|| *Comments on the 1989 Banquet Frozen Foods 300:* View the most recent comment <#42> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Josh posted: 03.31.2005 - 8:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin rolled his car after making contact with the tire barrier. 2. CRASH! posted: 04.14.2005 - 3:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin was able to continue after rolling over after hitting the tire barriers. 3. MarkMartinFan posted: 08.17.2006 - 1:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The cause of the Mark Martin rollover was the temporary rear tire changer removed the lug nuts on the rear tire (confusion between a 2 and a 4 tire stop) and when Mark left the pits (with no lug nuts on the RT. rear tire), his right rear tire came off and he upset the car onto it side after hit the tire barrier. 4. Matthew Sullivan posted: 11.09.2006 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was "part two" of the road course duels between Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace ("part one" happening at The Glen the year before.) Wallace pretty much ran the wheels off his car trying to get by Rudd. At one point, Rudd moved Rusty in the grass with a few to go. Great racing. 5. Steve posted: 11.27.2006 - 8:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) i think we are forgeting first ever cup race at sears point 6. Matt posted: 02.09.2007 - 5:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Michael Waltrip flipped during qualifying for this race. His team repaired the car enough for a 10th place finish. 7. Dan posted: 04.09.2007 - 2:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Road Course racing was awesome in the late-80s. 1988 Watkins Glen is one of my favorite races of all time. I wish I could have seen some of the Rudd-Wallace battles live, but I'm too young. 8. Jeff posted: 05.26.2007 - 9:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill Cooper was driving a #19 car,not #61. 9. RaceFanX posted: 11.29.2007 - 3:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dick Johnson wound up in a similar situation to Kyle Petty in this race. He was miked by ESPN for the race and slid off the track, highsiding on a tire barrier. On the replay with his radio he very clearly said "Oh f***!" Unlike today, the announcers just had a laugh and NASCAR didn't even consider a fine for the 1st time NASCAR driver. 10. RaceFanX posted: 11.29.2007 - 3:41 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Oh, a lot of footage of this race was used in the comedy film "Dorf goes Auto Racing." Tim Conway played his "Dorf" character as a F1 champ (because he wrecked everyone else) who comes to the US to race the "good ole boys in NASCAR." In the movie he's portrayed as driving Terry Labonte's #11 Budweiser Ford and wins this race when he crashes everyone else. Mostly bad flick but some good footage of Ricky and Rusty dukeing it out for the lead. 11. RaceFanX posted: 01.19.2008 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last Cup series start for Rick McCray, although he'd return to big league NASCAR a few years later to run some Truck races This was the first Cup race ever at Sears Point, the track effectively replaced the now-demolished Riverside on the schedule 12. jp posted: 03.02.2009 - 8:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The caution that made the tire changer on Martin's team go loopy on the tire: The 79 of Roy Smith had stopped somewhere on the track. 13. Sébastien posted: 07.07.2009 - 3:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dick Johnson #38 was sponsored by "Redkote Steel Tubing" here also. 14. jp posted: 07.20.2009 - 11:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR Scene ran a story about when they first wentt to sonoma, and the Media got a LOT of wine. I guess Martins tire changer got his hans on a bottle. They also made a deal with a driver/owner to haul thier wine. Who was it???? 15. SK posted: 08.14.2009 - 3:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hershel McGriff's final lead lap finish in Cup competition. 16. jp posted: 10.11.2009 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Didnt Cope go over too 17. Anonymous posted: 11.15.2009 - 6:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kulwicki spun a total of three times and ended up losing an engine. 18. Anonymous posted: 08.16.2010 - 12:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Waltrip flipped in Practice. 19. sk posted: 03.29.2012 - 5:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Troy Beebe's debut and best finish. 20. Matthew Sullivan posted: 06.20.2013 - 4:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Dick Johnson's pit crew was made up of members of the IROC series crew. His crew chief was future Cup champion, Ray Evernham. 21. Matt posted: 07.08.2013 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sadly, there was a little-known, but extremely tragic story surrounding this race that I just recently learned about. The #61 Fred Stoke owned Thunderbird driven by Bill Cooper in this race was originally entered for 27 year-old Deake Lyndall of Lakeport, California. Stoke was a Lakeport businessman who had teamed up with Lyndall starting in 1989. Lyndall's debut with the Stoke team came in the May 13th Winston West race at Bakersfield's Mesa Marin Speedway. Lyndall started third in the 24 car field, and brought home a seventh place finish in his Winston West debut which also acted as a tune-up for Lyndall's upcoming Winston Cup debut in the inaugural Banquet Frozen Foods 300 at Sears Point. After securing sponsorship from the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, Lyndall and the Stoke racing team began preparing for Lyndall's June 11th Winston Cup debut at Sears Point. Tragically, Deake Lyndall, along with his father Deake Lyndall, Sr., and two others were killed in a small plane crash on May 24th while returning from a press event for the Sears Point race in Eureka, California. Bill Cooper, a driving instructor for the Bob Bondurant School at Sears Point, who had ironically been preparing some of the Winston Cup regulars for this race, replaced Lyndall in the #61 Ford and finished in 35th after blowing an engine late in the race. All of the team's winnings were donated to the Lyndall family. Lyndall's home track Lakeport Speedway has held the Deake Lyndall Memorial night of racing every year since 1989 as a way to remember both Deake Lyndall and his father. 22. RaceFanX posted: 10.04.2013 - 7:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lake Speed's best finish of the year in fifth. 23. