DATE: Thursday, October 2, 1997             TAG: 9710020734

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C.                     LENGTH:   54 lines

G. BODINE WINS POLE FOR SUNDAY'S UAW-GM 500

Geoff Bodine's year has had more twists and dips than an Appalachian mountain road, but he was back on top Wednesday night after winning the pole for Sunday's UAW-GM 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Bodine sped around this 1.5-mile oval at 184.256 miles per hour in his Ford Thunderbird to become the 18th different pole winner in 1997 - a record for the most pole winners in a year in the modern era (since 1972).

``Race fans don't realize the effort that went into getting that kind of speed out of the car here,'' Bodine said. ``It's a brand-new car and it was built in about three weeks.''

Bodine, who had a preferable late draw in the qualifying lineup, displaced Bobby Labonte, who earned the second starting spot with a lap of 183.742 mph in his Interstate Batteries Pontiac Grand Prix. Mark Martin was third fastest in a Ford at 183.673 mph, followed by Winston Cup points leader Jeff Gordon in a Chevy at 183.380 mph and Dale Jarrett in a Ford at 183.113 mph.

Dick Trickle was sixth fastest in a Ford at 182.896 mph, followed by Ward Burton in a Pontiac at 182.865 mph, Jeff Purvis in a Chevy at 182.408 mph, Jimmy Spencer in a Ford at 181.947 mph and Morgan Shepherd in a Pontiac at 181.941 mph.

Bodine, who had one of the quickest cars in practice, said his lap was about what he expected.

``We knew we had a good car and if I could just keep it in the right groove, we were going to have a good lap,'' he said. ``If I hadn't bottomed out over there in turn three, it might have been an even faster lap.''

Bodine's self-styled ``good-bad year'' began on a low night with a crash in the Daytona 500. But then he had three top 10s in the next four races and was seventh in points.

Four races, and four DNFs later, he was back down to 23rd in points. Then, as his team foundered under the weight of tremendous financial problems, he failed to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 here in May after a crash in practice, failed to make the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July and the Brickyard 400 at Indy as well.

One week after Indy, however, he finished second at Watkins Glen and the week after that, he introduced his new majority partners, Jim Mattei and John Porter, who bailed him out and put the team back on solid financial footing.

Bodine said the road to this pole was just beginning after his team finished building the new car.

The second round of time trials, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today, will almost certainly be contested on a slower track, and thus will present an almost insurmountable challenge to the cars outside the top 38.

Rick Mast is currently on the bubble in 38th position, followed by Elliott Sadler (driving the No. 40 Coors Light Chevy), Bobby Hamilton, Lake Speed, Mike Skinner, Jeremy Mayfield, Steve Park, Ernie Irvan, Ricky Craven, Kenny Wallace, Darrell Waltrip, Greg Sacks and Dave Marcis.

With no changes in that lineup, the provisional starting spots would go to Hamilton, Irvan, Mayfield, Skinner and Waltrip.

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