by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB
Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992 TAG: 9202150210 SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
EARNHARDT WINS IROC THRILLER
Dale Earnhardt wrote another chapter in his book of unforgettable racing moves Friday, charging from third to first in the last few hundred yards of the International Race of Champions at Daytona International Speedway.Coming off the fourth turn of the last lap, Earnhardt appeared trapped behind Ricky Rudd and Harry Gant. But he whipped his baby blue Dodge to the inside of the tri-oval, went three-wide with Gant and Rudd, and beat them by less than half a car length at the finish line.
Rudd and Gant finished in a rare dead heat for second.
Davey Allison was fourth, followed by Hurley Haywood, Al Unser Jr., Geoff Brabham, Rusty Wallace, Davy Jones, Arie Luyendyk, Pete Halsmer and Scott Pruett.
"It was one of the most exciting IROC races I've ever been in," Earnhardt said. "I rate that one up there with the best of them as far as winning races."
Champions separate themselves from the pack with moves like Earnhardt made. It ranked with his pass in the grass at Charlotte and his pass on the dirt at Riverside.
The first of four 1992 IROC races did what it was supposed to do, which is to identify the best racer among 12 top drivers from sports cars, Indy cars and stock cars competing in equally prepared Dodges.
The stock car drivers always have the advantage at Daytona because they are used to superspeedway racing.
But Earnhardt stood out above them.
There were 18 lead changes among five drivers in the 40-lap race. Earnhardt took the lead the most, seven times. Unser, who in recent years has been the only non-stock car driver who can keep up with the NASCAR drivers on the superspeedways, led four times. Rudd led three times and was in front for the most laps, 17. Allison also led three times, and Wallace, the 1991 IROC champion, led once.
Most of the passing occurred early in the race. By lap 26, the drivers had settled down and were content to let Rudd lead. That's how it stayed until the last lap.
"I didn't really want to be sitting in the lead there" on the last lap, Rudd said. "It was kind of like the old days - the slingshot maneuver."
This slingshot move, however, snookered not only one car, but two cars side by side.
As the pack moved down the backstretch on the last lap, Earnhardt was tucked in second behind Rudd. Allison was behind Earnhardt.
But Rudd was able to block Earnhardt's moves to pass.
Suddenly, in turns 3 and 4, Gant began charging up on the inside, as he had done a lap or two earlier. Haywood was behind Gant, giving him a big drafting boost.
It appeared that Earnhardt had received a double whammy - Rudd blocking his moves to pass, then Gant boxing him in.
"I was going through turns three and four and I thought, `This is the end of my day,' " Earnhardt said. "But when I started out of four, I glanced in the rear and Allison was still sort of behind me. The car picked up momentum in behind Rudd and Gant.
"So I just started blending to the left, hoping nobody was there. That enabled us to break free and go on the bottom of the track."
Earnhardt spotted a little hole down next to Gant and took it, darting all the way from the outside to the inside of the track.
"It was definitely not a plan," Earnhardt said. "It just worked out that way."
Had things gone as Earnhardt planned, he and Allison would have drafted past Rudd. When that was stymied, he improvised.
"What happened," Earnhardt said, "is when [Gant and Rudd] got side by side, they sort of boxed themselves together and I drafted off both of them. And one car can run faster by itself than two side by side."
Said Gant: "I thought I was gonna get it, but I didn't see Dale ducking under me there, I was really concentrating on Ricky. I knew a lot of cars would be coming."
Earnhardt, the 1990 IROC champion, said he was so intense that "when I got out of my car in Victory Lane, I was light-headed."
Said Rudd: "It was a lot of fun. You never knew where you were going to end up. You could be leading one lap and you might be 10th the next."
The only crash occurred on lap 32 when the car of Pruett, the defending race champion, caught fire. As Pruett slowed on the front stretch, he was hit from behind by Halsmer. Neither was injured.
The next IROC race will be May 2. Friday's race will be televised March 15 by ABC at 5 p.m.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING