Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 7, 1995 TAG: 9508080027
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
But watch out for Dale Earnhardt, looming large in third.
After winning the second Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he's only 121 points back. And he's rolling again.
``Do you think I need to re-establish myself?'' Earnhardt replied a bit testily to a reporter's question in the winner's interview. ``Do you think people have just completely forgot about me? I didn't feel like we needed to re-establish myself. I just felt like we needed to win again.''
And now he has done that, with one of the biggest victories of his long and legendary career.
The greatest champions rise to the challenge of the greatest events, and Earnhardt proved yet again Saturday that he is NASCAR's best.
How quickly the sport and its fans have been ready to roll out his death wagon. Let him struggle like any other human in NASCAR racing (with a 35th, a 22nd and a 20th in the past six races), and let him drop from first to third in points, and with the critics, he's outta there.
``I've heard some comments this week, and some guys who do some shows [have been] talking about the 3 car under some pressure and [team members] pulling on each other,'' he said. ``I'm going to tell you something. Our guys are confident.
``You're not going to beat us by talking about us,'' he said. ``You're going to have to beat us on that race track. It's real competitive right now. It's not easy to beat these guys. It's not easy to win a race. I don't know if I can beat 'em next week. But we're going to give it our all.''
The Brickyard 400 was a most interesting affair, having somehow been shoe horned into the late afternoon of a wet and most unpromising day. But the remnant of Hurricane Erin had the good sense to park its western flank about two laps southeast of this metropolis.
And there the clouds sat throughout the late afternoon, while the NASCAR boys raced around under clear skies in the picturesque fragile light of a fading Indiana summer afternoon.
You've got to hand it to NASCAR. When it comes to defying the weather - when it comes to being prepared to race when a track is ready - they have developed the science into an art.
One is tempted to scoff at the sight of trucks circling a track trying to dry the asphalt when it is still sprinkling and spitting rain, as it did most of the morning and early afternoon Saturday.
But just when it seemed that the day was, indeed, a washout, which the gathered media regarded as a virtual certainty, the skies inexplicably cleared and NASCAR was ready to go.
They were so ready, in fact, that thousands of fans were still rushing to their seats, urgently bumping and shoving each other, as the cars were making the pace laps.
None of this, of course, helped a nation of stay-at-home fans, who found themselves without television coverage, and in some cases also without radio coverage, on race day.
Too bad, because this was a race, and a track, that for the second year in a row showcased the sport's best drivers and teams.
Can you imagine a more stellar finishing order than Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Sterling Marlin?
But at the world's greatest speedway on a fading Saturday afternoon, Earnhardt was proving again that he may slip and he may stumble, but he's not about to be stepped on by a 24-year-old phenom or anyone else.
``This team is not under any more pressure than it's ever been,'' Earnhardt said. ``Just because there's a Sterling Marlin or a Jeff Gordon ahead of us in points, our team is still the same team it was. They still have the savvy and the confidence and everything it takes to win championships and races.
``We're not dead yet.''
by CNB