ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608020037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SPEEDWAY, IND.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
INDIANA'S FAVORITE stock-car driver gives fans plenty to cheer about.
Jeff Gordon came from nowhere Thursday to win the pole position for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the driver he beat - Mark Martin - did the best job of explaining why.
``NASCAR rules have these cars so close, this deal is more about who gets a great lap rather than who has a fast car,'' Martin said. ``I'm driving it on the verge of out of control. It feels like I'm fixing to wreck.''
Gordon held his breath a few times on his lap, but it was close to flawless, and when he crossed the finish line, the scoreboard registered a speed of 176.419 mph.
It was a track record, as well as being the first lap above 176 mph by a NASCAR Winston Cup car. It was also Gordon's second consecutive Brickyard 400 pole and his fifth pole position of 1995.
``I keep saying magical things happen to me here,'' Gordon said. ``To me, qualifying today is one of those magical things. I don't know where it came from.
``When I went out there to qualify, I was going out to qualify in the top 10. And I thought that was going to be hard to do. I didn't even have the thought in my mind that we would be on the pole.''
It did not take much to beat Gordon's old record of 172.536 mph, set here last year. A new asphalt surface and a new Goodyear tire combined to help the fastest 36 drivers break the record.
Martin's lap of 175.922 mph won the outside pole. Lake Speed was third fastest with a lap of 175.840 in his Ford, followed by Ken Schrader in a Chevy at 175.445 and surprising Bobby Hillin in a Ford at 175.343.
Dale Earnhardt, fighting off the pain and discomfort of chest and shoulder fractures, was 12th fastest with a lap of 174.910 mph.
The second round of qualifying is today at 2 p.m.
But from the top to the bottom of the lineup, there was no greater surprise than Gordon. After the morning practice session, Gordon's best lap around the 2.5-mile speedway was 174.975 mph.
As Gordon wheeled onto the speedway for his one-lap qualifying run at 3:32 p.m., he needed a lap that was four-tenths of a second faster than what he had run before then.
When Gordon took the green flag, the roar of the 75,000 fans who came to watch pole day demonstrated that Gordon is still the most popular stock-car driver in Indiana, where he lived during his teens.
The instant Gordon crossed the yard of bricks at the finish line, he cut off his engine. It backfired once, which startled the frontstretch crowd into a cheer.
That cheer was still in the air when that distinctive, slow-talking baritone voice of longtime track announcer Tom Carnegie came over the public address system: ``And it's a NEW TRACK. . .''
The roar of the crowd drowned out Carnegie's voice well before he said ``record.'' There hasn't been a louder roar this year in the Winston Cup series - at least that could be heard over the roar of the engines.
``Coming down pit lane and hearing those people is a great feeling,'' Gordon said.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB