Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 4, 1993 TAG: 9305040026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
Wallace, the Winston Cup points leader, broke a wrist and received a concussion when his Pontiac was clipped by Dale Earnhardt off the final turn, lifted off the track and barrel-rolled several times before coming to rest beyond the finish line in the infield grass.
"He's very lucky to come through that," said David Smitherman, a spokesman for Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, where Wallace was flown by helicopter after Sunday's crash. "I saw the tape and you wouldn't think that someone would come out of that alive."
Wallace was in stable condition and had been moved out of the intensive care unit to a regular room, though he was not expected to be released before today, Smitherman said. An orthopedic surgeon and a trauma specialist were treating the injuries.
Sunday, some drivers were critical of NASCAR's decisions, first to pull out the yellow flag when rain began to fall with nine laps to go, then to red-flag the race with four laps left in an attempt to finish the race under green.
NASCAR officials said that because the showers ended quickly and plenty of daylight remained, they chose to halt the race and dry the track. After a 13-minute delay, it restarted under yellow and the final two trips around the 2.66-mile, high-banked tri-oval were run under green.
That set up a wild scramble among 15 cars on the lead lap while several other lapped vehicles clogged the track. Ernie Irvan dashed from fourth to first on the final lap, holding off Jimmy Spencer by two car lengths while Wallace was flipping through the air just behind them.
"If it hadn't been for the accident, this would not even be a story," said Chip Williams, a NASCAR spokesman. "Earnhardt was trying his best to avoid Rusty. Another foot, and all of a sudden we have the greatest finish in NASCAR history. We'd be heroes."
Williams said the only complaints came from drivers who got squeezed out on the restart. He noted that 41 cars were jockeying for position at the start of the race.
"If you're a driver who lost a lot of positions on the last two laps, you're going to be against that decision," Williams said. "If you're a driver who gained a lot of positions, it was a great decision."
Several drivers said the wreck might have been avoided if the race had been stopped immediately on lap 179 when the rain began. Then there would have been more time for the cars to spread out before the final lap.
Rookie Jeff Gordon said, "I wish we hadn't gone green with two laps to go. On a superspeedway like this, it makes it good for the fans, but things like [Wallace's crash] can happen. Everybody was driving completely insane going for as many positions as they could."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB