THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 9, 1995 TAG: 9510090122
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
The crisis Winston Cup points leader Jeff Gordon had feared for weeks but failed to encounter finally erupted in the pits on lap 139 of the UAW-GM 500, when he was going zero mph, at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Gordon popped the clutch in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo - and the transmission popped.
Several hours later, when the race ended, Gordon was running in 30th position, 13 laps down. It was his worst finish since, well, since the last time he raced at Charlotte. In May.
But Gordon's race was more of a stumble than a disaster. Before Sunday, he had finished 14 straight races in the top 10, winning four of them. That had given him a 302-point lead over Dale Earnhardt entering the race.
By Sunday night, with Earnhardt finishing second, Gordon's lead was down to 205 points. But with only three races left in the season, that's still a solid lead. And Gordon was surprisingly upbeat.
``We're disappointed because of our finish and the problems we had, but it was fun out there driving today,'' he told reporters. ``The car was on a rail. No one was going to beat us, but you've got to be there at the end. We went out there and made a statement.
``We've still got a decent lead, but this thing's not over until it's over.''
When Gordon broke his transmission, his crewmen, briefly rattled, pushed his car back toward the pit-wall opening - and into the wall. They quickly corrected that mistake and went to work.
``Guys, we gotta do it,'' barked crew chief Ray Evernham. ``Nice and easy. Just got to put a gear in it. Drive shaft, too. Don't nobody get burned.''
Another crewman called out the parts that were needed, sounding something like a surgeon in an operating room:
``Need a driveshaft! Need gear oil! Need a gear! Probably need a gear pump! Need a drain pan! Let's get the crash cart over here! Need a nitrogen line! Definitely need a rear end! Need a belt!''
And so it went.
As Gordon waited in his car, he told a reporter: ``I was just sitting there a little bit and put it in gear to take off and I heard stuff breaking underneath me.''
When he finally went back onto the track, his car was fast as ever.
``We went back out and showed we had the fastest car,'' he said.
Earnhardt, meanwhile, showed that his failure to qualify (he used a champion's provisional to start in the last spot) meant nothing. He motored to a second-place finish and seemed ready to challenge race winner Mark Martin had there been a few more laps.
``We had a good race car, but I just couldn't catch Mark,'' he said. ``We just couldn't figure out the chassis today. It was hit or miss.
``It ain't winning, but we gained some points on Gordon. We don't wish him any bad luck, but luck's going to have a lot to do with it.''
ENGINE WOES: Another less-than-spectacular race for Rick Mast ended on lap 138 when his engine broke.
``The motor just blew up,'' the Rockbridge Baths, Va., driver said. ``It seems like every time we run good, something like that happens. It breaks, blows up or something else goes wrong. The car was good.''
He finished 36th.
TO THE FORE: Ward Burton found himself in an unfamiliar position - up front - just past the midway point of Sunday's race.
Burton, who led laps 172-213, eventually faded to a seventh-place finish in the 334-lap race. But even that was a major accomplishment for a driver who had failed to complete any of his three previous Winston Cup races at Charlotte.
What made Sunday's performance more impressive for Burton was that it came in just his seventh event driving a Pontiac Grand Prix for owner Bill Davis. And Burton, of South Boston, Va., didn't even make the starting field for last week's race at North Wilkesboro.
``I'm just really excited to have this opportunity, and I think this team is going to start surprising people real soon,'' Burton said.
A PERFECT 10: Bobby Hamilton wound up 10th, his fourth top-10 finish in his last five starts, and moved into the top 10 in the season points standings.
``I think we're going to be good everywhere from here on out,'' said Hamilton, who is in his first season driving Pontiacs for Richard Petty. ``This race team has had a good race on every type of track. We can be good everywhere. We've just got to do it.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joe Nemechek, right, tries to avoid the spinning car of Robert
Pressley on lap 22 of Sunday's UAW-GM 500. Pressley was unable to
continue and finished 42nd.
by CNB