Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 13, 1993 TAG: 9302130152
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
ELLIOTT FINISHES STRONG, CLAIMS ROUND 1 OF IROC
Bill Elliott won the first round of the 1993 International Race of Champions series at Daytona International Speedway on Friday as 12 of the country's best drivers again proved that, lap for lap, this 40-lap race is Speedweeks' best.Elliott beat Davey Allison by a car length after leading the final six laps. Al Unser, Jr. was third, followed by Davy Jones and 1992 IROC champion Ricky Rudd.
The race featured its usual three-wide competition and plenty of passing.
Although he never held the lead until late in the race, Elliott stayed with the leaders throughout. And with a drafting assist from Jones, Elliott made the race-winning pass on lap 35, passing Rudd on the backstretch.
On the last lap, "I knew if I kept on the bottom of the race track, I'd be in pretty good shape," Elliott said. "But in the [first] corner, Davy hit me in the rear. He gave me a pretty good shot. I was amazed that the car didn't jump sideways no more than it did.
"I went as far as I could toward the wall to catch it, and then straightened it out. And when I looked back, he had gone into the wall."
Jones smacked the wall at the head of the backstretch. And while he didn't lose control, Elliott gained the margin he needed for victory.
"When he ran into the wall, he had to back off," Elliott said. "And then everybody else was scrambling, and that allowed me to go on."
Rudd led the most laps - 21 - and was in front four different times.
"It was good for a little while," he said. "But I didn't think I could hold them off."
Rudd said he had plenty of power, but his bright orange Dodge Daytona was pushing.
"It was getting bad by about lap five and it progressively got worse," he said. Once Elliott and Jones passed, Rudd knew he "couldn't get back by them."
There were two crashes during the 33-minute race.
On lap 31, Allison and Al Unser, Sr., got together and Unser went into the outside wall along the frontstretch.
Whipsawing his steering wheel, Unser tried to maintain control as his car sailed through the grass in the tri-oval. But then it shot back onto the track and again slammed into the wall, this time head on.
Unser, complaining only of a sore neck, said "I really don't know what happened. I thought I gave everyone plenty of room. The only thing I remember is looking at the wall after getting hit and at that point, you stop thinking."
The other crash occurred after the checkered flag, when Juan Fangio II hit a slowing Alan Kulwicki in the rear and put him into the wall. Kulwicki was unhurt.
"Really, we have a good time doing this," Elliott said, "as long as people don't get too crazy."
The next round of the four-race series will be on March 27, when IROC visits Darlington Raceway for the first time.
Friday's race will be televised by ABC on March 14 at 4 p.m.
\ EARNHARDT GOES FOR NO. 4: Dale Earnhardt will be gunning for his fourth straight victory when the 35th annual Goody's 300 Grand National race gets under way today at 12:30 p.m.
The 120-lap race, which will be televised on a delayed basis by ESPN, has been marred in recent years by big wrecks. Last year, Joe Nemechek was fortunate to escape a fiery crash with minor injuries and went on to win the 1992 GN championship. Nemechek starts third.
Although Earnhardt has yet to win the Daytona 500, he has five wins in this race and 18 GN victories in his 11 years of competition on the circuit. He qualified fifth.
Ken Schrader won the pole Tuesday with a speed of 186.513 mph. GN regular Jeff Burton won the outside pole with a speed of 185.808 mph.
"It will be tough to win against the Winston Cup guys," said GN regular Robert Pressley, who qualified sixth.
\ EARNHARDT NO. 2: An impressive drive in the Florida 200 by Earnhardt's son, Kerry, was overshadowed by the death of Joe Booher.
The 22-year-old Earnhardt finished seventh in his first superspeedway race, one lap down to winner Will Hobgood.
"It was fun - lots of fun," Earnhardt said after talking with his father, who knelt next to the car when it arrived in the garage.
The young Earnhardt has been running in the street stock division at Concord (N.C.) Speedway and working in the service department of his father's Chevrolet dealership.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING