Ten NASCAR Drivers Who Had Their Careers Cut Short

Alan Kulwicki

What Alan Kulwicki lacked in finances, he made up for with sheer talent and determination. That determination would ultimately carry him to his first Winston Cup victory in 1988 at Phoenix International Raceway and a championship in 1992. That’s pretty amazing for a driver that entered NASCAR’s top series with no sponsor, no money, one car and a pickup truck to haul it with.

What made Kulwicki’s career even more amazing was the fact that despite being offered very lucrative contracts by several top teams in NASCAR, he only raced for his own team, AK Racing. This thinking would lead him to his first championship as an owner and a driver in 1992, which was virtually unheard of for a small team like Kulwicki’s. It was also marked the first time in two decades that a owner-driver would win a title.

In a sad turn of events, Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash only a few months after winning the 1992 Winston Cup Championship. Kulwicki was flying back from a Hooters sponsor event in Knoxville Tennessee when the plane crashed on its final approach. The crash was later attributed to the fact that ice was not cleared from the engines inlet system before the pilot took off. Kulwicki was later buried in St. Adalbert’s cemetery in Milwaukee Wisconsin.

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