ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 22, 1996 TAG: 9604230177
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
In a record-breaking Goody's 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Terry Labonte slipped out of the spotlight just in time for Rusty Wallace to steal a bit of glory for himself.
Wallace passed Jeff Gordon with 12 laps to go Sunday to win a record-setting fourth consecutive spring race here in front of a record crowd estimated at 66,000.
Labonte made his 514th consecutive start, breaking Richard Petty's Winston Cup record. And he was a contender for much of the race. But in the end, Labonte didn't have the brakes.
Ernie Irvan didn't set any records, but he passed Gordon in the final laps to take second - his best finish of the year. Gordon was third, followed by Jeremy Mayfield and Dale Earnhardt, the last driver on the lead lap.
Wallace gave Ford its second victory of the year and Thunderbirds also finished second and fourth.
Gordon led the most laps - 210 - but his tires swelled too much in the final 53-lap run under the green flag, giving Wallace the edge he needed to make the race-winning pass in turns 3 and 4 on lap 489.
``I knew that if I was going to pass Jeff, I had to get my nose up under his left rear quarterpanel...'' Wallace said. ``We went into turn 3 and we had a bunch of traffic. But he was all bogged down and he was having trouble getting into that corner.
``That particular lap, he got in and went about a car-length high, and when he did, I got that nose up in there and throttled up on it. I was able to get alongside of him and I was able to drag race him down into the corner. And that was it.''
Wallace thought Gordon was having brake problems. Bad brakes hampered a number of others, including Labonte.
But Gordon said his problem was too much air in the tires.
Crew chief Ray Evernham made a calculated gamble for the final pit stop and aired the tires at the same pressure that ``made the car take off'' at North Wilkesboro. But it didn't work at Martinsville.
``We were real good most of the day, but on that long run, the air pressure built up too much,'' said Gordon. ``The car started bouncing a little bit in the turns. And I couldn't drive into the turns or drive out the way I wanted to.''
Wallace led 164 laps and won by 2.52 seconds for his sixth victory here and the 42nd first-place finish of his career. But he said there has been no common thread in his four consecutive victories in the spring here.
``I can tell you one thing: All those four races, they've all been different cars, different chassis setups and different shock setups,'' he said. ``So you can't say Rusty's got a golden chassis setup that he sticks in there all the time.
``And we pay attention to the chassis an unbelievable amount. Some guys golf and hunt. I get my jollies making the car handle.''
Labonte seemed in great position to put the icing on his record streak, which has been more than 17 years in the making.
He took the lead from Gordon on lap 405 and led 10 circuits until a yellow flag flew for oil on the track. Gordon beat him out of the pits, but Labonte was challenging for the lead with 75 laps to go.
A few laps later, however, Labonte was falling back.
``I'm losing fluid,'' he told his crew on lap 435. ``I've got a feeling we busted a brake line.''
By lap 437, he had fallen back to fifth. When the final yellow flag flew on lap 443 for debris on the track, Labonte headed for the pits. But it was all over for him.
When the green waved on lap 448, Labonte was still in the pits. He eventually finished 24th, 20 laps down.
``The brakes went out and it blew out the O-ring on the caliper,'' Labonte said. ``It was a tough deal. I thought we were being pretty easy on the brakes all day long. I was trying to get around Jeff there, and I guess I wasn't as easy on them as I thought I was.
``Now we can get back to normal and maybe we won't have as much attention on us,'' he said. ``I'm glad we got the record behind us, but I told everybody it was going to be tough to top last week,'' a victory at North Wilkesboro.
In Victory Lane, Wallace was relishing the attention that accompanied his first victory of 1996.
``I haven't been able to talk a whole lot lately because we haven't been finishing good,'' he said. ``But they tell me if you keep beating it over the head long enough, you'll finally get it. We've been running real, real good all year long. We were in Talladega last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and ran quicker than I ever thought we'd run.
``For the first time in my life, I can't wait to get there next week.''
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. 1. Rusty Wallace takes it easy inby CNBVictory Lane after winning the Goody's 500 on Sunday at Martinsville
Speedway. It was Wallace's fourth consecutive victory in the track's
spring Winston Cup race. 2. Rusty Wallace (bottom) slips past Jeff
Gordon with 12 laps to go en route to victory Sunday in the Goody's
500 at Martinsville Speedway. color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING