THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608030541
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SPEEDWAY, IND. LENGTH: 76 lines
This grand old track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has had the same basic shape since the first race cars ran on it in 1909.
It's 2.5 miles around, with four turns, each banked at 9 degrees. But when the 40 NASCAR Winston Cup cars get the green flag in the third running of the Brickyard 400 at 1:15 p.m. (EDT) today, the drivers already know they'll be driving on a speedway that is not the same as it was last year.
The track has been repaved, and with new Goodyear tires, Jeff Gordon shattered his own track record by almost 4 mph, winning the pole Thursday with a speed of 176.419.
``To me it's not the paving, it's the fact that the rumble strips are gone,'' Rick Mast said. ``If you can put your left wheel on the white line, which would be the edge of the rumble strips before, you're going to run about the same speed we ran last year.
``If you move down 2 1/2 feet, with the left sides down close to the grass where the rumble strips used to be, you're going to run about a second faster. talking 2 1/2 feet.''
Said Gordon: ``The track seems a little better to pass on. I believe the track has widened a bit, and that will make for a better race.''
Unlike last year's event, which didn't end until dusk because of rain delays caused by the remnants of Hurricane Erin, the third running of the Brickyard 400 is expected to go off in the same near-perfect weather that has prevailed the entire week. Forecasters call for mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the 80s and fairly low humidity.
The big story this week has been Dale Earnhardt, who suffered a broken collarbone, a fractured sternum and a bruised pelvis in his horrendous crash at Talladega only six days ago.
Earnhardt took two laps in his car Friday and spent most of the day in his motorhome, but team publicist J.R. Rhodes said he was feeling better than he has since the accident.
Earnhardt is still expected to turn his car over to relief driver Mike Skinner, but there was no word on how long Earnhardt would stay in the car.
Bobby Hamilton has been having nothing but trouble leading up to the race, and he found more in Friday's final practice session when he demolished his car after losing control in turn 2.
The car hit the wall nearly head-on, but Hamilton walked away from the crash.
``It just got loose,'' Hamilton said. ``That really hadn't been a problem all day. As a matter of fact, we were tight. It just snapped out from under me.''
Hamilton had only managed to qualify 37th, so he won't have far to go when he has to drop to the back of the field in his backup car to start the race. Joining him there will be Bobby Hillin Jr., who qualified fifth-fastest Thursday but wrecked his car in turn 1 during practice Friday morning when he blew an engine.
Hamilton, by the way, will be on his fourth car for this race. But it's a good one. It's the same car in which he won the pole at Michigan in June. Hamilton destroyed his primary Indy car in a test session here. He wrecked his next backup car at Pocono. The third one was lost Friday.
Kyle Petty was the fastest driver in the final practice, posting a lap of 172.391 mph in his Pontiac Grand Prix.
When a track reporter asked Petty for his reaction, he said, ``Yeah, I'll give you a quote: `You're kidding.' '' He took 23 laps during the session.
Ken Schrader was next-fastest at 172.005 mph in a Chevy, followed by Hut Stricklin in a Ford at 171.894. The rest of the top 10 in the final session, were, in order: Gordon, Terry Labonte, Jimmy Spencer, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and Ernie Irvan. Skinner was 23rd-fastest. Earnhardt did not take any laps.
The race, which is NASCAR's richest with a purse of $4,695,547, will be televised live by ABC. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Jeff Gordon, left, maneuvers through traffic during the final
practice session for today's Brickyard 400. by CNB