Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508280159
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
The old, bad memories of a horrifying flip at Talladega more than two years ago flooded to the surface early Sunday morning when Rusty Wallace confronted his old buddy Dale Earnhardt after the Goody's 500.
They're not such good buddies anymore.
``I ain't forgetting Talladega, and I'm not forgetting this,'' Wallace told Earnhardt in a noisy, angry post-race confrontation after Earnhardt crashed Wallace early in the race.
Wallace, of course, was talking about the tap from Earnhardt at Talladega in 1993 that sent him flipping and tumbling down the track at the end of the May race. Saturday night's collision was nothing like that one, but it set the stage for a wild encore to an even wilder Goody's 500.
The rain-delayed race ended long after midnight when Terry Labonte took the checkered flag sideways, having become the final target of Earnhardt's relentless, take-no-prisoners assault on Bristol International Raceway. Labonte's car, struck by Earnhardt's as they came off the fourth turn on the last lap, jerked to the left, bounced off Greg Sacks' car, spun to the right, crossed the finish line and then plowed head on into the outside wall. It was the most violent finish by a winner in NASCAR since Davey Allison crashed after winning The Winston in 1992 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
``That was the first time that's ever happened to me,'' said Labonte. ``I don't ever remember going across the finish line sideways for a win like that.''
The irony was that until the end, Labonte had one of the few undamaged cars on the track.
``I think I ran all night long and never had a scratch on the car until the last lap,'' he said.
Not so for Wallace, who was the first driver to crash, hitting the frontstretch wall after Earnhardt tapped him in the rear in the fourth turn on lap 32.
Wallace was furious. He pulled up next to Earnhardt's car during the ensuing caution period and tapped the black Chevy. Wallace recovered well from the incident and had soon made up the lost lap. And he was coming through the field again when Bill Elliott hit the outside wall on the back on lap 204. Jeff Burton ran into the back of the slowing Wallace, who spun and hit the inside wall. And that was it for Wallace, who eventually finished 21st, 46 laps down, stewing all the while about what Earnhardt had done to him.
After the race, Earnhardt was standing next to his car, doing an interview with Winston Cup Today's Mark Garrow and Motor Racing Network.
`` ... We jammed into the back of him [Derrike Cope] and knocked the oil cooler off it, so we ... ''
Suddenly, there was the sound of a thwack as Wallace hurled a water bottle that bounced off the roof of Earnhardt's car and, according to Garrow, appeared to hit Earnhardt in the head.
``See ya in [expletive] Darlington, Dale,'' Wallace hollered. Earnhardt wanted to discuss the matter.
``You was all over me,'' Wallace growled. ``You better watch that [expletive, expletive] bumper.''
``Hey Rusty, he didn't mean to do that,'' said Earnhardt's crew chief, Andy Petree.
``He didn't mean to do it?'' replied Wallace. ``What do you mean he didn't mean to do it?''
There was a pause as someone apparently sought to keep them separated.
``No, I can talk to him. We're friends,'' Wallace said. ``Go ahead and talk to me. Talk.''
A moment later, Wallace said: ``I ain't forgetting Talladega and I'm not forgetting this.''
``Hey, don't forget nothin,''' Earnhardt said. ``I didn't mean it, buddy.''
``That's [expletive], Dale,'' said Wallace. ``Only 10 [expletive] laps in the race.''
Labonte's victory didn't have much impact on the Winston Cup points race. Jeff Gordon, who finished sixth, is now 176 points ahead of Sterling Marlin, who finished seventh. Gordon is 280 points ahead of Mark Martin, who was fifth, and 294 points in front of Earnhardt.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB