Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 5, 1993 TAG: 9304050069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
WALLACE ELUDES WRECKS TO WIN FOOD CITY 500
Fans who want a bang for their stock car racing dollar come to Bristol International Raceway, and the record crowd of some 68,000 packing this short-track shooting gallery Sunday got its money's worth watching the Food City 500.Rusty Wallace led 376 of the 500 laps and won the race by .82 seconds over Dale Earnhardt. Kyle Petty finished third, followed by Jimmy Spencer, Davey Allison and Darrell Waltrip, all on the lead lap.
Nobody - not even Wallace - was immune from the danger that loomed throughout the three-hour race.
"I barely missed six or eight of [the accidents]," he said. "There was a lot of stuff that happened today. . . . My car stuck really good, so I could not understand why they were having so many problems."
There were 17 yellow flags. The longest stretch of racing between caution periods was 74 laps. That was during the final 100 laps, when many cars were gone.
Nearly every driver was involved in one incident or another. By the end of the race, NASCAR officials had their hands full black-flagging cars that were so badly damaged they were obvious hazards.
Many teams were trying to get their damaged cars back on the track to earn Winston Cup points. They were using jackstands, two-by-fours, bungee cords, duct tape and anything else they could find to prop up damaged rear ends.
"Let's bring that No. 24 car [of Jeff Gordon] back in. The fuel cell is dragging and the back end looks like a mess," NASCAR race director David Hoots said late in the race.
To Bobby Labonte's crew, Hoots gave this message: "Tell them they can't run without a rear deck lid and a spoiler."
A few moments later, Winston Cup director Gary Nelson was on the radio to one of his NASCAR pit inspectors with a message to another team: "Tell them they can't send that car back out with a jackstand in the back end unless it's bolted in."
The highlight (or lowlight) of the day came after Dale Jarrett crushed the back end of his car after colliding with the already-damaged car of Bobby Hillin on lap 209. Jarrett, who was running with the leaders, was as mad as he's ever been.
As the field slowed under the yellow flag, Jarrett tore off his seat belts and exploded out of his car. He headed onto the track, waving off NASCAR officials who tried to stop him.
When Hillin's car passed, Jarrett took his helmet, which was painted with the colors of the Kansas City Chiefs football team, and hurled it against Hillin's car.
"Idiots! Idiots!" he fumed moments later. "It's a shame idiots like that are out there. He had already been in a wreck and was a bunch of laps down."
"I did nothing wrong," Hillin said. "I was just trying to stay out of the way and he cut down on me. There was a bunch of us limping around."
Said Jarrett, "I'm sure they'll fine me."
NASCAR parked Jarrett's car and refused to let him return to the track. NASCAR spokesman Chip Williams said no other action was taken against Jarrett on Sunday.
Even the presence of the yellow flag didn't stop some of the crash action.
"Everybody was running hell bent for heaven when the cautions were out," Wallace said. "I don't know what was going on."
On lap 262, for instance, the yellow flag flew for Ernie Irvan's crash in turn 1.
"I was running down the front straightaway toward the caution flag and [Brett Bodine] comes flying up past me, crashes right into the side of me and I said, `What is this all about,' " Wallace said.
Wallace said his car suffered no significant damage: "He just bent the quarterpanels up on it.
"There were a lot of guys, when we would throw our hand up to take the caution, they would never lift. I saw them go right past me crashing. It was pretty wild."
Bodine was blamed for several incidents. One time he crashed into his older brother, Geoff. "But I'll take a [ninth-place finish] after all that mess," he said.
When it was over, Wallace did not forget Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, who died in an airplane crash near here Thursday in a tragedy that overshadowed the weekend's racing.
After taking the checkered flag, Wallace took his victory lap backwards in a tribute to Kulwicki. The crowd roared with approval.
Kulwicki had done the same thing after winning his first race in 1988 and after winning the championship last year, calling it a "Polish victory lap."
"It was pretty doggone emotional today," Wallace said. "I found myself during the race thinking about what I was going to say after the race. I was still thinking about Kulwicki. I couldn't get it off my mind. I'm glad I did that reverse lap. I thought that was kind of appropriate for all he's done."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING