Does Darrell Waltrip Still Have Ronnie Sanders’ Snowball Derby Trophy Despite Eventual Disqualification?

The 2024 Snowball Derby is set to go live this Sunday. As drivers prepare for the 57th edition of the prestigious 300-lap Late Model race, one particular story from 1977 pops up in distinction. The field for that year’s event was stacked with iconic names like Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin. But it was two, Ronnie Sanders and Darrell Waltrip, that made the day memorable.

Waltrip was declared as the winner at the end of the race and given the trophy. But a deeper analysis of the race found the scoring tower spotting him an extra lap and that the real winner was Sanders.

By the time officials realized their mistake, Waltrip had exited the track and gone back to his hotel. He later refused to return the trophy and asked for the prize money that he was due according to the earlier decision.

The track management informed him that he would get his money if he gave the trophy back, but Waltrip decided to keep the silverware and forsake the money. And so, he still has the trophy safely secure in his possession. He told Racing America in 2022, “I won this trophy but it’s not mine. If you run into Ronnie Sanders, you can tell him that I still have my trophy. Or he may think it’s his.”

Sanders was given a duplicate trophy the following March along with the winner’s check. It was the only Snowball Derby that he won over his racing career. Sanders is known for his legacy in the short-track racing scene. Remarkably, he was handcuffed and taken away from the Five Flags Speedway in 1975 for trying to demolish Bobby Allison’s windshield with an axle.

Why Sanders was angry at Bobby Allison in 1975

Bobby Allison and Donnie Allison were among the biggest names in the field during the 1975 Snowball Derby. They put all their stock car racing skills to the test in the finale and led 200 laps between them. The rest of the drivers had no choice but to be a victim of this bullying from the Alabama Gang and race for third place.

Sanders was running seventh in the final laps of the race and feeling great about obtaining a good result. This was when Bobby Allison drove up to him and shoved him instead of passing by him. Even worse, Sanders claimed that the driver stayed on the gas after crashing into him.

He narrated to the Five Flags Speedway media, “I had an axle in the back of the truck and I picked it up and I was going out on the track to bust his windshield out. Security got to me before I could pull it off.”

He was handcuffed and taken off the property, but the moment became derby history. Donnie Allison went on to become the eventual race winner.