Three years ago this month Steve Park sat in a hospital room recovering from several serious injuries from a practice-session crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Park was in his first full season in the Winston Cup series, preparing for the fourth race. He was driving the No. 1 Chevrolet, owned by seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.
Park missed 15 races while he recovered and finished that season 42nd in driver points.
Now, Park has won two Winston Cup races in the last eight months and has emerged as a serious contender for the 2001 series championship. Through six races this season, Park has a win, two top-five and four top-10 finishes. He is fifth in points, 113 behind leader Dale Jarrett.
Much has changed for Park, 33, a native of East Northport, N.Y.
He is one of Winston Cup's young stars, but in February he lost the man who hired him when Earnhardt died in a last-lap wreck at the Daytona 500. The next weekend, Park put on a fabulous performance to win at Rockingham, and the emotions that carried him through the week after Earnhardt's death overflowed.
"We were just so excited to be able to win that race for Dale and start the healing process at Dale Earnhardt Inc. that we all were longing for," Park said. "To be able to win that race in the fashion that we did hopefully lifted the spirits at the shop and at DEI."
Park's first series win came in August 2000 on the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, but he said his win at Rockingham, an oval track like most on the series schedule, was even more special.
"Rockingham is one of those places that has eluded a lot of people for a long time. I think it's just another notch in our belt to get a great win at a place that's real tough to win at and just continue to grow as a team," he said.
"We have a team here at DEI that we think is capable of qualifying well and running up front. We're just real proud of what Dale has accomplished here."
Much of Park's success can be at least partly attributed to the hiring of Paul Andrews as crew chief in May 1999. Andrews had worked most recently with Jeremy Mayfield, but he also had experience winning the series championship as Alan Kulwicki's crew chief in 1992.
"I thank the good Lord that we had the opportunity to capitalize on when Paul had left Jeremy Mayfield's team that we had a person like Dale Earnhardt to approach Paul and try to convince him that (although) we had a team that had not won yet, that he would give him the confidence that he'd give him everything he needed to win," Park said.
Andrews said the main reason he agreed to join DEI was Earnhardt's belief in Park.
"(Earnhardt's) belief in Steve Park as a driver was very important in my decision," Andrews said. "Steve was the driver I was supposed to work with and I wanted to feel like Steve and I could get along."
The relationship that has developed over the last two years has translated into success on the track. Park said nothing is as vital to the success of a Winston Cup team as a strong bond between a driver and his crew chief.
"Everyone has to remember that I put myself inside that car every week and I need to run it at its fullest potential," Park said. "The confidence I have in the guys that are preparing these cars and what Paul and (engineer) Dave (Charpentier) are doing is paramount.
"I put myself in that car and go out and hurl it around the track at over 180 mph, and it takes a lot of confidence in my team in order to do that. It also takes a lot of confidence in the crew chief to believe in what the driver has to say and to be able to communicate that back and forth between the driver and the crew chief.
"We're all on the same page and working well together. That's the chemistry we need to be successful."
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