The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 39

't ttiz MakM el MOTORSPORTS THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Mondav Mav 27 1991 7C GARY O'BRIENStaff Sentimental send-off: Brothers Darrell and Michael Waltrip share a hug for luck before the start of Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway THE (-HARI: OTTEOBSERVER Mondav Mav 2719917C MOTORSPORTS i f4 -yAk 4i? 4" 004' 0' I 1 4t '4''''''illif y4'Nc 44 01 i -1' id' -4'i)4i i totfor7 ii' 4 r'i 'A' -g l'41: r'''' 0 w84 i 44 tt 11'14 tpir I' 1 -p'A 7rHT 'i' "-it ''r- 'r I '''r: 1 1 i k4tr: 1i'-''-' 0:: "AihNisk x'' -''sk 0 :7" bf' eviItii 'It I -i 40 111''''' 1 '11 1 ii i i 1 f''-' '''''r r' rif ''''''r''''''1''' rr r''' 4: :4 i' 1 1 44 1:0 tr'rf -1 1' 1 i40 1v rit 1:: i I''' lr'' klr '4 14141111 f' 4: I O'' i' I L41 i ''''''4 rr t414 W'11r 7- Igt: 4 MI 'r 41 Alp iiiiii41r- I A 01 I kl'01 mt4 771z- 'f' ''ii 1 1 1 1014 1' '-1 '''''A' 4 ''rr'' 'r': 2' dI'''''- 11' wilt Matt i'-- 10 '1-' liZr 4 r- -r i r7w st '''71 l' 2 ''ii' i''' 'i 4) i Sentimental send-off: setc)1- Sunday's Coca-Cola iicl4rIt dtr '4 hug for luck 4l z' 1' iii4' ok 1' it s- a A "'''044 03 Charlotte Mo :4 --'-g: "-(1 -wAlr -4 r''' A-'- 1-t---- '-4 GARY O'BR61E0NoStaafft Cf IC! fr Bt i :::7: '''-7 cktt CI tc)r SPeedw 01 li: jf 4 0 Brothers and Michael Waltrip share a 4 4'' I'i'1'74' '''i 3 '''F7 '1: 0 4ttot054144 r1' '1'' ''1: etottooeo" laiZ IL it 73A i 1 '''r''rrr fff: 1 1 '55' '4 lortl)t' 7 r'' r''''''' rr 1r'' ::01 Ir 9 vL: 1 pi iii r' 4 Ito'sik'' 's '-'1" dz' I 7---'' --i-i i- It 0 Of '7 pr'iri i r'v 0:: -1 -r''''''" ii''' 41 I 41 4 I 4k of- it i usu" 40 '-4 -uti 1 r- ttlz 1A 0 ''11 ') l- 4: '''''ia'A'114 I i MARK SLUDERStaff to a stop He was taken to the infield care center on a stretcher treated for minor injuries and released "I've got bumps and bruises all up and down my arms and legs and my ankle's sore" he said "I just took off Nobody tapped me and I wasn't close to anybody" Petty wound up 20th sLuDERstaff to a stoo HP wAs taktAn tn tha inflairt rAra r(3ntar nn A Petty's OK: Richard Petty ran well and appeared to be on his way to a top-10 finish until a late-race crash (top) ended his day Petty had moved up to eighth place one lap behind leader Davey Allison when his Pontiac slammed into the fourth-turn wall and careened down the track and onto the grass apron before coming way to he on his Petty ran well and anr)eare Petty's OK: Richard BOB LEVERONEStatt Going for a spin: Stanley Smith spins out on Turn 2 during Sunday's Coca Cola 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Rusty Wallace (No 2) pulls to the inside and rolls by Another 600 another Allison: Davey joins dad uncle as winner Race Continued from page 1C i 4: 'itex: iiv'' f--ts4 0-1 4' i':) itte4i i 1:: l'-' ::4 ViV i' ii '4'' '46174 4 i 4 7 '4 1' 1 4:: 4:::: :::0 ''jii I 4 -4 1 1 ''7' 4 '7: 0: Observer Cup standings Race Race Race Race Race Race Race Race Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tot Davey Allison 5 38 20 45 108 Ken Schrader 38 2 23 38 101 Ricky Rudd 27 45 10 14 96 Dale Earnhardt 16 38 32 86 I Darrell Waltrip 14 45 16 75 Waltrip 18 32 18 6 74 Kyle Petty 50 20 3 73 Ernie irvan 20 18 12 18 68 Shepherd 12 16 27 7 62 Harry Gant 32 27 59 Mark Martin 7 27 14 5 53 Bill Elliott 23 9 16 48 Spencer 10 32 42 Dale Jarrett 10 23 33 Geoff