THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120132
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: NASCAR NOTES
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. LENGTH: 75 lines
The Bud at the Glen at Watkins Glen International was only five laps old when Dale Earnhardt and his team had to make a crucial decision.
Earnhardt had won the pole Friday with a broken clavicle and sternum, and now he was leading the race. Would he get out of his car while in first place? Or would he stay in and continue to battle the pain, the track and NASCAR's best stock-car drivers?
``You make the call, Richard. I feel good,'' Earnhardt radioed car owner Richard Childress.
Childress volleyed the decision back to his driver.
``It's your play,'' Childress said. ``Whatever you want to do, buddy. It's up to you.''
But it was obvious that Childress was leaning toward having Earnhardt come in and let relief driver David Green take over. Otherwise, ``it's going to make for a long, long day,'' Childress said.
For many long seconds, there was no answer.
Finally, the greatest driver of his era cued his radio and announced the verdict.
``Richard, I feel too good to get out.''
On lap 33, another yellow flag flew.
``Good job,'' Childress said. ``How do you feel, Dale?''
``I'm OK.''
``Is there anything we can do for you?''
``I'm doing pretty good,'' Earnhardt said. ``I seem to have braking problems getting down into turn 1 in front of y'all.''
A third of the way through the race, Earnhardt was talking about his car, not his health. Childress knew at that point his driver was staying put.
``Once we got to the halfway point, I knew he had to go all the way,'' Childress said afterward.
And so Earnhardt ran all 90 laps. He raced for two hours, 23 minutes and 17 seconds. He led the most laps (54) and ended up sixth while Geoff Bodine swiped the race with pit strategy, luck and a decent car.
As Earnhardt pulled up to his transporter after the race, his face was a mask of pain and exhaustion. But he pulled himself out of his car without help, sat on the back of his transporter and talked about his day.
``I really felt like staying in the car was the best call I could make,'' he said. ``I just got a little bit soft on the brakes there at the end and they went away a little bit. I think the driver gave out a little bit, too. I don't feel too good right now.''
How were the last 30 laps?
``I held on. That's about all I can say. I held on.''
What about Michigan?
``If I get over this soreness this week, I'll be OK next week at Michigan,'' he said.
As Earnhardt retreated to the lounge of the team transporter to dress for a quick departure, Childress began fielding questions.
And he was still standing there, explaining why he thought his driver should have turned the wheel over to Green, when Earnhardt emerged from the transporter.
Childress gave him a huge, heartfelt hug. Earnhardt squeezed Childress' shoulder.
``Wimpy car owner,'' Earnhardt joked. And then he was gone.
BETTER DAYS: Ricky Rudd, Ernie Irvan and Rusty Wallace, three of NASCAR's most accomplished road racers, found nothing but trouble Sunday.
Rudd and Irvan were slowed by transmission problems and finished 34th and 35th respectively.
And Wallace's race was distinctively awful.
Wallace spun off the course on lap 44 and dropped from fourth to 15th. On lap 63, he got into the grease Irvan had spilled on the track and smashed into the tire barrier in turn 11. He finally finished 33rd.
``It was just one problem, then another, then another, and then it was just like, `Oh heck, it's time to stop,' '' Wallace said.
POINTS RACE: With his sixth runner-up finish of 1996, Terry Labonte extended his Winston Cup points lead over Dale Earnhardt by 15. Labonte now has a 76-point lead. Jeff Gordon, who finished fourth, moved into third, 119 points back. Dale Jarrett fell to fourth, trailing by 147. by CNB