THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 5, 1996 TAG: 9608050117
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SPEEDWAY, IND. LENGTH: 73 lines
The congratulations and handshakes were coming from all sides Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as Robert Yates celebrated his most glorious day as a car owner in the NASCAR Winston Cup series.
But it was a single sentence from a little girl that the soft-spoken, sandy-haired Yates may remember the best. ``The only thing that could have been better is if they had tied,'' she told him.
And he knew instantly how true that was, because while his two drivers, Dale Jarrett and Ernie Irvan, had finished 1-2 in the third running of the Brickyard 400, one had to beat the other to do it.
And the car that lost is the car that is closest to Yates' heart. It's not so close as to relegate Jarrett to second-team status in Yates' mind, just enough to make him vaguely wistful about the dramatic outcome of the race.
``Both drivers didn't get to come to Victory Lane, but you can't all get in there,'' Yates said.
So there was a touch of bittersweet to the most successful day in the history of Robert Yates Racing. And that was a fitting finale to a memorable four days at the greatest race course in the world.
Everything is magnified at the Brickyard.
There have been few pole qualifying sessions more dramatic in the Winston Cup series than Jeff Gordon's record-shattering run Thursday, which electrified the crowd.
Throughout the four days, Dale Earnhardt gave one of the most memorable performances of his career and didn't even have to drive to do it. His bull-headed willpower to press on with normal activities in spite of broken bones that would keep nearly all of us bedridden will not soon be forgotten by anyone who witnessed it.
Earnhardt drove, too. On Saturday, he turned the car over to relief driver Mike Skinner after seven laps because it was the only rational thing to do.
He could have driven some more. That's what crushed him. It made him more emotional than he has ever been in his career.
On pit road, Earnhardt waved off Jerry Punch twice. And his voice quivered as he said, ``It was really hard to get out of there. This is my life right here.''
It is Yates' life, too, and this business about two-car teams is something he has struggled with.
``He's probably got a lot less ulcers than I have,'' Yates said of Richard Childress, who owns Earnhardt's car and won't become a two-car owner until next year.
In the garage, long after the race, Yates was asked to gauge his feelings.
``They're good,'' he said. ``Great. Wonderful.'' But his eyes still showed the inherent conflict in the best possible finish he could have had.
One of his cars had to beat the other. And with seven laps to go, his new Ford, with Jarrett behind the wheel, had put the slam dunk on the more familiar Texaco Havoline T-bird with a pass in the short chute between turns 1 and 2.
Irvan was driving the 28 - Davey Allison's car; the one that gave Yates his first Daytona 500; the one that flipped at Pocono; the one Irvan could have driven to Victory Lane in the first Brickyard race except for a bad tire. And then there was that next bad tire, which carried Irvan to death's door at Michigan.
And now the 28 had gone down to defeat again at Indy - at the hands of Yates's other team.
``It would been nice to see Ernie win this race to overcome what happened here two years ago and what happened at Michigan,'' said crew chief Larry McReynolds. ``But I'm proud today.
``I guess you have to look at it like this. Maybe it's like a dad who's got a real son and an adopted son. And they both become baseball players, except on opposing teams. And the adopted son strikes out the real son to win the game.
``Well, that dad still has to be as proud as he can be.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dale Jarrett brought home the Brickyard trophy Saturday by edging
teammate Ernie Irvan. by CNB