Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 10, 1994 TAG: 9410140032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N. C. LENGTH: Medium
And while wrassler Ricky ``The Dragon'' Steamboat held a pit board for a backmarker, a racer with a football-style helmet and an ex-NFL coach for a boss - a driver who couldn't even make the race at North Wilkesboro last weekend - led the last four laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday and won the Mello Yello 500.
``Boy, what a season,'' said Dale Jarrett after winning his third career Winston Cup victory, his first since his 1993 Daytona 500 win, 55 races ago.
``We finish fifth at Martinsville and go to Wilkesboro with the same race car and last Sunday I was sitting at home on my couch watching the race, because we couldn't run fast enough to make the field. Then we come here, and I knew from the start we had an awesome race car.''
The race finished under caution when the Waltrip brothers crashed in turn two, but Jarrett, who drives for owner Joe Gibbs, had a lead of several car lengths over Morgan Shepherd as the yellow flew. Dale Earnhardt was third, followed by Ken Schrader, Lake Speed, Brett Bodine, Terry Labonte, Derrike Cope and Darrell Waltrip, all on the lead lap.
Any good wrasslin' match also has melodrama, and Jarrett and his team could provide that, too.
There was Jarrett's broken left wrist, which he cracked four weeks ago in a crash at Dover. It hurt plenty during the race. And consider crew chief Jimmy Makar's personal problems - a newborn baby with heart problems. And then there's the little matter of the turmoil on the team that has been making news. Jarrett wants to move to injured Ernie Irvan's car.
``I think it's time for some new headlines other than what's been written,'' Jarrett said. ``We thought we'd do that today.''
Jarrett only led four laps - the final four - in a race Geoff Bodine dominated, leading 202 of 290 laps. Then Bodine's Ford belched engine smoke and died.
Brett Bodine took over for 13 laps, then made a scheduled pit stop and turned the lead over to Morgan Shepherd. Shepherd was leading when Ricky Rudd and Jeff Gordon crashed into the first turn wall on lap 325, causing a caution period.
But as the field prepared for a restart with four laps left, Shepherd was on old tires, having elected to take gas only on his last pit stop. Jarrett had taken two tires on his final stop.
That proved to be the difference, as Jarrett shot under Shepherd in the second turn and let the battle rage on behind him.
Much of the raging was done by Earnhardt, who had elected to come into the pits during the caution for four fresh tires. That decision dropped him from fourth to sixth, since most of the other leaders had remained on the track to preserve their positions.
Earnhardt's own crew told him not to pit, but he countermanded that order. ``I want to win the race,'' Earnhardt told his crew as he dove onto pit road. ``I don't want to run third, fourth or fifth.''
``I could see that black car back there,'' Jarrett said. ``I was very concerned. I only had two decent tires on at that time. I knew Earnhardt would be coming in a hurry. When I saw him coming on the inside of Morgan [with 2 1/2 laps to go], I got concerned again.
``If he cleared Morgan, I knew I was really going to have to go hard. But he didn't clear him and that let me rest a little bit easier.''
Said Earnhardt: ``I'da got by that 21 [Shepherd's car], but that sucker run me on up to the wall.''
And then, as Jarrett headed toward the white flag, the Waltrips wrecked, and the yellow and white flags came out together. It was over.
``We might not have been the fastest car, but we were awful consistent,'' Jarrett said. ``We kept adjusting on the car and finally got it in good shape.''
And now back to the melodrama.
Jarrett, wearing his Dallas Cowboys racing helmet for the first time since his Daytona win, was playing hurt. He said his broken left wrist ``bothered me at times. It got very, very tired, and I had to drive with one hand a lot. And then I got awfully tired. But it was worth it.''
And then there is Makar's problems with his new family. His wife, Patti, who is Jarrett's sister, gave birth in August to twins - son Dylan and daughter Alex. But Dylan has a heart problem. Apparently it is not serious, but the baby had some tests this week and that was enough to keep any new father preoccupied.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB