Historical Motorsports Stories writes:

"The Last Time Mark Thompson Raced in Cup...."

Posted by nascarman on October 13, 2017

Viewed 1337 times Tweet When the entry list for this weekend's Alabama 500 was released, Mark Thompson's name stood out. It's not that he is an unknown driver; he's a long-time ARCA veteran and has raced in four Xfinity Series races in the past three years. What really made Thompson stand out is the time that's passed since his last Cup Race. 25 years, 4 months, and 1 day.





(GettyImages)



Surprisingly, that 25 years is not the record for longest time between Cup starts. The all-time record is held by Jimmy Ingram at 27 years, 8 months, and 17 days. Ingram competed in the 1952 Southern 500 and his next race was the 1980 Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover. However, Thompson is probably the closest anyone will ever come to touching that record.



The last (and only) Cup race Mark Thompson competed in was the 1992 Champion Spark Plug 500 at Pocono on June 14, 1992. The company he owns, Phoenix Air, sponsored him in a car owned by Henley Gray, an owner known for renting his cars to anyone with the cash to do so. Mark qualified 38th and only completed eight laps before blowing an engine and finishing 39th. In the years that followed, he claimed two career wins in ARCA and is probably best known for his flip in the ARCA race at Daytona in 1994.







This weekend, Thompson will compete against drivers whose last race came one week ago, not 25 years. In comparison, what was happening when Thompson made his last Cup start?



Alan Kulwicki won the last Cup race Mark Thompson was in. Davey Allison left that event with a 21 point lead over Bill Elliott in the standings. Both Kulwicki and Allison died 24 years ago. In June 1992, Richard Petty was still competing full-time in NASCAR; he finished 16th that day.



Our current Cup drivers lived quite differently as well. Two days before Thompson's last race, Matt Kenseth finished 11th in an ARTGO race at Illiana Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first race of any kind, a Legend Car race, three months later. Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Cole Whitt, and Matt DiBenedetto were less than one year old. Kyle Larson was born 47 days after Thompson's most recent Cup race. Ryan Blaney was born a year and a half later while Chase Elliott was born three years and five months later.



On the night of Mark Thompson's last Cup race, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their second straight NBA Championship. Lebron James was in second grade. The Washington Redskins had just won the Super Bowl and the Toronto Blue Jays were on their way to a World Series win. The Washington Nationals didn't exist yet and Tiger Woods hadn't yet graduated high school.





Highlight of the NBA Finals, Game 5 6/14/92



Billy Ray Cyrus' classic, Achy Breaky Heart, was the number-one country song that week. George H.W. Bush was President and was running for a second term against Bill Clinton. The Soviet Union broke up only 171 days before Mark Thompson's last Cup race. In 1992, The Simpsons had just finished their third season. They seem to be the only continuity between then and now, the show just began their 29th season.



So here's hoping Mark Thompson gives Premium Motorsports a good run, it's great to see history come back to life.



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