The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 17

Sports De Charlotte Observer Monday February 16 1987 Section Comics6B Elliott Outlasts Dayt small id I t-: li Tom 1 Sorensen Bodine's Gamble Fails When Car Runs Out Of Gas Is Sheehey Dirty? Opinions Differ 111011111110' 4 1 c)o4-- 2' 4A 11 7 i l-'1 -0 1::: yyl 1A40) A' iki-NoA '14 tiil tiblipio 'k irt r-1- 1 :1::: I ii'''' Ai- 4:1 4 Fit i' A 'xt- lz "N''4 0 ff rt 43 1 :0 t40t 4''--' 4- -17 :4 1 1 "Ili- A 40WAr 1 144: 17:: -)- -(0-s- 7 ::7: 4 iylli'' 1 s4 0 i i amPoi 401 4: 4 el tr 4- fiLr'i ii? 1 it :1::: 1Li -f4k lc: "'l '1'r -k 44'4'4' A i' 11R k': -f stirotit ottok 'i 4 c3 2 4 li 1 err Nt 1 4 "0" rt 14 ff 3 4004:: 1 'TOI li A 1: 41 ti 4it ji0e ii ik! 4 0" :::1 1 1 4' o't 4 14y )1011 3 li 31 '''A Z4 ::4: ''''''4941 '''1 j4N a Li 0 Fdy've' i': 4 0 Ilk )Jkp 12 Pcst SI qr Associated Pt 441kiPlt 06 dlii ess 10i! telA--71- 111P'" '') By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH Fla Favored Bill Elliott drove his Ford to the front and a dramatic Daytona 500 stock car racing victory Sunday Gambling Geoff Bodine's Chevrolet ran out of gas with only three laps to go helping Elliott win the NASCAR Winston Cup Series season opener Elliott rolled under the checkered flag at Daytona International Speedway six-tenths of a second ahead of Benny Parsons' Chevrolet with the Pontiac of Richard Petty and Buddy Baker's Oldsmobile just behind Dale Earnhardt finished fifth in a Chevy Taking postions six through 10 7oll and completing all 200 laps on the 1 25-mile track in only the third 11 leb' i accident-free chase in the classic's f''- 1 Nkt 29 runnings were Bobby Allison 1 Ken Schrader Darrell Waltrip Vrir Ricky Rudd and Cale Yarborough cA respectively as veterans domi- nated the highly competitive show 3iti before a crowd of 130000 Phil ki ok: Parsons Benny's brother also made all 500 miles to place llth Bodine When the other contenders dashed into the pits for splashes of fuel in order to make it to the finish Bodine inherited a 232-second lead His crew chief Gary Nelson decided to risk making it 45 laps on a tank of gas since the car earlier had gone 42 laps or 105 miles without refueling However with 75 miles to go Bodine slowed on the track's trioval homestretch and Elliott sped past him on the back straight Bodine coasted around pitted and wound up 14th a lap down Elliott said his brother and crew chief Ernie "called me on the radio and said Bodine had run out" "That perked me right up" he said "But I'd definitely have done what Geoff's team did if I'd been in those boys' position" Said Bodine: "It was our plan from the previous pit stop to try and outlast them If you never take a chance in life it gets kind of dull and boring" Bodine was supported by Nelson "Not stopping was our only chance to win" said Nelson whose team tried the same futile strategy last September in the Southern 500 at Darlington SC "If we'd had Geoff come in maybe we would have finished second We came to Florida to win the Daytona 500 We rolled the dice and came up short I'd do it again although I know everyone is going to come up and say we should have stopped" With the event running so safely there were See Ewan Page 4B CHARLOTTESVILLE Va It was Saturday in Charlottesville and the Clemson-Virginia college basketball game was about 45 minutes away Virginia players were shooting at one end of University Hall Clemson players at the other Quiet? It was almost too quiet Then things began to happen Clemson's Horace Grant Joined the Cavaliers And Virginia's Tom Sheehey sidled up to him And Grant's teammates weren't watching Oh no "Horace watch out!" a spectator at court-side wanted to yell "Don't you know that Sheehey is the toughest player in the conference a Big Ten center in an ACC uniform? "Don't you know that he got kicked out of a game 10 days ago for hitting Duke's Danny Ferry who seems like a nice person with a forearm? Don't you know that he has pushed and been pushed by ex-Duke player Dan Meagher and North Carolina's Joe Wolf and a 000) bunch of other big people? And that Meagher spit on him? "Go back Horace Go egfook 4006 back and get help Before or it's too late" But it was too late Sheehey said something to Grant And Grant smiled Call it the anticlimax in Charlottesville It was almost as if they were pals Later in the day Grant SheeheY 6-10 and 220 and Sheehey 6-9 and 220 would bang on each other Two of the ACC's toughest inside players they would shove push and raise their arms quizzically when they were called for a foul At one point Sheehey would land hard beneath the Virginia basket And