On April 1, 1993, the reigning NASCAR champion from Greenfield, Alan Kulwicki, died in a plane crash near the Bristol Motor Speedway.
"This is my Hooters jacket from 1992," Alan Kulwicki's PR Director Tom Roberts says. "This is of course my KDDP logo."
"Lots of disbelief," Alan Kulwicki's Crew Chief Paul Andrews says. "You know, of course, technology was nothing like it is now. Like you said a while ago, the AP wire service comes across the typewriter you might say, and it was just, it was unbelievable."
Both still have a difficult time talking about the passing of their friend 30 years later.
"He gave me a small amount of money for my kids," Andrews says. "Just things like that, just a really good guy."
To this day, Roberts and Andrews feel a part of their heart died the night Alan died.
"The video of Peter Jellen driving the track around the Bristol track for the last time and leaving the track. And everybody gets teary-eyed," Roberts says. "I know to this day, Paul Andrews has a very difficult time discussing that."
"As a group, we showed up to the race track. Went and talked to NASCAR, and very emotional," Andrews says. "And tell them, you know, what do we do here? What are we supposed to do?"
Part of the difficulty? Both Roberts and Andrews insist it could have been worse. Andrews stayed back to practice pit stops.
"We were definitely supposed to be on the plane," Andrews says.
"I was gonna fly on up to Tri-Cities with them," Roberts says. "But something in the back of my mind said quality time. Dan Duncan was the guy that Bob Brooks had hired. This was the guy that Alan really needed to have quality time with."
A tragic day, but his spirit lives on with the Alan Kulwicki Driver Development Program, giving underfunded drivers who were like Alan a boost.
"Being a Hall of Famer, but the guy that did it his way, is such an inspiration to all short track drivers that are out there," Roberts says.
And his legend around the Badger state is alive.
"You know what Alan meant to Wisconsin and the Milwaukee area," Roberts says.
The education of another generation of Alan's legacy drives on with Kulwicki Cup champions from the state, like Ty Majeski, Alex Prunty and Luke Fenhaus.
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