THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220688
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Ricky Rudd has more faith in Darlington Raceway than in his equipment or his fellow NASCAR drivers' skills as Sunday's TranSouth 400 approaches.
Drivers who were used to chewed up tires and slower than normal speeds at the quirky 1.366-mile oval got a little cocky last year about its slick new blacktop, Rudd said.
Speeds soared - Jeff Gordon set a track qualifying mark of 170.833 mph - but so did the number of wrecks. Fifteen accidents took out contenders like Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett and Rudd.
``It's not as much of a handful in qualifying as when you start working race traffic,'' said Rudd, third in Winston Cup points this year.
Several drivers approached Gordon's mark at last week's Darlington practices, and Jeff Burton smashed it with an unofficial run of 171.166 mph.
``There's going to be a lot of cars going almost the same speed, but I think it (the record) is going to fall,'' said Burton, who did not qualify for the Purolator 500 in Atlanta two weeks ago.
Could the quicker speeds mean more accidents?
``I don't think it's the speed; the equipment has caught up with everybody,'' Rudd said.
At the Southern 500 last Labor Day weekend, drivers seemed to get the message. Only five went out in wrecks.
Rudd said he was surprised last spring with the large number of crashes because drivers figured to get better handling on a smoother track.
``I think it all comes back to still, even though there's a new surface at Darlington, it's got a lot of the same old characteristics,'' he said. ``You never can get real comfortable.''
Rudd said higher speeds are inevitable with better mechanics, technology and driver talent. He expects racers will be pushing 200 mph at Darlington in three or four years.
You won't see that this weekend, although temperatures in the 40s and 50s could give Winston Cup teams a few more RPMs. Goodyear also has had a full year to test out better gripping tires for the NASCAR teams at Darlington.
``It really makes you have a lot more corner speed, which is really vital here,'' driver Bobby Hamilton said.
Jarrett, the Daytona 500 winner, tested at Darlington last week. He says he found a stickier track where drivers remain in their grooves instead of flying up near the track walls that are lined with black splotches from racers not so fortunate.
Jarrett ran 170.454 in practice and said he was just trying out different setups, so his Robert Yates Ford Thunderbird figures to be even faster this weekend.
Who can argue with him? Jarrett has been the star of the season so far with a victory at Daytona and three top-five finishes to lead the points standings over Dale Earnhardt, 660-610.
A win by Earnhardt would be his third in five races this season. It would also tie the all-time Darlington mark of 10 victories set by Hall-of-Fame driver David Pearson. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
``(The track's) got a lot of the same old character-istics,'' Rudd
said Thursday.
by CNB