Before Alan Kulwicki won his first NASCAR Cup Series race, then Charlotte Motor Speedway President H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler told the Wisconsin driver he needed to do something special when he won his first race, something different so the fans would remember it.
That November day in 1988, Kulwicki’s “Polish Victory Lap” made its debut. Since then, several drivers have executed what’s now called the reverse victory lap, but Kulwicki initiated it.
Carson Hocevar didn’t have Wheeler to give him that bit of career advice, but the 23-year-old Michigan native provided fans with a victory celebration they will never forget. It was one they’ll enjoy bragging about to their friends, saying they were at Talladega Superspeedway that April day when Hocevar drove his car down the front stretch while sitting on the driver’s door waving to the fans. He then nosed his car into the wall and executed a burnout while still sitting on the door. It was the most unique celebration in decades.
For veteran race fans, the maneuver was reminiscent of a 1986 Richmond, Virginia, race when Dale Earnhardt sat in the driver’s window and cleaned his car’s windshield during a caution flag. Hocevar was aware of the parallel, but he said it wasn’t intentional. He actually thought about the celebration he wanted to execute during the off-season because he wanted something that was meaningful to him.
HE IS DRIVING THE CAR AND CELEBRATING WITH THE FANS ... AT THE SAME TIME!!! pic.twitter.com/8DaQUd6pbl
“I just wanted to make sure I soaked every bit of it in,” Hocevar said. “I think I could tell you what everybody was wearing, where every seat was, where every 77 shirt was. I think I could have pointed it all out to you because I remember it so clearly right now. That means more than anything else to me.”
For the 6-foot-4 Hocevar, reaching the pedals to make his unique victory ride possible wasn’t that difficult, but he did have an issue at first.
“I couldn’t twist my foot around with the steering wheel on to drop the clutch. I had to drop the clutch with the wheel off,” Hocevar explained. “So, I had the wheel off, I dropped the clutch, and I was hustling to get the wheel on. I got the wheel on, turned around. So, it just kind of idled for me. Then as I felt more comfortable riding on the door, I was just kind of moving the steering wheel a little bit, stayed straight. Then I started giving it gas.”
Spire Motorsports owner Jeff Dickerson said Hocevar surprised him with his victory celebration. He said he looked “like Shamu hanging out the window at Sea World,”
Hocevar’s victory celebration resonated with the fans because, in Dickerson’s opinion, his driver is one of them.
“He goes up and watches the races in the crowd,” Dickerson said. “Carson is more like those people… than a lot of the guys he races with. People see the genuineness of it. It’s not an act.”
“There’s no mold for Carson Hocevar,” Lambert said. “Nobody had a focus group to decide what a driver should look like and came up with Carson Hocevar. He is unapologetically himself. He’s unique. Never met anybody that’s exactly like him. He brings that to the fans and is open to the fans. I think it’s really refreshing.”
And just like Hocevar, his celebration at Talladega for his first victory was unique and refreshing.
1. (12) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 188, 55, Running
6. (22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 188, 38, Running
12. (16) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 188, 25, Running
16. (28) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 188, 21, Running
17. (14) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 188, 29, Running
19. (18) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 188, 18, Running
20. (33) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 188, 17, Running