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We are less than 24 hours from the Daytona 500, and John Kucko has more from Daytona Motor Speedway.
In 1991, this car made it to Victory Lane here at the Daytona 500. And today, it's legendary driver, Ernie Irvan, was reunited with his old Chevy.
"It was a great race team, great car," Irvan said. "Tony Glover was a great crew chief. Kodak was a great sponsor. It was kind of a dream come true to win the Daytona 500 and be representing Kodak."
Irvan was a fan favorite at the time. Representing an iconic American brand.
"It was about selling product, but right now it was about team morale," Irvan said. "Team morale was everybody that worked at Kodak and they could see their Kodak car on the race track and obviously that would help promote sales. I mean it's team morale, I really feel like that most of the sponsors can't really track, 100%, what their sponsorship does."
"Ernie Irvan won 7 times driving the Kodak colors. No win was bigger than the one here at the Daytona 500 25 years ago," Kucko said. "So there was one last thing to do as Ernie saw the car for the first time since then and that was to sign the car."
Describe what this is like for you, Ernie, as you do this. "Well. it's like my career, in a lot of ways, puts an end on a career. Dale Earnhardt and myself talked about what we should be able to get paid and that stuff. And Dale said he would do it for free and I said yeah, I would, and he said don't tell our car owners."
At Daytona International Speedway, I'm John Kucko
More...
In 1991, this car made it to Victory Lane here at the Daytona 500. And today, it's legendary driver, Ernie Irvan, was reunited with his old Chevy.
"It was a great race team, great car," Irvan said. "Tony Glover was a great crew chief. Kodak was a great sponsor. It was kind of a dream come true to win the Daytona 500 and be representing Kodak."
Irvan was a fan favorite at the time. Representing an iconic American brand.
"It was about selling product, but right now it was about team morale," Irvan said. "Team morale was everybody that worked at Kodak and they could see their Kodak car on the race track and obviously that would help promote sales. I mean it's team morale, I really feel like that most of the sponsors can't really track, 100%, what their sponsorship does."
"Ernie Irvan won 7 times driving the Kodak colors. No win was bigger than the one here at the Daytona 500 25 years ago," Kucko said. "So there was one last thing to do as Ernie saw the car for the first time since then and that was to sign the car."
Describe what this is like for you, Ernie, as you do this. "Well. it's like my career, in a lot of ways, puts an end on a career. Dale Earnhardt and myself talked about what we should be able to get paid and that stuff. And Dale said he would do it for free and I said yeah, I would, and he said don't tell our car owners."
At Daytona International Speedway, I'm John Kucko
More...