ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 22, 1995                   TAG: 9505230043
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C.                                 LENGTH: Medium


NO SILVER LINING FOR EARNHARDT AT WINSTON SELECT

There was poetic justice in Dale Earnhardt's miserable performance in The Winston Select Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

As the king of NASCAR marketing, not to mention racing, Earnhardt had reached new heights, or plumbed new depths, with his silver-and-orange commemorative No.3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo race car, shrewdly accompanied by a line of limited-edition souvenirs.

But life has a way of striking back when one tests the limits of the P.T. Barnum creed about suckers. And Dale Earnhardt on Saturday night became the first race driver in history to end up with a line of T-shirts and die-cast cars to commemorate one of the worst races of his career.

As Jeff Gordon ran away with the all-star race, half the cars in the 20-car field were involved in one or more of the three incidents during the race.

And Earnhardt, in his desperate attempts to conquer a youngster who was unconquerable Saturday night, caused two of the crashes and was involved in the other one.

Earnhardt blamed his problems on the new NASCAR rule that mandates a smaller spoiler for the Chevys.

``I think [the spoiler rule] loosened the car up in the draft,'' he said. ``Racing with less spoiler is not the way to go, I don't think. It was really loose out there. We were driving the cars on the edge.''

But just as Mark Martin found disappointment at Sears Point after his Talladega (Ala.) triumph, Earnhardt followed up his dramatic road course win in California with a wretched performance under the lights at Charlotte.

So much for the silver-and-orange No.3 Chevy.

While Earnhardt was perhaps finally showing his age, Gordon appeared to be really coming of age. He's always been very respectful and self-deprecating as a rising Winston Cup star, but before the race Saturday night, Gordon was overflowing with confidence.

Gordon gathered his team together in the race transporter and delivered a pep talk.

``I did something I do not normally do,'' he said. ``I told myself, `You've got to get psyched up and you've got to get the guys psyched up.' I was telling them all kinds of stuff - we're going to do this, we're going to do that, we're going to go out and win this race.

``I was really determined.''

``His talk definitely helped the guys out,'' crew chief Ray Evernham said. ``Those guys about ripped the door off the truck trying to get out'' when Gordon finished.

But the magic of the night, for Gordon and his team, was that they didn't need the talk. From the moment practice started Friday, Gordon's Chevy was clearly the class of the field. It appeared destined to run away with this race, talk or no talk.

And that's what he did, winning all three segments and beating Sterling Marlin to the finish line by 1.07 seconds.

``I knew if he didn't tear the fenders off of it, he was going to win,'' said Evernham. ``You could see it in his eyes.''

Said Gordon, ``Whether it's fortune or luck, it seems like our car is always right when it comes to the big races. We focus on the big races and this is a big race for us. And there wasn't anybody who could handle us tonight ...

``They tried to take it away from us and ended up taking it away from themselves,'' he said. ``I wasn't really worried about getting to the front. I was more worried about staying out of trouble.''

This race has a way of heating up tempers, and the most memorable display on Saturday night came from Ken Schrader. The target of his ire was Jimmy Spencer.

On the second lap of the second segment, Spencer bobbled in turn one after going three wide in the tri-oval. His car slipped up into Schrader's and they both lost it and hit the wall.

A furious Schrader drove into Spencer's car in the third turn during the first caution lap and then tried to get him again on pit road. Schrader then retired from the race, hopped out of his car and stormed into the NASCAR transporter.

When he emerged a minute or so later, he said, ``I tell you what, I love the [Reynolds] people and what they've done for this sport, but they've got to wake up and look at the idiot they've got in their [Camel-sponsored] car. He ain't representing them real good. He's pulling [expletive] he shouldn't do. ''

Spencer, who remained in the race and finished ninth, was unrepentant. ``About that deal with Schrader,'' he said. ``When you mess with the bull, you get the horn.''

And that seemed to apply to Earnhardt, as well, in the wake of his journey into the outer limits of NASCAR souvenir marketing.



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