amongst other reasons. Polish victory lap A Polish, or Kulwicki victory lap entails the driver turning his car around and driving in the opposite direction, which is clockwise on NASCAR ovals. It has been used in road courses. This style of victory lap is common in local short track or dirt track races, where the victorious driver takes the checkered flag from the flag stand, and then proceeds to drive with the driver's side of the car facing the fans for their victory lap. The term was first coined as a result of Polish American Alan Kulwicki's celebration of his first career Winston Cup victory at the Checker 500 (Phoenix) on November 6, 1988. He celebrated his victory by driving a clockwise victory lap. Kulwicki first became familiar with the practice after meetings with Midwest dirt track racer Fred Zack, who had been performing the backwards lap for many years prior. A Ford engineer slapped him on the back and asked if that was a "Polish" victory lap. Kulwicki's only other Polish victory lap came in 1992, in celebration of his Winston Cup Championship at the 1992 Hooters 500. The term was solidified after Kulwicki's death in a plane crash on Thursday, April 1, 1993, near Blountville, Tennessee. Hours after Kulwicki's death, Peter Jellen drove Kulwicki's racecar hauler counter-clockwise around Bristol Motor Speedway before leaving the track. Two days after Kulwicki's death, Bristol Busch Series race winner Michael Waltrip honored his old short track foe by turning Kulwicki's trademark reverse Polish victory lap, but only half a lap, stating that he did not want to do Kulwicki's entire routine. The next day, Winston Cup winner Rusty Wallace followed Waltrip's lead, and proceeded to run a full Polish victory lap, both after that race, and after each victory for the rest of the 1993 season. Tom Roberts, Wallace's and sponsor Miller Brewing's publicist, was also Kulwicki's publicist. In addition, most winners for the remainder of the 1993 season honored Kulwicki with a Polish victory lap. On November 14, 1993, after the Hooters 500 (Atlanta), the last race of that season, the race winner Wallace and 1993 series champion Dale Earnhardt ran a Polish victory lap together while carrying #7 and #28 flags commemorating Kulwicki and Davey Allison, respectively. Mike Joy frequently refers to this as an "Alan Kulwicki victory lap" in memory of the driver, and noted the spectators see the