after being helped up and inspected for damage by teammates Grant would pointedly go to him and shake his hand And after Clemson's 94-90 overtime victory Saturday Grant would sound almost like a fan "He doesn't take cheap shots" Grant said "He just plays physical He's like that guy Duke used to have Meagher" Dressing next to Grant was forward Jerry Pryor Pryor was asked If Sheehey was a dirty player Pryor smiled "I really don't know how to answer that" he said He added that he didn't want to If Pryor wouldn't talk about Sheehey the player he was asked if he would talk about the team for which Sheehey plays "Virginia is like us they're physical" said Pryor "But we're a clean physical They're dirty" Sheehey probably would be offended by such talk But if a poll of ACC fans were taken and it were taken south of the North Carolina-Virginia line Sheehey undoubtedly would be voted the conference's dirtiest player In the interest of fairness a ballot was extended to Sheehey "Am I a dirty player?" Sheehey asked "No I have never been and I never will be "I play physical I play hard each and every game And I've never done anything in a game I'm ashamed of I play hard and that's as far as it goes Nothing below the belt if you'll pardon the expression" The latter is a reference to his Feb 4 confrontation with Ferry In a game at Duke Sheehey and Ferry 6-10 were working for position Suddenly Sheehey hit Ferry with a forearm Ferry went down and Sheehey went out of the game Virginia coach Terry Holland said Ferry Instigated the confrontation by grabbing Sheehey "in a private part of his body" Sheehey was asked if this were true "Well it wasn't a grab" he said "It was more of a pinch" And with that Sheehey's bad guy reputation moved from bad to worse "That's how it is down there?" Sheehey asked "Up here rm the hero and he's the bad guy I guess I shouldn't hang out down there" Sheehey's game was shaped in Rochester NY Catholic Youth Organization leagues and on Rochester playgrounds He does not Jump especially well and needs position to be effective He has slender legs and a thick upper-body A guess is that he is less a lug than an under-sized center with a tendency to lose his temper "I've got a little temper" he acknowledged Sheehey's next North Carolina appearance will be Sunday at NC State Get there early for a ringside seat Sunday Elliott took advantage of a failed Geoff Bodine gamble to win the 500 NASCAR's first race of the season Daytona 500 champion Bill Elliott gets a cooler of Gatorade dumped over his head a la the New York Giants after his victory 11 Bodine Rolls The ice Comes Up A '9' NASCAR Today Performance chart Page 48 Richard Petty Buddy Baker make strong runs Page 48 nm widely and flashed a thumb's up signal "1 knew those boys were going to gamble on not stopping after me and the rest of the leaders did pit for fuel late in the race" said Elliott "That's typical of them and that car They come to win and nothing else is good enough "You've got to sort of admire them for it" Bodine wound up 14th a lap down after coasting back around to the pits on the 25-mile track and getting enough gas to keep going but far behind By TOM HIGGINS Staff Wdter DAYTONA BEACH Fla It was a somewhat cruel but humorous line that generally was credited to Concord resident Steve Wald editor of the stock car racing publication Grand National Scene After driver Geoff Bodine and crew chief Gary Nelson called their abortive gamble on gas in Sunday's Daytona 500 a "roll of the dice" Wald in the press box at Daytona International Speedway cracked: "Yeah and they rolled a nine" No 9 is the numeral on the of "I had no idea if Geoff could make It" said Elliott who found himself 237 seconds or about a half a lap behind before Bodine's fuel tank yielded only fumes "I did know that the car has a history of getting good gas mileage but going 45 laps (1125 miles) on a tank at the speeds we run at Daytona would have been tough" Elliott who equaled his role as the race's favorite then changed the subject "We came down here as well prepared as we've ever come" Elliott See BODINE Page 48 Bill Elliott who took the lead and held it for victory in the sport's most spectacular show when the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of BodineNelson failed to get the necessary mileage three laps from the race's end Told of Wald's line Elliott grinned Irish Top Duke Continue ACC Mastery said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski whose team is 20-5 Notre Dame's Joe Fredrick a seldom-used freshman came off the bench after Mark Stevenson fouled out to convert two key free throws with one See NOTRE DAME Page 5B more foul shots with three seconds left as unranked Notre Dame edged No 15 Duke 70-66 in college basketball with the help of a 26-for-30 free throw performance It was the second upset for the Irish over an ACC opponent In two weeks The Irish beat North Carolina then ranked No 1 in South Bend Feb 1 "I Just wanted to go in there and concentrate on my follow-through" said Royal who had 16 points "After that disappointing loss to Vanderbilt (two weeks ago) 1 really concentrated on my free throw shooting" Royal's final free throws gave the Irish (14-7) a 68-66 lead "They hit free throws got the fouls and put down some excellent shots" Frani Auodalod Press and Odcaao Tram Ramis SOUTH BEND Ind The free-throw shooting of Donald Royal and Notre Dame was enough to bedevil the Duke Blue Devils Duke could only stand and watch as Royal hit eight of eight from the line including a pair with 24 seconds left in overtime that put Notre Dame ahead to stay Sunday Scott Paddock made two Summary Next Page Tar Heels Sputter In Beating Marquette 2 Eagles Give Burns Golf Title I Lakers Win A Big One And they outlasted Maryland by seven in College Park Md Saturday And Sunday despite the imploring roars of 19950 in the Dean Smith Center who were looking for the old "Blow iem Away" Tar Heels they struggled again They had to wipe out a seven point second-half deficit in order See TAR HEELS Page 4B The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the visiting Boston Celtics 106-103 in a battle of NBA heavyweights Sunday Pogo 38 By STAN OLSON Staff Writir CHAPEL HILL North Carolina's 83-74 nonconference college basketball victory over Marquette Sunday turned into yet another struggle for the Tar Heels For the fourth straight game the No 3-ranked Tar Heels had more difficulty than expected in dispatching the kind of opponent one might expect them to clobber They were forced into overtime at home by Virginia last Sunday They struggled to beat Wake Forest by nine at home Wednesday crew 7 I Iq r's A 11 I 1 T1 4klt 1 iii 01 -0' 1 '1 4 4 -8- '474e iM 1 i' 140 lit 'n''' S' 41110' trl 1:: 1 :7 N'? 4: '41e A ifA 4- I 1 i4111 i 1i I 1 -1 "viNt i '4' r----f Aosf i 4L: 2' 1' :41 -t: '( ma 4111 4 4-Ak 01:: te 4 ir r- (4 The Tar Heels' ACC magic is two College Notes Page 4B Associated Press LA JOLLA Calif George 'Burns won $90000 in the Andy Williams Open golf tournament on Sunday Craig Stadler lost $37333 Shortly after Burns had completed a dramatic two-eagle final round that gave him a record-setting total Stadler was handed a day-late disqualification that deprived him of a share of second place Stadler was disqualified for fall- ing to assess a penalty against himself for kneeling on a towel to play a shot from beneath a small tree on the 14th hole during Satur- day's play Viewers saw a film clip of that shot during Sunday's telecast called PGA Tour officials and que- ried the legality of Stadier's action Stadler was disqualitted under the rule that prohibits players from improving their stances Stadler shot an erratic 68 on Sunday The disqualification cost him $37333 the prize he would have received for being one of three players to tie for second Burns went In front of a six See 2 EAGLES Page 38 Smith Moves Up In CNA With Victory Over Rains ISSIONAMAtBASKETBAL COLLEGES Mecklenburg County's three teams are in action tonight with Davidson and UNCC on the road for conference contests Johnson Smith faces nonconference Gardner-Webb at the Coliseum ACC Virginia at Dayton 7:30 pm Brooklyn at NC State 8 pm Central Florida at Maryland 8 pm Other Area Games Virginia Tech at South Caroline 7:30 Pm Gardner-Webb vs JC Smith 7:30 pm Coliseum Davidson at East Tennessee State 7:30 pm UNOC at Old Dominion 7:35 pm TV Games Syracuse at Villanove 7:30 pm ESPN Indiana at Wisconsin 9:30 pm ESPN II Complete echedule---- Next Pepe BOB LEVERONEStell tory Smith which lost to the Rams 86-84 in overtime Jan 31 moved a step closer to a possible Southern Division championship The Bulls (12-5 17-6) are tied with Winston-Salem State for second in See SMITH Page 48 Bighouse Gaines is closing in on another milestone By TRACY ALLEN Stall Virthor When Winston-Salem State coach Bighouse Gaines wears his lucky red jacket the Rams usually win But that wasn't the case Sunday afternoon at the Charlotte Coliseum Johnson Smith squeaked past Winston-Salem State for a 79-72 CIAA college basketball vic Johnson Smith's Vincent Brown (10) drives around Winston-Salem State's Kevin Harvey in the Golden Bulls' 79-72 CIAA viotoryover the Rams Sunday BEE CORRECTIO1 I.