that lawyer is Barry Slotnick, defense attorney for so-called subway vigilante Bernard Goetz Dave, lawyer Barry Slotnick says the fact that Tim has submitted to the drug test himself is the only problem and adds a quote: "It's a matter of principle, we will not hand over outdated records," close quote.

NASCAR says, "no records, no races," so the two sides appear to be at an impasse. You know, they supposedly tested positive and they released him and now they let him come back and do it again, you know, I have mixed opinions on that. I think if he's going to retest, then he should have to be out for a month or two, or something like that, before he can come back and compete. I don't think they should test on Monday and then test on Tuesday and test on Wednesday and keep testing until we're clear until we get a clear sample.

I don't know, I don't agree with that. I'm sure there may be errors in the tests but, you know, whatever it was, at least, you know, one came back negative, so that's good. ----So you wouldn't feel wise competing against him? No, we wouldn't have felt bad about racing against him on Sunday either. Great race tomorrow at Daytona, but the 500 isn't what he's been making the headlines for this time at Daytona. The controversy surrounding Tim Richmond has put the race in fine print. Tim Richmond called a press conference there, at the Daytona Hilton. The purpose was to clear his name.

Richmond and his attorneys met with the press and accused NASCAR of mounting a smear campaign to sabotage his return. There was a concerted effort to smear Mr. Richmond and deprive fans of the right to see him drive in the NASCAR Daytona 500. Finally, after Thursday night's qualifying races, he sat down and issued a statement and told you that Tim Richmond does not have a banned illegal drug in his system. But there was Sudafed and Advil, something everyone in this room could be guilty of having in his system at some point. He came here to run. I came here to try to race, get a license and try to clear up a lot of this, meaning the rumors that took place last year and the hole seemed to get a lot bigger.

Again, my number one goal is to clear my family's name and basically it's very simple: I don't trust, didn't trust and still don't trust NASCAR. The power within is too great for little Timmy Richmond or whoever is out there to deal with up to this point. . We are making one last effort. There's a chance that at 3:30 this afternoon you'll see Tim in the car doing the final qualifying lap. At that point he will be up to NASCAR. Yes, I will try to run this season. I don't know if it will be NASCAR, NHRA, USAC, CART, I really don't know.

I have a lot of people now who... are still on my side, they would like to see me perform as a racing driver in one way or another. I'd like to do that, but I just hope they haven't burned too much. Well, we're now joined live here at our Purolator Victory Lane in Daytona by NASCAR Public Relations Director Chip Williams. Chip, thanks for joining us. ---Sure. What is the status of Tim Richmond's situation in first position, facing the Daytona 500? As of now we're still searching for medical records and Dr. Hinebaugh needs some kind of... something to look at to see how the treatment and recovery from pneumonia has progressed.

And at that point, if he is satisfied, Tim will be approved for a race. Until that happens, it won't happen. Now, at yesterday's press conference, Tim's attorney said that NASCAR had agreed that those medical records were no longer an issue, that they would accept the letter from Tim's treating doctor saying that he had not been treated for drug abuse in the past, you're fit to go racing, aren't you? Which he is not. Our issue is not drug abuse. Going back, Wednesday a week ago is when we asked for the medical records. Dr. Hinebaugh wanted to know where Tim was in his recovery and how treatment for the pneumonia had been going, to see if Tim could physically run 190 miles per hour for 500 miles.

On Thursday, of course, things went a little off due to the urinalysis. On Monday he again found himself in a situation where his license was valid. We were still sitting there waiting for the medical records and we've been waiting. When was the first time you asked Tim Richmond for his medical records? The first time Dr. Hinebaugh asked was on Wednesday a week ago, the Wednesday before the Busch Clash. On January 26, Bill Jr., Bill France, our president and vice president of Les Richter competition, told him that they thought Dr. Hinebaugh would probably ask for that because he wanted to know how the pneumonia was doing.

It should be noted here that Dr. Hinebaugh, NASCAR's chief medical officer, is the track doctor here Chip, why did it take so long for it to be announced that Advil in Sudafed was the medication in question? We didn't want to say anything until we knew exactly what the drug was, exactly what the drug was. We knew there was a banned substance there, so there was a violation of the substance abuse policy. However, we didn't know exactly what it was and until we could identify it, we weren't going to publish it. Briefly, we are short on time, is NASCAR trying to keep Tim Richmond out of stock car racing?

You are welcome. From what I can see, Tim Richmond is trying to keep Tim Richmond out of stock car racing. Good afternoon everyone from Daytona Beach, Florida. Today 42 drivers will seek more than one and a half million dollars in the Daytona 500. One driver who is not here today but whose name has been in the headlines over the past few days is Tim Richmond. Why are they picking on me, poor me? I really don't know why they are. I do not know i do not know. But they've already chosen hard enough to where I'm going to, you know, I'm going to bite back.

Gentlemen, start your engines! The green is deployed, we are underway. Jockeying for position, Bobby Allison going down in the Miller High Life car took second place. There's a smoker in the back, that's the Roush car, that new Ford, number six Mark Martin from Arkansas, Jack Roush driver and the engine is expiring. Hitting the wall, Connie Sailor, number 99. The car slides into the outside wall. We had an accident in turn four again, a car spun, slid and crashed into the wall and it looks like Cale Yarborough Trouble in turn four! Richard Petty's car goes flying from end to end.

There are two or three more cars inside. Petty hit the wall very hard. He gets hit again when the car stops at the entrance to pit road. They go back and watch this tremendous assault. And here goes Darrell Waltrip three wide to take the lead. One last time for Davey Allison, but he has to get back in line right behind his father, who won the Daytona 500 twice. Bobby Allison wins it for the third time in his career. Right behind him was Davey Allison holding on. In a tight battle for third place were Phil Parsons, Terry Labonte and Neil Bonnett.

What an ending as the Alabama gang, Bobby and Davey Allison, take positions one and two. It was quite an ending. Now, for the latest on Tim Richmond, his attorney Barry Slotnick says they will take a couple of weeks to evaluate his situation before making another attempt to get Tim back into competition. NASCAR says they still need to be satisfied when it comes to Richmond's medical records since his illness in 1987. We haven't heard the last of that story yet. When Tim and his attorneys failed to provide medical records from that stay at the Cleveland Clinic, NASCAR again denied the license.

Richmond quickly filed a lawsuit against the sanctioning body, the matter was settled out of court earlier this year, but the terms were never made public. One of the most colorful drivers in all of auto racing has died at the age of 34. Ugly rumors of drug abuse and AIDS will cloud his achievements until the exact cause of death of Dave Despain and Bob Varsha with Tim Richmond, who got their start in Indy cars, is revealed. He actually started out in super mods, but made a big impression in Indy cars and then abandoned those cars to pursue stock car racing.

How is it okay? I will tell you that the nickname I acquired when I first went to Indianapolis was Captain Quick and it soon became Captain Crunch. And to be honest with you, I like the way my feet were pointing (laughs)