ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608050041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
WITHOUT RUMBLE STRIPS, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is wider and faster, drivers say.
The grand old track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has had the same basic shape since the first race cars ran on it in 1909.
It's 2.5 miles around, with four turns, each banked at nine degrees.
But when the 40 Winston Cup cars take the green flag at 1:15 p.m. today for the third running of the Brickyard 400, the drivers know they'll be driving on a speedway that is not the same as it was last year.
The track has been repaved, and with new Goodyear tires, Jeff Gordon shattered his own track record by almost 4 mph, winning the pole Thursday with a speed of 176.419 mph.
``To me, it's not the paving, it's the fact that the rumble strips are gone,'' said Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths, Va. ``If you can put your left wheel on the white line, which would be the edge of the rumble strips before, you're going to run about the same speed we ran last year.
``If you move down 21/2 feet, with the left sides down close to the grass where the rumble strips used to be, you're going to run about a second faster. talking 21/2 feet.''
Said Gordon: ``The track seems a little better to pass on. I believe the track has widened a bit and that will make for a better race.''
Unlike last year's event, which didn't end until dusk because of rain delays caused by the remnants of Hurricane Erin, the Brickyard 400 is expected to go off in the same near-perfect weather that has prevailed here the entire week. Weather forecasters call for mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the 80s and fairly low humidity.
The big story this week has been Dale Earnhardt, who suffered a fractured collarbone and sternum, and a bruised pelvis in a horrendous crash Sunday at Talladega.
Earnhardt took two laps in his car Friday and spent most of the day in his motor home, but team publicist J.R. Rhodes said the driver was feeling better than he has since the accident. Earnhardt still is expected to turn over his car to relief driver Mike Skinner, but there was no word on how long Earnhardt would stay in the car.
Bobby Hamilton has been having nothing but trouble leading up to the race, and he found more during Friday's final practice session when he demolished his car after losing control in turn 2.
The car hit the wall nearly head-on, but Hamilton walked away from the crash.
``It just got loose,'' Hamilton said. ``That really hadn't been a problem all day. As a matter of fact, we were tight. It just snapped out from under me.''
Hamilton had only managed to qualify 37th, so he won't have far to go when he has to drop to the back of the field in his backup car to start the race. Joining him there will be Bobby Hillin, who qualified fifth Thursday but wrecked his car in turn 1 during practice Friday morning when he blew an engine.
Hamilton, by the way, will be on his fourth car for this race. But it's a good one. It's the same car he won the pole with at Michigan in June. Hamilton destroyed his primary Indy car in a test session here. The next backup he wrecked at Pocono. The third one was lost Friday.
Kyle Petty was the fastest driver in the final practice, posting a lap of 172.391 mph in his Pontiac Grand Prix.
When a track reporter asked Petty for his reaction, he said, `` Yeah, I'll give you a quote: `You're kidding.''' He took 23 laps during the session.
Ken Schrader was next fastest, at 172.005 mph in a Chevy, followed by Hut Stricklin (171.894) in a Ford. The rest of the top 10 in the final session, in order, were Gordon, Terry Labonte, Jimmy Spencer, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and Ernie Irvan. Skinner was 23rd fastest. Earnhardt did not take any laps.
The race, which is NASCAR's richest with a purse of $4,695,547, will be televised live by WSET (Channel 13).
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Gordon KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB