| | Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Retired NASCAR driver Ernie Irvan thought he was being shuttled to Daytona Beach on Thursday for a round of interviews and handshakes.
He received a big surprise instead -- duplicates of the racing trophies destroyed in a fire that ruined his North Carolina home in March.
Standing stunned as NASCAR senior vice president Mike Helton lowered the curtain on duplicates of more than a dozen trophies he won over his career, Irvin hardly knew what to say.
"When the house burned down, I told people I didn't care about all the other stuff, but I had a pretty nice trophy room," Irvan said. "This is totally unbelievable."
Irvan's $1 million home, in Mooresville, N.C., caught fire in March while he and his family were vacationing in the Bahamas. It was another in a string of tragedies for the 41-year-old driver, who retired last September.
In 1994, he was nearly killed after suffering head injuries during a crash at Michigan Speedway. After a 14-month recovery period, he returned to racing.
He retired last September after another crash at Michigan that
occurred exactly five years after the first crash.
Thus ended a 13-year career. He won 15 Winston Cup races, including the Daytona 500 in 1991. He also drew a hearty fan following, especially after doctors gave him only a 10 percent chance of surviving after the first crash.
Helton said drivers came up with the idea of restoring the trophies. Tracks cooperated by providing the duplicates and NASCAR coordinated the effort.
Irvan was flanked by former boss, car owner Robert Yates, and his friend, driver Ken Schrader.
"I remember after the fire, Ernie was talking to me about making sure you had good insurance and how upset he was about the trophies," Schrader said. "I told him that wasn't near as big a problem for me as it was for him." | |
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