Tim Richmond Synchronicity
I was thinking that somehow, right now in the NASCAR universe, a yarn about Tim Richmond is in order. There are all these synchronic strings coming off his being right now and running through several current stories of note. Let’s review.
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Tim Richmond raced in the 1980s in NASCAR, and he was hellfire. Really, the only racer I think actually matched Dale Earnhardt in his era for pure driving talent. Handsome, stylish Ohio via Fort Lauderdale kid. Easy to like and, like I said, hell on wheels. Fast. Car control through the roof. That was Richmond.
(For modern comparisons, Poolie among others compared Kyle Busch to Tim Richmond. You get the idea. But also make him naturally cool, handsome and charming.)
Richmond came in through Indy cars having been ROTY at the Indianapolis 500. After a successful stint driving for Raymond Beadle, he was hired by Rick Hendrick to drive for his new #25 Chevy sponsored by Folgers. The car was a second team car for Hendrick, which was really kind of new thinking at the time.
I can’t think of Pocono without thinking of Richmond. Thing was, he was a killer on road courses, and Pocono, with its tirfecta of weird, flat turns and road course traits, really had a thing for him. He swept both races there in 1986 as he rattled off 7 wins. He brought the #25 home third in points and shared the Driver of the Year Award with Champion Dale Earnhardt. He was right there, on his way to racing stardom, Jeff Gordon before Jeff Gordon, the future bright and filled with certain wins and titles.
But things happen.
During the break between 1986 and 1987, Richmond took ill. By time the 1987 Daytona 500 rolled around, he had to withdraw because of reported double pneumonia. Benny Parsons took over the driving duties in the renumeraled #35 as Richmond missed the first few months of the season. He made his comeback in the June Pocono race. Remarkably, he won. He quickly followed that up the following week with a win at the now defunct Riverside road course in California.
But something was obviously wrong. Come August, he had to withdraw again and Hendrick put Benny Parsons back in the car. I remember it being really strange. I remember my dad thinking he was sick with something else, like cancer or something. Then, at the end of the season, he quit Hendrick. Just like that.
To NASCAR, this was all very suspicious. So when Richmond turned up with a new ride for the 1988 Daytona 500, NASCAR was waiting there with a cup for him to pee into. Richmond obliged, and soon after NASCAR made the announcement that Richmond had failed a drug test and would not be allowed to participate in the race. Richmond claimed it was a prescription respiratory medication he was taking, to which NASCAR played their trump card. They demanded his medical records in order to prove his innocence.
Richmond, of course, had no interest in revealing to the world he had AIDS. So he never raced again.
Back then, people were really confused about AIDS. There was a lot of ignorance. People thought it was a “gay disease”. So while Richmond probably knew very well what he had, he understandably was very protective about the truth. It wasn’t until after his death in August of 1989 that the truth about his illness was revealed to the world.
The following year, there were several news reports which called into question the authenticity of the drug tests administered by NASCAR. Dr. Forest Tennant, it is alleged, worked with NASCAR in order to “create false drug-test results in 1988 to bar Richmond from racing”. It is also alleged that Tennant worked with NASCAR to specifically develop a drug testing policy with the intent of ensnaring Richmond.
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In two short years Richmond collected a total of 9 wins for the #25 Hendrick Chevy. In fact, his win total for that car eclipses the combined total of all those who have driven the #25 in the 20 seasons since. This includes drivers like Parsons, Kenny Schrader, Ricky Craven, Jerry Nadeau, Joe Nemecheck and Brian Vickers. For all of it’s early promise, the #25 team itself has never had the storied history of its stable mates at Hendrick. It has always underperformed. Some say that there is a connection. Some say it is cursed in some way.
Personally, I don’t believe in such things. But do I have to remind you that the old #25 team is now the #88?
Like I said, synchronic strings.
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