Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 2, 1990 TAG: 9004020254
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Long
"All I heard was 'em squawking how an aggressive driver like me or Rusty [Wallace] can't win on radial tires," Earnhardt said.
"[Geoff] Bodine sits on the pole and he's struttin' his stuff. Then I hear Ricky [Rudd] said I was in trouble here. Well, those people need to open their eyes and look around."
If they looked hard enough late Sunday afternoon, they would have found Earnhardt in a familiar spot - victory lane.
Effectively slam-dunking the theory that he can't nurse a race car to victory, Earnhardt dodged the wrecks and walls that dogged the other frontrunners and won a wild TranSouth 500.
Earnhardt, whose pedal-to-the-metal, hell-bent driving style has never included the words "back off," confessed that his second straight and 41st career NASCAR victory came via a new mode.
"I was cautious today," said Earnhardt, using a word nobody thought he knew existed.
"I was cautious when I got out of bed this morning. This is Darlington, man. And when you throw those radials in, you've got to be even more cautious.
"They would fall off after about 40 laps and you couldn't race or pressure 'em. I ran consistent all day and tried to stay out of trouble."
Meanwhile, three others - Bodine, Davey Allison and Morgan Shepherd - with cars very capable of outrunning Earnhardt's Chevrolet, couldn't evade trouble.
Bodine, whose Ford Thunderbird won the pole with a track-record lap of 162.996 mph, threatened to bury the field early. Bodine led 153 of the first 205 laps and was clearly the man to beat.
But on lap 211, Bodine's hopes were dashed when his Ford sustained rear-end sheet metal damage in a huge 13-car accident in turn four of the 1.366-mile oval.
The costly mishap was triggered when Ernie Irvan, running at least 10 laps off the pace, for some unknown reason attempted to race side-by-side with leader Ken Schrader.
Irvan's Oldsmobile broke loose sideways into Schrader's Chevy, and both cars then spun, blocking the track. The trailing cars had nowhere to go. The end result was sheet metal everywhere.
Bodine's Ford never was the same again. Although his team eventually got his car readjusted, Bodine could do no better than fourth place.
"If we hadn't gotten caught up in that wreck, we would have won the race," Bodine said. "We had the car that would have won the race."
Then, it was Shepherd's turn to take control. His Ford blew past Earnhardt to the point on lap 248, and 51 laps later, he had stockpiled a seemingly unbeatable 11-second lead on Earnhardt.
But, as is normal at Darlington, it wouldn't be so easy.
Sixty-seven laps from the finish, Shepherd saw his huge cushion disintegrate when Dick Trickle's Pontiac blew an engine, bringing out a caution flag.
When the race went back to green, Earnhardt passed Shepherd for the lead. Running on Earnhardt's back bumper on lap 325, Shepherd drifted too high in turn two and scraped Darlington's infamous outside wall.
From that point, Shepherd's Ford didn't have the muscle. He came home a disappointing fifth.
"My windshield got real dirty and I couldn't see the wall," Shepherd said. "After that, the car wouldn't turn.
"No doubt, we win the race if we don't have a caution. We were driving away from Earnhardt."
Despite Shepherd's problem, it still wouldn't be easy for Earnhardt. Nineteen laps from the finish, Jack Pennington spun in turn four as the lead pack approached.
Earnhardt had to slow and bumped into the rear of Richard Petty's car. Meanwhile, Shepherd and Gant slipped past Earnhardt in the smoke.
But on pit road, Earnhardt's team got him back in front with a quick four-tire change.
One more caution - this one for Mike Alexander's spin on the frontstretch - only delayed Earnhardt's victory celebration.
When the race went back to green with only three laps left, Earnhardt got a big jump and outraced Mark Martin's Ford to the checkered flag by two car lengths.
Allison, whose Ford was the fastest car on the track at the finish, finished 12 car lengths back in third.
Like Shepherd, Allison could only blame himself for not winning.
"If I just hadn't run into the wall so many times, I think we could have won this thing," said Allison, who battled back from being a lap down after a flat tire early in the race.
"Give Earnhardt credit, though. He drove a good race. He took his time and was real patient. I should have been, too."
Earnhardt, who picked up $61,985 for his sixth career Winston Cup win at Darlington, definitely proved a point.
"I wanted to do something people said I can't do," he said. "I tried not to get myself in predicaments. To run 367 laps here and win a race, you've got to come home with straight fenders and straight wheels.
"As far as the radials go, who knows? Maybe if I keep working and learning, I'll know as much as those guys who did all that talking about me."
Earnhardt then broke into a huge grin.
"Know what? I can't wait until I can learn to drive on these radials."
\ LUGNUTS: Earnhardt's 41st triumph broke a tie with Tim Flock and moved him into 11th place on NASCAR's all-time victory list. He also became motorsports' second $10 million man. He has earned $10,060,638, second only to Darrell Waltrip's $10,100,115. . . . Earnhardt padded his Winston Cup points lead by 20 points on Shepherd. Earnhardt now leads by 78. . . . The winner averaged 124.073 mph for the grueling 500-mile trip. Ten cautions slowed the pace for 51 laps. . . . Besides the top six finishers, the rest of the field appeared to be on a Sunday afternoon stroll. Big names Bill Elliott (seventh), Darrell Waltrip (11th), Rusty Wallace (18th), Richard Petty (21st) and Ricky Rudd (24th) didn't lead a single lap and were never a factor. . . . A crowd estimated at 55,000 watched the race.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB