THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 10, 1995 TAG: 9508100614
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Rushing from Indy to the Glen, the Winston Cup series barely takes time to catch its breath while plowing headlong into the most intense part of the season - 10 weekend races in a row, stretching into October.
And Dale Earnhardt, winner of last week's Brickyard 400 and of the season's first road race at Sears Point, supplants Jeff Gordon as the favorite to win on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course at Watkins Glen International.
But it's tough to win anywhere these days, as Mark Martin attests.
``Any time you win another one in a row, it becomes increasingly less likely that you'll be able to repeat,'' said Martin, who will be going for his third consecutive Watkins Glen victory. ``We should run good enough to win this time, but that doesn't mean we will win.
``I don't think anybody Saturday morning would have bet against Jeff Gordon to win the Brickyard, but you just cannot predict wins in this series. I don't care who you are, how good your car is. You cannot - cannot - take any of these race wins for granted.''
Pole qualifying for Sunday's 90-lap, 220.5-mile race begins at 2 p.m. Friday.
AN INDY EXPERIENCE: One of the few irritations for Earnhardt at Indy was the glare of the setting sun in his eyes as he tried to negotiate turn three in the later stages of the Brickyard race.
But the time of day also provided a certain unique atmosphere, which Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George described in a teleconference this week.
``We were just really blessed the way the skies opened up,'' he said. ``It was really kind of an Indy experience, with the long shadows, the clouds going by, the sun going down and the rainbow. To me, it was kind of special.''
A crucial moment that paved the way for the running of the race came around 4 in the afternoon. The track was almost dry, George said, ``but the track crew said it was going to take awhile. They said they hadn't touched the pits or the warm-up lane.
``I told Bill (NASCAR president Bill France) that, and he said, `That doesn't matter to us. We go like that all the time.' So the decision was made to go. We felt like we had an obligation to the fans who had been there since 6:40 in the morning with trash bags on their heads.''
THE NASCAR CROWD: George also made some interesting comments about the difference between the Brickyard fans and the hard-partying Indy 500 crowd.
``For the most part, I think they're a different group of fans,'' he said. NASCAR fans ``are genuinely there to see the competition and cheer for the drivers. They're very well-behaved and the community - they love the NASCAR fans very much.
``We put trash bags in the grandstands and ask fans to try to help us keep it nice. And we found that every night, (NASCAR fans) had picked up their trash, put it in the bags and taken the bags downstairs and put them next to the trash barrels. That's something we're not accustomed to.'' by CNB