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 05.16.2014 - 9:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Reasons for cautions Caution 1: oil on track Caution 2: #79 stalled Caution 3: #38 accident 24. Bradley Thomas posted: 06.22.2014 - 3:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin flipped and finished 31st place, 5 laps down. 25. RaceFanX posted: 11.29.2014 - 1:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ricky Rudd's victory here was the only one in 1989 for Buick, it turned out to be the brand's penultimate NASCAR victory. This was Rudd's second and final win driving a Buick and both came on road courses. 26. NEPARacefan posted: 04.05.2015 - 1:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill Elliott ran a '88 Thunderbird in this race. 27. James W. McLaughlin posted: 09.16.2015 - 9:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It says here that #40-Darin Brassfield's sponsor was "Mobile One". Shouldn't it be Mobil 1 (as in the motor oil)? 28. RaceFanX posted: 01.13.2016 - 6:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Over the course of the entire 1989 season Ricky Rudd, King Racing, and their #26 Quaker State Buick completed more laps than any other team. Quaker State put out a commercial celebrating that fact in 1990, promoting that the team used the same motor oil as street cars, using two of clips from this race... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fflcHsORDV4 29. The Great Dave posted: 04.16.2016 - 11:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrawn #19 Deake Lyndall Lakeport Chamber of Commerce Ford (Fred Stoke) Bill Cooper should be driving the #19 not the #61 and the Sponsor should be Lakeport Chamber of Commerce 30. Matthew Sullivan posted: 07.09.2017 - 6:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In honor of Deake Lyndall, Lakeport Speedway has hosted the Deake Lyndall Memorial race since 1989. 31. RaceFanX posted: 10.12.2017 - 3:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A Buick wins the first Cup race ever at Sonoma but as noted above the brand's winning days in NASCAR were coming to an end and they never won here again. 32. Evan posted: 11.09.2017 - 8:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Crew Chief for #38 Dick Johnson was none other than Ray Evernham Source:Full Race is on YouTube and they spoke too Evernham and Jhnson. 33. BrotherFlounder posted: 06.16.2018 - 6:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Just watched this one. What a great race. Crazy flip for Mark Martin. Rusty really drove the wheels off of it trying to get past Ricky but there was nothing he could do. There was a really strange extended caution at one point when Ricky took gas only and managed to get off pit road in front of the pace car that was still on the track. He ended up parking on the course waiting for the pace car to come back around. Took NASCAR a few laps (and some politicking from Larry Mac) to convince NASCAR that he hadn't done it on purpose. 34. RaceFanX posted: 08.24.2018 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Waltrip came into this race with the points lead, a narrow two-point edge over Dale Earnhardt, but rear end issues early in the race knocked DW out of contention for a good finish here. While Waltrip struggled Earnhardt pounced, the Intimidator finished finished fourth and charged past Waltrip with a 111-point swing into a 109-point lead. Waltrip would not regain the points lead for the rest of the season, in fact this was the last time in his career that DW would sit atop the points standings. Kenny Schrader's Folgers #25 Chevrolet for this race was actually a Monte Carlo. Both of his Hendrick teammates, Darrell Waltrip and Geoff Bodine, by comparison had the new Lumina to race instead. Schrader's hopes for a good finish were also dashed early on when his car suffered a transmission failure requiring a lengthy stay the behind the wall so the team could replace it with a new one. 35. Jimnsimforever posted: 12.19.2018 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Darin Brassfield made his Winston Cup debut in this race in the #40 car that he owned as well, finished a respectable 22nd, 1 lap down. Dale Earnhardt Cheverlet sponsored this car as well. Mobil 1 was on the rear quarter panels and Dale Earnhardt was written in cursive on the back. Couldn't tell what that was on the hood but it didn't look like Mobil 1. 36. Jimnsimforever posted: 12.19.2018 - 5:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hershel McGriff finishing on the lead lap at age 61, amazing. Even more amazing is I just saw he raced this year on the Nascar K&N West Series and finished the race at age 90, six laps down. Had a top 5 and 5 top 10s in that series at age 73. Never knew about this probably because I've never known anything about that series. 37. Seb posted: 08.26.2019 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) #88 Ruttman was a Pontiac, not an Olds. Monte Carlo bodies : #25 Schrader #41 Bown #71 Marcis #73 Schmitt #09 Fisher 38. SweetRich posted: 02.15.2020 - 8:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Commentators For The First NASCAR Cup Race At Sears Point Were Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett And Benny Parsons. The Pit Road Reporters Were Jerry Punch And Jack Arute. 39. BOBO83329521 posted: 04.29.2020 - 10:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rudd and Geoff Bodine made some rather significant contact on pit road under the Roy Smith caution (speaking of Roy Smith, he was having a Top 10-15 day before Kulwicki's incident) but somehow Rudd was able to maintain the lead and win despite losing that time in the pits 40. Matthew posted: 05.22.2020 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) On the MRN broadcast for this race, the announcer mentions after Mark Martin's roll that Michael Waltrip had done the same thing in practice, but also said that the same thing happened to Jimmy Means as well. If that were true, would that possibly be why Jimmy Means didn't make the race? 41. LimestoneButter posted: 04.13.2021 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Apparently this is the first NASCAR race that Brandt sponsored a car - the #56 of Ron Esau - and would be the last one until the 2010s. Although for the life of me I cannot find a picture of the car so I'm not exactly sure it's the same company, but it probably is. 42. possum posted: 04.13.2021 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @41 - I suspect it's a different Brandt. There are two major companies with that name - the US Brandt that does agricultural products and the Canadian company that does rail equipment - but I think Esau's sponsor was Brandt Moving and Storage, who's owner, John Brandt, was an SCCA Trans-Am racer and a regular on the west coast tracks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: