Kulwicki started his rookie season in 1986 with Terry. After Terry decided to end support for his racing team mid-season, Kulwicki fielded his own team. He started out as essentially a one-man team in a time when other teams had dozens of people in supporting roles. Initially the driver, owner, crew chief, and chief mechanic, Kulwicki had difficulty acquiring and keeping crew members because he found it difficult to trust them to do the job with the excellence that he demanded, and because he was hands-on in the maintenance of racecars to the point of being a "control freak". He sought out crew members who had owned their own racecars, believing they would understand what he was going through: working long hours and performing his own car maintenance, all within a very limited budget. Notable crew members included his crew chief, Paul Andrews, and future Cup crew chiefs, Tony Gibson and Brian Whitesell. Future crew chief and owner, Ray Evernham, lasted six weeks with Kulwicki in 1992. Evernham later said, "The man was a genius. There's no question. It's not a matter of people just feeling like he was a genius. That man was a genius. But his personality paid for that. He was very impatient, very straightforward, very cut-to-the-bone." With one car, two engines, and two full-time crew members, Kulwicki won the 1986 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award. He had competed in 23 of 29 events, with four Top 10 finishes, three Did Not Finishes (DNF), and an average finish of 15.4, ending only one race worse than 30th place.
For the 1987 season, Kulwicki secured primary sponsorship from Zerex Antifreeze and changed his car number to #7. He picked up his first career pole position in the season's third race at Richmond. Later that season, he again qualified fastest at Richmond and Dover. Kulwicki came close to winning his first Winston Cup race at Pocono, finishing second after winner Dale Earnhardt passed him on the last lap. With nine Top 10 finishes, eleven DNFs, and an average finish of 18.2 in 29 events, Kulwicki finished fifteenth in the Winston Cup points for the season
Kulwicki's 1988 car, which he used for his Polish Victory Lap In 1988, Kulwicki hired Paul Andrews as his crew chief after Andrews was recommended by Rusty Wallace at the 1987 NASCAR Awards banquet. That year Kulwicki won his first NASCAR Winston Cup race in the season's second-to-last race at Phoenix International Raceway after race leader Ricky Rudd's car had motor problems late in the race. Kulwicki led 41 laps and won by 18.5 seconds. After the race finished, he turned his car around and made a Polish Victory Lap by driving the opposite way (clockwise) on the track, with the driver's side of the car facing the fans. "This gave me the opportunity to wave to the crowd from the driver's side", Kulwicki explained. Andrew recalled, "He had wanted to do something special and something different for his first win and only his first."
No speeding in the Park. Bicycles are allowed on all two tracked trails. Do not bike on single tracked trails. Wheels yield to feet, (Hikers and horses). Hikers yield to horses.
Cache placement approved by Martin Morse, Park Service Specialist. Obey all speed limits. Do not block gates. All wheels off the pavement.