Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 25, 1995 TAG: 9509250121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Seven months from now, on that very track, he is likely to break a legend's record for longevity.
He would rather reach Victory Lane.
Labonte can become the Cal Ripken of racing with his 514th straight start when the Goody's 500 moves from autumn to an April date in 1996. He will replace Richard Petty, NASCAR's answer to Lou Gehrig, who made 513 consecutive starts from 1971-89.
On a Sunday when the weather conditions were ripe for snowmobile racing with headlights, Labonte had his best Winston Cup finish at the Henry County track.
On the last lap, his Kellogg's Monte Carlo slipped past the Miller Ford of Rusty Wallace, who had won the past three Martinsville 500-lappers. It wasn't a real genuine draft.
``Rusty just had rights, I had four [new] tires, and he broke loose a little bit and I got under him ... barely,'' Labonte said.
He still was chasing another Chevrolet, however.
``I thought the No.5 car [of Labonte's] was the strongest car at the end,'' said Dale Earnhardt, who drove to his sixth Martinsville victory. ``He just was in the wrong position.''
On a day when Labonte became only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to eclipse $10 million in career winnings, second place was little consolation.
``The car was awesome,'' Labonte said. ``It was a brand new car. We took it to Indy [to the Brickyard 400] to practice, then brought it here. We were quickest for a lot of the race.''
Earnhardt led six times and 247 laps - including the past four - in a race slowed by 10 caution flags. Labonte led for 176 laps. Considering his Martinsville history, that was an accomplishment.
In his 35th Winston Cup start on the .526-mile track, the mustachioed Texan finished on the lead lap for only the third time.
``We were probably lucky we finished, period,'' Labonte said.
Coming out of a caution on lap 410 following a collision between Wallace and Elton Sawyer, Labonte went from second to seventh on the restart.
It appeared he literally slid five spots. He got so high in the racing groove and sand through turn 2, he might as well have been running a dune buggy.
``We broke a rear end or something, but then it came back,'' Labonte said. ``We were fixing to pull behind the wall. We thought we had a broken drive plate, or axle. It just came back.''
So did the 39-year-old driver, as he has the second half of this season for the Hendrick Motorsports Team. While younger brother Bobby has been getting most of the family's acclaim for his victories in the Joe Gibbs car, Terry, the Winston Cup points champion 11 years ago, has been one of the best performers on the circuit.
He's won six of the past 51 races, dating to his April 1994 triumph at North Wilkesboro. In those events, only current points leader Jeff Gordon and Wallace have more checkered flags, nine apiece.
Labonte is sixth in the points standings, two spots ahead in the sibling rivalry. In the past six races, Labonte has three seconds and a Bristol victory.
``We started off good this year, then went into a slump for a couple of months, and now we're coming back,'' he said. ``I don't know what it is here. I won a Busch [Grand National] race here last year, and today I thought we had the best car here. I hate to miss that opportunity. It was still a good race, and I'm tickled as heck.''
It also was a typical Martinsville run. While Earnhardt's sixth Winston Cup victory left him tied with Cale Yarborough and behind only Petty and Darrell Waltrip in Martinsville triumphs, Labonte finds it hard to win here.
``It's hard just to pass here,'' he said. ``You're catching traffic and everyone's racing each other, and people are lobbying for position.
``It's just a tough race track. I've run good here before, but a lot of times, you run out of breaks here, run out of engines, run out of cars, run out of fenders ... but we stayed out of trouble for the most part.''
Still, that wasn't enough to make him the 31st driver to win a Winston Cup race in Martinsville history. Among drivers so experienced and so prominent, only Bill Elliott shares Labonte's winless frustration at Clay Earles' short track.
``We had the car to win,'' Labonte said. ``Then, maybe we were just lucky to finish.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB