Darrell Waltrip relives glory and heartache of three All-Star Races

From his controversial victory in 1985, to getting wrecked by Rusty Wallace while battling for the win in 1989, to tangling with Dale Earnhardt while racing for the lead in 1995, NASCAR Hall of Famer and FOX NASCAR analyst Darrell Waltrip endured quite the bumpy ride over his years in the Sprint All-Star Race.

In a preview of Saturday night's All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, DW relived his three most memorable All-Star outings in an exclusive interview with FOXSports.com's Jared Turner.

1985 -- 'Do you want $50,000 or do you want $200,000?'

When NASCAR first announced that it was teaming with top series entitlement sponsor R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and its Winston cigarette brand to create a special all-star-type race that paid $200,000 to win but awarded no points, Waltrip was admittedly skeptical of the concept.

But skepticism quickly turned to appreciation.

"At first I didn't like it, because I'm a purist," Waltrip said. "I kind of like to have rules and regulations and have people officiating, and in a lot of ways they kind of let their guard down when it came to that race and you could kind of do what you want to do. When I really bought into it was when I finally realized that it was a chance to put on a good show for the fans and also a chance to do some special things with our cars and our teams. It's a team sport and it got the teams involved. It's just a fun event, and if you approach it that way then you can really enjoy it, and I really kind of got to where I enjoyed it."

Waltrip mostly remembers the inaugural all-star race of 1985 for what he calls, "the brilliance of Junior Johnson" -- his team owner, who 25 years later would be among the first five-member class enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

"Engineering wasn't a big role in our sport at the time and so a lot of it was just trial and error and kind of seat of your pants, and what had worked for you in the past," Waltrip said. "I stayed up at Junior and Flossie's a lot and Junior was almost like a second dad to me, so we were close and we'd work at night in the shop. Everybody would go home and we would work on that engine for that race. Junior didn't assemble the engine but he built the parts for that engine, and we'd be grinding on those sets of rods and he'd say, 'Darrell, these rods will only last about 150 miles, so you're going to have to really watch your practice and you're going to have to take care of this thing.' And he'd be grinding on a set of pistons and sanding on them and fixing them and working with them and he'd say, 'Now these pistons aren't going to last but 150 miles, so you're going to have to take care of this thing.' And all the time I'm thinking, 'Yeah, right. How do you know that? How do you know how long something's going to last?' But he knew by experience how much weight to take off the piston, how much weight to take off the rod, how much weight to take off the crank, so that engine, it was an all-star engine. ... That was fun to work with Junior and see how much effort he put into that engine. Jeff (Hammond, crew chief) and all the boys, we built a special car that had been to the wind tunnel a number of times -- more than any car we'd ever built before -- and we tested that car. So there was an amazing amount of effort put into that first All-Star Race, by Junior and by the team."

It seemed for a while that all the work might be in vain, however. With the race entering its final stages and Waltrip running a distant second to Harry Gant, DW had "almost accepted second place" when Johnson made an inquiry of his driver that Waltrip will never forget.

"Junior came on the radio and said, 'Darrell, let me ask you something: Do you want $50,000 or do you want $200,000?'" Waltrip said. "Well, that kind of perked me up. At that point I was doing all I thought I could do, but all of a sudden I got up that wheel and I started digging and the first thing you know I picked up two or three tenths, and the first thing you know Harry was slowing down a little bit and I was speeding up a little bit, and, son of a gun, if on the white flag I didn't catch him. Passed him going into (Turn) 1, cleared him down the back straightaway and pulled away and came off Turn 4 and crossed the start/finish line and I'm so excited, I won the first All-Star Race, I've got my hand out the window waving to the fans, and the next thing I know the thing blew up and it's about to wreck. So that was an exciting ending to the very first All-Star Race."

While the curious timing of Waltrip's blown engine raised many eyebrows, with some competitors even accusing Waltrip of deliberately making the engine expire so that it wouldn't be found illegal in post-race inspection, he vehemently denied the accusation and still does to this day. He insists the engine was "perfectly legal.

"You can't change people's minds," he said. "I don't know how many times I've told them and how many times NASCAR has told them. The engine was still in the car. The engine did not disappear. The engine just had a hole in the oil pan, and so it was pretty easy to take the heads off and check the engine like they did every week every time you'd win a pole or you'd win a race. ... They took the motor and they tore it down and checked it."

1989 -- 'I underestimated my competition'

It there was one All-Star Race that Waltrip should have won but didn't, it was in 1989. Leading coming to the white flag, Waltrip spun following a bump from a young Rusty Wallace, who went on to score a highly unpopular victory.

"I thought I was playing with Rusty," Waltrip said. "I'd pull him down the straightaway and he'd catch up a little bit in the corner and I'd pull him down the straightaway and he'd catch up a little bit in the corner. I learned a valuable lesson from that one: I underestimated my competition because I felt like I had the race won and all I had to do was not make a mistake and keep doing what I was doing, and coming to get the white flag Rusty just drove in a little deeper and a little harder, too hard, too deep, got up the hill and pushed into the left rear and spun me out. And, of course, there was a fight afterwards, and I said I hoped he choked on that 200 grand, and I don't think he probably did, but I hoped he did."

A scuffle later broke out in the garage with members of Waltrip's team angrily confronting members of Wallace's. If there was any good that came from the '89 race for Waltrip, it was that he left Charlotte with widespread empathy and support from untold scores of fans, after years of being booed by a large segment of the NASCAR fan base. Meanwhile, Wallace's reputation took a hit.

"It helped my image and hurt his, and that was unintended," Waltrip said. "That was one of those unintended consequences. I didn't have any idea that was going to happen, and I'm sure he didn't either. I think maybe a little bit of an arrogance and a little bit of 'so what' kind of attitude kind of added to it a little bit, too, on his part."

1995 -- 'I wanted to bust him upside the head'

The 1995 All-Star Race will forever be remembered for Jeff Gordon's win and the late wreck involving Waltrip and his old rival, Dale Earnhardt.

Racing side-by-side for the top spot on the opening lap of the final segment, the two legends collided when Earnhardt's special silver No. 3 car veered up the track into Waltrip's No. 17.

That opened the door for Gordon to regain the lead and cruise to his first all-star victory, but the incident was a painful blow to Waltrip -- both literally and physically.

"I knew I needed to get in front of Gordon to win it, because I didn't want to mess around trying to pass him with Earnhardt sitting right there," Waltrip said. "We went in the first turn side by side and came off (Turn) 2 side by side down the back and as we were going down the back straightaway I could see out the corner of my eye a silver car down on the apron ... with sparks just a flying, and I knew it was Earnhardt. But I figured if I cleared him and Gordon going into (Turn) 3, then I could pull away and they would end up battling each other and I've have it made. So I carried it into (Turn) 3 about as hard as I possibly could. Jeff being as smart as he was and knowing what was going on -- he knew how Dale was -- Jeff at the last second backed out and left a lane for Earnhardt to come up the track, and when he did Dale went in the corner so hard he came into Turn 2 hot, pushed up the hill, took us both into the wall, and it was really and truly one of the hardest hits I'd really ever had. It pile-drived me right into the wall with him pushing me. We bounced off the wall and hit the wall again and ended up sitting on the front straightaway wrecked -- he and I both. It broke ribs under my shoulder blades, and I was really hurting. It knocked the breath out of me and the guys thought I was really hurt, because I couldn't talk."

Upon returning to Charlotte Motor Speedway the following Wednesday for Coca-Cola 600 practice, Waltrip -- still steaming from the All-Star Race -- confronted Earnhardt.

"He just kind of gave me one of those Earnhardt grins and said, 'Did you learn anything?'" Waltrip said. "And I said, 'What was I supposed to learn from that?' (He said), 'Don't go on the outside of me. That's probably the best thing you probably learned from that. Don't ever pass me on the outside.' I wanted to bust him upside the head right there, but I didn't."

It was only after getting in his race car that day Waltrip realized he had suffered the broken ribs in the All-Star Race crash. He would need several weeks to fully heal, and ultimately had to give way to some relief drivers. Meanwhile, his team -- a team he owned -- imploded.

"The rest is history," Waltrip said. "From there on I really struggled just trying to make races, trying to keep my team going and trying to stay in business. And it really all started right there that night in '95 when Earnhardt put me in the fence."