Bodine 9 19 28 Hut Stricklin 7 20 27 Risty Wallace 23 23 Sterling Marlin 12 10 22 Brett Bodine 8 5 5 18 Terry Labonte 6 12 18 Rick Mast 8 9 17 Derrike Cope 6 9 15 Richard Petty 6 5 1 12 Rick Wilson 2 7 3 12 Bobby Hillin 3 4 1 2 10 Ted Musgrave 4 4 8 Lake Speed 8 8 Kenny Wallace 8 8 Tommy Ellis 5 5 Dave Marcia 3 2 5 Alan Kulwicki 4 4 Mickey Gibbs 1 1 Hamilton 1 1 The Races Pecs 1: Goodwrench 500 Rockingham March 3 Race TranSouth 500 Darlington SC April 7 Race 3: First Union 400 North Wilkesboro April 21 Race 4: Coca-Cola 600 Charlotte Sunday Race 5: Southern 500 Darlington SC Sept 1 Race 6: Holly Farms 400 North Wilkesboro Sept 29 Race 7: Mello Yello 500 Charlotte Oct 6 Race ACDelco 500 Rockingham Oct 20 The Points System 1st place 45 points 2nd 38 3rd 32 4th 27 5th 23 6th 20 7th 18 8th 18 91h 14 10th 12 1 lth 10 12th 9 13th 8 14th 7 15th 8 16th 5 17th 4 18th 3 19th 2 20th 1 Pole 5 points The Leaders Race winners: Kyle Petty (1) Ricky Rudd (1) Darrell Waltrip (1) Davey Allison (1) Pole winners: Kyle Petty (1) Geoff Bodine (1) Brett Bodine (1) Mark Martin (1) GARY O'BRIENStaR High five in the pits: Davey Allison celebrates with his pit crew on the way to Victory Lane Sunday after dominating the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday's results Fin St Driver Cm Laps Earnings Reason Ojt 1 10 Davey Allison Ford 400 137100 Running 2 3 Ken Schrader Chevy 400 84850 Running 3 14 Dale Earnhardt Chevy 400 53650 Running 4 7 Harry Gant Olds 400 37700 Running 5 12 Dale Jarrett Ford 400 27400 Running 6 30 Hut Stricklin Buick 400 25400 Running 7 6 Ernie I-van Chevy 399 24200 Running 8 18 Darrell Waltrip Chevy 399 15500 Running 1 9 17 Ricky Rudd Chevy 399 21500 Running 10 13 Terry Labonte Olds 399 21750 Running 11 4 Sterling Marlin Ford 398 15000 Running 12 21 Derrike Cope Olds 398 19700 Running 13 19 Kenny Wallace Pontiac 398 17700 Running 14 20 Shepherd Ford 397 17000 Running 15 2 Michael Waltrip Pontiac 397 20200 Running 16 34 Tommy Ellis Ford 396 8800 Running 17 37 Ted Musgrave Pontiac 395 11000 Running 18 28 Rick Wilson Buick 395 11255 Running 19 31 Bobby Hillin Olds 390 8500 Engine 20 24 Richard Petty Pontiac 383 10000 Wreck 21 35 Joe Ruttman Olds 359 9200 Running 22 9 Rusty Wallace Pontiac 353 7000 Valve 23 1 Mark Martin Ford 339 55400 Engine 24 40 Bierschwale Olds 336 5600 Running 25 23 Chad Little Ford 329 6450 Engine 26 11 Bill Elliott Ford 315 13200 Piston 27 29 Bobby Hamilton Olds 310 5350 Engine 28 5 Brett Bodine Buick 300 9350 Engine 29 16 Lake Speed Pontiac 296 7650 Valve 30 15 Rick Mast Olds 287 8500 Running 31 33 Jimmy Spencer Chevy 278 7375 Engine 32 25 Dave Marcis Chevy 270 7275 Valve 33 41 Wally DallenbachFord 254 4550 Engine 34 27 Mickey Gibbs Pontiac 251 4500 Valve 35 8 Alan Kulwicki Ford 205 11965 Wreck 36 32 Stanly Smith Buick 128 4435 Brakes 37 36 Jim Sauter Pontiac 58 4415 Engine 38 39 Jimmy Means Pontiac 32 5520 Valve 39 26 Greg Sacks Olds 21 4980 Wreck 40 38 Dick Trickle Buick 19 4360 Wreck 41 22 Larry Pearson Chevy 12 4360 Engine Time of race: Four hours 19 minutes and 5 seconds Average speed 138951 mph Caution flags: 9 for 54 laps Lied changes: 22 among 10 drivers Lap Leaders: Martin 1-3 MWaltrip 4-8 Schrader 9-18 MMaltrip 19-22 RWallace 23-27 Earnhardt 28-50 Allison 51-134 Schrader 85-98 Allison 99-162 Schrader 163-171 KWallace 172 Allison 173-179 Schrader 180-200 Allison 201-270 Gant 271-273 Stricklin 274-276 Schrader 277-282 Stricklin 283-298 Gant 299-306 Allison 307-375 Jarrett 376-378 Earnhardt 379-380 Allison 381-400 Allison's response: "Here's a guy that's won two races this year and 1 just won my first one and he's saying we're illegal" The sweep of the speedway's two big spring weekends produced a total payoff of $462100 for the AllisonYates team $137100 Sunday and $325000 the week before when Davey led all 70 laps in the all-star race "The car simply drove perfect and we're really tickled to give Ford its first regular-season win after starting the year oh for nine" said Allison who won Charlotte's Mello Ye llo 500 last October "The guys on the team built me a bulletproof car" However Allison did have some concern when Yates and crew chief Larry McReynolds decided to change engines Sunday morning in the garage area after it was discovered the exhaust valve stems on the power plant in the car had come apart causing a water leak "They told me though that the replacement which took about an hour and a half to put in was just as strong and that eased my mind" Allison said As the 600 wound down before a crowd estimated by track at 160000 it appeared the tile sunny Sunday would prove even more special for the Allison clan or "Alabama Gang" On Lap 370 Allison and Stricklin who is married to Donnie's daughter and drives for a team owned by Bobby Allison were running one-two and it appeared they would finish in that order But a brush with the backstretch wall by Kenny Wallace forced a yellow flag for Laps 375-378 Earn drastically changed the 600's complexion Several top teams had just pitted and the "free stop" Allison and other front-runners received put them ahead by a lap From Lap 180 to the conclusion only the top six finishers were on the lead lap Schrader led the second-most laps 65 Earnhardt was ahead 25 laps Finishing seventh through 10th a lap down were Chevy drivers Ernie Irvan Darrell Waltrip and Ricky Rudd and Oldsmobile's Terry Labonte The outcome enabled Earnhardt to increase his lead toward the million Winston Cup championship over the second-place Rudd from four points to 36 and from 85 to 113 over Waltrip who is third in the standings There was an unusually high attrition rate with 21 of the 41 starters running at the finish Among those sidelined by engine problems were pole-winner Mark Martin and 1990 Coca-Cola 600 winner Rusty Wallace hardt dashed to the lead on the restart passing Jarrett but Allison regained the front on Lap 380 and held it the rest of the way His worries weren't over though as Richard Petty's car suddenly slammed into the wall in Turn 4 as he ran eighth until then his best showing in some time He sustained a slightly bruised knee The restart order on Lap 392 was Allison Earnhardt Schrader Jarrett Gant and Stricklin Allison got a good jump as the green showed and there was no catching him Schrader got around Earnhardt for second on Lap 394 "If we can't end up in Victory Lane this is the next best place" Schrader said "Davey was just superior all week The No 28 car is a little rocket We've been second best since we've been at Charlotte all month and Davey has been the best" Although Allison might have won regardless a caution flag for a tangle involving Stanley Smith and Ted Musgrave in Turn 4 on Lap 93 r-' I I.