Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 15, 1993 TAG: 9305150151
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SONOMA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
Dale Earnhardt had a rough time of it, too, blaming himself for causing the eight-flip crash in the final seconds of the Winston 500 that left Wallace with a broken left wrist and a concussion.
But after seeing Wallace's speedy return to action, Earnhardt quickly regained his own mental toughness and charged to his second Winston Cup pole in a row Friday with a track record of 91.838 mph at Sears Point International Raceway.
"After Talladega and Rusty's accident, I really beat up on myself pretty bad," Earnhardt said after winning the top starting spot for Sunday's Save Mart 300. "I talked with Rusty a number of times and played back the crash a lot and felt bad about it.
"I feel like there was some error on the part of both of us. I feel like I could have done some things different to avoid it and he says he could have done some things different. But after seeing him back in the car and doing well, I feel better now."
Ricky Rudd took the outside pole in another Chevy at 91.561 mph on this 11-turn, 2.52-mile road course. He was followed by Geoff Bodine in the fastest Ford Thunderbird at 91.479 mph, defending champion Ernie Irvan in a Chevy at 91.269 mph and Mark Martin in another Ford at 91.113 mph.
Wallace was sixth fastest at 91.079 mph and said after his run he probably would drive the entire race Sunday.
"The wrist is fine," he said. "It's looking like I can run the whole race."
Wallace said he had to get off the gas twice during his qualifying run - once because he thought a worker was warning him of oil on the track and another time because "there was a lot of gravel on the track."
"It could have been better," he said, "but I'll take it."
Also in the top 10 were Wally Dallenbach Jr. at 91.069 mph, Ken Schrader at 90.918 mph, Davey Allison at 90.869 mph and Terry Labonte at 90.809 mph.
Labonte is also a member of the Winston Cup walking wounded, but his injuries didn't seem to slow him down. Labonte is nursing sore ribs from his Talladega crash. He arranged to have TransAm series road racer Jack Baldwin stand by as a possible relief driver, but practiced and qualified the car himself.
"This morning was the best I've felt in some time," Labonte said. "I pulled some muscles away from the ribs in the crash, but right now my ribs feel OK."
"We worked on the seat some so the side of the seat didn't hit my ribs," he said. "If we hadn't done that, I couldn't have run two laps."
Earnhardt said his new Chevy was the key to his quick run, which beat Rudd's 1992 record of 90.985 mph.
"I've never driven a race car that was just tied to the race track like this one," he said. "It just felt like the car did the job."
Tommy Kendall, driving the late Alan Kulwicki's Ford Thunderbird, plowed hard into a tire wall after losing control in turn 10 during his qualifying run. The front of the car was mangled by the crash.
But Kendall walked away from it. He was limping slightly when he returned to the garage and complained of soreness in his chest, but said he'd be back to qualify during today's second round at 1 p.m.
"Coming through turn 10, I got a little bit loose in the middle of the corner," he said. "So I let off, but when I got back in the throttle, it snapped back to the left and just hit head on into the wall."
Crew members quickly unloaded their backup car and were getting it ready by the time Kendall returned to the garage.
Earlier, during practice, Brett Bodine crashed backwards into the tire wall in turn 4, putting his primary car out of action.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB