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Alan Kulwicki (December 14, 1954 - April 1, 1993) was a Polish-American NASCAR driver. He drove the #7 Zerex Ford Thunderbird.
Alan Kulwicki was born in Greenfield, Wisconsin. He raced on local dirt tracks and in the ASA, and in 1986, he fielded his first Winston Cup racing team as owner AND driver. With just two cars and a relative half-handful of full-time crew members, he won Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. He made famous the "Polish victory lap" by driving the wrong way on the track after winning a race.
During his six-year Winston Cup career, Kulwicki won five Winston Cup races and earned ten pole positions. He went on to win the Winston Cup championship in 1992, which was noteworthy accomplishment because he was the last Winston Cup winner who served as both driver and owner of his car/team, the first Winston Cup winner with a college degree, and the first Winston Cup winner not born in a southern state.
Tragically, Kulwicki was killed at age 38 in a plane crash on April 1, 1993, near Bristol, Tennessee, while on his way to the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
He was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002.
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