Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 15, 1991 TAG: 9104150057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
In a crash-filled contest that was the most exciting this year, NASCAR's latest version of the pit rules gave the fans what they wanted - a record for lead changes, 19 yellow flags, a ton of bent sheet metal and plenty of racing. But many of the drivers are still unhappy with the rules.
More than half the field - 18 of 33 cars - was involved in crashes or spins. The worst crash sent Sterling Marlin to the hospital for treatment of burns. It was his second crash of the day.
Geoff Bodine and Ken Schrader each were involved in three separate incidents. Bodine, his Ford battered on all sides, managed to finish the race 24th, 39 laps down.
Wallace beat Irvan by about half a car length after 500 laps and 266.5 miles of racing. Davey Allison finished third, followed by Mark Martin, Winston Cup points leader Ricky Rudd, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Jimmy Spencer and Terry Labonte, all on the lead lap.
The finale came late in the day after a rain delay at 4:30 p.m. that lasted an hour and 12 minutes. By then, many fans in the record crowd of 58,300 had left, missing the dramatic finish.
"I had every tire on that car lit up with smoke trying to get to the finish line first," said Wallace. "We had one whale of a race today, no doubt about that."
Wallace was about a car length ahead of Irvan as they entered the last lap. But as they moved down the backstretch, they came upon Bill Elliott's lapped car and Irvan caught up. Irvan hit Wallace's Pontiac in the tail entering turn three, forcing Wallace into the upper groove of the high-banked turn.
Irvan then pulled alongside Wallace, and they banged against each other coming out of turn four. But Wallace managed to pull slightly ahead and shot across the finish line just ahead of Irvan for his first victory under the Roger Penske banner.
"We're building a new team and we're back," Wallace said. "We proved that with the pole here and the win today."
The win was spectacular, but almost as thrilling was Wallace's determined effort to make up the two laps he lost before lap 100, when he was forced to make two unscheduled pit stops to change deflating tires.
Wallace made up one lap at about the halfway point, staying out on the track during caution periods to improve his position while others pitted. He made up the second one around lap 385.
But Wallace may have gotten his biggest break, courtesy of the new pit rules, when the race restarted on lap 463 after the rain delay.
The latest version, unveiled by NASCAR last week, has each car designated odd or even for pit stops and for restarts.
Under the double-file restart, odd cars lined up on the inside row while even cars lined up on the outside, regardless of their position before the caution.
Wallace, in an odd-designated car because he started in first position, was in seventh position when rain forced NASCAR starter Doyle Ford to red flag the race.
But five of the six cars ahead of him were even-designated cars. So for the restart, Wallace was able to move up right behind Davey Allison, who was leading at the time and was the only other odd-designated car ahead of Wallace. The pit rules moved Wallace from seventh to third.
"I gotta tell you, the new pit rules really played in my favor," Wallace said. "It was a good rule for me today, but if I was in somebody else's shoes, I wouldn't like it.
"I got lucky today, but I don't feel like I was lucky, because I had the performance on the racetrack."
Marlin was the only driver injured. His Ford burst into flames from an oil fire when he pounded the wall in turn one.
Marlin tumbled out of the smoking car after it came to rest on the inside of turn two. He was taken to the infield care center and then transported by helicopter to the Bristol Regional Medical Center for treatment of various burns.
He was reported in stable condition in the surgical intensive care unit at the medical center and was scheduled to stay at the hospital at least until today.
"I'm burned," Marlin told NASCAR officials at the hospital. "It's worse than any sunburn I've ever had. I'm OK, just real hot."
The 40 lead changes among eight drivers was a record for the Winston Cup cars. The number of caution flags - 19 for 134 laps - was one shy of tying the record. And the average speed of the race, only 67.673 mph, was the slowest at Bristol since 1974.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB