At the beginning of 1990, things could not have been much more exciting if you were a NASCAR fan. The previous year was the first where every race featured flag-to-flag TV coverage, and the title had gone down to the wire - with the ever-popular Rusty Wallace beating "The Intimidator", Dale Earnhardt, to the title. Dick Trickle won rookie of the year.
Looking ahead, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman among others were polishing off Days of Thunder, which would launch NASCAR even further into the public domain. But, it would get even better for those watching on. For fans of the then-Billboard 100 number one and Phil Collins, the Daytona 500 to kick off the 1990 season was truly another day in paradise.
The main reason for that was a dramatic late twist to the race that took victory away from the archetypal marmite character, Earnhardt - who had led by a proverbial NASCAR calendar at one point - and handed a relatively unknown 31-year-old victory in the 'Great American Race'. His name? Derrike Cope.