I'm proud of this one. I was tire man and fabricator on this team in 1989. It was a great experience in my life. Going into the last race we had to finish 16th or better to win the Nashville Speedway Championship. Crew chief Tony Formosa's plan before the race was, run in the top 10, if you got anything at the end us it, and stay on the yellow line. But, when they dropped the green, Nicky had another idea. he ran the car hard staying in the top 3 all night. It looked like a success. But, with 3 laps to go the right front(wheel,spindle,roter,etc)came off the car and sailed over the turn 3 wall and landed in Fair park. Thank God no one was hurt.

When the wheel came off (with all the sparks flying), the whole field slowed down for about half a lap. But the yellow didn't come out. Tony, said "stay on the gas they ain't gonna give us a caution". Nicky stayed on it. With 2 laps to go we were 8th. With 1 lap to go we were 14th. At the checkers we were 16th.