DATE: Thursday, November 20, 1997           TAG: 9711200629

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  108 lines

NASCAR '97: TRACK OWNERS STOLE SOME OF THE THUNDER

The longest NASCAR Winston Cup stock car racing season in more than 25 years is now over. We can look back and marvel at the close competition.

Bruton Smith had a big lead over Bill France and Roger Penske at the beginning of the season. But by midseason, Smith was reeling from the bad reviews of Texas Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, France and Penske, individually and together, were buying new tracks, unveiling new projects and generally putting the old white-haired promoter laps down.

Oh, and on the track . . . Jeff Gordon was the driver of the year, winning The Winston Million, his first Daytona 500 and his second Winston Cup championship.

But over the course of the year, off-track issues continued to dominate the news. The phenomenal growth of NASCAR and the stories generated by that growth often overshadowed the racing on the track.

And the way the racing businessmen handled themselves, one can be certain that had they actually been competing in stock cars, there would have been plenty of fender rubbing and a few crashes.

In January, while showing reporters the new Texas track, Smith asserted that France had ``promised'' him a second race in 1997. He was riding high then, having come off an amazing 1996 that included the purchases of Bristol and Sears Point tracks and the astounding success of his Speedway Motorsports stock offering.

As it turned out, Smith not only failed to get a second date for 1997, France wouldn't give him one for 1998, either - even after Smith pitched a fit in the NASCAR trailer at Indianapolis.

Texas opened to bad weather and bad reviews, particularly from the drivers.

In June, Penske opened California Speedway to rave reviews, and in July, France's International Speedway Corp. delivered three heavy blows to counter Smith's moves. On July 4, Daytona International Speedway announced the biggest track-lighting project in history. On July 14, ISC bought Phoenix International Raceway, which Smith had sought. And on July 23, ISC and Penske jointly bought Homestead Motorsports Complex in Florida.

By the end of the season, ISC had also announced a huge new speedway project in Kansas City, and Penske had prevailed over Smith in a legal battle over control of North Carolina Motor Speedway.

But Smith had countered with a spectacular expansion of Bristol and an impressive renovation at Atlanta. Both proved that no one puts more into improving and showcasing tracks than Smith.

Said Smith, ``You have to ask, `What I've done, has it helped better the sport? Has going to Wall Street helped the sport? Has building the facility in Texas helped the sport?' If the answer is yes and if all of that is on track, I'm going to continue to do what I have been doing.''

Speculation continued throughout the year that Smith might try to form a competing series, particularly when he failed to gain a second race at Texas.

But there was no overt action from Smith in that direction.

``As long as NASCAR has Daytona, Talladega and the Brickyard, Bruton doesn't have anything,'' said car owner Felix Sabates. ``I don't blame him for wanting another race, but he's not stupid.''

On track, the subplot to Gordon's phenomenal year were the travails of Dale Earnhardt, who had his first winless season since 1981. In fact, when Earnhardt reports for duty at Daytona next February, he will be one month shy of having not won for two years, since his last victory came at Atlanta on March 10, 1996.

But Earnhardt's performance was by no means pathetic in 1997. He finished fifth in the championship battle. He looked more like, say, Terry Labonte, who doesn't win that often but is consistent.

The low point for Earnhardt came when he fell asleep at the wheel in the

Southern 500 in one of the most mysterious anomalies ever seen in NASCAR racing.

But by the end of the year, he was actually returning to his old form, displaying the most daring racing of the year at Atlanta last Sunday, using an outside groove that supposedly didn't exist.

``It was a satisfying season,'' crew chief Larry McReynolds said of his first year as Earnhardt's chief wrench turner. ``We could have done better, but not only is this the first year that Dale Earnhardt hasn't had a win in a season in some time, it's the same for Larry McReynolds.

``On the other hand, like I told our guys, we've gone the whole season without a DNF (did not finish) and that's the first time I've ever done that in a season, too. I think we've been real good in the second half of the season, especially.''

The 1997 season saw the emergence of Dale Jarrett as a superstar. He had his finest season, finishing second in points and winning seven races. It also saw Mark Martin recover nicely from a winless season. Martin won four times, won his third International Race of Champions title and finished third in Winston Cup points.

And the year also saw Martin's Roush Racing teammate, Jeff Burton, emerge as a new star, and a potential threat to Gordon. Burton won three races, including the inaugural Texas race. And in the year's best finish, Gordon rubbed fenders with Burton to keep him from passing on the last lap of the Southern 500.

For those who like to see underdogs win, perhaps the best race of the year was the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. John Andretti dominated the affair, but the race was filled with the tension of wondering whether he would actually be able to finish it off. He did. Burton and Andretti were the only first-time winners this year.

While Ford romped to the manufacturer's championship, Gordon was the only Chevy driver to win a race. And he won so often, he made it all but impossible for NASCAR to grant rules concessions to Chevy.

So he was not very popular in the garage as well as among fans in the grandstands, who loudly booed him all year. But Gordon is OK with that. He knows they were booing him for the right reason: He won too much.

``There is nothing sweeter than a championship, and I think the second time around is even sweeter,'' Gordon said. ``We've had one of those career years.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE

Much like the drivers who race around their facilities, Bruton Smith

and his fellow multi-track owners spent much of the year jockeying

for position.

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