The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 20

41 THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Monday February 16 1987 etty's Strongest Finish Since '81 Fuels Hopes For '87 victor Geoff Bodine Race Notes I Buddy Baker a peer of Petty's at age 46 finished fourth continuing the run of excellent superspeedway finishes he has posted dating to last fall It was Baker's fifth straight top five in the Olds that he co-owns and fields out of an Iredell County shop with Danny Schiff The surprise team of Speed Weeks driver Kenny Schrader and team owner Junie Donlavey showed their Ford entry probably will be a strong one this season leading 14 laps of the 500 and on a couple of occasions running down Elliott en route to finishing seventh Bobby Allison finished sixth despite one of the freakier experiences of his quarter-century driving career having two jacks break in the same race PittS011S'S share of the purse $122420 was more than he earned in all of 1986 when he won $100985 Dr Due II Sturgill injured in a crash Friday in the Komfort Koach 200 has been upgraded from serious to fair condition but remains in the Surgical Concentrated Care Unit at Halifax Medical Center By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH Fla With 10 laps to go Sunday in the Daytona 500 there was a stirring sight for the sentimentalist among stock car racing fans: Richard Petty's No 43 Pontiac was listed as the leader on the big scoreboard at Daytona International Speedway where he has won the stock car racing classic seven times However Petty 49 had to pit for gas and finished third about eight car lengths behind winner Bill Elliott and four back of runner-up Benny Parsons It was Petty's best Daytona 500 finish since he won in 1981 and refueled hopes among his legion of followers that there might be more triumphs and another championship in Petty I Darrell Waltrip made his debut with the new Rick HendrickWaddell Wilson team a semisuccessful one finishing eighth Afterward Waltrip had the most colorful description of what racing Sunday was like at Daytona Speedway "The wind buffing off the other cars was something like I imagine standing on an airplane wing would be and trying to fly" Waltrip said "Ali that wind was unusual like driving down the interstate highway with all the windows down It's like trying to land a plane right behind a big Jet with all the turbulence" I Dale Earnhardt who finished fifth noted it's the second straight year someone running out of gas late In the 500 has decided the outcome Last year he didn't have enough fuel Sunday it was the 1985 ISN110100111010AYTONAtt500 Elliott Takes Daytona Bodine's Gamble Fails Bodine Rolls Dice Comes Up With A '9' A Super Victory Sundays victory at the Daytona 500 was Bill Eliion's 18th career supersceedway triumph It moved him into sixth place on the all-time superspeethitay victory list Here's the top 10: 1 Richard Petty (432 races) 55 wins I Dawd Pearson (304) 51 3 Cale Yarborough (346) 50 be Bobby Allmon (391) 50 Darrell Waltrip (275) 30 Bill Elliott (162) 10 7 Buddy Baker (373) 17 IL Neil Bonmtt (206) 14 I Benny Parsons (318) 13 10 Fred Lorenzen (37) 12 Reason Out Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Engine Wheel Running Engine Clutch Trans Engine Engine Oil Leak Valve Engine Clutch Engine Engine Engine Piston Earnings $204150 122420 76040 74450 64925 60475 68545 39925 38425 29600 26200 29600 29005 36365 22740 20660 17085 25915 15295 14355 13930 18110 16795 14480 11810 11105 14045 14145 11135 18875 15100 11370 10840 13975 13455 12235 11420 9540 9705 11470 15720 minge 04150 22420 76040 74450 64925 60475 68545 39925 38425 29600 26200 29600 29005 36365 22740 20660 17085 25915 15295 14355 13930 18110 16795 14480 11810 11105 14045 14145 11135 18875 15100 11370 10840 13975 13455 12235 11420 9540 9705 11470 15720 Fin St Driver Car LAN 1 1 Bill Elliott Ford 200 2 4 Benny Parsons Chevrolet 200 3 11 Richard Petty Pontiac 200 4 7 Buddy Baker Oldsmobile 200 5 13 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet 200 6 6 Bobby Allison Buick 200 7 3 Ken Schrader Ford 200 8 5 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 200 9 31 Ricky Rudd Ford 200 10 22 Cale Yarborough Oldsmoblie 200 11 19 Phil Parsons Oldsmobile 200 12 15 Neil Bonnett Pontiac 199 13 21 Bobby Hi Ilin Jr Buick 199 14 8 Geoff Bodine Chevrolet 199 15 37 Alan Kulwicki Ford 198 16 35 Morgan Shepherd Buick 198 17 24 Ken Ragan Ford 197 18 14 