THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 12, 1995 TAG: 9506120134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA. LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
As Terry Labonte crossed the finish line to win the UAW-GM 500 on Sunday at Pocono International Raceway, he sounded like a man who had just been handed a $20 bill after requesting change for a quarter.
``How about that?'' he said, a touch of wonder in his voice.
``It ain't over till it's over,'' a crewman replied.
Jeff Gordon's race became Labonte's victory when Gordon blew a shift, and his engine, on a restart with seven laps to go.
Labonte scooted by on the inside and drove on to a 1.64-second victory over Ted Musgrave. Pole-sitter Ken Schrader was third, followed by Sterling Marlin and Hut Stricklin. Gordon finished 16th, the last car on the lead lap.
``I thought, `Wow, he just blew up,' '' Labonte said in Victory Lane. ``I saw smoke coming out of his exhaust pipes. I knew something had happened. But I saw it and just pulled out and passed him.
``I knew by the stuff coming out of his tailpipe that he wasn't coming back.''
There were six yellow flags Sunday, and three of them came in the final 25 laps. Gordon's miscue happened on the final restart. Until then, he had been flawless. But in his zeal to leave everyone else behind, he slipped while shifting from second to third gear, over-revved his engine, ran the rpms into the red zone and ruined something inside the Chevrolet power plant, probably a valve.
In anguish, Gordon cried into his radio: ``I missed a gear! Dammit, guys, I'm sorry.''
And for the next minute or so, the only talk on the radio was the steady drone of his spotter's warnings - ``Inside, inside, inside, inside, inside'' - as car after car passed him.
But Gordon was a trouper in defeat. After leading 123 of 200 laps and then blowing it, he did no stomping or pouting. He wore an unhappy look, but he faced the cameras.
``Yeah, I made a mistake,'' he said. ``We had such a great car and I lost it for us. I guess everybody is going to make mistakes. As long as I learn from this one. . . .
``I'd come close one other time to almost missing (a shift). I wasn't concentrating on the shift. I was more worried about getting a good jump and getting away from those guys behind me. And it cost me.''
Then his crew chief, Ray Evernham, came up and put his hand on Gordon's shoulder. And as they went into the team's transporter, Evernham told his driver: ``Great job all day. As many great things as you've done for me. . .
Later, Evernham told Chevy's Ray Cooper: ``He shouldn't be too hard on himself. I don't believe he'll get fired for it.''
Labonte thus found himself with a victory even though he led only the final seven laps.
``I was running the same speed all day,'' he said. ``I couldn't really run as fast as some of those guys on new tires, but I didn't slow down as much'' as the tires wore.
``We weren't that good in qualifying (27th). But after qualifying, we got some help from Ken Schrader's team and Jeff Gordon's team both.'' (The three teams are in the Hendricks Motorsports stable.)
``Yesterday afternoon, we changed all four shocks on the car and made some adjustments. Of course we didn't get to try it (Saturday's activities were rained out), but it was awful good. Since our car was so good, I was glad we couldn't practice.''
In the final laps, as Labonte led, Schrader and Musgrave battled for second. Musgrave won the battle, but it gave Labonte the cushion he needed.
``When they started racing, it just worked to our advantage and I pulled away,'' Labonte said.
Could Labonte have caught Gordon if Gordon hadn't missed his shift?
``I hadn't the previous 195 laps, so I doubt very seriously I could have,'' he said. ``You've got to be consistent like we were today. If you are, you're going to win some races.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Terry Labonte.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
Dale Jarrett's Ford spins after hitting the wall on lap 4 of
Sunday's UAW-GM 500. Jarrett returned to finish 38th.
``How about that?'' a surprised but elated Terry Labonte said of his
15th career victory.
by CNB