The Press Democrat from Santa Rosa, California • 15

The Press Democrat Gomez beats Agassi in French Open for first Grand Slam title C7 CO Santa Rosa, California, Monday, June 11, 1990 Czechoslovakia embarrasses U.S. in World Cup, 5-1 The mm was mistly Wallace crew; too good to be tinkered with' DflDD PAEDECCXV 'I 4 The wise choice, of course, would have been to crank the jack up a couple notches and then Barry Dodson could have freed his left thumb that was pinned between the jack to err (ffr frff1 Mfc-'tMi'ft" "fcfrTif 1 ANNIE WELLSPRESS DEMOCRAT 5t'ars Vm'a winner Rusty Wallace leads a pack of cars through Turn 3 on Sunday. Wallace stays out oftroubletowin i 1 i and Rusty Wallace's car. That would have been the wise choice. It would not have been the fastest.

And this is stock car racing, in which fast sometimes; takes precedence over wise. "I wanted Rusty to have a short pit stop," said Dodson, Wallace's crew chief. To crank up the jack would have taken at least five seconds. "In the pits," Dodson said, "a second seems like a minute." So last week at a NASCAR race in Dover, Dodson yanked out his thumb with the jack and car still sandwiching it. The skin was sheared almost to the bone.

The bone was broken. "We still lost a second," Dodson said, "and everyone looked at me weird, like why did I take so long. Myself, I was afraid to take my glove off." Racers dream of having crew members so dedicated to them, willing to sacrifice not only their leisure time but body parts if it means getting a competitive edge. It now remains to be seen just how much value Rusty Wallace attaches to Dodson's zeal, as well as the rest of his crew who thought Dodson took too long. The Wallace camp should be dancing deep into the night, celebrating Wallace's win in the Sears Point 300 Sunday, his second victory in the last three weeks.

The Winston Cup champ last year, Wallace is the best NASCAR driver this side of Dale Earnhardt. "With things going the way they are," Dodson said, "you think 'Why does a change have to be made? Wallace has announced he will make changes in his team before 1991. He may fire some crew members and split from his owner, Raymond Beadle. He will keep his sponsor, Miller Genuine Draft "Rusty has some differences with the owner," Dodson said. Apparently, Beadle and Wallace aren't the best of friends, brought on in part by Beadle being late in delivering paychecks to the crew he employs.

And some of the crew may be siding with Beadle. "It would be a shame the way things are going not for this crew to stay together," Dodson said. "Rusty was a terrible road course driver when he came to us in 1986. But we told him to treat the car like he wanted to tear everything out of it. Attack the road course the way you do an oval.

"So we jelled in 1987. I'm trying my best to keep us together but I can only do so much." It is hard to imagine Wallace jettisoning his 24-man crew. Races are won in the pits or in the garage the days before the green flag and it would seem someone here is carrying a pretty agile wrench. In 1988, Wallace finished second in the Winston Cup, just 24 points behind Earnhardt. After winning in 1989, Wallace is third this season.

Of five NASCAR road races, Wallace has won three of them and finished second the other two times. This would be like breaking up the Lakers with Magic only in his third year. Driving in an ultra-aggressive style that pushes his car and rivals to the limit, Wallace, at 33, is in his prime as a driver. Now, insiders say, Wallace wants more of his own show. Last year, in a rare act of confidence by a driver, Wallace split from Kodak to sign with Miller.

Drivers just don't do that, quit sponsors. Most driv.ers aren't Rusty Wallace. Now Wallace would like to be his own owner, taking the sponsor's money and deciding what to do with it. Richard Petty works like this. Many drivers, however, have no stomach for the business side of racing.

That's why they have an "owner," who is usually nothing more than an agent to disperse the sponsor's cash, after taking his fee. Flat tires take the air out of Rudd By MICHAEL SILVER Staff Writer SONOMA Up until Sunday, Ricky Rudd's Sears Point 300 soundtrack consisted of champagne corks popping and appreciative hands clapping. The defending champion and 1990 pole sitter heard a different tune on race day hissing and that wasn't exactly music to his ears. Pppppfffffffttttt. That was the sound of Rudd's troubled right-front tire going flat, a curse that would befall him three times on Sunday.

It was an afternoon of deflated rubber and deflated hopes for Rudd, who managed a third-place finish in a race he felt he could have won again. "I've never had a day like this," Rudd said after Mark Martin edged him out for second place on the fourth-to-last lap. "I've never, ever had so many cut tires, and it dictated our strategy from the start. "No doubt about it it wasn't a fair battle. If we hadn't had the tire See Rudd, Page C5 ANNIE WELLSPRESS DEMOCRAT By RALPH LEEF Sp orts Editor 550NOMA Rusty Wallace thinks of himself as one of the Good 01' Boys of NASCAR Winston Cup racing, but the Concord, N.C., driver may have blown his cover for good in Sunday's Sears Point 300.

Wallace, the defending Winston Cup champion, pocketed $69,100 after winning his fifth road race in seven starts. He finished second in the other two road races, including year's inaugural Sears Point 30O won by Ricky Rudd. Wallace lost that one by five-hundredths of a second. The 29-race series features only two road courses each year, but don't be surprised if Wallace starts lobbying for more. A record crowd of 65,000 specta-; tors 12,000 more than 1989 attended the race.

Track officials estimated 88,000 attended the four-day event. Eespite a poor qualifying effort (11th), Wallace stayed out of trouble and on Sunday trouble was spelled F-L-A-T T-I-R-E-S to take the checkered flag ahead of Mark Meirtin of Batesville, and Rudd. Geoff Bodine of Chemung, N.Y., and Bobby Hillin of Midland, Texas, finished fourth and fifth as the race concluded at a snail's pace under a caution flag one of nine for 24 of the 74 laps. Wallace, who trailed badly in points just four weeks ago, moved into third place behind Mark Martin (1800) and Morgan Shepherd (1738), by winning his second race three weeks. Shepherd, the points leader coming into the race, finished 29th.

It was Shepherd's first finish in 12 1990 starts out of the top 10. He was running in fourth place with three laps to go when he had engine problems and had to retire. The points leader at the end of the season will earn a $1 million bonus. Wallace, who said he felt outclassed after Friday's slow qualifying run, couldn't say why he's had such great success away from the oval tracks. "I don't know why we've been winning on the road tracks, I seem to have the car all over the place," See Wallace, Page C5 Rusty Wallace won $69,100 and a trophy for winning the Sears Point 300.

More on the race Dale Earnhardt's June swoon continues with transmission problems that forced him to settle for a 34th-place finish in the Sears Point 300 and dropped him into fourth place in the Winston Cup standings. C4 Tom Kendall's chances of winning in his Winston Cup debut came to an abrupt end when he collided with Chad Little on the 50th lap. C4 1990 NASCAR results. C4 The official finish. C5 Yellow flags mar the Sears Point 300.

C5 There's a new leader in the Winston Cup standings. C5 A's sweep Royals i in. 4 a By RICH RUPPRECHT Staff Writer Dumars' great day turns sad fir, fU OAKLAND Bob Welch got hurt in a couple of ways in the first inning of Sunday's game apainit Kansas Canseco will miss a week, C3 Tartabull lined a ball off his pitching arm, a hit that scored the first of two Kansas City runs that inning. That was Welch's lowlight of the game. The Royals didn't score again, and the banged up A's pulled out a 3-2 victory for a three-game series sweep before a third consecutive sellout crowd (43,700) at the Coliseum.

For the sinking Royals they've lost six in a ro- and have dropped See A's, Page C3 TODAY City- 0n'y tne pain in his right VS. RANGERS AT OAKLAND 7:05 P.M. bicep, though, was lasting. Welch was rocked backward when the Royals' Danny SPORTSCHANNEL I far 7 Burkett (6-1) beats Braves By NICK PETERS McClatchy News Service By R.E. GRASWICH McClatchy News Service PORTLAND, Ore.

A triumphant Sunday afternoon ended in tears for Joe Dumars and the Detroit Pistons. Lakers to name Dunleavy, C8 After scoring 33 points and guiding the Pistons past the Portland Trail Blazers 121-106 at Memorial Co'iiseum, Dumars learned that his father had died 90 minutes before the NBA Finals game had begun. Joe Dumars II died from heart fai lure and complications involving diabetes in Natchitoches, La. He Jiad been ill for almost three years. He was 65.

"Joe and his wife had talked about the possibility of this," said Pistons captain Isiah Thomas, who spoke for Dumars. "He said that if it happened, he didn't want to know until after the game." Thomas said he was informed of Site NBA, Page C8 11. ATLANTA At the beginning of this season, the most heralded rookies in the Na- 17 Wallace wants it his way and so far in racing, he has gotten it. Some consider him petulant, a freelancer of sorts who may be a little spoiled, different than the traditional stocker in that he follows no traditions. This style has made some people uncomfortable and that works to Wallace's advantage on the track.

But now it has made its way to the pit area, and this is not a good place for uncertainly, not when a car is being put together so it can stay in one piece at 200 miles an hour for 500 miles. "When Rusty came aboard," Dodson said, "we all seemed to grow as a group, like sharks, getting hungrier by the day." This is teamwork and while that may sound trite, it wins NASCAR races. Rusty Wallace knows it is important If he forgets, all he has to do is look at Barry Dodson's thumb. "i 9" John Burkett of the San Francisco Giants? Be serious. Burkett, 25, couldn't reach the majors when the club was desperate for pitching in 1988-89, so how could he be a factor for the defending N.L.

champions in 1990? After a 9-3 victory Sunday over the Atlanta Braves at scorching Fulton County Stadium, Burkett is 6-1 and the winningest rookie pitcher in the league. Suddenly, nothing seems out of the question for him. "He could make the All-Star team," said manager Roger Craig, who will manage the National See Giants, Page C3 tional League TODAY wereToddZeile of St. Louis. VS.

BRAVES AT ATLANTA 2:35 P.M. TBS ASSOCIATED PRESS Eric Anthony of Houston and Delino De-Shields of Montreal. Right-hander Kevin Duckworth and the Blazers couldn 't stop Joe Dumars, who scored 33 points.