NASCAR Cup

Waltrip to Race for Flock

Waltrip makes push to help Flock's plight Shawn A. Akers - NASCAR Online DARLINGTON, S.C. (March 20, 1998) Darrell Waltrip doesn't think of himself as a patron saint. He's just a man trying to help out a good friend. This weekend at ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

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Waltrip makes push to help Flock's plight Shawn A. Akers - NASCAR Online

DARLINGTON, S.C. (March 20, 1998) Darrell Waltrip doesn't think of himself as a patron saint. He's just a man trying to help out a good friend.

This weekend at Darlington Raceway, Waltrip is sporting the No. 300 on his Chevrolet not only as a tribute to NASCAR legend Tim Flock, but also in an effort to draw attention to Flock's plight. Flock is suffering from terminal cancer and his medical expenses continue to mount in the absence of insurance.

Waltrip plans to run a No. 300 "Tim Flock Special" in Sunday's TranSouth Financial 400, with proceeds from the effort assisting the Flock family. Both Flock and Waltrip participated in a press conference Friday at Darlington, Flock via telephone from his home in Charlotte, N.C.

"Tim and I have been buddies for a long time, and Francis (Tim's wife) is a sweetheart of a lady," Waltrip said. "I told them I don't know what I can do, but I'm going to do something for you folks. I found out they had no health insurance, I found out they had no medical insurance, and I got to working that much quicker. With the thing with my sponsor not working out, it worked out great that we got the number 300, Tim's number, and we're driving it for him. We're taking a page from the past and exploiting it a bit.

"It's something I felt I was led to do, something I wanted to do. A lot of the guys in the garage are interested and they wanted to help. Tim Flock won $109,000 during his entire driving career, and my goal was to raise at least that much money for him in this one weekend here at Darlington. Hopefully, we'll accomplish that.

"In all honesty, my intentions are to help a friend," Waltrip said. "I think in our sport, there are the haves and the have-nots. I think the haves have enough to take care of the have-nots if they need it. I think it's appropriate for an individual to step out and do something like this and call all the competitors to join this family in need. I'm not pushing any political issue here. I'm here as a friend of Tim and Francis Flock. We've got enough money in this sport, I think, that we should be to be able to take care of those in need without a problem."

Two different trust funds have been set up for Flock, one for his medical expenses, and one so that his family can keep their house. All of the proceeds from this weekend's activities, including fans taking pictures with the car, the sale of T-Shirts, diecast cars, etc., will go to the Tim Flock foundation.

Waltrip said he has solicited drivers like Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace for help in the efforts to offset Flock's medical costs.

Flock, who was recently named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers," in celebration of NASCAR's 50th anniversary, was overwhelmed by Waltrip's gesture.

"It's the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen," Flock said. "This is something that I'll never forget. I want to thank everybody who was involved with this. And for Darrell to do this for my family, well, I don't think this has ever been done before. God bless you, Darrell, and take care of the fans who have been so good to me over the years."

Source: NASCAR Online

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