THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410030128
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
For more than 300 laps of the Holly Farms 400 Sunday, NASCAR starter Doyle Ford's yellow flag remained hidden in its flag holder in the starter's roost at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
And as Geoff Bodine clicked off lap after lap in the lead, it appeared he would capture his second caution-free victory at Wilkesboro in the last three years.
Finally, on lap 330, Ford had to wave his yellow flag - there was a crash on the frontstretch. Still, all that did was keep Bodine a lap ahead of everyone else and cement his third victory of 1994.
``This was pretty sweet,'' he said. ``It's not too often you can win a Winston Cup race and lap the field.''
Labonte finished second, Rick Mast was third and Rusty Wallace was fourth, all one lap down. Mark Martin finished fifth, two laps down, followed by Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. Ted Musgrave was ninth, three laps down, along with Kenny Wallace and Ricky Rudd. Pole winner Jimmy Spencer finished 23rd, eight laps behind.
Bodine led 335 of the 400 laps, including every circuit after lap 99. And he was able to gain a full lap on the entire field - two laps or more on most the other drivers - because when the yellow did fly, he had not yet made a pit stop, and everyone else had.
By pitting under the yellow, of course, Bodine was able to keep his one-lap advantage. It was the most lopsided victory in the Winston Cup series since Harry Gant lapped the field at Dover in September 1991.
``We never dreamed today would turn out this way,'' Bodine said. ``We knew we had a good car yesterday in practice. But when I got up this morning, it was cloudy and cool and I wondered, `Are we going to miss the setup? Are we going to be good or bad?'
``But it turned out to be really, really good. We never adjusted the chassis all day, never changed a pound of air pressure in the tires.
The consensus among the drivers on Goodyear tires was that Bodine's Hoosiers gave him the victory.
``He outran everybody because Hoosier had better tires today,'' said pole winner Spencer.
Bodine disagreed.
``There's no way to measure that,'' he said. ``You can't. These other guys have put (the Hoosiers) on and they haven't won races and there have been some good cars putting them on. You don't just bolt something on a race car and that makes you a winner. We have a lot of things on our chassis that nobody has. It takes a whole package.''
After the first yellow, there were three more before the race ended. Because of those cautions, the race became a bit more exciting.
To keep his lap lead, Bodine had to race Wallace and Labonte back to the flag after the second caution on lap 342. Wallace nailed Bodine in turn four, getting him sideways. Bodine returned the favor, knocking Wallace silly, and still managed to keep his one-lap advantage.
``It happened so quick I really don't know how sideways we were,'' Bodine said. ``I just know we were bumped. He was doing his job. I was doing mine.''
Then, with 34 laps to go, Labonte got past Bodine and unlapped himself. That lasted as long as Labonte's tires. Bodine went back around him on lap 382.
All in all, it's been quite a year for Bodine, a 45-year-old New York native who now makes his home in Julian, N.C. He's won three Winston Cup points races and The Winston all-star race. He's won five poles. But he's also failed to finish a dozen races, which is the biggest reason why he's 16th in points.
His personal life, meanwhile, has been in shambles. After his brother Brett took him out of the Brickyard 400, Geoff revealed a family feud and said they hadn't spoken in weeks. ``We've spoken,'' Geoff Bodine insisted Sunday.
And then his marriage crumbled during the summer. This weekend, for the first time, Bodine spoke openly about his impending divorce from his wife, Kathy.
``I'm not a happy guy, if that's what you want to know,'' he said. ``Business-wise, life is great. Personally, it sucks.
``It's a friendly split, trying to be. Everything will be done here in just a few weeks.''
Kathy Bodine owns half the race team, which they purchased from the late Alan Kulwicki's estate after his death in an airplane crash last year.
``That's no problem,'' Bodine said. ``She doesn't want the race team, so there's no problem. Everything is being worked out.''
The one constant through this tumultuous year, Bodine said, has been his team, most of whom were with Kulwicki.
``Most of those guys have had a lot worse things bad than I have had in racing,'' he said. ``They were with Alan. They've stuck together with me. They've been with me in the good and the bad. They're not just employees, they're friends. They've proved that in the last few weeks.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
``This was pretty sweet,'' said Geoff Bodine, who led 335 laps.
``It's not too often you can win a Winston Cup race and lap the
field.''
by CNB