THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506180167
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
The questions Saturday in the garage at Michigan International Speedway were on the subject of automotive horticulture.
How does a car grow? How could Jeff Gordon's car grow a quarter-inch in height, more or less, in the five minutes between the time it failed post-qualifying inspection and the time it passed Friday?
Gordon had dusted the field in qualifying, winning his seventh pole of 1995 by more than three-tenths of a second, which is a whopping amount at any Winston Cup track. His speed was 186.611 mph - breaking the track record by more than 5 mph.
His car then went through post-qualifying inspection and, whoops, the roof height was too low.
Five minutes later, when it was allowed to go through again, it apparently had grown to the proper height.
Gary Nelson, NASCAR's Winston Cup director, and Ray Evernham, Gordon's crew chief, argued that when the media crowded around Gordon to interview him immediately after his qualifying run, a number of people, including Gordon, leaned on the car, pushing it lower than the height at which it had qualified.
``Had the car gone through inspection directly off the track, it wouldn't have been any problem,'' Evernham said.
Immediately after the interviews, Gordon's team pushed the car about 60 yards to the inspection bay. They got in line behind Ricky Rudd's car, went over the scales and then went under the height bar, where red showed on the scale.
To believe the Nelson-Evernham theory, one must believe that the car was still slowly rising to its proper height, millimeter by millimeter, for about five minutes after the interviewing ended.
Some crew chiefs and team members scoffed at this notion. But others agreed that it was not out of the realm of possibility because of the modern shock absorbers on the cars.
Several people who witnessed Gordon's car make its second pass under the height bar said team members were holding the car at the top of the wheel wells as they rolled it back into the inspection station, and that it appeared they were lifting it as they rolled it. This is a common trick done to give the car a little extra boost seconds before it takes the height test.
But Evernham said no.
``There were probably three NASCAR inspectors in the inspection bay, and Gary Nelson watched us,'' he said.
Said Nelson: ``I was watching for that, and it didn't happen.''
In the past few years, NASCAR has disallowed the qualifying times of several cars because they were too low. How come Gordon's team was given two tries through the height bar?
Nelson said a second try was justified, ``given the circumstances of the question of people leaning on the car.''
So it was a messy little issue. But in truth, none of Gordon's competitors were too excited about it Saturday.
Rudd, whose team had witnessed the incident, complained long and hard to Nelson on Friday but decided he had nothing to gain Saturday by continuing to stir the coals.
Car owner Jack Roush said it was unusual to give a car a second chance under the height bar, but he added: ``I don't care. It doesn't matter. The issue is the aerodynamic and drag disparity between the Fords and Chevrolets.''
It has been hot and humid this weekend, and today's weather is expected to be even hotter. This is the last of five races in a row. An off weekend looms.
And as one crewman said: ``I think everybody is just too tired to worry about it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A crowd gathering around, and leaning on, pole-winner Jeff Gordon's
car was blamed for the vehicle's failing its height test.
by CNB