Gee, I thought my 1998 predictions were bad.
Anyway, here’s how my outlook (posted 2/6/99) turned out:

> WINSTON CUP
> ———–
> Top 10 – 1. Jeff Gordon (8 wins; MOV – 80 points)
>          2. Dale Jarrett (4)
>          3. Jeff Burton (3)
>          4. Mark Martin (4)
>          5. Rusty Wallace (3)
>          6. Bobby Labonte (3)
>          7. John Andretti (1)
>          8. Dale Earnhardt (2)
>          9. Terry Labonte
>         10. Mike Skinner (2)

Obvious miss at the top, but I did have five of the actual top six
somewhere in there, and nine of the top 10 somewhere in there.
No embarrassment here, especially when you look further down the list.
The only win totals that I had correct were Jarrett’s and Andretti’s.

> Close – Jimmy Spencer, Jeremy Mayfield

Mayfield yes, Spencer no.

> Best one-car team – if the 13 doesn’t come back, Bill Elliott;
>                     otherwise Steve Park

Park was third among (official) single-car efforts and Elliott was
fourth.   But I really missed on Wawd Buhton.

> Rookie of the year – Elliott Sadler

> First-time winners – Mike Skinner, Chad Little

> Back in victory lane – Jimmy Spencer

Oops.

> Daytona 500 winner – Bobby Labonte

I’ve picked Bobby to win it the last three years and I’ll keep picking
him until he wins it.

> Biggest bust – Tony Stewart
>                I had this slot pegged when the deal was announced.

Now that I look back on it, I was really picking with my heart here
(as I did a few times on down the list).   But I never thought this
little squirt would do anywhere near this well.   Yuck.

> BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL
> ——————–
> Top 5 – 1. Mike McLaughlin
>         2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
>         3. Todd Bodine
>         4. Matt Kenseth
>         5. Phil Parsons

I really didn’t think it would be another Earnhardt-Kenseth battle
the whole season, and I could not have guessed the success of
Progressive Motorsports.   McLaughlin and Parsons?!

> Darkhorse – Glenn Allen

Yeah, so dark no one noticed him.   No one noticed him having a ride
for a chunk of the late season.

> Rookie of the year – Tony Raines

I got one right!

> Among the first-time winners – Glenn Allen, Mike Dillon, Casey Atwood

If two out of three ain’t bad, is one out of three half-bad?

> WC drivers to win in BGN – Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton,
>                            Terry Labonte, Kenny Irwin

Missed on two and left out three (Waltrip, Nemechek, Skinner).
These are too hard to pick and I’m going to stop picking these.

> Biggest bust – Team Amick, Lyndon Amick and Hank Parker Jr.
>                They couldn’t consistently get one car qualified;
>                are they ready for two?

Both had their share of DNQs.   The 35 must have really been struggling
if Lyndon was temporarily booted from the driver’s seat by his father.
But Parker did well enough to open some eyes, especially those at
Progressive Motorsports.    Team Amick wasn’t really a bust when you
compare it to the 33 and 72 disasters.

> CRAFTSMAN TRUCK
> —————
> Top 5 – 1. Jay Sauter
>         2. Jack Sprague
>         3. Ron Hornaday
>         4. Ron Barfield
>         5. Stacy Compton

Four of the picks were respectable, but Barfield?!
I don’t remember being drunk when I made these predictions, and I
rarely drink anyway, but something must have been happening there.

> Darkhorse – Andy Houston

Eighth in points isn’t bad.   Good pick unless you considered Biffle
and Setzer darkhorses.

> Rookie of the year – Scott Hansen

It was between Hansen and Stefanik and I went the wrong way.

> Among the first-time winners – Ron Barfield, Greg Biffle, Kevin

Harvick

See my BGN picks.

> Biggest bust – Tim Steele

Well, they only made it to half the races, managed only one top-10,
tore up a number of parts, and didn’t grab any additional sponsorship.
I’d call that a bust.

> OTHER NASCAR SERIES CHAMPIONS
> —————————–
> Slim Jim All Pro – Billy Bigley

Second.

> Goody’s Dash – Robert Huffman

Easy pick.   All the other Dash teams should try to chip in the money
necessary to put him in a Craftsman Truck

> Featherlite Modified – Mike Ewanitsko

Distant second.

> Busch North – Jerry Marquis

Didn’t run all the races (14 of 18) because he concentrated on winning
a track championship (which he did).

> Winston West – Kevin Richards

Fourth.

> Featherlite Southwest – Doug McCoun

Fifth.   Good to see Kurt Busch win it in Chris Trickle’s old ride.

> Raybestos Northwest – Garrett Evans

10th.   I would have been better off picking Shane Biles (8th), husband
of RASNer Renee Angel Biles.

> RE/Max Challenge – Brian Hoppe

Ding!

> Busch All-Star – pick a Kosiski, it doesn’t matter which Kosiski

For only the third time in the 14-year history of the dirt series,
a Kosiski didn’t win the title.   Joe was second and Steve was fourth.

> OTHER CHAMPIONS
> —————
> ARCA – Mark Gibson
> ASA – Mike Garvey
> Hooters ProCup – Chad Chaffin

I was picking with my heart again, and it didn’t work.   Gibson was
fifth, Garvey was fourth, and Chaffin only ran a couple of races.

> Hav-a-Tampa – Billy Moyer
> CART – Bryan Herta
> IRL – Scott Goodyear
> Formula One – Michael Schumacher
> World of Outlaws – Jac Haudenschild

I should stick to NASCAR.   I’m 0 for all of these.

> NHRA – Gary Scelzi, Cruz Pedregon, Kurt Johnson, Angelle Seeling, Brad

Jeter

Three seconds, a third, and a guy who was booted from his seat mid-year
for no reason.    I was picking with my heart again with the Seeling
and Jeter picks; I should have done that one more time with John Force.

No matter how futile it seems, I’ll be back in a couple of months with
predictions for 2000.

                                     —Jim

                                        jcarson…@hotmail.com

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