K&K Insurance, Dodge, NASCAR, Bobby Isaac, Buddy Baker, Dave Marcis, Neil Bonnett, Harry Hyde
EPILOGUE

 

Bobby Isaac

After leaving the K&K team in 1972, Bobby Isaac hooked up with Bud Moore in 1973 to run the full schedule. But during the Talladega 500 in August, Bobby pulled into the pits during a caution period, climbed out of the car and told Moore that he heard " a voice in my head" telling him to quit driving. This widely-repeated story has led many to believe that Isaac may have been superstitious or mentally unstable, which is not true. According to Moore, Isaac quit because a young driver named Larry Smith had died in a crash during the race. Isaac had been helping Smith during his rooke season in 1972, and the two had become good friends. It was under the yellow for Smith's accident that Isaac suddenly pitted and quit. The "voices" in Bobby's head were probably just a reaction to the grief of seeing his friend's body being loaded into the ambulance.

Bobby Isaac would race again, however. He made a handful of NASCAR starts from 1974-1976, winning a Daytona 125 qualifier in '74. On August 14, 1977, Isaac was racing a Late Model Sportsman at the Hickory Speedway, Bobby's "home" track. With a few laps left in the event, Isaac pulled into the pits, complaining of exhaustion. He was taken to the Catawba Hospital, where he suffered a heart attack and passed away. He was 43.

Buddy Baker

Buddy Baker had a successful four-year run with Bud Moore, winning five races together, including three-consecutive wins at Talladega in 1975-76. Baker left Moore to drive for M.C. Anderson in 1978, then raced for Harry Ranier in 1979 & 1980. The last of his 19 NASCAR Winston Cup wins came in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona in 1983, driving the Wood Brothers famous #21 Ford. He retired from competition in 1992. Since then, he has served the sport as a broadcaster for TNN and CBS, and has been a test driver for Penske South, where he was instrumental in the development of a young driver named Ryan Newman.

One thing that Buddy Baker had wanted more than anything else in the world was to win the Daytona 500. After coming oh-so-close in 1971, 1973 and 1978, Baker finally got his wish in 1980, driving Ranier's #28 NAPA Olds. Baker won the pole for the event at a speed of 194.009 MPH, and dominated the race, leading 135 of the 200 laps. True to his go-fast nature, Baker also set a record average speed for the event, 177.602 MPH.
It is a record that still stands today.

Dave Marcis

Dave Marcis will always be regarded as the last of the great independents. After leaving the K&K ride, Marcis drove for Roger Penske and Rod Osterlund before forming his own team in 1979, reverting back to the number "71." Dave won his fifth and final career NASCAR race at Richmond in 1982, but continued to race full-time on the circuit until the late 1990's. Also during the '90's, Dave joined fellow Wisconsin drivers Jim Sauter and Dick Trickle in assisting the IROC racing program, serving as chassis tuners and test pilots. Marcis formed an alliance with Richard Childress Racing late in his career, serving RCR as a test driver and occaisionally finding himself racing "experimental" engine components for Dale Earnhardt. His 34-year career ended when he made his final NASCAR start in the 2002 Daytona 500. Dave continued to serve the IROC series, and has fielded a Busch Grand National team on a part-time basis. He has also entered cars for Kerry Earnhardt. Dave spends much of his free time hunting and fishing, and is the owner of the Camp 28 Saloon, Bunkhouse and Cook Shanty in Rib Lake, WI.

Neil Bonnett

Although Neil Bonnett had first tasted victory in Jim Stacy's Harry Hyde-prepared Dodge, he wouldn't establish himself as a superstar until 1979, when he took over the Wood Brothers #21 Purolator Mercury from David Pearson. Bonnett won in his second start for the team, and won nine times in four seasons with the Woods. Neil also scored victories for Junior Johnson and RahMoc Enterprises. He retired due to injury in 1990, after 17-year career that garnered 18 NASCAR victories.

An extremely pleasant and well-liked man, Bonnett bacame a popular broadcaster for TNN and CBS. He also served Richard Childress as a test driver for Dale Earnhardt, and made his racing "comeback" in the 1993 Talladega 500 driving for Childress. In that race, Bonnett's car flipped violently down the frontstretch, and Bonnett climbed out unharmed and joined Ken Squier in the brodcast booth to finish calling the race!

In 1994, Bonnett's comeback attempt never materialized. Tragically, a crash during practice for the Daytona 500 ended Neil's life, at 47 years. Upon his death, Harry Hyde said, "I consider myself lucky to get a piece of Neil on his way through. We're going to miss the hell out of Neil Bonnett."

One of the most colorful figures in NASCAR history, Harry Hyde never backed away from controversy. As one of the top "innovators" (cheater, perhaps?) in the garage area, Hyde proudly proclamied, "I've told NASCAR where to go at least a hundred times." But  the end of the Nord Krauskopf / Jim Stacy Dodge team would not be the end of Harry Hyde.

In 1984, Hyde was hired by Rick Hendrick to head up a new racing team. Hyde yet again proved his ability of cultivating young talent, as the team won three races that year with driver Geoffrey Bodine. In 1986, Hendrick moved Hyde to a second team featuring the brash Tim Richmond as driver. Together, they won seven races in 1986 and two in 1987, before Richmond's health began to decline. The relationship between the young upstart Richmond and the crusty veteran Hyde was fictionalized (badly, I might add) in the 1990 Tom Cruise movie, "Days of Thunder."

A World War II hero, master mechanic, coach, and friend to many top NASCAR drivers, Harry Hyde died of heart failure at age 70 in 1996.

Nord Krauskopf was not your typical team owner. To him, the racing team was purely a business venture, nothing more.  Krauskopf was not interested in losing money "for the love of the sport." This may help explain why he was at odds with NASCAR so often in the '70's, when their constantly changing rules rendered the K&K team uncompetitive. It is also why he pulled the plug on the team in 1977 after the K&K board stopped funding the racing operation. The comapny would never again sponsor a NASCAR racing effort, although K&K Insurance did briefly sponsor an ASA racing team in the late '80's.

Company founder Nord Krauskopf sold his interest in the K&K Insurance Company in the early '90's. He passed away in 1994.