Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992 TAG: 9202140119
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
TURN 4 PLAYS ROUGH
The Bermuda Triangle was alive and well in the fourth turn of Daytona International Speedway on Thursday during the first Twin 125 qualifying race forSunday's Daytona 500.Mysterious forces were at work in that troublesome turn, and a bunch of top Winston Cup drivers suddenly became passengers as their cars bounced off concrete walls and each other in three incidents.
There was a good battle at the end, too.
Dale Earnhardt, with a drafting assist from fellow Chevrolet driver Ernie Irvan, held off Mark Martin's charging Ford by three-quarters of a car length. Earnhardt led the first 13 laps and the final 10 laps of the 50-lap race.
"Luckily, Ernie followed me and [his draft] helped me get back by Mark, or I don't think I'd have got back by him," said Earnhardt.
Irvan was happy to help.
"You don't cut the hand off that feeds you," he said. "That's just a choice we had to make."
Irvan finished third, followed by Greg Sacks, Harry Gant, Rick Mast, Ken Schrader, Rusty Wallace, Phil Parsons and Kerry Teague.
The first race drained all of the excitement out of the day. The second Twin 125 was uneventful as Bill Elliott led Morgan Shepherd and Davey Allison across the finish line in a 1-2-3 sweep for Ford.
Elliott led 49 of the 50 laps, relinquishing the lead to Allison only during a brief but spirited fight on laps 41-42.
"They both run at me well a couple of times," Elliott said, "and I was able to make a couple of moves and get them racing among each other. That was the only thing that saved me."
Ricky Rudd was fourth in a Chevrolet, followed by brothers Michael and Darrell Waltrip, Chad Little, brothers Geoff and Brett Bodine and Derrike Cope.
No one was injured in the crashes, although Alan Kulwicki said his left leg was sore. Kulwicki was forced to a backup car, as were Richard Petty, Terry Labonte, A.J. Foyt, Rick Wilson, Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty.
All of those drivers will make Sunday's race but will have to start in the back of the 42-car field.
The chaos in the first race started on lap 5, when Martin's car seemed to touch Kulwicki's car, which spun in front of the pack.
There was no clear evidence of contact on Martin's car.
"I'm not sure what happened," Martin said. "It's just hard to make these cars handle here right now."
Kulwicki's spinning car brushed Irvan's car, then slid up the track in front of Labonte, who had no place to go. As Labonte T-boned Kulwicki, other cars began crashing.
"There was nothin' but dust and stuff then," said Richard Petty.
Petty and Foyt were knocked out of the race, as were Wilson, Dave Mader III, Ben Hess and, of course, Kulwicki and Labonte. Hut Stricklin's car was damaged, but he managed to complete 46 laps and finished 17th in the race.
The second incident knocked Daytona 500 pole-winner Sterling Marlin out of the race.
Marlin was in the lead on lap 20 when Earnhardt made a bold move past Martin and moved up on Marlin's bumper in turn 4. It was difficult to tell if Earnhardt touched Marlin, although Earnhardt admitted he did.
"I hope he's not too awful mad at me," Earnhardt said.
Marlin spun down the front stretch, blowing four tires and popping out his windshield but not hitting anything. For Marlin, who has the pole for Sunday's race no matter what he did Thursday, that was enough racing for one day. He dropped out.
"You'd think a guy like [Earnhardt] who has won a lot of championships would race a little cleaner, but whatever," Marlin said. "He's gonna get a dose of his own medicine is all I can say."
In the third incident in turn 4, Jarrett lost control on lap 36 without anyone touching him and collected Kyle Petty.
"I just messed up there," Jarrett said.
Petty said, "It's one of those deals where you can see it begin from far back and then you just try to get the best position possible to avoid it. I didn't get the good position this time."
For Martin, who waged the most exciting battle of the day, the loss to Earnhardt was not terribly disappointing.
"We're pleased to be starting up front [in fifth] and we've got a great race car, something that could give us a shot at the 500," he said.
Martin moved his car ahead of Earnhardt's on the backstretch and stayed on the outside, trying to make the pass stick as they barrelled side-by-side through turn 4. But as they moved into the tri-oval and approached the checkered flag, Irvan pulled in behind Earnhardt, giving him the drafting boost he needed to win.
"We got a good shot at him, but without somebody to help me, I couldn't stay ahead of him to the line," Martin said.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING