Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 25, 1995 TAG: 9509250126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
So much for close competition in Winston Cup. Earnhardt still can beat these guys with one arm.
``I was relaxin','' he said.
From the press box, Earnhardt could be seen driving one-handed even while racing side-by-side with Rusty Wallace or Terry Labonte for the lead.
``Had my arm on the roll bar, had my leg propped up on the dash board, had the CD on,'' he said.
And so it went on a cloudy, overcast day, as Earnhardt led 251 of 500 laps and won by 1.3 seconds over Labonte for his fourth victory of the season. The race-winning pass came in turn 4 on lap 492, when Earnhardt eased under a fast-fading Wallace and took the lead for good.
Wallace finished third, followed by Bobby Hamilton, who had another great run for car owner Richard Petty, and Geoff Bodine, who had his first top-five finish of 1995.
Six others finished on the lead lap, including Jeff Gordon, who was seventh. With five races to go, Gordon has a 275-point lead over Earnhardt in the championship standings. Sterling Marlin, who finished 23rd after losing his brakes, is 400 points back.
``I haven't given up,'' said Earnhardt. ``But luck is going to have to be a part of it. If he finishes in the top five and you finish in the top five, ain't no way you're going to beat him that way.''
Right now, it's not anything but a game of numbers. A game of numbers in the one-handed game of racing.
Someone asked Earnhardt: ``What is it with the one-hand thing?''
``Relaxin','' he said again. ``Do I look like I've been in a race? I do it some - not every race. The car was real good and I was relaxed. And I didn't see no reason to drive with two hands. Do you drive with two hands all the time? Don't you drive with one hand and hold your coffee in one hand?
``I didn't have [my hand] tied to the roll bar, but I had it propped up over it. Had [my leg] propped up on the dash.''
He was asked: ``What was on the CD player?''
``Brooks & Dunn,'' he said. ``Played a little Alabama, too - `I'm In A Hurry And Don't Know Why.'''
While Earnhardt was enjoying a leisurely Sunday afternoon cruise, Wallace could have had four arms and it probably wouldn't have helped him avoid a chaotic, nerve-wracking day. Things started to go bad on lap 86 while Wallace was leading. He had led 25 laps, but when Wallace lapped Ward Burton, he got into him on the backstretch. Burton then tapped Wallace in turn 4, Wallace spun and they collided.
The incident brought out the first of 10 yellow flags during the event, and prompted a flurry of frantic activity in Wallace's pit to keep him on the lead lap and get bent sheet metal off his tires. Later, Wallace had to come to a dead stop in turn 4 to avoid hitting a sideways Elton Sawyer, and his crew messed up the subsequent pit stop.
``We just had so much problems throughout the day, it was just ridiculous,'' Wallace said. ``Gas getting dumped on crew guys, jack dropping, tires rolling out of the [No.]5 car's pit and running into my pit - just a bunch of crazy things.
``I was a little better [than Earnhardt] all day long, but I just kept having to come back from behind all day long.''
Wallace attributed most of his pit problems to the new pit rule reducing the number of air wrenches that teams can take over the pit wall from three to two.
``This new rule they've got just'' stinks, he said. ``It's just the worst, most disastrous, unsafe thing they ever could have done. Guys were getting soaked with gas, getting run over. It was just a mess.
``The impact wrench broke one time, and we couldn't use the spare'' because of the new rule. ``That cost us a bunch. We're going to get all these drivers together and campaign against this deal.''
Wallace finally got back up front by skipping a tire change. It was a good gamble, because he went from fifth to first. But on old tires, he was no match for Earnhardt - one-handed or two-handed.
``We didn't put tires on it and got beat at the end because we were out of rubber,'' Wallace said. ``I went into that [third] turn and locked the brakes up real bad and Dale got underneath me and that was it.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB