Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102100081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
Allison, the seventh driver to qualify, toured the 2.5-mile oval at 195.955 mph in his Ford Thunderbird, then had to wait almost two hours to see if anyone else would beat him.
"This may not hold up, but at least we gave them a scare," Allison said as his fast lap still was being challenged.
When qualifying ended at 3:56 p.m., the 29-year-old second-generation Winston Cup driver from Hueytown, Ala., had his first Daytona 500 pole in five years of trying.
Ernie Irvan, consistently strong in practice here since December, took the outside pole with a lap of 195.639 mph in his Chevy Lumina.
Harry Gant, in an Oldsmobile, was third-fastest at 195.465 mph. Sterling Marlin was fourth in his Ford at 194.830, and Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths, Va., was fifth at 194.502.
Dale Earnhardt, the defending Winston Cup champion, was sixth at 194.368.
Under the Daytona 500's unique qualifying system, only the top two qualifiers locked up their starting spots for the Feb. 17 race. The rest of the lineup will be determined after Thursday's Twin 125 qualifying races.
Ken Schrader, the Daytona 500 pole winner the past three years, was the last driver with any chance to beat Allison. Schrader's practice speed Friday was a couple of miles per hour off the pace, and his 194.045 qualifying speed, although better than the practice run and satisfactory to Schrader, was only eighth-fastest of the day.
"We've had problems since we've been here, and I wouldn't have thought we'd end up eighth, to tell you the truth," Schrader said. "Now I don't have to hear anything else about that `four pole' stuff."
Ricky Rudd, the Chesapeake, Va., driver who also has been strong in practice, had a late qualifying position and recorded the seventh-fastest speed at 194.359. Rounding out the top 10 were Mark Martin at 193.890 and Alan Kulwicki at 193.753.
Geoff Bodine, the 1986 Daytona 500 winner, ran 191.689 mph and was beaten by 27 drivers, but Bodine said he was "pleased with anything we can get at Daytona."
Richard Petty flexed some muscle, qualifying 14th at 193.345 mph. Among the other top drivers, Darrell Waltrip qualified 11th, Bill Elliott 12th, Terry Labonte 15th, Rusty Wallace 17th and defending Daytona 500 champion Derrike Cope 22nd.
Allison knew his time of 45.929 seconds was fast, but, he said, "I wasn't totally comfortable. Last year, [in qualifying] at Rockingham [N.C.], I didn't think anybody could beat me and we ended up fourth."
Allison's lap was the only one under 46 seconds. "My prediction," he said, "was we could run a 45.9 and [crew chief] Jake [Elder] said the same thing."
Irvan, whose lap was timed at 46.003 seconds, said, "We knew if we could run a 46 flat and somebody could beat us, we had done everything we could."
Irvan said his Chevy had "lost a little bit" since Friday and he didn't know why. But while many drivers were disappointed with their speeds, Irvan was not among them. "It was the premier lap for us after two months of testing and practice," he said.
Allison gave much credit for his strong run to "Suitcase Jake," the veteran crew chief renowned for his ability to help young drivers and his reputation for packing up and moving on (Allison is Elder's 21st driver).
When Elder joined Allison's team last July at Pocono (Pa.), "things were going bad, I mean really going bad," Allison said. Allison finished fifth in that race and won the fall race in Charlotte, N.C.
As this season begins, Allison said his confidence is "back to an all-time high."
NASCAR's portion of Speedweeks '91 begins in earnest today with the 20-lap Busch Clash for 1990 pole winners (and Cope, the wild-card entry), followed by the ARCA 200. Allison will have to watch the 50-mile Clash from the sideline. He failed to win a pole last year.
"But we'll be in it next year now," he said. "That's off of our shoulders."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB