THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 14, 1995 TAG: 9508140269
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
We didn't hear much from Jeff Gordon on Sunday in the Bud at the Glen at Watkins Glen International.
He led only four laps, and two of those were during a caution period. But he drove the kind of race he needs to drive to win his first Winston Cup championship. And when it was over, he had finished third and almost doubled his points lead over Sterling Marlin, leaving with a 152-point cushion.
While Gordon was putting in a workmanlike day on a road course, Marlin was struggling with a broken gear shifter that left him 21st in the finishing order.
Dale Earnhardt had it just as bad. He fell off the pace on lap 36 and smoked his way to a 23rd-place finish, undermining the momentum generated by his Brickyard 400 victory. Earnhardt dropped to fourth in points, 197 points behind Gordon, while Martin took over third, 159 points back.
``We tore the transmission out,'' Earnhardt said. ``For not having anything but third gear, we didn't do so bad.''
Said Martin, ``We're looking good in the championship hunt. We're closer than we've been since 1990.''
WALLACE MUM: Rusty Wallace was left speechless by Sunday's race, in which one unfortunate move dropped him from second place to two laps down, eventually to finish 26th.
The incident happened on pit road during a caution period on lap 62. Wallace was leaving the pits behind Geoff Bodine and Martin. As he prepared to come onto the track, Martin slowed for traffic. Bodine slowed behind Martin, Wallace hit Bodine and Bodine slammed into Martin.
The cars of Bodine and Martin were damaged only superficially, but Wallace tore up the right front of his car. It took his team two laps to clean it up enough to send him back out.
Wallace shook his fist at Martin, but congratulated him after the race was over. ``He was just upset because he got tore up,'' Martin said of the raised fist.
TOBACCO DEBATE: Before the race, the hot topic was President Clinton's move last week to restrict sports sponsorships by tobacco companies.
In an unusually long driver's meeting, T. Wayne Robertson, head of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s Sports Marketing Enterprises division, asked the drivers for their support. But he also told them, ``I want you as American citizens to say what you think.'' And if their opinions didn't jibe with RJR's, ``you will not have any repercussions,'' he added.
Then, in a move orchestrated by Dale Earnhardt and his business manager, Don Hawk, the drivers all waved American flags during their pre-race lap around the track.
SAWYER 29TH: Elton Sawyer had another lesson in the graduate school of stock-car racing Sunday as he motored to a 29th-place finish, three laps down.
``I'm glad we've got Michigan coming up, where there's just left-hand turns,'' he said. ``Twenty-ninth is not what we wanted, but I learned a lot, so all in all, it was a good day.'' by CNB