THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040131
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Three of the top five cars in Sunday's Pontiac 400, including the Chevrolet Monte Carlo of race winner Jeff Gordon, failed postrace inspection at Richmond International Raceway.
But NASCAR officials decided that no penalties were in order after determining that the roof heights of the cars of Gordon, fourth-place finisher Mark Martin and fifth-place finisher Jeff Burton were fractions of an inch too low after the race, track spokesman Dave Fulton said.
Although NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett spoke to reporters in the infield media center about the controversy around 6 p.m., no effort was made to get word to the press box. And when the news finally filtered into the press box around 7:30 p.m., more than three hours after the end of the race, the reporters from many key organizations, including The Associated Press, had already left.
Triplett, too, was gone, as were the rest of the NASCAR officials and the teams involved. The only information available was a third-hand account provided by Fulton:
``They (NASCAR) said that all three cars were within an eighth of an inch of the proper roof height, but that they did not meet it,'' Fulton said.
``There was a discussion that perhaps the tires were losing air pressure because of the cold weather. So NASCAR had the tires and wheels taken off, they inspected the tires and the valves and stems, remounted the tires and inflated them to Goodyear's recommended air pressure.
``However, after waiting 15 minutes, all of the tires had lost about 4 pounds of air pressure. And at that point, NASCAR made the ruling that due to the wind and cold, there would be no penalties.''
MORE CONTROVERSY: Last weekend at Rockingham, Bobby Hamilton was the victim.
On Sunday, he was accused of being the bad guy.
After Hamilton pushed his way past John Andretti at the end of the Pontiac 400, Andretti resculpted the back end of Hamilton's Pontiac Grand Prix with a few body slams on the backstretch. So Hamilton tried to pin Andretti's car against the third-turn wall.
``I parked him there and got out,'' Hamilton said. ``I was just going to talk to him. They fine you $100,000 now for hitting him. When I got out and was going to talk to him, he took off. He backed up and took off.''
``Richard (Petty, team owner) talked to him. That's enough. He (Andretti) was holding me up big time.''
Said Andretti: ``He (Hamilton) hit me and I was going to bump him in the back, but he hit the brakes in a defensive manuever and it caved in the rear of (his) car.''
Hamilton finished sixth; Andretti was 12th.
EARLY EXIT: The Richmond weekend was good for Wally Dallenbach Jr. - until the race itself.
Dallenbach, who had qualified 17th-fastest, crashed on the 19th lap when he was hit from behind while slowing to take the yellow flag. He was the first driver out of the race.
What happened?
``I have not a clue,'' Dallenbach said. ``All I know is I took the yellow flag and these guys were racing behind me and they ran right into the back of me.''
Ernie Irvan was the driver who hit Dallenbach, and it ruined his day as well. Irvan limped to a 38th-place finish and was involved in another incident, this one with Elton Saywer on the backstretch on lap 379.
That was enough for crew chief Larry McReynolds, who told car owner Robert Yates on the radio: ``Let's put this (expletive) in the garage. I've had all I can take.''
TEXAS RACE: The latest reporter's notebook issued by Jeff Gordon's sponsor, DuPont, includes a Winston Cup schedule with the following entry:
``Nov. 3 - Texas 500, Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX (1.5 mi) Tentative.''
NASCAR has yet to announce a date for a Texas race, although the latest rumors have the new track's debut on Nov. 2.
As to the notebook, ``Somebody jumped the gun big time,'' an irritated Kevin Triplett, NASCAR's Winston Cup spokesman, said Sunday. by CNB