Kerry Kinsey: The Daytona 500 winner rides away from our cameras

One of our ABC 4 production guys Marcel Lopez is a big NASCAR fan. He talks about racing all of the time. I covered NASCAR for many years. I’ve been to so many tracks, Daytona, Atlanta, Charlotte, Bristol, and Darlington to name a few. Each race course has its on personality.

However, with it being the 4th of July weekend I can’t help but think about Daytona. I was there in 1998 when Dale Earnhardt won the 500. I remember how happy this man was after chasing that elusive first "500" victory. Earnhardt was 0-for-19 in that race until he won on that February afternoon.

I was blown away as I watched every crew member from every team go out to pit row to congratulate Earnhardt. I explained to Marcel how excited I was to be able to interview Earnhardt.

After the race, media members got a one-on-one interview with the Daytona 500 Champ. Earnhardt was about seven stalls away from me and getting closer.

I saw him suddenly grab his huge champagne bottle, take a big swig, then get on the back of a Florida Highway Patrolman’s motorcycle. He said something like, "I'm out of here."

As he rode away, I remember saying in slow motion, nooooooooooooooo. The get of the year, the interview that everybody wanted was now leaving the track, at a high rate of speed.

Marcel listened to my whole story and said, “Kerry, you almost had it,” But, we all know that almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.