THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 22, 1995 TAG: 9505220120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
There was poetic justice in Dale Earnhardt's miserable performance in The Winston Select at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night.
As the king of NASCAR marketing, not to mention racing, Earnhardt had reached new heights, or plumbed new depths, with his silver-and-orange commemorative No. 3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, shrewdly accompanied by a line of limited-edition souvenirs.
But life has a way of striking back when one tests the limits of P.T. Barnum's dictum about suckers. And Dale Earnhardt on Saturday became the first race driver in history to end up with a line of T-shirts and die-cast cars to commemorate the worst race of his career.
As Jeff Gordon ran away with the all-star race, half the cars in the 20-car field were involved in one or more of the three incidents during the race. And Earnhardt, in his desperate efforts to conquer a youngster who was unconquerable Saturday night, caused two of the crashes and was involved in the third.
Earnhardt blamed his problems on the new NASCAR rule that mandates a smaller spoiler for the Chevys.
``I think (the spoiler rule) loosened the car up in the draft,'' he told reporters after the race. ``Racing with less spoiler is not the way to go, I don't think. It was really loose out there. We were driving the cars on the edge.''
But just as Mark Martin found disappointment at Sears Point after his Talladega triumph, Earnhardt followed up his dramatic road-course win in California with a wretched performance under the lights at Charlotte.
So much for the silver-and-orange No. 3 Chevy.
While Earnhardt was perhaps finally showing his age, Gordon was really feeling his oats for the first time. He's always been very respectful and self-deprecating as a rising Winston Cup star, but before the race Saturday night, he was overflowing with confidence.
Gordon gathered his team together in the race transporter and delivered a pep talk.
``I did something I do not normally do,'' he said. ``I told myself, `You've got to get psyched up and you've got to get the guys psyched up.' I was telling them all kinds of stuff - we're going to do this, we're going to do that, we're going to go out and win this race. I was really determined.''
Said his crew chief, Ray Evernham: ``His talk definitely helped the guys out. Those guys about ripped the door off the truck, trying to get out.''
But the magic of the night, for Gordon and his team, was that they didn't need the talk. From the moment practice started Friday, Gordon's Chevy was clearly the class of the field. It appeared destined to run away with this race, talk or no talk. And that's what he did, winning all three segments and beating Sterling Marlin to the finish line by 1.07 seconds.
``I knew if he didn't tear the fenders off of it, he was going to win,'' Evernham said. ``You could see it in his eyes.''
Said Gordon, ``Whether it's fortune or luck, it seems like our car is always right when it comes to the big races. We focus on the big races, and this is a big race for us. And there wasn't anybody who could handle us tonight. . . .
``They tried to take it away from us and ended up taking it away from themselves. I wasn't really worried about getting to the front. I was more worried about staying out of trouble.''
This race has a way of heating up tempers, and the most memorable display on Saturday night came from Ken Schrader. The target of his ire was Jimmy Spencer.
On the second lap of the second segment, Spencer bobbled in turn one after going three-wide in the tri-oval. His car slipped up into Schrader's, and they both lost control and hit the wall.
A furious Schrader drove into Spencer's car in the third turn during the first caution lap and then tried to get him again on pit road. Schrader then retired from the race, hopped out of his car and stormed into the NASCAR trailer.
When he emerged a minute or so later, he said, ``I tell you what: I love the RJR people and what they've done for this sport, but they've got to wake up and look at the idiot they've got in their (Camel-sponsored) car.
``He ain't representing them real good. He's pulling (expletive) he shouldn't do.''
Spencer, who remained in the race and finished ninth, was unrepentent. ``About that deal with Schrader, when you mess with the bull, you get the horn,'' he told a track reporter.
And that seemed to apply to Earnhardt, as well, in the wake of his journey into the outer limits of NASCAR souvenir marketing. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The cars of Ken Schrader and Jimmy Spencer, top, show the ill
effects of a collision that also collected Dale Earnhardt, center.
by CNB