Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Rushing from Indy to the Glen, the NASCAR Winston Cup series barely takes time to catch its breath while plowing headlong into the most intense part of the season - 10 weekend races in a row stretching into October.
And Dale Earnhardt, winner of the Brickyard 400 last weekend and winner of the season's first road race at Sears Point, has to supplant Jeff Gordon - for the first time in months - as the favorite to win this weekend on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course at Watkins Glen International.
But it's tough to win anywhere these days, as Mark Martin attests. Martin will be going for his third straight Glen victory.
``Anytime you win another one in a row, it becomes increasingly less likely that you'll be able to repeat,'' Martin said. ``We should run good enough to win this time, but that doesn't mean we will win.
``I don't think anybody Saturday morning would have bet against Jeff Gordon to win the Brickyard, but you just cannot predict wins in this series. I don't care who you are, how good your car is. You cannot - cannot - take any of these race wins for granted.''
Pole qualifying for Sunday's 90-lap, 220.5-mile race begins today at 2 p.m. (ESPN2 cable)
EARNHARDT COMEBACK: To hear Dale Earnhardt tell it, momentum had been building well before his Brickyard 400 win, even though he was all but out of the media spotlight at Indy.
``We run pretty good at Talladega [third] and sort of got back on track, so I told myself, `OK, you didn't have no bad luck, maybe we can get out of this bad luck string.'
``So I go up to the IROC race [in Michigan July 29], parked it [early], finished 11th and sat there and watched the race on television and won the points championship. So that was a lucky deal. I felt like we was in a good mode. Then we had a fresh, brand new car for Indy. I got in the car and after the first practice, I knew we were going to be OK.
``I didn't qualify as fast as I could [13th] - I was maybe a little too careful or whatever - but once the race got started, the car could do anything I wanted to do.
``I was just very comfortable at Indy,'' Earnhardt said. ``There didn't seem to be a lot of people focused on and worried about us.
``We just sort of moved around the garage at our own pace. When it came time to do it, we did it, and everybody said, `Wow, where did he come from?'''
AN INDY EXPERIENCE: One of the few irritations for Earnhardt at Indy was the glare of the setting sun in his eyes as he tried to negotiate turn 3 in the later stages of the Brickyard race.
But the time of the day also provided a certain unique atmosphere, as described by Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George.
``We were just really blessed the way the skies opened up,'' he said. ``It was really kind of an Indy experience, with the long shadows, the clouds going by, the sun going down and the rainbow. To me, it was kind of special.''
A crucial moment that paved the way for the running of the race came around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The track was almost dry, George said, ``but the track crew said it was going to take awhile. They said they hadn't touched the pits or the warm-up lane.''
``I told [NASCAR President Bill France] that and he said, `That doesn't matter to us. We go like that all the time.' So the decision was made to go. We felt like we had an obligation to the fans who had been there since 6:40 in the morning with trash bags on their heads.''
THE NASCAR CROWD: George also made some interesting comments about the difference between the Brickyard fans and the hard-partying Indy 500 crowd.
``For the most part, I think they're a different group of fans,'' he said. NASCAR fans ``are genuinely there to see the competition and cheer for the drivers. They're very well behaved and the community - they love the NASCAR fans very much.
``We put trash bags in the grandstands and ask fans to try to help us keep it nice. And we found that every night, [NASCAR fans] had picked up their trash, put it in the bags and taken the bags downstairs and put them next to the trash barrels. That's something we're not accustomed to.''
by CNB