The Final Lap

1. The Fight - 2/18/79
For all of us No Mas-types, NASCAR doesn't get any better than this. In the first live flag-to-flag televised coverage of a 500-mile race, the shit got all Dukes of Hazzard and Wrestlemania at the same time with an infield fight between Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers (sounds like something Fonzie should have been involved in). Cale and Donnie Allison took each other out going for the lead in the final lap, leaving Richard Petty to steal the win. Donnie's brother Bobby stopped to survey the damage, and it was on. Fists flew, helmets were swung. It was a thing of beauty. I mean, look at that karate kick Cale is coming in with - he's like Evel Knievel crossed with Elvis. The feud rages to this day. We here at No Mas officially call for a rematch.

2. The Crash - 2/18/2001
Dale Earnhardt, the Intimidator, #3, dies after a multi-car crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, an event which pretty much shuts down the South for about two months. I don't pretend to understand the significance of Earnhardt to his fans, but you'd have to have been living on another planet at the time not to have grasped that for NASCAR nation the man was only slightly less important than Jesus.