THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410060617
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
It was going to be a big night Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the long-suffering Pontiac Grand Prix teams - until Ward Burton wheeled his Chevrolet Lumina on the track.
Burton, the last of 53 drivers to attempt to qualify for Sunday's Mello Yello 500, knocked Michael Waltrip and his Pontiac off the pole and kicked John Andretti's Pontiac off the front row with a blistering lap of 185.759 miles per hour.
Burton's lap on the repaved 1.5-mile oval was more than four miles per hour quicker than the track record of 181.439 mph set by Jeff Gordon on May 25.
Fifteen other drivers also broke Gordon's record.
``The car really stuck good that first lap,'' Burton said. ``We couldn't have had it much better. We've come a long way, I tell you. We've missed five races (this year) and a lot of the race tracks that we ran really good on we couldn't even make the show.''
Burton was the 14th different driver, and the second rookie, to win a pole in 1994. Fellow rookie Loy Allen already has three poles.
For the Pontiac teams, it was another disappointment in a miserable, winless year.
``If somebody was to run a perfect lap, I knew somebody could beat me,'' Waltrip said. He reached 184.332 mph in his No. 30 Pontiac. ``I wanted to get the pole in the worst way.''
Andretti, in a new Petty Enterprises Pontiac, was on the pole for the first half of the two-hour qualifying session after a lap of 183.874 mph. He wound up third.
``It wasn't a perfect lap, and it wasn't a pretty lap, but it certainly got us near the front of the grid,'' Andretti said.
The escalating speeds here have a lot of the drivers worried, but Burton is not one of them.
``That (pole speed) is about what we qualified in the Busch series at Daytona,'' Burton said. ``But these cars are called race cars. They're meant to go fast.
``You can definitely tell there are more G-force in turns three and four now because they've got that new pavement.''
But Burton added that drivers can't flatfoot the gas all the way around the track as some had predicted.
``I came all the way out of the gas in both corners,'' he said.
Joe Nemechek was fourth fastest in his Chevy at 183.830 mph, followed by Gordon in another Chevy at 183.530 mph. Also in the top 10 were Geoff Bodine in a Ford at 183.362 mph, Derrike Cope at 183.014 mph in a Ford, Brett Bodine at 182.921 mph in a Ford, Terry Labonte at 182.914 mph in a Chevy and Dick Trickle at 182.735 mph in a Chevy.
Three of the top 10 drivers - Burton, Nemechek and Geoff Bodine - were on Hoosier tires.
Among the drivers who failed to qualify in the top 20 were Bill Elliott (26th), Dale Earnhardt (33rd) and Darrell Waltrip (38th).
And those in danger of not making the 40-car field, plus two provisionals, include Kyle Petty (41st), Steve Grissom (44th) and Dave Marcis (47th). Kenny Wallace, driving Ernie Irvan's No. 28 Ford, blew an engine and was 52nd fastest. Rick Bickle crashed during his run, but was unhurt. by CNB