ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, May 28, 1996                  TAG: 9605290036
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: B-3  EDITION: METRO 
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER 

SURGERY WAS SUCCESSFUL ON JARRETT'S WINNING RIDE

On April Fool's Day, the car Dale Jarrett drove to victory in the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway was undergoing emergency surgery in Simpsonville, S.C.

Jarrett had wrecked the car in qualifying at Bristol on March 29, and it had been shipped to the wreck shop at Laughlin Racing Products in Simpsonsville for a new front chassis piece, or front clip.

The April 1 operation on the car took six hours. It is a routine procedure and most Winston Cup cars go through it several times during their existence. Still, team manager Larry McReynolds called twice while the car was in the wreck shop.

``He wanted an update about what I felt about the car,'' shop manager Jack Laughlin said. ``I told him it was fine. Larry is the type of person - it's just like this car is one of his children.''

And Jarrett proved Sunday that not only had the car made a complete recovery, but it was the best it had ever been.

He led 199 of 400 laps, keeping his Ford Thunderbird on the bottom groove in the turns the entire night.

And he ran away from Dale Earnhardt for a whopping 12-second win.

This was the first event for Jarrett's winning car since the Bristol crash. It took the team about 10 days to refit the car after it received the new front clip. Jarrett tested it at Charlotte in early May and determined it was the car to use in the race.

But as dominant as Jarrett was in the race, it didn't help him all that much as he chases Earnhardt for the lead in the Winston Cup championship.

Jarrett gained only 10 points as the top six in points remained the same.

``We ran our tails off here tonight and I guess we gained 10 points, so I guess we're still 105 back,'' Jarrett said late Sunday night. ``I think I'm correct in saying that Earnhardt has finished in the top five in nine of 11 races, so we're going to have to win to catch him at that rate.''

CORRECTION: It was team owner Felix Sabates' language that prompted an additional two-lap penalty after driver Kyle Petty had been penalized five laps for triggering a 13-car crash in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. It was erroneously reported Monday that Petty's language had led to the extra penalty.

TEMPER, TEMPER: On some teams, tempers were as hot Sunday night as they get at the short track races.

And all of the anger was concentrated within a 71-lap stretch from lap 142 to 212, when all six of the race's yellow flags flew.

Dave Marcis, who crashed after a bump by John Andretti, was asked on radio what happened.

``John Andretti, that's what happened!'' he said. ``The little [expletive] is blind.''

And Sabates was so mad after the penalties to Petty that he vowed, ``I just gave [NASCAR] my credential and told them I wasn't coming back to another race this year.''

LENGTH: Medium:   64 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. 1. Dale Jarrett (right) slaps high-fives with a crew
          member after winning the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday night at Charlotte 
          Motor Speedway. 2. Dale Jarrett hoists the winner's trophy in 
          Victory Lane at Charlotte.