DATE: Monday, June 9, 1997                  TAG: 9706090139

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE:    - BOB ZELLER

                                            LENGTH:   90 lines

NASCAR REPORT

Ward Burton's day

turns sour as engine

sputters, then dies

LONG POND, Pa. - The long straightaways of Pocono Raceway allowed Winston Cup drivers to use all of the unrestricted power of their V-8 engines in Sunday's Pocono 500.

That leads to engine failures. And on Sunday, five drivers dropped out of the race with broken motors, including three who were having much-needed good runs before their engines died.

After leading 60 of the first 132 laps, Ward Burton suddenly slowed on the 1.5-mile tri-oval.

``The motor blew up,'' Burton growled into his radio.

Car owner Bill Davis walked alone back to the garage, his shoulders slumped. Burton has been fast in recent weeks, but he doesn't last.

``We've got a good team,'' Burton said after steering his silent car back to the garage. ``We just can't get a daggone break.''

A sympathetic reporter pointed out how many laps he had led.

``Doesn't make a damn right now,'' he said. ``We've got to finish races.'' He ended up 38th.

Joe Nemechek also was felled by engine failure after running with the contenders until late in the race. His Chevy broke on lap 166 and wound up 36th.

``It's a disappointing finish, but the crew did an awesome job with the car,'' Nemechek said. ``We proved we can run up there with the top five. Now we've got to finish up there, too.''

Jeff Green, in his fourth start as the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet, led three times for a total of 15 laps during the first half of the race. But Green's car fell out of the race with engine failure after 189 laps.He finished 35th.

``Too early to end the day''

Greg Sacks showed a lot of speed in practice and qualifying driving Robby Gordon's No. 40 Coors Light Chevrolet, but he found nothing but wall during the race.

Sacks became the first of the 42 starters to fall out of the event when he hit the wall in turn 1, driver's-side first, on lap nine. It was an extremely hard hit, but Sacks escaped with a contusion, an abrasion of his already tender left foot, and bruised left ribs. He was released after examination at the infield care center.

``It's too early to end the day,'' Sacks said. ``It's pretty rough coming off that turn. Jeff (Gordon) was real tight on me and the air just came off my spoiler. It's very disappointing.''

Petty's ``40th-place car''

After squeezing a 14th-place finish out of a dog of a car, Kyle Petty indicted his Pontiac Grand Prix on charges of crimes against a driver.

``The next step for this car is to take it to the wind tunnel and see what the problem with it is,'' he said. ``If there doesn't seem to be any problem with it, it's going down to Cranford Metal Works and they're going to crush it in the crusher and we ain't gonna see that car no more.''

Petty said he couldn't do anything with his car all weekend.

``We started 40th and we were a 40th-place car,'' he said.

Pole-sitter pole-axed

For the second race in a row, the pole position was not the place to start.

For pole-sitter Bobby Hamilton, tires were the problem. Hamilton suddenly slowed on lap 23 when his right front tire went flat. By the time he got back around to the pits and had it changed, he had lost a lap.

On lap 131, he ran up into the outside wall and rode it between turns 1 and 2, apparently after another tire went down.

``How hard did you hit?'' Hamilton was asked on the radio.

``Hard,'' he replied.

``You all right?''

``Hell, I don't know.''

It was, indeed, a hard hit, but Hamilton walked back to his transporter after a checkup at the infield care center.

``We had two right front tires go down on us,'' he said. ``Just popped. There's a lot of debris out there - little things. This is what we do in the middle part of the season. It's just our part of the season.''

Skinner's engine blows

The lament of a rookie with a ruined engine came across the radio Sunday.

``I'm not having very much fun,'' Mike Skinner told his crew on lap 78 as his crippled Chevrolet gurgled around the track.

``Bring that thing on in here because it ain't going to last,'' crew chief David Smith said.

The engine problem was fatal. Skinner dropped out in 42nd position. John Andretti also fell out of the race with a blown engine.

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