Meanwhile, you were hard to handle and a little bit crazy (a lotta bit crazy, really) and very, very angry. You had made “friends” with both Gordons in the garage at the time, via aa shouting match with one and a near-boxing match in the garage with another. You were quite the feisty one, and people were taking notice. But not in a good way.

And then came Indianapolis.

I remember that there was a point where I thought that you were going to win that race, actually. And how exciting! The native son wins at his home racetrack and everybody is happy in the end.

And then Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott had other ideas. And you dropped like a stone in the closing stages and finished 12th.

Of course, there was disappointment. But you were volatile, and you were angry at yourself, all because you wanted it so badly. And poor Gary Mook got your best shot of it all.

I know the story: he tried to run you down and snap a picture, you tried to run away, and when he wouldn’t stop, you threw hands in an effort to thwart him.

At nine years old, I didn’t quite get the significance of it all (a recurring theme, I know). But I recognized how you were lambasted by media and contemporaries alike (rightfully so, in retrospect).

That was the moment where public opinion turned on you. I just remember having hopes that you would learn from it like my parents suggested that you would, and move on. I know I did.

And wherever the series went, I would follow. Shoot, I made my parents turn on PRN driving to dinner in Roanoke when we were on vacation! I was a bit nutty, I suppose.

And then came the first real watershed moment. Homestead, 2002. You had a sizeable points lead and only needed to finish 22nd or better.

The race itself was relatively ho-hum, as was your performance that day on-track. Surprising, given how good you had been in all of the prior races in Miami.

But it was enough.

“The Rushville Rocket from Indiana is the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup champion!” they said on the TV broadcast.

No sooner had you crossed the finish line before I was already jumping off the couch in the living room and into a knee slide across the carpet.

A small note here: I learned that day that knee slides don’t work well on carpet! It left me with rugburns for a week, haha. I wouldn’t advise you to ever try it!

It wasn’t easy. I would argue in retrospect that it might have been the hardest, because even an achievement as big as this one was almost overshadowed by your happenings off-track that season.

“Kicking and screaming every inch of the way,” as the late Benny Parsons said on the NBC broadcast.

How apt a description that was. That was the way you did it. It was your way, most definitely. In some ways, it was good. In other ways, it was bad.

I think that championship just papered over the cracks, really. There was so much learning that you had to do, that I had to do.

It was going to get worse than this before it got a lot better.

Stay tuned for installment two of this five-part series, coming up tomorrow on Race Chaser Online!

The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Race Chaser Online, the Performance Motorsports Network, Scorpion Radio Group, their sponsors or other contributors.

About the Writer

James Pike is a multi-faceted reporter for Race Chaser Online and an analyst on the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.

He is the lead correspondent for Race Chaser Online’s coverage of Australian Supercars and also covers regional touring series events in the Carolinas. He is a graduate of the Motorsports Management program at Belmont Abbey College and currently resides in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Email James at: RaceChaserJames@gmail.com

Follow on Twitter: @JamesVPike

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