The Atlanta Constitution du lieu suivant : Atlanta, Georgia • 50

THE ATLANTA COSTtTt.TIOV V. 12. l''t Auto racinsM Thoueh Schoonover was the first driver 7 tr Ii Jesse. Outlar Sports Editor it Itlfirrii Hi it ill the top wall and bounced to the dirt embankment below. Rescuers had to cut the top out of the car to lift Schoonover out and into an ambulance.

Eyewitnesses said he was bleeding profusely around the head and face and ice packs were applied to his body. He was brought to the track hospital and then flown by helicopter to Grady Me-' morial, where, at 4:27 p.m., he was pronounced dead of massive head and internal injuries. Schoonover died 15 minutes before Earnhardt got the checkered flag, and those in victory lane were unaware of his death as the champagne was poured. Now it's on to Riverside, where Terry Labonte, who leads Harry Gant by 42 points and Elliott by 2 121, will conclude their duel for the Grand National title in the final race of the year, Chances are there won't be much mention of Terry Schoonover's death during the race at Riverside, because no sport adheres more closely than auto racing to the Hemingway code of not counting your casualties. to die in an AIR race, pit crewman Dennis Wade died after being struck by a car in 1979.

Earnhardt and Schoonover are the same age, but the comparison ends there. Earnhardt is a famous driver who has won J2.559.057 on the tracks. Schoonover, starting only his second NASCAR race, earned 1,030 in his final start, boosting his career total to $2,585. In his only previous race, he collected $1,555 for finishing 21st in the American 500 at Rockingham. N.C.

Schoonover was such an unknown that there was no information on him in the official program, other than that he was entered in the race. He drove drag races in Florida and joined the NASCAR circuit this year after attending the Buck Baker driving school at Rockingham. No one even knew what caused Schoonover to lose control of his No. 42 Chevrolet on the second turn, but the car continued all the way to the third turn, where it struck pagne, explained about a hole in his oil pan for the last 19 laps. After leader Geoff Bo-dine blew an engine on lap 292, the race developed into a duel between Earnhardt and Bill Elliott.

Elliott, the pride of ville, who had set the track record of 170.198 mph in qualifying trials, kept close but wound up four car lengths behind the winner. After a few minutes of questions and answers, someone inquired in a soft, low tone if Earnhardt knew Terry Schoonover. who had died after an accident on the 129th Earnhardt, his expression unchanged, casually said, "No, I just met him at Rockingham, and I didn't know he had died until you told me." There was more conversation about the race and then Earnhardt related that he had recently killed two deer, prize 11 and 12 pointers, near Chester, S.C. 1 There was finally another mention of Schoonover, when a guy asked Earnhardt how the death of a driver in a race affects HAMPTON As darkness closed in Sunday at Atlanta International Raceway. champagne was being splashed in the winner's circle on Dale Earnhardt, who had collected the first-place prize of $40,610 in the Atlanta Journal 500.

The public address system still was blaring commercials as the crowd estimated at 52,300 slowly filed out of the track. There was no mention of Terry Schoon-over, 32, of Royal Palm Beach, who had become the first driver to die from injuries in 25 years of racing at AIR. Ernest Hemingway said never count your casualties, and racing adheres to that philosophy more than any other sport. Everyone from A.J. Foyt and Richard Petty to the rookies tells you that danger is just part of the business.

-V When Earnhardt had completed festivi- ties in the winner's circle, he came to the press box for the customary postrace interview. i There was no mention of Schoonover, as Earnhardt, his shoulders damp with cham other drivers. "I don't consider such things," Earnhardt replied, his expression still unchanged. "It doesn't bother me." Earnhardt and other drivers can't let it bother them too much, or they'd have to find another profession. When the wheels start turning, it's Russian roulette on wheels, and all drivers are aware of the odds.

They do have a point when they note they are safer in a NASCAR race than they, are on the expressways. Schoonover's death was the first in an official NASCAR race since Tiny Lund was killed at Talladega in 1975. Ricky Knotts died after an accident in the 1980 125-mile qualifying event at Daytona. Gant has his troubles but gains on Labonte Three-wheel drive: Richard Petty loses a tire Sunday hut his pit crew repaired the car and he finished the race in eighth place i i ii i ii rTitr i mi I r-n 7u I jr. -s same thing happened to us," Gant said.

"It was all I could do to hold on and then the motor let go. "The early trouble was a spindle or a hub, or both. It was busted all day long. I guess it happened yesterday in practice. I don't know what happened to my motor.

We think it might have been a bearing and it caused the car to smoke out of the breathers." Travis Carter, working the pit, seemed as exhausted as his driver. "When you start running bad in the first hundred miles, it makes for a long day," Carter said. "The first time, we burned a wheel bearing. Later, we put rags over the breathers to the excess oil from coming out. By that time it was a matter of survival and we didn't do too Almost simultaneously, Gant and Carter muttered the same words: "What a day.

I'm just glad it's over." Gant, a 44-year-old veteran from Taylorsville, N.C, was summoned by a TV station. He shrugged. "Let me get out of these wet clothes," he said. He could not afford to catch cold in the chill at Atlanta International Raceway. His mood seemed to adapt Murphy's Law.

If anything can go wrong next week, it will. "You know, if he (Labonte) finishes 30th, I'll finished 35th, and it won't matter," Gant said. Labonte, in spite of his negative emotions, has been consistent. Sunday ended a string of 13 races in which he finished in the top nine positions. That includes one win, three seconds and two thirds.

"This is one of those deals you can't do anything about, so there's really no use fretting," Labonte said. By Chris Mortensen Staff Writer HAMPTON As soon as he started his engine at the Atlanta Journal 500, Harry Gant realized there was trouble. "My car started vibrating," he said. "It gave the car a bad push." He made the first of several pit stops. Soon he was eight laps behind the leader.

The Grand National points race was over. "It just figured it didn't matter anymore," Gant said. He thought wrong. Terry Labonte had a gut feeling otherwise. "As soon as Harry started having trouble, I said to myself, 'Oh, because when something happens to somebody like that, it always happens to me," said Labonte, the season's points leader.

"Sure enough, it happened. It got me again." Labonte, unlike Gant, had no early signs. His engine blew on the 205th lap. Gant was still trudging around the track and didn't quit until the 289th lap. Next Sunday's Western 500 race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway is alive again.

It is the final determining competition for the $150,000 grand prize. The standings: 1. Labonte, 4,338 points. 2. Gant, 4,296 points.

3. Bill Elliott, 4,217 points. "I wanted to finish good today to lock up second place," Gant said. "Elliott (who finished second) isn't that far behind. We gotta finish high to hold off Elliott.

It ain't over yet." The margin, 42 points, by which Gant trails Labonte, is not as great. Yet, it was a strange afternoon. First, he was out of it, then La-bonte's engine blew, and there was hope. "I felt after Terry fell out, we might gain some ground but the 1 'Wr 'fX lit ii'iii RICH AODICKSStafl Crews swarm around their cars during a mass pit stop after the first caution flag of the race plllflB will S--3 rabbit to the field, then cracked his A-frame following a pit stop caused by Labonte's blown engine. When Bodine exited, Earnhardt inherited the lead.

The crowd, estimated at 52,300, anticipated a side-by-side finish. But it never came. Elliott could not get any closer than three car lengths the final 20 laps. "I was running a steady pace and watching Bill all the way," said Earnhardt, the 1980 points champion. "With about 25 laps to go, I noticed that when he tried to run on me, he'd get loose in the fourth turn, and I didn't think he could catch me." Earnhardt, a 32-year-old North Carolinian, had some anxious moments toward the end, however.

The header pipe flew off and put a small hole in his oil pan, but didn't spill any oil onto the track. "It happened in the third turn, and I could see sparks flying everywhere," he said. "I saw some smoke and thought, 'Uh, but nothing happened. When that happened, it looked like Bill kind of backed off." That little incident might not have cost Earnhardt any time, but it ended Elliott's charge, according to Elliott. "I had no chance after that to catch Earnhardt," Elliott said.

"He threw oil all over my windshield and I couldn't see. I couldn't judge distances and had to feel my way through the corner. "I kept waiting for something to come out from under his car or the engine to blow, but it didn't. But give Dale credit. He drove a great race Race Continued From Page 1-D and Cale Yarborough, who finished 11th, won $10,000 for leading the race at the halfway point.

In the battle for the Grand National points championship, Terry Labonte's lead was trimmed to 42 points by Harry Gant, but neither driver finished the race. Labonte blew an engine on lap 205 and finished Gant was 26th after developing problems in the right front wheel assembly and later an unspecified engine failure. Elliott moved to within 121 points. The championship will be decided next Sunday in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside, Calif. With the suspense of the points chase reduced to smoke and vibrations, it was up to Earnhardt, Yarborough, Bodine and Elliott to furnish the excitement They were up to the task.

Bodine led six times for 125 laps, Yarborough twice for 55 laps, Elliott four for 54 and Earnhardt five for 49, including the final 36 after Bodine blew an engine on the back stretch. "This was the race of my life on a superspeedway and this had to happen," said Bodine whose two victories this year have come on short tracks. "We were running real fortable all day, and I'm not saying we could have won, but we'd have been there at the end." Bodine was the second leader to fall out. Earlier, Yarborough played FIN. ST.

DRIVER LAPS MONEY 1 10 Dale Earnhardt 328 $40,610 2 1 Bill Elliott 328 28,085 3 13 Ricky Rudd 328 19,350 4 17 Benny Parsons 328 7,000 5 9 Bobby Allison 327 16,850 6 7 Darrell Waltrip 327 13,500 7 20 Lake Speed 327 4,475 8 15 Richard Petty 327 8,055 9 32 Sterling Marlin 327 4,325 10 19 Dave Marcls 325 11,950 11 4 Cale Yarborough 325 12,590 12 21 Ron Bouchard 325 8,475 13 14 Tim Richmond 324 8,870 14 25 Morgan Shepherd 324 5,960 15 16 Rusty Wallace 320 6,640 16 30 Dick Brooks 319 5,520 17 39 Doug Heveron 319 2,055 18 33 Jimmy Means 319 5,180 19 40 Robinson 319 1,735 20 8 Buddy Baker 317 1,975 21 18 Neil Bonnett 316 3,090 22 41 Kyle Petty 313 9,715 23 26 Trevor Boys 309 4,270 24 3 Geoff Bodlne 293 19,505 25 12 David Pearson 290 1,275 26 5 Harry Gant 289 3,950 27 24 Kenny Schrader 272 3,760 28 31 Phil Parsons 240 1,185 29 28 Eddie Bierschwale 229 1,155 30 2 Terry Labonte 205 3,400 31 34 Greg Sacks 177 1,075 32 6 Jody Ridley 157 1,060 33 11 Bobby Hillln Jr. 154 1,045 34 37 Terry Schoonover 122 1,030 35 29 Joe Ruttman 106 1,015 36 23 Dean Combs 96 1,000 37 27 Lennie Pond 74 3.250 38 36 Mark Stahl 70 970 39 35 Bob Penrod 55 955 40 38 Ken Ragan 0 940 came the first driver killed at AIR. On March 19, 1979, Dennis Wade, a member of the David Watson crew, was killed at AIR when he was hit in the pits by Watson's car. Schoonover is the first driver to be killed in a Grand National race since 1975, when Tiny Lund was killed in a crash at Talledcga. In 1980, driver Ricky Knotts.

was killed in a 125-mile qualifying race in Daytona. Death Continued From Page 1-D In the garage area, Schoonover was virtually unknown to both drivers and crews. He had made his Grand National debut three weeks ago at Rockingham, where he started 39th in the American 500 and finished 21st. On Sunday, he be JOHN SPINKStall Tlm of raei 3:42:31. Avarag apaadi 134.610.

Jee S)ke Kyle IVlly's pit crew watches the race.