The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 23

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Monday February 24 1986 3C Richmond Wreck Leaves Friendly Competitors Not-So Friendly "It wouldn't have been much worse if he (Earnhardt) had taken a cocked pistol and put it to Darrell's head" said Johnson "He Just clipped Darrell in the rear and throwed him into the wall "I figured they'd race to the end If they had Darrell would have beat him Instead he wrecked Darrell" Johnson was asked if Waltrip had said anything over the radio connection between the car and the pits "When you're racing a fool like that you don't have time to talk" said By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer RICHMOND The Miller 400 wound up Sunday with hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the race cars and perhaps irreparable ill will between two close old teams Maybe that should be formerly close The teams are those owned by Junior Johnson and Richard Childress for years fast friends in a fast sport Their drivers are Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt And it was these two fierce competitors who were involved in the most controversial NASCAR Winston Cup Series crash since a Daytona 500 donnybrook between Donnie Allison and Cale Yarb-yrough in 1979 It happened on the 398th of 400 laps at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway a 542- mile short track where a bit of banging and bumping is expected because of the tight turns and relatively low speeds Earnhardt had the lead with Waltrip on his bumper as they raced for victory in Chevrolet Monte Carlos Waltrip maneuvered to the inside and pulled almost past Earnhardt down the backstretch But going into the third turn Earnhardt's left front made contact with Waltrip's right rear and both spun out of control slamming into the outer steel railing "Yeah we had dinner together back a week ago at Daytona (prior to the season-opening Daytona 500) But man I've got to protect my equipment and driver" Waltrip gave himself a long cooling off period before making any remarks "We got on the backstretch and he (Earnhardt) turned left into me" said defending Winston Cup champion Waltrip visibly shaken "Bumping is one thing but to flat turn into someone is another I knew he'd be all over me but not like it was I've never had anyone do anything like this to me "It was like a land mine It snapped my neck blurred my vision and for a minute I didn't know where I was I thought I was someplace else "I don't think it (the accident) surprised anybody in the grandstands Maybe they were surprised at the magnitude of it "I've wanted to win awful bad but I've never tried to hurt anybody A man really has to think about what he's doing when he tries to hurt somebody "I'm sure we'll get together for a chat" Said Earnhardt who often has expressed an interest in someday driving for Johnson: "I was just trying to dive back under him and didn't make it I was trying to dive under him and get back in front I wasn't trying to wreck him" Asked if he and Earnhardt weren't friends Johnson nodded State Title Does South Iredell Coach's Heart Good Late-Race Wrecks Help Petty's Win At Richmond Prep Wrestling El to 16 Greenvale Rose 15 Du Mam Jordan 144 Wesi Mecklenburg 14'4 Salisbury 14 Reidsville 13 St Ste phens 13 Charlotte Wringer 121 South Stokes 12n East Burke 12 Pisgah 12 Southern Durham 12 Southern Wihroe 12 Wilmington Hoggard 10 Kings Mountain 9 Roston Samierscm 8s Gasionm Ashbrook West Caldwell 8 Gastonia Huss 6 Greensboro Smith 6 North Buncombe 6 Carver 4 Plymouth 4 Washington 4 Newton-Conover 3's Charlotte Olymptc 3 East Gaston 3 Fayetterothe Saniord 3 Goldsboro 3 Hillsborough Orange 3 Jacksonville White Oak 3 High Point Andrews 2'1 Greensboro Gnrnsley Allegheny 2 Fayetteville Byrd 2 Harnett Central 2 Ledford 2 Mitchell 2 Mooresville 2 Wilson Hunt 2 Guatord 1 Waltrip By BOB MAULDIN Spoctal Corntspondent WINSTON-SALEM The gym was packed the TV cameras were ready and the wrestlers delivered one of the most exciting finals in recent years The curtain dropped on the NC high school wrestling season Saturday and the finale was a state championship for South Iredell coach Bill Mayhew With four qualifiers the Vikings moved into first place in the first round and never relinquishing the lead South Iredell completed the tournament with 6512 points while Fayetteville Westover finished second with 50 Avery Winford at 98 pounds and Mitch Mayhew at 195 claimed individual championships while Carlos Westmoreland took fourth at 119 for the Vikings Coach Mayhew who underwent open heart surgery last summer CONSOLATION FINALS Charlotte Gyminis Win was elated when his son Mitch pinned Trinity's David Lindsey Mayhew said his four wrestlers had worked hard preparing for the tournament and all felt confident Statesville's Scottie Mack was Iredell County's third champion with his 40th win of the season at 167 Mack won 37 of 40 motaes by pins or technical fan Also completing undei sons with championships vid Gragson (132) of Char lottt dependence and Lee Gragg (185) of Crest in Cleveland County Dexter Jones of Hoke County who had placed second in the East regional pinned undefeated Mark Eddleman of Winston-Salem Glenn for the 126 title and was voted most outstanding wrestler I have enjoyed writing this column for the past weeks and have appreciated the many comments concerning high school wrestling around the state TEAM TOTALS Durwood Bynum (Salisbury( Harvester Go Morn (S Stokes) 8-5 105 Timmy Deep' (Brevard) pinned David (trinity)? 50112 Doug Killian (St Sleprienti) Bert Smith (Peigeht 104 111 James McLoonsharn (Pine Forest( Carlos Westmoreland (S (redo))) 1-1 126 Jevon Morns (Freedom) won by Wen over Daron Schenck (Kings Mountain) 132 Adair Levine (Rose) 11 David Cutbreth (71st) 5-4 131 Jeri Lee IS Wayne) itt Kenn Barthobornew (Jordan) 4-2 145 Bubb a Garmort (East Rowan) Shawn Minnick (Pine Forest) 6-5 155 Johnnie Autry (Cape Fear) pinned Jerome Pickard (Reidsville) 4 01 117 Robed Harper (Garner) Darnus Wawa lAshbrook) 5-1 165 John Cooper (Watauga( Greg Monroe (Hoke( 114 Robbie Porter (E Forsyth( pinned Ronald Winn (Hoggard) 3 14 Ittel Tim High (Millbrook) pinned Robert Lingeden (East Burks( 1 56 Continued From Page 1C and Petty rode to the checkers under caution He was followed by the Buick-driving Ruttman Earnhardt Bobby Allison and Waltrip in the finishing order Waltrip and Earnhardt somehow got their battered racers rolling and collided again in turn one on the last lap "After it was over I didn't have any steering when I got to the first turn and the car wouldn't turn and that's where I hit him" said Waltrip "Seeing who it was it didn't bother me too much Said Earnhardt: "At the end I didn't do anything that he (Waltrip) wouldn't do It was racing Ruttman hit the outer railing too then was hit by the car of Trevor Boys The next car still running was Petty's Thunderbird which was involved in an even larger wreck of 12 cars on the 15th lap between turns three and four Petty recovered from that one to keep going but the accident foiled the hopes of contenders Bill Elliott Ron Bou chard Ricky Rudd Tommy Ellis Harry Gant Phil Parsons Tim Richmond Lake Speed and Richard Petty Elliott's Ford wound up atop the railing It was this incident that put Waltrip a lap down for most of the race The victory was worth 837880 outright to Petty's Wood Brothers team "And counting the money we'll get now that we go on NASCAR's Winner's Circle Plan it'll amount to about $400000 in bonuses for us" said Petty who won the ARCA 200 at Daytona International Speedway in his very first race as an 18-year-old in 1979 but hasn't triumphed since "1 couldn't see the guys in front of me at the end today 1 could only see the smoke" he said "I figured one or two of 'em were in it but not all four" "Then when I came around 1 saw Darrell and Dale and Geoff sitting there But I didn't see No 26 (Ruttman) anywhere I thought he was going to win and I'd be second" with a fourth-place finish in the 15-and-over Class I division Hall a sophomore at South Mecklenburg High finished third in the vault (875) and balance beam (855) and fourth in the floor exercise (900) Teammate Susan Williams was fifth overall after placing second in the vault (880) and third in the floor exercises (915) In the 12-14 Class I division Debra Hoechstetter of the Gyminis took third in the all-around competition Hoechstetter was first in the balance beam (870) and fourth in the uneven bars (810) From Stott Reports The Charlotte YWCA Gyminis team placed three gymnasts in the top six in all-around competition to capture first-place in the seventh Carolinas Cup Invitational at the Charlotte YWCA on Park Road Sunday The Gyminis won the competition with 13515 points Raleigh School of Gymnastics finished second with 13425 points Gymnastics World of Boone was third with 13140 Carolina Gymnastics Center of Columbia fourth at 12970 and Salem Gymnastics of Winston-Salem was fifth at 12870 Melanie Hall led the Gyminis CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS 91 Avery Wexford (S Irede David Farris (Conleyl 7-0- 105 Ricky Strausbaugh (Pine Forest) Duane Watson (Cummongs) 14-1 112 Antonio Calloway (Wes-lover) Kurt Duncan (Watauga) 11-5 Stade Henry (Tuscola) Dennis Fleming (Havetock) 4-2 129 Dexter Jones (Hokel pinned Mark Edchernan (Glenn) 0 53 132 David Gragson (Independence) Jeff Redfern (E Mecklenburg) 8-3 131 Danny Soden (list) Eric Lindley (independence) 13-7 145 Henry Byrd (Page) Martin Anderson (Conley) 12-9 155 Byers (Dudley) Johnny Jeffries (Lexington) 10-6 167 Scottie Mach (Statesville) Shawn McMillan (Westover) 9-4 111S Lee Gregg (Crest) Bruce Reece Cary) 95 195 Mitch Mayhew (S Irectetli pinned David Lindsey Itnnrtyl 5 42 Hvy Anton Grist (New Bern) pinned David Newkirk (S Johnston) 040 South tredell 65'4 Fayetteville Westover 50 Fayetteville Pine Forest 40'4 Hoke County 313'4 Greenville Coney 37'4 Fayetteville list 37'4 Charlotte Independence 36 Watauga 33 Trinity 324 Cary 32 New Bern 26'1 Statesville 26 Raleigh Webfoot' 25 Greensboro Dudley 24 Greensboro Page 22 Weynesville Tuscola 22 Crest 21'4 Glenn 21 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