Retro 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Ballot 🏁 Year Tragic Loss Dale Earnhardt RIP!

Remember the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup? 🏁 NASCAR Winston Cup 2001 Championship Official Ballot, Brought to You by Circle K

Size: 7 3/4" x 4" ~ Folded, unused.

Relive the energy and passion of the unforgettable 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Dodge rejoined the sport after 16 years, and Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports won the championship for the fourth time in seven years. Immortalize this legendary season with this one-of-a-kind collectible, a 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Ballot! 🏁

The front shows stock cars running three wide on a banked track in front of a packed grandstand, with a big yellow oval shouting WIN THE ULTIMATE DAYTONA 500 HOUSE PARTY, the checkered-flag 2001 CHAMPIONSHIP logo, and the Circle K flag as the OFFICIAL PIT STOP OF NASCAR. Unfold it and you get the whole thing: the voting page, the sweepstakes entry form, a pewter trophy crown offer and even a Circle K coupon for 25 cents off a Coca-Cola, good through the end of 2001.

🗳️ What's Inside

• OFFICIAL BALLOT, MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT, NASCAR Winston Cup Series
• A DRIVERS list of 44 drivers by car number, from (01) Jason Leffler to (99) Jeff Burton
• Four questions: WHICH DRIVER WILL WIN THE 2001 NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP? WHICH DRIVER HAS THE BEST PAINT SCHEME? WHO IS THE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER? WHO IS THE MOST THRILLING DRIVER?
• GRAND PRIZE: the Ultimate Daytona 500 House Party for you and 50 of your friends, hosted by Bobby Allison, to watch the 2002 Daytona 500 on a new big screen TV with food by Outback Steakhouse
• EXCLUSIVE OFFER: a limited edition pewter NASCAR Trophy Crown, replicated from a 1960s NASCAR trophy won by Richard Petty at Martinsville in April 1960 and Joe Weatherly at Martinsville in September 1961
• The Circle K and Coca-Cola manufacturer's coupon, SAVE 25¢, Expires 12/31/2001
• Ballots postmarked by October 16, 2001; sweepstakes ends 10/15/01; MOISTEN GLUE SPOTS BEFORE MAILING
• ©2001 BigBallot, Inc.

🖤 Look for Number 3

Here's the part that gets me every time. Run your finger down that driver list: (1) Steve Park, (2) Rusty Wallace, then straight to (4) Kevin Lepage. There is no number 3. It'll be a reminder of that fateful Daytona 500, where a crash on the last lap claimed the life of seven-time Series champion Dale Earnhardt, a driver who earned the nicknames "The Intimidator," "The Man in Black" and "Ironhead."

Earnhardt died on February 18, 2001, in turn 4 of the final lap of the Daytona 500, after contact with Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader. Michael Waltrip won the race, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second. Richard Childress Racing retired the famous number 3 out of respect and renumbered the car 29, the first number available without a 3 in it, and put a young Kevin Harvick in it. Look again at the list and there he is, (29) Kevin Harvick, who went on to be the 2001 Rookie of the Year. There's (8) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who came back to win at Daytona in July, and (15) Michael Waltrip too. From the very next race on, fans honored Earnhardt on lap 3 by standing in silence and holding up three fingers.

His death changed the sport. NASCAR mandated the HANS head-and-neck restraint on October 17, 2001, right around the time these ballots were due, and began installing SAFER barriers at the tracks.

📺 The 2001 Season

2001 was also the first year of NASCAR's unified television contract, with Fox, NBC and Turner's TNT carrying the season's races, which is why NBC NASCAR and NASCAR TNT are right there on the ballot. With its unified television contract, fans could finally witness all the excitement and energy that NASCAR races bring. 💥 And the answer to the ballot's first question turned out to be (24) Jeff Gordon, champion for the fourth time in seven years. This season lives forever in history; commemorate it with this ballot! 🗳

🖼️ Display

It looks great open in a frame showing the driver list, or folded with the Daytona 500 front showing, and it's a perfect gift for any Earnhardt fan.