Terry Labonte Chevrolet 197 19 36 Rodney Combs Oldsmobile 197 20 42 Greg Sacks Pontiac 196 21 27 Ronnie Sanders Ford 195 22 18 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet 193 23 28 Trevor Boys Chevrolet 191 24 40 Jimmy Means Pontiac 191 25 38 JD Mc Duffle Pontiac 191 26 33 Lake Speed Oldsmobile 188 27 2 Davey Allison Ford 186 28 39 David Sosebee Chevrolet 184 29 29 Tom Sneva Oldsmobile 182 30 10 Sterling Marlin Oldsmobile 167 31 12 Harry Gant Chevrolet 156 32 17 Ron Bouchard Chevrolet 125 33 23 Derrike Cope Ford 124 34 16 Dave Marcis Chevrolet 115 35 20 Kyle Petty Ford 72 36 34 Eddie Blerschwale Ford 44 37 9 Rick Wilson Oldsmobile 37 38 30 Mark Stahl Ford 36 39 26 Chet Fillip Ford 19 40 25 Connie Saylor Ford 12 41 32 Rusty Wallace Pontiac 10 42 41 AJ Foyt Oldsmobile 10 Ammo Speed: 176263 mph Caution Meg Changes: 28 among 10 drivers Laps 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 199 199 199 198 198 197 197 197 196 195 193 191 191 191 188 186 184 182 167 156 125 124 115 72 44 37 36 19 12 10 Continued From Page IB four caution flags covering 15 laps all for debris on the track It became obvious that late pit strategy and performance probably would be decisive The stops among the frontrunners began on Lap 185 and continued through 191 with only Waltrip taking on fresh tires because he thought a flat might be developing Earnhardt was the leader when the pit activity began His stop required 99 seconds Elliott's 63 Benny Parsons's 67 Petty's 54 and Baker's 65 Meanwhile Bodine remained on the track in his Chevy an entry of Hendrick Motorsports of Charlotte along with those of Benny Parsons and Waltrip Then at the end of the I97th lap the car began to sputter from lack of fuel Bodine's ill-fated gamble left Elliott with a I2-second lead and although Parsons of Ellerbe cut into it there was no catching the Thunderbird "We got in and got out of the pits good on the last stop and that's what won us the race" said Elliott 31 of Dawsonville Ga "I figured beating Buddy and Dale out was the key because it looked like to me that they had the strongest cars though Benny's was good too "The crew deserves a lot of credit but I guess I deserve some Continued From Page 1B said of his family-oriented team led by his brothers Ernie and Dan "Ernie is a force again He had mononucleosis last year and that slowed him some but he's back now Plus we've added some help on the team like Ivan Baldwin a chassis expert and that's helped too" Elliott was s'r asked if reports his crew was "scrambling to find its final -1t setup" in the last practice session prior to ti the 500 on Sat- 01- urday He nodded Elliott "Sometimes you feel it's worth it to gamble every time you start a big race" Elliott said "You ways want to hunt for something that is special" It was the third straight Sunday Elliott reached victory lane at Daytona He co-drove to a GTO class win in the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race on Feb 1 took the Busch Clash for 1986 Winston Cup Series pole winners on Feb 8 and capped the string with the Daytona 500 triumph A tI "I've been down here forever it seems" said Elliott "And I admit It gets you tired burns you down over that span of time with people seeming to pull from every direction But all it takes to get you pumped back up is to get in a race car with a chance of winning "Beating them the way we did today with it being a real competitive race gets me excited If Benny (Parsons) Richard (Petty) and Buddy (Baker) who weren't far behind me at the checkered flag had been a little bit closer well it really would have been a show at the finish All three looked strong and I didn't have anything special for them" Runner-up Parsons agreed "It did appear at times that Bill might not be as invincible as he was in 1985 (when Elliott won 11 superspeedway races)" said Parsons "It looked like we could run with him" But inevitably all questions about the 500 returned to the BodineNelson gamble and Ernie Elliott wound up having a crack to challenge Wald's Asked what he thought Bodine's chance of running out of gas might be the crew chief joked "Oh I'd say about 991 too because I have yet to see one of these cars that can win by itself There's always got to be somebody in there mashing the gas I know I use the word 'combination' a lot but that's what works for us" Runner-up Benny Parsons a fill-in for Tim Richmond the 1986 season's seven-time victor who is recovering from pneumonia was pleased with his showing "Am I happy with second?" he said "Yeah today I guess I am even though our last set of tires didn't work well for us" In taking the 500 for a second time 1985 winner Elliott led 105 laps especially dominating the latter portion Baker was the power in the first half of the race leading 45 laps Other top leaders were Earnhardt for 16 laps Schrader for 14 and Bodine for 10 7870 Overheated et four for 15 laps Load Gaines Climbing Higher On Basketball Win Chart Clinching Number 2 For North Carolina College Notes From Associated Press and Staff Reports North Carolina is three conference basketball games away from an undefeated season in the ACC and two victories away from a guaranteed finish of the regular season atop the league standings The No 3-ranked Tar Heels (11-0 23-2) must win two of Its remaining three ACC games to guarantee Its finish atop the league standings over Clemson (8-2 23-2) which has four ACC games left Duke (20-5) is a game behind 12th-ranked Clemson at 7-3 in the ACC I- i' 14 114 11111 411404 11 ''4 1' 0 A ''') ki 4 i 1 0 '30' 1 '-i4 431 1 it- i 1 3: -0-: -4ri i 14714- --d koelf i 5r losi 94- ":1004 0-- Ir 00'N 4-' -kr ---wo 1 tr'41A- urekte i kl 1 is 1 I Ls: 1 iioir oe'li lk 4 sk si 4(1 ti 1 -'444 4 t'f 4 l''! l''' '4' QC: '4' i :1 4) (E) 9 t4s 0 t': oe 444tAii-4'y ti'4f 5Aos- 4 ''io ment scheduled the first week in March After suspending its basketball head coach and assistant coach for possible violations of NCAA rules and regulations Adel-phi said Sunday one of its players Charles Webb was held out of Sunday's game with Mount St Mary's won by Ade lphi 65-58 in overtime Ade lphi President Peter Diamandopoulos said coach Jim Flanagan and his assistant Dan Cote were suspended indefinitely pending further investigation He also said the NCAA and the Eastern College Athletic Conference had been notified segregated society and there were times when I came up with the short end of the stick But I don't worry about it I just try and win ball games" There's no question about Gaines's ability to win In four decades his teams have won a national championship at the Division II level eight CIAA tournament championships and eight of the last 15 CIAA Southern Division titles But still he says he gets the short end of the stick because of Winston-Salem State's Division II status "Let's face it" he said "those people in Division I don't even know Division II people exist They're not concerned about what we do Unfortunately we lose a lot of good players to them because we're Division II" Gaines did get a few good players to stick with him Players like Earl Monroe and Cleo Hill both former NBA greats And Carl Green and Otis Hill who played for the Harlem Globetrotters "All of those players were good But we still have some today that are Just as good" Gaines hasn't decided when he's going to give up basketball But it won't be too soon "There's really nothing else I want to do" said Gaines "I thought about going back to school and getting another degree But I'm not I'm satisfied with what I'm doing right now" And that is winning By TRACY ALLEN Staff WI Ser He may not have the overbearing personality of Indiana coach Bob Knight or the instant recognition of North Carolina coach Dean Smith But Bighouse Gaines does have something in common with both Success In 41 years as coach of the Winston-Salem State Rams Gaines has '4 made his way to the top of :4114" 1 basketball charts with vic- tories And he's done it without 14 the notoriety of Smith and Knight Gaines whose team lost Gaines to Johnson Smith 79-72 on Sunday has a 765-353 record and is three victories shy of becoming the third all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history at any level Legendary Adolph Rupp of Kentucky leads with an 875-190 record Phog Allen is second with a 771-233 mark and Henry lba whom Gaines could pass before the season is over had a 767-338 record "Sometimes people ask me if I'm ever bitter about not getting attention" Gaines said "I don't think about what people have or haven't written "At my age I came up with a Associated Press Notes The Texas Christian Horned Frogs can clinch the Southwest Conference regular-season title this week and may have Carl Lott back to help them do it Lott who broke a finger on his shooting hand a month ago has healed quickly and he practiced with the team Saturday after a splint was removed Asked what he would do when his ace guard was available for duty coach Jim Killingsworth said "I'll play him until he drops" Killingsworth has that chance Wednesday when the No 18 Frogs who just celebrated the school's fifth 20-victory season travel to Austin to meet the Texas Longhorns If the Horned Frogs (11-1 20-4) beat Texas and then down Texas Tech on Saturday in a home contest at Fort Worth Texas Christian will nab the title Louisiana Tech captured its second Southland Conference championship in the last three years with a 52-50 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday The Bulldogs assured themselves the host role in the league's postseason tournament The victory also gives Louisiana Tech a bye in the first round of the Southland tourna Blowing By Michigan State's Darryl Johnson (13) accelerates past Michigan's Gary Grant (25) during Sunday's college basketball game at Michigan State Johnson scored 26 as the Spartans won 90-78 Tonight South Carolina's slumping Gamecocks on the losing end in five of their last six games try again tonight at 7:30 when they play host to Virginia Tech They dropped Saturday's Metro Conference contest to Florida State 80-72 When the Hokies and Gamecocks met in January South Carolina (4-5 12-11) lost 61-57 Virginia Tech is 4-4 9-14 I Struggling NC State has a break in its ACC schedule with a home game at 8 against Brooklyn The game gives the Wolfpack (4-6 13-12) a chance to adjust to the loss of point guard Kenny Drummond who left the team Friday before a road test Thursday at Duke The Wol who dropped a contest Saturday at Georgia Tech 87-76 has now lost eight of its last nine games Virginia which lost in overtime to Clemson 94-90 on Saturday is at Dayton in a 7:30 nonconf erence game And Maryland which hung tough with North Car Smith Advances In CIAA Ronnie Bellamy (19 points) and Mike Milling (17) on Saturday but couldn't outmuscle Wake Forest which won 84-76 at Winston-Salem Johnson Smith 12-5 in the C1AA and 17-6 overall entertains Gardner-Webb (16-11) at 7:30 at the Charlotte Coliseum in nonconference action olina before a lapse at the outset of the second half left them with a 93-86 defeat plays host to Central Honda at 8 Davidson plays its last road game at 7:30 in a Southern Conference battle at East Tennessee State (3-11 7-17) in Johnson City Tenn The Wildcats (10-3 16-8) roared at Appalachian State on Saturday taking a 74-58 victory UNCC (4-8 15-13) returns to the Sun Belt for a 7:35 pm contest at Old Dominion (1-11 6-19) The 49ers had strong play from Winthrop (1-7 Big South 6-18) plays host to East Carolina (3-9 Colonial 11-13) at 7:30 in a nonconference contest together a run with less than nine minutes left that resulted in a 27-20 advantage Winston-Salem State didn't let down and roared back to tie Smith 34-34 with 3:50 remaining in the half The Rams changed direction in the second half and got sloppy helping Smith take a 62-52 lead with 8:45 left But after a time-out by Gaines Winston-Salem State rebounded and trailed 69-68 with 2:12 remaining Notes: Four graduates of West Charlotte High were in uniform for Sunday's game: Reggie Moses of Smith and Lance Jones Terry Nance and Kevin Reid of Winston-Salem State Tar Heels Sputter Before Knocking Off Marquette 15 points 11 rebounds four steals and four assists North Carolina plays host to East Tennessee State Wednesday night Continued From Page 1B the division both with 7-3 division records with three games remaining Smith and Winston-Salem State (12-4 15-8) are one game behind division leader NC Central (11-6 14-9) Unlike the first game when Winston-Salem State struggled with Smith's inside power the Rams kept pace with the Bulls Smith took a 40-38 halftime lead keyed by Dante Johnson's 20 first-half points Johnson finished with 26 "They defensed us pretty good on the inside" said Smith coach Bob Moore Winston-Salem State's rugged defense might have caused problems for Smith but the Bulls still shot well Smith shot 57 (26 of 47) from the field including a 60 clip in the first half "1 thought we played extremely well against Smith" said Gaines wearing his usually lucky coat "But every time we'd do something it seemed like we would foul the wrong guy or make a turnover" The Bulls held an 8-4 lead with 17 minutes 10 seconds left in the first half The Rams took their first lead 14-13 at the 13:27 mark Smith regained the lead 17-14 with 11:56 remaining But Bulls turnovers helped Winston-Salem State take a 20-17 lead with 11:49 left in the first half The teams battled back and forth for the lead before Smith put MARQUETTE MP Boone Rory 32 Cops 27 Slots 31 Smith 2 Forey 14 Denson 2 Totals FO FT A FP 7-17 0-0 10 3 4 14 3-12 24 2 7 210 7-8 2-2 6 0 516 2-7 1-1 3 5 3 5 8-12 2-2 4 2 015 5-12 0-1 8 1 410 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 0-3 4-4 3 1 4 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 3872 1144 38 21 23 74 WiliST01211ALEM 11T Fa FT 11 A PI Spell 5-14 0-0 1 6 411 Cromartie 2-3 0-0 7 1 5 4 Hood 10-16 2-2 5 5 424 Hooper 7-15 9-13 5 0 023 kenos 2-2 0-0 4 0 5 4 Reid 0-5 4-7 5 1 0 4 Jones 0-1 0-1 1 0 2 0 Harvey 1-1 0-0 1 0 3 2 Totato 22-57 13-23 22 13 23 T2 down pretty good and we've been foul-prone all year" That was the difference The taller and more talented Tar Heels won But they had to work harder than many expected "I can't put my finger on exactly what (the problem) is" said North Carolina forward Dave Pop-son "We just have to play better" Other Tar Heels weren't sure they really have a problem "We had to concentrate more in the second half and our concentration level did pick up" said Kenny Smith "But it's tough playing games and some of the guys have some aches and pains 1 don't think we're playing bad other teams are Just playing better against us now" Marquette incidentally also played Saturday beating Hartford at home North Carolina won at Maryland Saturday Notes: Reid came into the game hitting 59 of his free throws but made all 11 on the way to 17 points Kenny Smith also had 17 and six assists while Wolf played a superb all-around game: tors "The first half I thought we handled it (North Carolina's press) pretty well" Warrior guard Kevin Johnson said "You've got to be right on top of it come to the ball and we were doing everything right" But you can't count on the Tar Heels to struggle forever The low point came when Marquette took a 51-44 lead with 14 minutes three seconds left North Carolina scored on five of its next six possessions led by six points from center JR Reid who capped the rush with a Jam on a feed from Wolf to tie it at 53 Then after a couple of turnovers guard Kenny Smith ignited North Carolina's transition offense and the Tar Heels scored on 11 of their next 12 possessions Marquette leg-weary and in foul trouble crumbled but never did quit "We got tired" said first-year Warriors coach Bob Dukiet who was recruited by North Carolina's Dean Smith when he was a New Jersey prep star "They wore us Continued From Page IB to hold off the determined Warriors "Our consistency isn't there yet" said North Carolina forward Joe Wolf "We play three or four minutes at a good level and then we slack off That's what hurts us "We're loose but maybe we're coming out too loose and the other team is all fired up We need to come out a little more intense" Sunday the Tar Heels (23-2) found the Warriors (14-9) ready for their scrambling trapping defenses in the first half It seemed as if every time North Carolina boxed a Warrior in he found a way to get the ball to an unguatded teammate usually near the basket "I don't know if they handled our traps or if we Just weren't playing at 100" Wolf said "I know we were just missing on steals and in our system you can't miss You have to be there" The misses resulted in Marquette layups which resulted in a 41-35 halftime lead for the visi NORM CAROUNA 11) FO FT 11 A 111 ()own 22 44 0-1 52 4 8 30 14 2-3 11 4 315 Reid 35 3-10 11-11 5 4 3 17 Lebo-- 35 44 5-5 2 4 313 KSontth 35 5-15 0-1 2 6 1 17 Hunter 5 14 040 0 0 2 13 34 1-3 4 0 2 7 Bucitnal 17 1-4 2-4 2 2 0 4 8 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0 To 8045 al-zo SS 22 II 83 JOHNSON METH FO FT A PI SacCormock 2-3 24 1 10 4 6 Brown 14 1-1 2 7 1 3 Moses 24 2-2 1 0 0 7 Ervin 8-9 2-2 4 1 2 18 Richardson 1-2 2-2 1 0 0 4 Johnson 10-15 6-7 9 1 426 Greene 0-3 0-0 5010 Jones 2-8 11-13 9 3 515 Tci 2646 11-31 36 22 if I Winsten-laleat State 38 34 72 Athena Smith la 32 79 Three-pont goals Winston-Sam State 3-9 (Spell 1-5 Hood 2-3 Hooper 0-1) Johnson Smith 1-1 (Moses 1-1) Turnovers Winston-Salem State 10 Johnson Smith 7 Technical fouls None Officials Russel Was 8500 Marquatte 41 33 74 North Caroline SI 43 13 'Owes-point goals Marquette 3-10 (Flory 2-5 Sims 1-4 Foley 0-1) North Carolina 2-11 (Wolf I-1 Lebo 0-3 Smith 14 Smith 0-It Turnovers Marquette 18 North Caroline 15 Techtecal 0011k1 None Offics Higgins Burr S)lvester Mt 15950 lk.