The NASCAR Driver People "Loved to Hate" Had No Time for God until a Horrible Crash "Knocked Him Conscious"

Mark Ellis : Mar 23, 2017
God Reports

"It was a wakeup call that literally knocked me conscious." -Darrell Waltrip

[God Reports] Before he retired from racing and became a broadcaster, NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip was one of the winningest drivers in the modern era. For a time, he was also one of the most unpopular drivers—someone people loved to hate. (Photo: Darrell Waltrip in 1979/via God Reports)

"My passion was racing and quite honestly I went at it all the wrong ways in the early years," Waltrip told the 2016 National Prayer Breakfast. "I was just as aggressive off the racetrack as I was on. I didn't have a lot of friends. I didn't think I really needed friends."

He was the driver with the loyal un-fan base. "They said I was brash, ruthless, pushy, cocky, conceited, aloof, boastful, arrogant, and downright annoying—and those were people that liked me."

The fans booed him when the drivers were introduced. Fans wore 'Anybody but Waltrip' tee shirts to the track. "They hated me," Waltrip admitted. "The drivers despised me."

Richard Petty once turned to him and said, "I don't know how you can get a sponsor, you're so unpopular with the fans."

Waltrip also liked to argue with the officials at NASCAR. "I didn't like the rules, mainly because they never worked in my favor," he said.

Off the track, he wasn't much better. "I was so arrogant. I drank too much. I liked to go to the bars and hang out. I did everything to satisfy me."

Waltrip was also married to a woman of faith named Stevie. "Stevie would always pray for me. She was a godly woman who loved the Lord and she always prayed that someday, somehow we would get involved in a Bible study or church."

When she needled him about going to church, he said, "I race on Sundays. I don't have time to go to church. I'm busy all through the week. I just don't have time for this church stuff and God stuff..."

"Well I'll just keep on praying," she replied.

God soon got his attention at the 1983 Daytona 500. His car spun out on lap 64, at nearly 200 mph as he tried to avoid rear-ending a slower car in front of him. (Photo via God Reports)

Waltrip locked his brakes but the car slid for several hundred feet, then struck a dirt bank near the entrance to pit road. The force of the impact was extremely violent and his car was hurled back on the track, in front of oncoming traffic.

Then he hit the outer concrete wall and bounced into oncoming traffic again. It was a miracle he survived. "I had a concussion," he said. "I went for a couple weeks to races and I didn't even remember being there. When I finally came to or woke up I realized that wreck had knocked me conscious"...

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