Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 20, 1994 TAG: 9406200036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Long
Whoever it was, the third turn bunker claimed a lot of players - uh, make that racers - during the Miller Genuine Draft 400 on Sunday.
Of course, it didn't stop Rusty Wallace from winning his third race in a row, although an empty gas tank almost did.
Wallace led 83 of the 200 laps around this two-mile, hazard-equipped oval, beating Dale Earnhardt by .72 seconds. Mark Martin was third, followed by Ricky Rudd and Morgan Shepherd.
But Wallace didn't make the race-winning pass until lap 197, when he dove under Earnhardt going into the treacherous third turn.
"This is a tough sport and this was the toughest race I've had in awhile," Wallace said. "We just had a little problem out there with the fuel."
But while Wallace's empty gas tank forced him to scratch and claw for his fifth victory of the year, everyone else was having trouble with a section of repaved track in the third turn. Anyone who blinked wrong in that area found himself sliding high into loose gravel, sometimes spinning and crashing.
Martin was leading on lap 184 when his car jerked in the turn and floated up toward the wall. By the time he recovered, he was sixth. "I was trying to win, boys," he told his crew.
Eight of the 11 drivers who crashed Sunday were victims of turn 3. And at least 14 of the record 56 laps run under the yellow flag during this event were prompted by the need to sweep the loose gravel out of the turn.
This Roger Penske-owned track, normally one of the most raceable in the series, required more maintenance before and during the race than a golf course.
Although the installation of the third turn `trap' was done with the best intentions, it backfired on Penske when a heat wave sent temperatures soaring into the 90s during all three days of the race weekend.
When bumps were found in the third turn after the long, cold winter, 780 feet of the third turn was repaved. All was fine until this weekend, when the heat conspired with dozens of race cars to chew up the new surface.
Track workers applied lime to the deteriorating surface both Friday and Saturday night. After the sun rose Sunday, they began watering it. Things had become even worse during the overnight maintenance when a jet blower peeled off slices up track high in the turn and a section about 10-by-70 feet had to be repaved.
"We're just going to keep watering it and keep it cool," track spokesman Steve Brown said several hours before the race. "That's all we can do."
After two days of qualifying and practicing, the drivers were well aware of the hazard. But there were still plenty of problems.
Those who crashed or almost crashed in the third turn included Ernie Irvan, Morgan Shepherd, rookies Tim Steele, Robby Gordon and Loy Allen, Brett Bodine, Todd Bodine, Greg Sacks, Lake Speed, Rick Mast and Bobby Hillin.
Rudd said before the race that it was like driving down the road at 200 mph and turning left onto a gravel road.
"It was a shame the race track tore up," Earnhardt said after the race. "They were trying to make it better and it backfired on them."
Rookie Joe Nemechek, who had a season-best seventh-place finish, said the conditions were "ridiculous" in turn 3. "I think it was worse than Dover," he said. "If you get a hair out of the groove, you're going to hit the wall."
"It felt like you were running through mud in turns 3 and 4," Bobby Labonte said.
But it didn't bother Wallace, who said he set up his car to run low through the turn.
"I never had any close calls whatsoever," Wallace said. "The closest call I had was when I ran out of gas."
It happened on lap 176.
"When the caution came out [on lap 175 for Bobby Hillin's turn 3 spin], we were planning to make a pit stop on that particular lap," Wallace said. "We were playing the fuel real tight. We were playing the gas mileage to where we could bring that thing right down to a 25-lap [to go] deal.
"But I had to go another lap [before the pit road opened on lap 176]. When I was going around the track, the car was tilted [in the turns] and the fuel wasn't getting to the engine. The motor quit running and I actually coasted down pit road with no power.
"The car had been real strong all day. And I was just not believing that I had led this thing all day long and I'm going to lose it on a technicality, so to speak, a miscue."
But after many long, dramatic seconds, crew chief Buddy Parrott finally helped get the engine restarted by forcing ether into the carburetor. Wallace's Ford shot forward and Parrott tumbled to the ground, but the car was back in the race.
"I was in 11th position, but the problem I had was there were 14 cars inside of me and 10 cars in front of me," Wallace said. "It was just a hornet's nest. We just had to go quick. I took a couple of chancy moves and knocked off four cars going into turn 1. I was running real mean right there at the end."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB