Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 6, 1993 TAG: 9309060117
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Long
"Cool it," Childress told his driver, Earnhardt. "We need to finish this race."
Earnhardt has a championship to worry about. And with eight races left in the 1993 Winston Cup season, this is the time of year when Childress gets conservative.
But there seems to be little that can stop Earnhardt from winning his sixth title, other than a debilitating illness or injury.
Earnhardt actually has extended his points lead during Mark Martin's streak of four consecutive victories.
Going into Watkins Glen in August, Martin's first victory in the run, Earnhardt led second-place Dale Jarrett by 234 points. After Sunday's event at Darlington Raceway, Earnhardt leads second-place Rusty Wallace by 304 points.
And Martin, despite his four victories, has gained only 148 points on the leader, primarily because Earnhardt has finished ninth, third and fourth in the last three events. Martin is third in the championship standings, 307 points behind Earnhardt.
"Some people have said we're stroking," Earnhardt said after the race. "I fought the car all last week at Bristol and finished third, and if anyone thought I was stroking today, well, I don't know what else I can do to race harder."
Irvan, meanwhile, said he had "a pretty good day" in his debut in the late Davey Allison's Ford Thunderbird, which he drove to a fifth-place finish despite a late-race spin.
"Me and Earnhardt had a heck of a race there for a while," Irvan said. "I had to let everybody know what it's all about. I'm here for one reason, and that's to win races."
Jeff Purvis, making his debut in the Chevrolet Lumina that Irvan vacated, finished 26th, seven laps down, in an effort that included a stop-and-go penalty for speeding on pit road.
"I had a lot of fun out there," Purvis said. "I just got tired of getting passed."
In other racing news:
\ VIRGINIA DRIVERS: The Southern 500 was another case of what might have been for Rick Mast. The Rockbridge Baths driver was making another strong run when the rear end of his car failed before the race's halfway point.
"It just started clanking, so I brought it into the garage," said Mast, who finished 32nd. "It's a bummer, because I was running 13th when it happened and we had a good car." . . .
Ricky Rudd finished sixth in his Chevrolet Lumina - one lap down - and said he was "lucky to get what we got out of this one."
The Chesapeake driver tangled with Harry Gant on pit road early in the race and that "didn't help the car," he said.
"We came back pretty good, but I can't blame [the lost lap] on the deal in the pits," he said. "We never did get [the handling] exactly right." . . .
Ridgeway's Jimmy Hensley never got his Ford Thunderbird handling properly and finished 23rd, six laps down.
Brad Teague, a New River Valley Speedway regular who qualified 38th, finished 38th after a vibration knocked him out on the 13th lap.
\ RADIO SILENCE: Wally Dallenbach Jr. finished 11th - two laps down - despite being unable to talk with his crew chief, Howard Comstock, on the radio. Dallenbach could hear Comstock, but Comstock could not hear his driver. Comstock resorted to asking questions and saying things like, "If you think we need to do that, stick your hand out the window next time around."
\ IN THE DARK: Although the race was flagged 16 laps early because of darkness, there were few complaints about what turned out to be a twilight event.
Wallace, who finished third, had more problems than most, though.
"You ought to try driving in the dark," he said. "I had a dark visor on. I couldn't see nothing." . . .
Dick Trickle, driving in relief of rookie Kenny Wallace again, finished 10th - his second top 10 finish in a row in the Pontiac Grand Prix. On Aug. 28 at Bristol, he finished ninth. That ought to generate some attention for the veteran driver, who is without a full-time ride.
\ NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE: In Wichita, Kan., a tire flew off a race car and into a crowded stand of spectators, killing the 7-year-old daughter of a driver and critically injuring her brother.
Amanda Dutton, daughter of driver Paul Dutton, died early Sunday after the accident Saturday night at 81 Speedway. She was struck by a tire that flew off the car of driver Jon Johnson and sailed 50 feet into the stands, where the children were sitting with their mother and grandparents, who were not injured.
Paul Dutton was entered in the night's events but was not competing at the time of the accident.
\ SMITH GOES HOME: NASCAR driver Stanley Smith, who was critically injured in a July crash at Talladega, Ala., is recovering at home after his release from a Birmingham, Ala., hospital. Smith's wife, Delphia, said he faces more surgery and therapy for nerve damage suffered in the July 25 crash during the DieHard 500 Winston Cup race. He was released Friday from Carraway Methodist Medical Center.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING FATALITY
by CNB