Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 9, 1993 TAG: 9308090061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The British racing star celebrated his 40th birthday by winning the New England 200 in Loudon, N.H., after a stirring three-car duel against Paul Tracy and Emerson Fittipaldi.
Mansell passed Tracy while the two ran in traffic on lap 197 and prevailed by 45-hundredths of a second, with Fittipaldi, Tracy's teammate, 8.8 seconds behind.
"If you've got to turn 40, this is the way to do it," Mansell said. "This was pure racing at its best."
Mansell's Lola-Ford started from the pole and led the first 40 laps before Tracy, taking advantage of a different racing line, put his Penske-Chevrolet in front.
Through three days of practice, drivers had avoided the inside of the 1.058-mile New Hampshire International Speedway, which was extremely slick with lime applied to secure some new asphalt. On Sunday, Tracy gambled early and found his car worked well racing through the lime-treated lower groove.
Fittipaldi, seeing the success of his Penske teammate, also began running on the inside line and quickly progressed from his No. 11 starting position. Fittipaldi was up to third when the yellow caution flag came out on lap 66 after David Kudrave hit the wall.
Mansell regained the lead after the top three made pit stops, but Tracy went back on top with a sensational outside-inside move past Fittipaldi and Mansell on lap 86.
Tracy took his last lead by passing Mansell on lap 174, and those two took turns going at each other the rest of the way.
Mansell's fourth victory of the season padded his points lead to 144-119 over Fittipaldi, with Tracy moving into third with 100.
In other auto racing:
Harold P. Fagan, a Winston Cup crew chief who also built some of NASCAR's fastest, sleekest and best race cars for 32 years, died of cancer in Charlotte, N.C. He was 52.
NASCAR drivers Darrell Waltrip, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison and Donnie Allison drove cars built by Fagan.
by CNB