Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 17, 1993 TAG: 9305170115
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SONOMA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
And while Ernie Irvan and Ricky Rudd did their best on the final lap to make it five wrecks in a row for Bodine, he fought off their wild attacks and held on for his first victory of the year on this 11-turn, 2.52-mile road course.
"They did everything they could to try to spin me out, but we got `em," a jubilant Bodine told his crew as he circled the track after taking the checkered flag for his 14th career victory. It was his second win on a road course.
Irvan finished second - about two car lengths (.63 seconds) behind Bodine - and Rudd was third after a three-car shootout on the final lap. Ken Schrader was fourth, followed by Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Eight other cars also finished on the lead lap.
"I've won at the old Riverside track [in 1984] and I've always thought I was a pretty good road racer," Bodine said. "But nobody writes about guys that don't win and I understand that. Maybe I'll get a little credit now as a road racer."
The last lap war was prompted by the fifth full-course yellow flag, which flew with only three laps to go when Dorsey Schroeder crashed coming out of turn 7 and his car stuck on an embankment.
As the 74th and final lap started, NASCAR starter Doyle Ford threw the green and white flags simultaneously.
"We didn't need those restarts at the end," Bodine said. "But I knew if I could just get a good start, get up through the first part of the course and get through the carousel [turn 6], I was going to be OK.
"I knew I was going to be pretty safe through the esses and down to the last corner, because that turned out to be the strongest part of the track we had."
But he almost didn't make it there.
Coming out of turn 4, where the hilly road course heads downhill, Rudd, who was in second, tapped Bodine and got his Ford Thunderbird sideways.
"I got a little roughed up, but I was ready for it," Bodine said. "It was pretty exciting.
"I thought I was about 90 degrees sideways at one point," he said. "I don't know how the car got straightened out. All I know is I heard and felt sheet metal against me. But I just reached back into my old dirt racing days. I kept her hung out, kept my foot down and away we went."
Said Irvan, "Ricky had Geoff when he got out of shape on that last lap, and he let him go. He could have just gone ahead and finished him off, but he let [Bodine] gather it back up. I guess Ricky didn't want to win the race by taking him out."
But Bodine's car slid to the right as he fought to regain control through turn 5. That also happened to be where Rudd wanted to pass him.
"If I could have read the direction Geoff was going, I could have stood on the gas and got by," Rudd said. "But he looked like he lost it one way and gathered it up the other way. If I had kept driving by, I would have been in a wreck. We both would have wrecked."
"We all got tangled up at one time," Rudd said. "We all got bottled up in a knot and Geoff squirted out first."
Said Irvan, "The next corner [turn 6], Ricky and Geoff both drove in too deep into the carousel. I slid on by Ricky and I just about slid by Geoff. But I didn't have quite enough for Geoff."
Considering his recent racing misfortunes, Bodine deserved a bit of good racing luck.
He was knocked into the wall on the first lap at North Wilkesboro, N.C., after starting second. At Martinsville, Va., he won the pole, but wrecked on the second lap. Before those fiascos, he had crashed at Bristol. And after them, he was involved in a wreck at Talladega.
"I got turned around at Wilkesboro and turned around at Martinsville," Bodine said. "So I guess I was ready for it today. I'm just very thankful we made it around this track in one piece on that last lap."
Bodine, who led a total of 30 laps, almost lost the lead in another teeth-gritting moment on lap 64.
Flying through the esses, he got his Ford off course.
"The car got sideways and I almost lost it," he said. "Ernie was able to get alongside me and I let him go."
But as Rudd tried to pass Bodine going into turn 11, Bodine dove under Irvan and passed him.
"I ricocheted off Ernie and Ricky hit me," Bodine said. "But I was in the right spot."
Pole sitter Dale Earnhardt led the most laps - 33 - but the racing luck that Bodine finally got Sunday was not riding with Earnhardt.
After another restart on lap 53, Tommy Kendall got sideways going through the uphill turn 2 and Earnhardt, following closely, hit Kendall's car, damaging the right front of his Chevy.
"We were just a victim of circumstances today," Earnhardt said. But he still recovered to finish sixth and regain the Winston Cup points lead over Rusty Wallace, who lost all but fourth gear during the race and finally blew his engine, finishing 38th.
After winning, Bodine took a backwards victory lap in memory of Alan Kulwicki, whose team he bought last week.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB