
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 4, 1995                   TAG: 9506060068
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: E8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL.                                 LENGTH: Medium

DRIVER DOESN'T TIRE OUT

Mike McLaughlin won the Goodwrench 200 Saturday at Dover Downs International Speedway because he was able to avoid blistering his tires.

In a race where most of the drivers were slowed by failing tires, McLaughlin, who picked up his first win on the Grand National circuit, beat Mike Wallace by 23.8 seconds after leading the final 18 laps.

``Everybody was a little nervous with the excessive tire wear,'' McLaughlin said. ``But the more we ran on the track, the better the wear got. We ran 60 laps on a set of tires and they were fine. We never blistered a tire.''

McLaughlin inherited the lead from Doug Heveron, whose team also figured out how to make his car run without blistering his Goodyear tires. Heveron had a lap on the field, but fell out of the race with a blown engine with only 18 miles to go.

``We were hauling butt,'' said Heveron, who has yet to win a Grand National race. ``That motor just blew up - hell of a tough blow.''

Despite the tire problems, there were only six yellow flags. And only four of the cautions were for crashes. Two were for tire checks. None of the crashes appeared to be caused by tire failure.

But Terry Labonte was so unnerved by the blistering tires, he quit after 100 of the 200 laps.

``I blistered a tire and nearly lost it out there,'' Labonte said. ``I couldn't tell that anything was wrong. I just didn't want to take the chance of a tire blowing out and wrecking and getting somebody else involved in the accident.''

The tire problems Saturday, and the prospects of more problems in today's Winston Cup Miller Genuine Draft 500, prompted many Winston Cup crew chiefs and drivers to watch the race from the pits so they could see firsthand how the tires were wearing.

There were no problems after the first couple of pit stops, but soon the cars began coming in with heavily blistered tires. Chunks of rubber were coming off the tread because it was too thick for the track and the rubber was overheating before it wore out.

The Grand National series normally restricts tire use, but because of the problems, those rules were waived. And some of the tires that were withdrawn from today's Winston Cup race were used.

Ricky Craven finished third, one lap down, followed by Jason Keller, Dale Jarrett, Johnny Rumley, Phil Parsons, Hermie Sadler, Chad Little and Jimmy Spencer.

Points leader Johnny Benson finished 14th, but still has a 108-point lead over Little.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB