Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 18, 1991 TAG: 9102180086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Long
The 32-year-old California native won stock-car racing's premier event Sunday while driving on the apron of the track with the yellow caution flag flying, worried sick that his Chevrolet Lumina would run out of gas. It was only his second Winston Cup victory.
"It's still unbelievable to me that we did it," Irvan said. "I think I won the one I needed to win."
Sterling Marlin, who ran well most of the day and led twice briefly, took second. Joe Ruttman, another strong contender, finished third. Rick Mast was fourth. And Dale Earnhardt, the pre-race favorite, limped home in fifth, as he did last year.
Unlike last year, however, Earnhardt was not a victim of bad luck. This year, he was a victim of his own fierce determination to finally win the Daytona 500 - the only big race that has eluded him since his first Winston Cup event in 1975.
In an accident of his own making, Earnhardt crashed coming off of turn two while battling side-by-side with Davey Allison as they pursued Irvan on the 197th lap of the 200-lap race.
The crash took out Allison and Kyle Petty, who led 51 laps, more than anyone else. Earnhardt managed to keep his car running and completed the race.
"What happened?" asked car owner Richard Childress on a two-way radio.
"The car got out from under me and we crashed," Earnhardt radioed back. "Wrecked the hell out of it."
A bitterly disappointed Allison, who led 26 laps and believed his car was strong enough at the end to take Irvan's, was unhappy with Earnhardt.
"I passed him clean on the outside and I got hit," Allison said. "I had a shot to win the race. Racing is a business where you've got to use your head. I was using mine."
Only nine laps before Earnhardt lost it, another crash took out two other strong contenders, Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip.
Wallace was pinched into the outside wall by Petty coming off the fourth turn on lap 189. Wallace hit Waltrip as Wallace spun across the track. Behind them, Derrike Cope, Hut Stricklin and Harry Gant also crashed.
The four-lap caution period that followed - the eighth of the day - set up the final duel for the victory. Earnhardt was in the lead.
He had led much of the first quarter of the race, but fell off the pace after receiving a brief stop-and-go penalty when he made an unsafe move (driving above the yellow line) while exiting the pits.
When the green flag flew on lap 194, Earnhardt's car moved out ahead by a few car lengths.
Irvan zeroed in on the 1990 Winston Cup champion and passed him going into the first turn of the next lap.
Earnhardt's crash came two laps later, and all that was left was Irvan's slow drive to the finish under caution.
But it wasn't so easy.
On the last lap, a frantic Irvan shouted into his radio: "I'll tell you what, this thing's running out of gas! We'll just make it back."
Tony Glover, Irvan's crew chief on the Morgan-McClure Kodak team, radioed back: "Get it on the apron."
The idea was to get Irvan's car on a level surface, so the fuel could slosh from the gas tank into the fuel line. The fuel line is attached to the right side of the bottom of the tank. And at normal racing speeds on the high banks, centrifugal force pushes the fuel to the right. At slow speed on the bank, the fuel falls to the left - away from the fuel line opening in the tank.
"When I got into turn one on the white flag lap, the thing started spitting and sputtering," Irvan said after the race. "I thought, `No way.' But I got all the way into turn three [on the apron] and it finally picked up again."
Irvan was a victim of the type of stop-and-go penalty assessed against Earnhardt. But it came during a caution period early in the race. And although it put him behind, it was not a fatal mistake.
The race was run in three distinct segments. In the first 81 laps, there were six incidents that caused six cautions for a total of 25 laps, although no one was injured. The worst incident was a five-car melee on lap 31, caused when a fire broke out in Jimmy Spencer's car.
Spencer, overcome by smoke, tumbled out of his car, rolling and staggering in the grass. He soon recovered, but he was out of the race.
Geoff Bodine also was involved in a two-car crash - on lap 77 - but he returned to the race, only to be overcome by fumes later.
The second segment featured 103 laps of green flag racing, starting on lap 82. During that long stretch, it seemed the race could go to any number of drivers. The lead was swapped nine times as one leader after another headed to the pits for gas and tires.
Allison was in the lead for a while, then Marlin, then Mast, Petty, Ruttman, Irvan, Waltrip, Petty again, Irvan again and Allison again.
A yellow flag finally came out on lap 184 after a crash by Richard Petty, who was never a factor despite his strong starting position (third). Petty crashed coming off of turn two. Robby Gordon also was involved. Neither was hurt.
And finally, during the last 12 laps, there were those last two crashes.
In all, there were 21 lead changes among nine drivers along with nine caution periods for 35 laps. An estimated 145,000 spectators turned out.
Irvan, who received $233,000 for his victory, said he has no problem with the nickname "Swervin' Irvan." Driver Jimmy Means gave it to him after a practice duel one day at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
"I like that name," Irvan said. "It beats `Bonehead,' which they named me one time." That nickname came after Irvan caused a multi-car crash last spring at Darlington that left Neil Bonnett with a head injury and amnesia for weeks.
This time, however, while so many others were wrecking their cars, it was Irvan who steered clear of trouble on the way to Victory Lane.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB