Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 27, 1993 TAG: 9309270047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Long
And give a dose of headache powder to Dale Earnhardt, who opened the door even wider for Rusty Wallace in the NASCAR Winston Cup championship points race after dropping out of the race with a broken rear end 60 laps from the finish.
While Earnhardt tumbled out of the top five to finish 29th, Wallace was second under the checkered flag. He trails the five-time champion by 82 points with five races left.
Wallace was Irvan's only significant challenger on a surprisingly hot afternoon at the .526-mile oval, and he led only 61 laps.
Irvan, wearing an Allison memorial T-shirt under his driver's uniform "right next to my heart," led 402 of the 500 laps in the Ford Thunderbird formerly driven by Allison. Irvan crossed the finish line 2.77 seconds ahead of Wallace.
"We're in victory lane here and Davey is in victory lane in heaven, and I'm sure he's looking down on us and he probably shed a tear along with us," Irvan said.
It was Irvan's second win of 1993, but his first for car owner Robert Yates, who hired Irvan after Allison's death July 13 of injuries received in a helicopter crash.
"I said at Talladega that Davey would be with our team forever," Yates said after the race. "Davey contributed a lot because he tested here for 675 to 700 laps in April. And a lot of things we learned in that test helped us win the race today. So you can say he did win at Martinsville."
Bobby Allison, Davey's father, was among those who congratulated Irvan as he headed down pit road after the race. "That made me feel good," Irvan said.
The race was an exhausting ordeal for many drivers, including Irvan, who went to the infield medical center after the victory ceremonies to get oxygen and intravenous fluids. Although it was a cool, overcast morning, the sun broke out shortly before the race began and the temperature soared to 91 degrees.
"I didn't go through my normal ritual before the race," Irvan said. "I usually drink a lot of Gatorade before the race and the night before. It seemed like it was going to be 50 degrees. It caught me. But I didn't have time to worry about that when I was racing. Afterwards, I could worry about being hot."
And afterward he could celebrate long-awaited success on a short track.
"Today the car was just unbelievable," he said. "I was wondering if I could ever drive a short track because I never seemed to get the job done. But I raced that car hard all day."
Irvan did not shy away from the rough stuff when the opportunities presented themselves.
After winning the pole, Irvan battled hard with outside pole-sitter Geoff Bodine for eight or 10 early laps. From lap 80 to lap 82, Irvan had a rough fight to lap Earnhardt, who had cut a tire in the first crash, a five-car tangle on lap 3.
Irvan had another rousing battle with Wallace for several circuits before getting past him on lap 332, and Irvan again traded paint with Earnhardt for about eight laps around lap 400 as Earnhardt tried to get back his lap.
"It was just good, hard racing," Irvan said. "Dale was tough today. Once he gets a lap down, he's always tough. We bumped a little and just went at it. He wanted to keep me behind him, and I wanted to put him a lap down. I didn't want to race him later.
"Me and Geoff got tangled up a little bit. And me and Dale got to banging. But I never got out of shape. That's fun. That's what Martinsville Speedway is all about - a little bumping and grinding and keep on going. Guys can block the race track pretty good, so sometimes you just got to move them.
"But the whole day today I kept telling myself, `Man, don't screw this up for these guys. Be smart.' I had a great day today."
Earnhardt was not in the same frame of mind.
"Well, that really stinks," he said.
Although he was lapped early, Earnhardt spent most of the afternoon making the best of a bad situation - one of his specialties.
Even though he never was able to make up his lost lap and was suffering from the heat shortly after the halfway point, he was solidly in fifth place on lap 440 when his car suddenly slowed.
From his driver's seat while his crew vainly tried to repair the car, Earnhardt said: "You can't do anything about parts breaking. It's a bad deal."
The crew never did get the broken gear replaced, partly because it was too hot to take apart.
"Get some water to cool it down," a crewman barked on the radio at one point.
"Cool the driver down, too," Earnhardt said from his seat.
After it was over, he said: "That's two [bad races] in a row, but we're still in the lead. We're still being chased. We're not doing the chasing."
Earnhardt has lost 229 points to Wallace in the past four races, and he looms larger than ever in Wallace's sights.
"I had four DNFs [did not finish], and the problems I had early he's having now," Wallace said. "It's getting us nip and tuck right down to the line, and we're going to make it a heck of a championship battle for everybody, I can tell you that."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB