Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 29, 1990 TAG: 9007290137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Grissom, who hadn't won a pole or race in 2 1/2 seasons on NASCAR's Busch Grand National tour, broke through in barnstorming fashion Saturday night at Pulaski County Speedway.
Grissom steered his Oldsmobile to a track-record GN qualifying lap, then staved off tour hotshot Chuck Bown in a furious two-car duel over the final laps to win the Granger Select 200.
"I won't ever forget this day for a long time," said Grissom, after sweeping all honors in his 81st career GN start.
"I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever get a win. I wondered if that day would ever come. I guess I'm going to have to pinch myself tomorrow to make sure I'm not dreaming.
"I can't believe it. Track record. The pole. A win. Unbelievable!"
Believe it, boy. Even Bown, whose Pontiac came up a half-car length short of a sixth 1990 victory, said Grissom deserved the $12,509 winner's purse.
"I didn't give it to him," Bown said. "I tried everything I could the last 25 laps, but I couldn't do anything with him. My hat's off to Steve Grissom. He deserved it."
Jimmy Hensley finished third in an Olds, four car lengths back. Tommy Houston (Buick) was fourth and Joe Nemechek (Buick) fifth.
Grissom led the first 66 laps before Bobby Hamilton took the lead, but Hamilton went to the pits only 14 laps later with an oil leak.
Grissom assumed the point and stayed there until lap 129, when Bown got under him between turns one and two of the .416-mile oval.
Bown, who has owned the short tracks this season, appeared primed to check out on the field. However, Grissom hung close, and when a caution flag came out on lap 147, he realized he still had a shot.
On the green-flag restart on lap 163, Bown went hard into turn three and drifted high. Grissom steered his car under Bown and snatched the lead.
Bown repeatedly tried to get under him in the final 37 laps, but Grissom shut the door each time.
"I thought Chuck might go a little high in three and four on the restart and I was ready," Grissom said. "It looked like he went in a little hard. I knew it was my chance and I had better take the opportunity while I could get it.
"That was the move that won me the race."
Bown admitted he drove too hard into the turn.
"They just had had that big wreck and the second groove had a lot of loose stuff up there. I should have thought about that," Bown said.
In the waning laps, a track-record crowd of about 12,000 waited for Bown to make his move, but he couldn't muster a pass.
"I thank Chuck because there were a couple of times he could have carried me around," Grissom said. "A lot of 'em would have, believe me."
Bown, who didn't win his first GN race until this year, said he couldn't put a bumper on the leader.
"I did the amount of bumping I felt honorable," Bown said. "I know what he was going through. He cut me off a couple times, but I can't blame him. He's looking for that first win."
And now he's got it.
\ LUGNUTS: Bown's second-place finish enabled him to pick up five points on Hensley in the chase for the GN title. Bown leads by 317 points with 11 races left. . . . The race was slowed by six caution flags for 44 laps. The biggest crash came on lap 147, when Hal Goodson and Tom Peck tangled on the backstretch. Lynchburg's Bobby Moon, L.D. Ottinger and Tommy Sigmon had no place to go and piled into each other. . . . Rick Mast, who won the inaugural GN race here last year, also had an encounter with the concrete. Mast was running fourth when he grazed the fourth-turn wall on lap 123. Mast lost a lot of time on pit road for repairs and limped home 19th. . . . Grissom averaged 67.617 mph for the 83.2-mile run. . . . Grissom's qualifying lap of 92.937 mph erased Rob Moroso's track GN record by two-thousandths of a second. Grissom is the 13th different pole winner this season. The tour record is 17, set in 1989. . . . Christiansburg's Ronnie Thomas captured his seventh win of the season in the 50-lap Late Model Stock nightcap. Johnny Rumley was second and Jeff Agnew third.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB