Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 21, 1990 TAG: 9005210314
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
And the old man took the kid to school.
In a move that probably could be made by only a veteran driver, Trickle pinched Moroso's car down the track in the final two turns and then won the race to the finish line by an estimated 8 inches.
"He [Moroso] had the groove on me," said Trickle, whose Pontiac was running high and outside of Moroso's Oldsmobile.
"I didn't cut him off or do anything wrong. I pinched him just as low as I could to keep his [engine] RPMs down. The kid did a nice job of driving. I'm just glad I got [to the stripe] first."
No wonder. The victory was worth $30,000 and catapulted Trickle into The Winston field, where he finished sixth and took home another $26,000.
Moroso couldn't believe he had lost.
"I thought I had him," Moroso said. "I couldn't tell if he won or I did. I've still got to the see the photos. I guess I didn't win, though."
Pole-sitter Ernie Irvan, whose Oldsmobile led for a race-high 48 of the 134 laps, finished 10 car lengths back in third. Sterling Marlin, who had won this race the past two years, was fourth in another Olds. Hut Stricklin was fifth in a Buick.
The 201-mile race for those left out of The Winston main event was highly competitive. There were 11 lead changes among eight drivers.
Dale Jarrett, driving the Wood Brothers Ford, led twice for 25 laps. He had fifth place sewed up until he ran out of gas on the final lap, dropping him to 13th.
Hometown favorite Robbie Faggart staved off Floridian Charles Trentham in a furious last-lap, side-by-side duel to capture the 100-mile preliminary for NASCAR's Sportsman division cars.
Faggart, driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS built by Richard Childress, beat Trentham's Chevy to the finish line by approximately 2 feet.
Faggart, a local short-track hotshot, averaged 122.354 mph en route to his first superspeedway victory.
In an expected move, NASCAR officials announced Sunday another reduction in the size of the carburetor restrictor plates used on the Winston Cup cars at Daytona, Fla., and Talladega, Ala.
The new plate will include openings of 29/32nds of an inch, 1/32nd of an inch smaller than the 15/16ths-inch plate used in the May 6 Winston 500 at Talladega.
The new rule will go into effect for the July 7 Pepsi Firecracker 400 at Daytona.
Most crew chiefs and engine builders polled said the smaller plate would rob the motors of some 30 horsepower and slow the cars by approximately 3-4 mph.
The plate reduction came as no real surprise after Bill Elliott qualified at 199.388 mph at Talladega. Because of insurance issues, the sanctioning body has wanted to keep speeds below 200 mph since Bobby Allison's car got airborne and nearly flew into a packed grandstand at Talladega in May 1987.
"When you get close to 200 mph, you know it's coming," said Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt's car owner.
"It's like a Catch-22. You're always trying to beat 'em [NASCAR], but once you catch 'em they knock you back. This will just make us have to work like crazy before Daytona to get ready."
Earnhardt, whose car was dominant at Daytona and Talladega, said: `I guess Billy [NASCAR president Bill France Jr.] wants to slow us down. He doesn't want to pay the insurance premiums on 200 mph."
Earnhardt's $325,000 haul pushed his season's earnings to $793,600. He's on a pace to smash Bill Elliott's 1985 season-record haul of $2.4 million.
"The money is part of racing," Earnhardt said. "But I didn't even think about it today. I'll race whether they're paying $1,000 or $100,000 to win. The racing part is why I'm here."
by CNB