Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507310084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
Earnhardt, a seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion, was knocked out of the 50-lap, 100-mile race early and was relegated to watching the all-star event at Michigan International Speedway on closed-circuit television.
``I'd rather be in a race car,'' said the 1990 IROC champ. ``My wife can tell you, I'm not a good spectator.''
But Earnhardt was smiling as Unser, the 1994 Indy-car champion, held off SCCA Trans-Am star Tommy Kendall to earn a record ninth IROC victory.
Mark Martin, who came into the fourth and final IROC race of the season trailing Winston Cup rival Earnhardt by 10 points, never ran better than third in the 11-car field and finished fifth, losing the title by four points, 61-57. (Results in Scoreboard. B2)
Martin stalked away after the race after angrily telling Indy-car driver Scott Pruett, who raced with him most of the way and finished just ahead of him, ``I wouldn't want to race with you every week. Someone would get hurt.''
``I knew where Mark had to finish and I was pulling for Al and Kendall,'' said Earnhardt, who won $225,000 from the total IROC purse of $760,000. ``I didn't want to see Mark up there.''
Earnhardt had built his series point lead by winning at Daytona Beach, Fla., and Talladega, Ala.
That put him last for the start of Saturday's race, based on a reversed starting order. On the second lap, 23-year-old NASCAR star Jeff Gordon tangled with Kendall and got sideways coming off the second turn. Pruett also got involved, and Earnhardt nearly had to drive up the concrete wall to avoid Gordon's spinning car.
But Earnhardt apparently ran over debris from Gordon's car. His right-front tire blew as he approached the third turn, wrapping the wheel in rubber, tearing out the gas line and damaging a tie-rod.
Earnhardt lost several laps while repairs were made, then went back out and ran six more laps before a severe vibration brought him back into the pits to stay.
It was a happy finish for Unser, who crashed out of the opener at Daytona while battling Earnhardt for the lead, then missed the Darlington, S.C., race after spraining an ankle in the shower and skipped Talladega because a calcium deposit in one of his shoulders was bothering him.
He hugged Earnhardt in Victory Lane, saying, ``The man is a great driver and he deserves the championship. There are no hard feelings about that [Daytona crash]. I just wish he could have been racing.''
Kendall, who came back from the first-lap accident to contend midway through the race, led laps 31 through 37 before Unser drove his Dodge Avenger past Kendall's car to take the lead for good on lap 38.
Ten laps later, Kendall managed to get underneath Unser and nose ahead for a few moments, but the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner was able to fend off the challenge and win the dash to the finish by about two car-lengths.
``He got underneath me, made me real loose and got by me and I thought, `Man, this is going to be tough,''' Unser said. `` ... I knew he couldn't get by me on the high side and, after that, I was doing everything I could to keep him from getting underneath me again.''
Unser, a two-time IROC champion who started the day last in the points, was seventh in the final standings. His victory from the pole was only the 16th in 76 IROC races spanning 19 seasons.
Gordon wound up third in the race and fourth in the final points, while Pruett did the opposite, finishing two points ahead of Gordon with 51. Kendall was fifth in the series, with 47 points.
This was the final IROC race for the Avengers, which were introduced in 1994. They are expected to be replaced in 1996 by Pontiac Firebirds.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB