Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993 TAG: 9302060111
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
RUDD NOW FAVORITE FOR DAYTONA POLE
Ricky Rudd on Friday became the first driver to top 191 mph in practice for the Daytona 500 and staked his claim among the favorites to win the pole position today for the Feb. 14 race.Rudd's unofficial speed of 191.648 mph in a Chevrolet Lumina was almost one mph quicker than the second-best lap, 190.763 mph by Kyle Petty in a Pontiac Grand Prix.
Dale Earnhardt was third fastest Friday at 190.638 mph, followed by Davey Allison at 190.315 mph and Wally Dallenbach Jr. at 190.295 mph.
These speeds may not provide a true picture of what will happen today in pole qualifying, which begins at 2 p.m.
For one thing, practice laps are hand timed. And with more than 50 cars practicing Friday, everyone was getting in everyone else's way.
"It's hard to get a clean lap for yourself out there," Rudd said.
Rudd, who won the pole in 1983, said he had no idea what speed it would take to win it this year, but "right now, I think we're pretty much in the hunt."
Despite the traffic, there were no spins or crashes Friday. There have been no incidents at all since the Winston Cup cars began testing here in December.
Among the drivers, estimates for what it will take to win the pole ranged from Rusty Wallace's guess of 189.9 mph to Morgan Shepherd's prediction of around 191.8 mph.
"The weather is going to play a major role in determining who will win the pole," Brett Bodine said. "If the day is calm, I think it will take 191.5 mph to take the pole. If it's windy, then the speed will be more like 189 mph."
It was cloudy and cool Friday with the temperature in the 60s - ideal conditions for fast laps. Today's forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of showers and thundershowers, with overcast skies and a high near 70.
As in the past, pole position qualifying will determine only the first two starting positions. The rest of the field will be set after the Twin 125 qualifying races next Thursday.
\ LONG SHOT LEADERS: Long shots always seem to have a better chance to win the Daytona 500 than other Winston Cup races, and the leading contenders in that category this year include Dallenbach and Bobby Hamilton.
"We ran this quick in December. We ran this quick in January. Everybody is surprised but us," Dallenbach said. "But we've got a good race car and a good motor. We've got good stuff - real good stuff."
To be a contender "feels great," he said. "Last year was like hell week for 30 weeks in the year. I was the new guy on the block and we had a lot to overcome.
"But Daytona is kind of like a second home to me. I've run in the 24 hours [of Daytona] for nine years, and I've got three Winston Cup races here. So I know the track real well, and that helps."
Dallenbach said he would be happy today if he was among the 10 fastest.
Hamilton, meanwhile, said, "It's possible we can sit on the pole. That's what we're here for. We're not trying for a top 10. We do want to sit on the pole.
"This change to Ford by our team and the way we ran in winter testing has the morale of the team way up."
\ LITTLE AL'S SLOWING DOWN: One driver who has lost speed since January testing is Al Unser Jr., despite intensive practice at Talladega this week.
Unser's unofficial best lap Friday was 186.320 mph in his Chevrolet Lumina. He was 35th fastest on the day - slightly slower than Jimmy Means and slightly faster than A.J. Foyt.
More importantly, it was more than three miles per hour slower than Unser's Jan. 22 practice lap of 189.833 mph.
"We're not running as well as we'd like," said Unser, who previously raced Indy cars. "We're not anywhere near the front yet, so we've just go to work at it, and there's not much time."
Among those chatting with Unser on Friday was Richard Petty.
"I asked him what he was running and he told me," Petty said. "I said, `Why don't you reach over and turn the turbo up?' "
Stock cars, unlike Indy cars, have no turbochargers.
\ ROOKIE WATCH: An early check of the 1993 rookie battle shows Jeff Gordon on top.
Gordon's best lap of 190.102 mph unofficially was the eighth fastest of the day. Kenny Wallace was 25th fastest at 188.434 mph, and Bobby Labonte was 28th fastest at 188.304 mph.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING