Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 25, 1993 TAG: 9310250052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
But Wallace hinted that he's made up his mind.
"Our decision won't be made until after the [Nov. 14] Atlanta race is over," he said. "I'm sure we might know in the back of our heads what we're going to do, but right now we haven't signed with Ford or Pontiac and we're still running around in our heads what exactly is the right decision.
"But we feel like we'll be plenty prepared for the 1994 season with whichever format we're using.
Top General Motors officials will make a last-ditch effort to keep Wallace in a Pontiac Grand Prix, sources close to the situation said, but Wallace reportedly has begun selling some of his Pontiac engines and equipment. However, another source said a report that Wallace already is building a Ford Thunderbird was untrue.
\ MAKERS STANDINGS: Even if he has decided to leave Pontiac, Wallace's ninth victory of 1993 helped keep the car maker in the hunt for the 1993 manufacturer's championship.
But Chevy took a four-point lead over Ford by virtue of Dale Earnhardt's second-place finish Sunday.
With two races to go, Chevy has 181 points, Ford has 177 points and Pontiac has 174. Pontiac can win the title if a Pontiac wins at Phoenix and Atlanta and a Chevy finishes no better than third in one of those races.
Manufacturer's points are awarded on a 9-6-4 basis with only the top finishing car of each make earning points.
\ WHERE'S THAT COMING FROM?: Nineteen of the first 32 laps were run under the yellow flag, largely because of a mysterious problem with water and oil in the first and second turns.
The first yellow flew on lap 10 and lasted for six laps after Loy Allen Jr. crashed in the fourth turn.
But only two laps after the green came out on lap 16, the yellow flew again when several cars slid out of control and nearly crashed in turns one and two.
NASCAR officials were unable to determine the source of the liquid, even after ordering several cars into the pits for quick inspections.
The green flag came out again on lap 26, but the yellow came back out again on lap 28 when more oil spilled in turn two, causing more near-accidents. Officials never determined where it came from.
"There was definitely somebody out there squirting oil out," Wallace said.
\ WRECK REPORT: Eight caution periods slowed the race for 54 laps, but five of them were in the first 71 laps. The worst of the five spins or crashes occurred on lap 124, when T.W. Taylor lost control coming off turn two and John Andretti plowed into Taylor's spinning car. Kenny Wallace also was involved.
Rusty Wallace said that wreck was one of his closest calls during the race.
"When that big wreck happened, boy, I tell you, they were throwing parts and engine pieces all over," said Wallace, the race's winner. "It was raining metal. I had to dodge an 1,800-pound spring that crossed in front of me on the track."
Harry Gant, winless in 1993, led for 139 laps (second only to Wallace) in the middle of the race before fading to fourth.
"I was really happy with the tires when we had that big lead, but after that we had problems," Gant said. "We were borrowing tires from everybody, so maybe that was the problem."
\ TRACK TROUBLE: Several drivers were unhappy with the worn asphalt on the 1.017-mile Rockingham track.
"I don't know what we're going to do if they don't repave this place," said Mark Martin, who finished fifth.
"It's awful slippery," Ernie Irvan said. "You can't get hold of anything, so Goodyear can't build [a tire] for the track. It's just kind of like [North] Wilkesboro. You run on marbles."
"It's just like driving on a piece of sandpaper," Rusty Wallace said. "It takes tires and just tears them up."
Speedway spokesman Chris Browning said the track will be repaved in July.
\ NOT A GOOD DAY: Near the end of a long afternoon, as he headed for a 17th-place finish, Rick Mast got on the radio and said, "Well, I tell you, boys, this ain't been a good day."
Mast, like many other drivers, never could get his chassis handling properly.
"We kept adjusting on it," said Richard Jackson, the car's owner, "but we never quite got it dialed in."
Mast, from Rockbridge Baths, was three laps down at the finish.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB