- Victory lap
A victory lap (also lap of honor) is a term used in
motorsports to describe an extralap of therace track after the conclusion of a race. This lap, driven at reduced speed, allows the winning driver to celebrate his or her victory and gives thespectator s an opportunity to congratulate and honor the competitors. Commonly, trackside flagmarshals will wave their flags in a gesture known as the FIA salute or the "Monkey Dance" in the US.fact|date=April 2008Victory laps can sometime become dangerous for the winner and the other drivers, since in many tracks the safety nets can be easily climbed over by the crowd, which then becomes an obstacle for the racers.
Victory laps often see drivers who have retired in the final stages of a race being given a lift back to the pits on one of their competitors' cars. Some notable examples in
Formula One includeRiccardo Patrese andDidier Pironi at the1982 Monaco Grand Prix ,Nigel Mansell andAyrton Senna at the1991 British Grand Prix (pictured) andMichael Schumacher andGiancarlo Fisichella at the1997 German Grand Prix .Recently the
FIA , motor sport's world governing body, have restricted what a Formula One driver may do on his victory lap. The sporting regulations state that at the end of a race, "all cars must proceed on the circuit directly to the post race parc fermé without stopping, without overtaking (unless clearly necessary), without receiving any object whatsoever and without any assistance (except that of the marshals if necessary)." [" [http://www.fia.com/resources/documents/548514743__2006_F1_SPORTING_REGULATIONS.pdf FIA Sporting Regulations] " FIA.com. Retrieved 23 October, 2006]Polish Victory Lap
A Polish Victory Lap entails the driver turning his car around and driving in the opposite direction, which is clockwise on
NASCAR ovals.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) onNovember 6 ,1988 . He celebrated his victory by driving a clockwise victory lap. 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 the1992 Hooters 500 .The term was solidified after Kulwicki's death. Kulwicki died in a plane crash on Thursday,
April 1 ,1993 , nearBlountville, Tennessee . Hours after Kulwicki's death, Peter Jellen drove Kulwicki’s racecar hauler clockwise aroundBristol Motor Speedway before leaving the track. [cite web |url=http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/nextel/33878/?page=4 |pages=4 |title=CUP: A Tribute to Alan Kulwicki |accessdate=2007-07-09 |date=November 10 2006 |publisher=SPEED Channel .com |author=Tom Jensen] Two days after Kulwicki's death, BristolBusch Series race winnerMichael Waltrip honored his old short track foe by turning Kulwicki's trademark reverse Polish Victory Lap, but only half a lap, stating that he didn't want to do Kulwicki's entire routine. [http://www.underbird.com/news/toofast.htm] The next day, Winston Cup winnerRusty Wallace followed Waltrip's lead [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=jb-rustybristol082605&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Rusty's last bash] ; Jerry Bonkowski;Yahoo! ,August 25 2005 , RetrievedMarch 5 2008 ] , and proceeded to run a full Polish Victory Lap, both after that race, and after each victory for the remainder of his career. In addition, every winner for the remainder of the 1993 season honored Kulwicki with a Polish victory lap. OnNovember 14 ,1993 , after the Hooters 500 (Atlanta), the last race of that season, the race winner Wallace and 1993 series championDale Earnhardt ran a Polish Victory Lap together while carrying #7 and #28 flags commemorating Kulwicki andDavey Allison , respectively. [ [http://www.underbird.com/news/inmemory.htm underbird.com] ]Mike Joy frequently refers to this as an Alan Kulwicki Victory Lap in memory of the driver, and noted the spectators see the driver, who usually waves and sometimes has his helmet off, as he salutes the fans.Kurt Busch celebrated his2005 win at Phoenix with a Polish victory lap. Busch watched his first NASCAR races at the track, and wanted to honor Kulwicki.Many local racetrack winners and series champions have saluted Kulwicki or his underdog spirit with a Polish victory lap, especially in his home state of
Wisconsin . 2006 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) race winnerPaul Menard (a Wisconsinite) celebrated his first Busch Series win with a Polish Victory lap. [ [http://www.motorsporttoday.com/2006-Busch-Milwaukee-Review.html Paul Menard captures first career Busch Series victory in Milwaukee] ; Motorsport Today]References
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