Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 9, 1995 TAG: 9510090098
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Gordon popped the clutch in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo to take off, and the transmission popped.
Suddenly, it was time to scramble. And time to make the best of a bad day.
Several hours later, when the race ended, Gordon was running in 30th position, 13 laps down. It was his worst finish in 1995 since, well, the last time he raced at Charlotte. In May.
But Gordon's race was more of a stumble than a disaster. Before Sunday, he had finished 14 straight races in the top 10, winning four of them. That had given him a 302-point lead over Dale Earnhardt on Sunday morning.
By Sunday night, after Earnhardt had finished second, Gordon's lead was down to 205 points. But with only three races left in the season, that's still a solid lead. And Gordon was surprisingly upbeat.
``We're disappointed because of our finish and the problems we had, but it was fun out there driving today,'' he said. ``The car was on a rail. No one was going to beat us, but you've got to be there at the end. We went out there and made a statement.
``We've still got a decent lead, but this thing's not over until it's over.''
When Gordon broke his transmission, his crew, briefly rattled, pushed his car back toward the pit wall opening, but pushed it into the wall instead. They quickly corrected that mistake and went to work.
``Guys, we gotta do it,'' barked crew chief Ray Evernham. ``Nice and easy. Just got to put a gear in it. Drive shaft, too. Don't nobody get burned.''
Another crewman called out the parts that were needed, sounding something like a surgeon in the operating room.
``Need a drive shaft!,'' he said. ``Need gear oil! Need a gear! Probably need a gear pump! Need a drain pan! Let's get the crash cart over here! Need a nitrogen line! Definitely need a rear end! Need a belt!''
And so it went.
As Gordon waited in his car, he told a reporter: ``I was just sitting there a little bit and put it in gear to take off and I heard stuff breaking underneath me.''
When he finally went back on the track, his car was fast as ever.
``We went back out and showed we had the fastest car,'' he said.
Earnhardt, meanwhile, showed that his failure to qualify (he used a champion's provisional to start in the last spot) meant nothing on Sunday. He motored to a second-place finish and seemed ready to challenge race winner Mark Martin had there been a few more laps.
``We had a good race car, but I just couldn't catch Mark,'' he said.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB