ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610230060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
Jeff Gordon said, ``We'll see what we're made of,'' after engine problems at Charlotte this month wiped out his Winston Cup points lead.
But Gordon had more problems Sunday during the AC-Delco 400 at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham.
A bad set of tires on one long green-flag run early in the race caused him to lose a lap, and he never could recover. Finishing 12th, he dropped from one point ahead to 32 points behind Terry Labonte in the Winston Cup championship hunt.
What could Gordon have done to prevent it? Was there some athletic weakness, a miniscule failure, a loss of nerve?
No, he could not have done anything. It was just blind luck and something like maybe the tire mounter sneezed during a pit stop and didn't get the wheel on just right.
Auto racing is a mechanical sport, and so things can happen that have absolutely nothing to do with one team being better than another.
And now, no matter what Gordon does, Labonte can win his second points title and first since 1984 by finishing second in the final two races, even if Gordon wins both races and leads the most laps.
USEFUL ANGER: The hidden factor that seemed to propel Ricky Rudd to his first 1996 victory Sunday at Rockingham was anger.
``When he gets mad on the race track,'' spotter Dale Cagle said, `` you ain't going to beat him,'' tire changer Danny Marshburn said, finishing the statement.
It was easy for them to smile in the afterglow of one of the most amazing Winston Cup victories in recent years. But until they won, the agony of the day's events in the pits was all but overwhelming.
Rudd won despite four botched pit stops. He benched Marshburn and fellow tire changer Dave Anthony after the third stop and let Derrike Cope's tire changers botch the stop instead.
So Rudd skipped the final pit stop, stayed on the track, inherited the lead and somehow managed to win on his worn tires.
Rudd's victory proved that even in today's ultra-competitive Winston Cup environment, you still can win when a lot of things are wrong.
``It was one of those things where anything and everything that could go wrong did go wrong,'' Rudd said.
It was excruciating for Rudd because he had such a good car. He finally blew his top. And he didn't disagree that his anger motivated him.
``I probably do my best driving when I'm fired up,'' he said. ``Probably, the problems on pit road kept me fired up and helped me win the race.''
Marshburn and Anthony, by the way, did not seem particularly upset with the benching. As bad as things were going, they were just as happy to let someone else handle the tires.
In any event, after the race, as he celebrated in Victory Lane, Marshburn received vocal and spirited support from a number of crewmen on other teams, who shouted his name in salute as they passed by on their way back to the garage.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE: Rudd said he's putting pit practice higher on his team's agenda and is looking to hire a pit coach as a consultant during the off-season.
``I'm probably as much to blame as anybody,'' he said. ``We haven't been pit practicing as much as we should be. Our pit stops have not been that bad throughout the year, but we haven't been as good as Gordon or [Rusty Wallace] or Labonte.
``When we're on top of our game, we're like a good college team. And when they're on top of their game, they're like a professional team. We've just got to step it up a little bit. And the only way to do that is training. We're not doing some of the procedures like some of the other teams are doing. Guys are spending a lot of time and money training pit crews, with pit practices and videos and other things.''
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB