Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 14, 1995 TAG: 9508150019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium
Dallenbach was 5.1 seconds ahead of Martin and on his way toward a major NASCAR Winston Cup upset when fate and Todd Bodine intervened.
Bodine's crippled car put oil on the track as it headed to the pits after a sideways trip through Watkins Glen International's inner loop on lap 79. That brought out the caution flag, closed the gap and allowed Martin to charge inside Dallenbach at the end of the front straight and take the lead with six laps to go.
Dallenbach, driving Bill Davis' Pontiac Grand Prix, finished second. He was followed by Jeff Gordon, Ricky Rudd and Terry Labonte. Completing the top 10 were Bobby Labonte, John Andretti, Darrell Waltrip, Geoff Bodine and Ricky Craven. (Results in Scoreboard. B3)
``I didn't necessarily want to see that caution,'' Martin said as he reviewed his third consecutive Glen victory and the 16th triumph of his career. ``I'm going to look at it and say it was a blessing. But I didn't call for it. I never said a word.''
Martin was in the lead when he and his team decided he probably would run out of gas unless he pitted during the second caution period, which started on lap 61 for Robert Pressley's stalled car.
When Martin pitted, Dallenbach took over. Dallenbach had become ill in his car early in the race, affected by exhaust smoke. But he had recovered, primarily because of the break afforded by the first caution period.
He was five seconds ahead and 11 laps away from that most elusive of goals - a Winston Cup victory - and a jump start on a stalled NASCAR career when the caution came out.
Dallenbach accepted his lot with poise and grace. When the caution came out, he talked with Davis and crew chief Chris Hussey about pit strategy and track position. He discussed how his car was handling.
Only after dealing with those matters, and then only after the longest pause - and after he couldn't see any reason for the caution - did Dallenbach finally cue his microphone and ask, ``What was the yellow for?''
``Same old thing - oil on the track,'' Hussey said.
``It would have been nice if it had gone green'' the rest of the way, Dallenbach said.
Dallenbach told his crew he would go after it hard, but everyone knew he was a dead duck. They might as well rename this place Martin's Glen International for the way he's been blowing away the competition away on this 2.45-mile road course.
And so in the end he dispatched Dallenbach as he had everyone else.
Could Martin have caught Dallenbach without the yellow?
``I tell you what. I don't know,'' Martin said. ``There wasn't a lot of racing left. We were catching him. But he was out there pretty good. I said to myself, `Boy, this is going to be hard.'''
Dallenbach, 32, a Colorado native who lives in Greensboro, N.C., was just as stoic after the race as he had been after the final yellow.
``It feels good to just be able to get in a race car and drive it hard,'' he said. ``It would have been a hard race [for Martin]. He would have used a lot of stuff up trying to catch me.''
Instead, it was a repeat of the Martin-Dallenbach 1-2 finish of 1993. Except this year Dallenbach is not Martin's teammate. He's not driving for Jack Roush. He's not driving for Richard Petty. He's not driving for anyone.
The deal with Davis, whose car has been driven for much of the season by Jimmy Hensley of Horsepasture, Va., was a one-race arrangement that was set up because Dallenbach is such a skilled road racer.
Even so, the Winston Cup series has become so competitive, a driver usually doesn't hop into a stranger's car these days in the Winston Cup series and take it to the front, even on a road course.
As Martin noted: ``That was all Wally because that car hasn't run that well here before.''
Whether this performance changes the course of Dallenbach's career remains to be seen.
``I proved I could do it, anyway,'' he said. ``And I'm just going to try to work hard to get in a good program for next year.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB