ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040129
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: PONTIAC 400 NOTES
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
Three of the top five cars in Sunday's Pontiac 400, including the Chevrolet Monte Carlo of race winner Jeff Gordon, failed NASCAR's post-race inspection at Richmond International Raceway.
But NASCAR officials decided no penalties were in order after determining that the roof heights of the cars of Gordon, fourth-place finisher Mark Martin and fifth-place finisher Jeff Burton were fractions of an inch too low after the race, track spokesman Dave Fulton said.
``They [NASCAR] said that all three cars were within an eighth of an inch of the proper roof height, but that they did not meet it,'' Fulton said.
``There was a discussion that perhaps the tires were losing air pressure because of the cold weather,'' he said. ``So NASCAR had the tires and wheels taken off, they inspected the tires and the valves and stems, remounted the tires and inflated them to Goodyear's recommended air pressure.
``However, after waiting 15 minutes, all of the tires had lost about four pounds of air pressure. And at that point, NASCAR made the ruling that due to the wind and cold, there would be no penalties.''
MORE CONTROVERSY: Last weekend at Rockingham, Bobby Hamilton was the victim. On Sunday, at the end of a long race at Richmond, he was accused of being the bad guy.
After Hamilton pushed his way past John Andretti at the end of the Pontiac 400, Andretti resculpted the back end of Hamilton's Pontiac Grand Prix with a few hard body slams on the backstretch.
So Hamilton tried to pin Andretti's car against the third turn wall.
``I parked him there and got out,'' Hamilton said. ``I was just going to talk to him. They fine you $100,000 now for hitting him. When I got out and was going to talk to him, he took off. He backed up and took off.''
Andretti, who was called to the NASCAR transporter after the race, said: ``I lost four spots with three or four laps to go. We went down in the corner and it was really tight and we got together and I got hit in the back'' by Hamilton.
Of the post-race encounter, Andretti said: ``He hit me and I was going to bump him in the back, but he hit the brakes in a defensive maneuver and it caved in the rear of [his] car.''
Hamilton finished sixth; Andretti was 12th.
EARLY EXIT: The Richmond weekend was good for Wally Dallenbach Jr. - until the race itself.
Dallenbach qualified 17th, but crashed on the 19th lap when he was hit from behind while slowing to take the yellow flag. He was the first driver out of the race.
Ernie Irvan was the driver who hit Dallenbach, and it ruined his day as well. Irvan limped around to a 38th-place finish and was involved in another incident, this one with Elton Saywer, on the backstretch on lap 379.
That was enough for crew chief Larry McReynolds, who told car owner Robert Yates on the radio: ``Let's put this [expletive] in the garage. I've had all I can take.''
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB