THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040614
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
An unsung driver was poised to grab the Brickyard 400 pole Thursday until Jeff Gordon slung his Chevrolet Monte Carlo half-sideways through the fourth turn of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, straightened it out and sped to the top starting spot.
Gordon's lap of 172.536 mph, a record for the second-year race, knocked Richard Petty's driver, Bobby Hamilton, out of the top spot. It gave Gordon his eighth pole of the year and let him remain, at least until tomorrow, NASCAR's King of the Brickyard.
``Well, I tell you, I almost didn't bring it back to pit road,'' Gordon said. ``I got really loose on that last turn, but obviously the rest of the lap was good enough to carry us to a good run.
``It just kept getting more sideways and more sideways and more sideways until I was just about looking to the right on the front straight. And the first thing that came through my mind was, `I'm about to spin out in front of a whole lot of people.'
``I don't know if I came close to the wall or not,'' last year's Brickyard winner said. ``I thought I was going to start spinning down pit road more than I was worried about hitting the wall.
``I thought maybe that blew our shot at the pole. Then I saw people on the backstretch cheering and holding up one finger.''
Hamilton, the 10th driver to qualify, ran at 1:21 p.m. CDT and held the pole for almost an hour. Gordon went out 35th at 2:15 p.m.
The Hamilton team wasn't too disappointed to lose the pole to Gordon, who showed he had plenty of car with his practice-leading lap of 171.894 mph Wednesday.
As Petty put it: ``It all depends on when you run. If Gordon had run first and we'd run a lap later and finished second, we would have been tickled to death.''
``This will definitely make us sleep better,'' Hamilton said. ``I know I've been up for two nights making laps. I haven't made like 16 (practice) laps in the race car, but I've done about 2,000 in bed.''
Sterling Marlin was third fastest in a Chevy at 171.553 mph, followed by Bill Elliott at 171.409 mph in the fastest Ford Thunderbird. Bobby Labonte was fifth fastest in another Chevy at 171.233 mph.
Also in the top 10 were Joe Nemechek in a Chevy at 171.138 mph, Michael Waltrip in a Pontiac at 171.051, surprising Jeremy Mayfield at 171.012 in a Ford, 1994 pole winner Rick Mast in another Ford at 170.969 and Ken Schrader in a Chevy at 170.969.
The qualifying blueprint did not suggest great things to come for the Ford camp, whose most prominent drivers, except for Elliott, were unable to crack the top 10:
Mark Martin was 14th fastest after going ``as fast as we could go.'' Ted Musgrave was 19th, Ricky Rudd was 22nd, Rusty Wallace was 24th and Dale Jarrett was 26th.
In some respects, this pole qualifying session was much the same as a typical NASCAR pole run. It certainly didn't carry the high drama of last year's inaugural run, when 69 cars fought for the pole.
On Thursday, 48 cars each made a single lap, and it was over in an efficient one hour, 45 minutes. But what made it distinctive was the sonorous baritone of track announcer and Indy institution Tom Carnegie (``It's a neeeew traaaack recooord . . .'') and the huge crowd, estimated at more than 75,000.
And at this speedway, the cheers rain down on the drivers from both sides of the long front straightaway.
``When I ran down pit road, you could hear them a mile off,'' Hamilton said.
The cheers were strictly sentimental for 60-year-old A.J. Foyt, who can't seem to give up his driving career. Foyt was second slowest, reaching only 166.193 mph in his Ford.
Those who are outside the 38-car qualifying field, in order, are Jeff Purvis in 39th, Loy Allen, Mike Wallace, Dave Marcis, Chesapeake's Elton Sawyer, Steve Grissom, Billy Standridge, Pancho Carter, Foyt and Steve Seligman.
They'll get another chance during today's second round of qualifying.
Meanwhile, Gordon will be busy getting his car ready for Saturday's race, all the while hogging the spotlight and fielding the same questions again and again.
``I know everyone around here in Indy are getting sick and tired of seeing my face and hearing my name,'' he said. ``But I'm still having a good time.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jeff Gordon, who won the inaugural Brickyard 400 last year, won the
pole for Saturday's race with a record lap of 172.536 mph.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bobby Hamilton held the top spot with a speed of 171.894 mph
Saturday until Jeff Gordon's qualifying run knocked him to second.
by CNB