THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506040172
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER NASCAR NOTES
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL. LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Mike McLaughlin won his first career Grand National race Saturday in the Goodwrench 200 at Dover Downs International Speedway because he was able to avoid blistering his tires.
In a race in which most of the drivers were slowed by failing tires, McLaughlin beat Mike Wallace by 23.8 seconds after leading the final 18 laps.
``Everybody was a little nervous with the excessive tire wear,'' McLaughlin said. ``But the more we ran on the track, the better the wear got. We ran 60 laps on a set of tires and they were fine. We never blistered a tire.''
McLaughlin inherited the lead from another non-winner, Doug Heveron, whose team also figured out how to make his car run without blistering his tires. Heveron had a lap on the field at one point but fell out of the race with a blown engine with only 18 miles to go.
``We were hauling butt,'' Heveron said. ``That motor just blew up - hell of a tough blow.''
Despite the tire problems, there were only six yellow flags, and only four of the cautions were for crashes. Two were for tire checks.
None of the crashes appeared to be caused by tire failure. But Terry Labonte was so unnerved by the blistering tires, he quit after 100 of the 200 laps.
``I blistered a tire and nearly lost it out there,'' Labonte said. ``I couldn't tell that anything was wrong. I just didn't want to take the chance of a tire blowing out and wrecking and getting somebody else involved in the accident.''
The tire problems Saturday, and the prospects of more problems in today's Winston Cup race, prompted many Winston Cup crew chiefs and drivers to watch the race from the pits so they could see firsthand how the tires were wearing.
There were no problems after the first couple of pit stops, but soon the cars began coming in with heavily blistered tires. Chunks of rubber were coming off the tread because it was too thick for the track and the tires were overheating before the rubber wore out. The Grand National series normally restricts tire use, but because of the problems, those rules were waived.
Ricky Craven finished third, one lap down, followed by Jason Keller, Dale Jarrett, Johnny Rumley, Phil Parsons, Hermie Sadler, Chad Little and Jimmy Spencer.
Johnny Benson Jr. finished 14th but holds a 108-point lead over Little, seconds in the series standings.
SUPERTRUCKS: Mike Skinner survived a third-lap accident and battled back through the field to win the Ford Credit 125 SuperTrucks race by less than a half-second over Joe Ruttman.
Skinner, who started third in the 24-truck field, wound up last after pitting for repairs when his Chevrolet glanced off Jack Sprague's spinning Chevy in the tri-oval of the 7-16-mile Louisville, Ky., oval. The damage was minor, however, and Skinner weaved his way back into contention, taking the lead from Rick Carelli on lap 109 to lead the remainder of the 200-lap race.
He edged Ruttman's Ford by 0.44 seconds to post his fourth victory of the 1995 season. Skinner, who won $22,200 from the $145,500 purse, became the first driver to score successive victories. He won last weekend at Odessa, Mo.
IRVAN TO TEST AT RICHMOND: The SuperTrucks will come to Richmond International Raceway for two days of tests Monday and Tuesday, and Ernie Irvan said he will be there instead of his regular driver, Joe Ruttman.
Irvan said his doctors ``can't really tell me what I'm waiting for'' as far as the next step of his recovery, so he decided to resume testing. He has been testing, mostly in trucks and Grand National cars, since March.
Irvan is wearing glasses with a prism lens for the left eye. He has trouble with double vision and ``when I'm looking through these, I can see pretty close to one image,'' he said.
ON DISPLAY: NASCAR vice president Mike Helton says he expects the suspension part confiscated from Jeff Gordon's car last Sunday, which prompted a record $60,000 fine to crew chief Ray Evernham, to be put on display today.
Helton said that the part was not made of any ``exotic'' metal and that electronics, such as traction control, ``was not an issue.'' MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
``The more we ran on the track, the better the (tire) wear got,''
said Mike McLaughlin, who won by a blistering 23.8 seconds.
by CNB