Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993 TAG: 9310030121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
At age 30, John Andretti has plenty of major-league racing experience. His resume includes a half-dozen Indy 500 starts. But nothing in his career had been quite as excruciating as trying to qualify for his first NASCAR Winston Cup race - the Tyson Holly Farms 400.
And at this moment, just after the end of second-round qualifying, the nephew of Mario and cousin of Michael leaned against his race car as his crew stood around him in a semicircle.
They thought he had made it, but no one was sure. So they all stood there in silence and hung on every word of track announcer Winston Kelley, who was reading the official starting lineup for the race.
"Starting 28th is Michael Waltrip, 29th will be Wally Dallenbach," Kelley said. "Starting 30th will be Jay Hedgecock. And starting 31st is John Andretti."
A flood of smiles swept through the little group. Andretti clenched both fists in exultation. He hugged his wife. Crew members shook his hand and patted him on his shoulders.
He had qualified for his first Winston Cup race. He had come back from a miserable run Friday and fought his way into the 34-car field.
It was not so much that he had succeeded. More than anything, he had not failed. He had upheld the Andretti family name. And it was as good a feeling as he had ever known.
"I'm ecstatic," he said. "This was harder than qualifying for the [Indianapolis] 500 for me. Ever. I know what I'm doing there."
The North Wilkesboro garage, to be sure, is far from the limelight of Indy. Here, it didn't matter that his name was Andretti. His team, in fact, couldn't even get a spot in the covered garage. There was no room. So they found a shadeless spot behind the garage and set up shop in the sun.
Next year, Andretti will replace Terry Labonte and will drive Billy Hagan's No. 14 Chevrolet Lumina full-time. But until Saturday's do-or-die qualifying run, his first Winston Cup steps had been halting.
At the Brickyard 400 test session in September at Indy, he had spun in front of a pack, wiping out several cars, including one driven by Mark Martin, who was furious.
Andretti had a good practice here Friday, running lap speeds that were fast enough to make the race easily. But in the first round of time trials, when it counted, he slowed while nearly everyone else went faster.
With a run of 112.438 mph (compared to pole-winner Ernie Irvan's 116.786 mph), Andretti was 38th among 39 drivers.
And with only 32 spots in the field - and Winston Cup regulars Dave Marcis, Jeff Purvis, Greg Sacks and Rick Wilson between him and that 32nd spot - Andretti left the track Friday with serious doubts.
"Last night was most frustrating," he said. "It was depressing, humiliating - all that to me, personally. The guys felt bad and it really wasn't their fault. It was more my fault than anyone's."
But it was more than that. His name is Andretti and he drives a race car. That carries a special burden. As he put it: "If we didn't make it in this first race, people would have talked about it."
Back on the track during practice Saturday morning, Andretti tried to rehearse the moment to come.
"Every time I went out this morning, I kept trying to do qualifying runs," he said. "I kept telling myself this was a qualifying lap and to look for ways to improve and pick up everything - to gain time."
Shortly after noon, he put his pride and ego on the line. He buckled his helmet, wheeled his Chevrolet Lumina onto the track and took the green flag. Less than 40 seconds - and two laps - later, he was done. And he was faster. His best lap was 114.510 mph - almost four-tenths of a second faster than Friday's run.
It was good enough for 31st - if no one else beat it. Purvis tried, and was thirty-five-hundredths of a second slower than Andretti. Sacks was sixty-two-hundredths back. Wilson was about a tenth of a second slower. And Marcis was about two-tenths slower.
Of the seven drivers who tried to qualify Saturday, Andretti was the only one who made it. (Two others - Purvis and Wilson - made the grid as provisional starters.)
And now that he was in the race, other drivers began arriving at Andretti's open-air garage stall to congratulate him, as if he was now a member of an elite club. Labonte was there. Kenny Wallace came by, as did Bobby Hillin.
When Ken Schrader stopped by and offered his hand, Andretti shook it and said, "They always said it was better to be lucky than good."
Schrader looked straight at him and replied: "I don't think you were lucky."
by CNB