The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 14

6B THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Monday February 15 1993 DAYTONA 500 NOTEBOOK MARK SLUDERStaff Crash begins: After making contact with Dale Earn- Jr (46) hardt and losing control of his car in Turn 4 Al Unser during spins and collects Bobby Hillin Daytona 500 After the into a crash two cars spun along collision the Daytona International the at beach for Petty family Indy car owner does research By LIZ CLARKE Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH Fla Indy car owner Derrick Walker was on hand for Daytona 500 A race fan to be sure but real purpose was conducting a little research He hopes to return to main event in two years as a car owner looking at racing -as a business and I like the way the (Winston Cup) series protects said Walker a Scot who owns Indy cars driven by Scott Goodyear and Hiro Matsushita sponsors like the way the series is run You can survive in it like Indy cars too But I just think NASCAR is sort of a natural extension for a racing Walker said he had talked to Junior Johnson and the Stavola Brothers about the finer points of owning a NASCAR team Johnson had invited him to his shop in Ronda to talk about the idea further kind of a dumb thing to go around and say two years I want to go into NASCAR Could you tell me what all Walker said was quite surprised Junior Johnson spent about 15 minutes with me He seem to think it was a daft Slow start Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki had a frustrating day despite efforts to improve his performance on Kulwicki started 10th but finished 26th think we broke a rocker arm or Kulwicki said ran on seven cylinders the rest of the Ford finish For all the moaning Fords have done about unfair body rules more Fords finished in the top 10 Sunday than last year top 10 featured six Fords and four Chevys The 1992 top 10: five Fords three Chevys one Pontiac and one Oldsmobile Points tie Dale Earnhardt finished second but the early-season Winston Cup points race is tied at 180 Earnhardt picked up an extra five points for leading the most laps safer here Given the number of crashes that took place in race Richard Petty seem all that broken up about his retirement as a driver way things happened today" Petty said think 1 was better off in the pits than driving th the infield grass in the trioval at Speedway Car owner Felix Sabates said Hillin to blame Sabates said Kyle Petty was mainly upset that he was so far back in the pack in the first place because of a mistake during a pit stop A substitute gas man only managed to put one can of gas in the car during a stop rather than two which meant Petty had to pit a second time shortly afterward what put us Sabates said was our No day Wrecks end hopes for both teams By LIZ CLARKE Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH Fla Daytona 500 had all the makings of a poignant new chapter in Petty family lore Seven-time winner Richard Petty was making his debut as a car owner Son Kyle who has never won the race was starting a powerful Pontiac from the pole And Lee Petty who won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 had made the trip from Level Cross to watch it unfold By the time it ended Richard saw driver Rick Wilson slam his red-and-blue No 44 Pontiac into the wall And the easy-going Kyle was in a red-faced ragehaking his finger in Bobby face for a crash that ended his chances of winning on Lap 158 Those the only two wrecks to try a nerves Sunday AI Unser Sr watched Dale Earnhardt take his son out of his first Daytona 500 Al Jr was running in the top five when Earnhardt clipped his right rear quarter panel Rookie Kenny Wallace drove past his brother Pontiac as it did a back-flip through the air and disintegrated flipping and rolling down the back-stretch said on Rusty! Check on Rusty! He just flipped end-over-end' Wallace said guys started calming me down They said down Kenny nothing you can worried me sick To see your own brother flip that many times and worry that not dead or something But OK got some stitches on his chin and talking to Wilson ran his car into the wall MARK SLUDERStaff with Al Unser Jr (see photo above) Petty was unable to avoid a crash ending his hopes for winning the Daytona 500 Crash ends: Kyle Petty (left) exchanges words with Bobby Hillin after Hillin's car slid back up across the track following the crash turn and slammed into him sending both cars back onto the grass Petty got out first climbed up on his driver's side door and reached over the hood toward car In minutes they were both out of the cars and in each face Petty shook his finger Hillin tried to explain Petty stalked away and Hillin still wearing his helmet popped his visor up to try again Petty reeled around popped visor shut and about the time he grabbed uniform a NASCAR official separated the two In minutes Richard Petty was at his truck just asked him was he Petty said later far as telling him man shake it you do that He's got his own mind set "I just wanted to make sure he skinned up nowhere Physically he hurt Mentally is what got Jarrett denies Earnhardt again A big day for the Jarrett family As Dale Jarrett passed Dale Earnhardt on the final lap Sunday his father NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett was calling the action for the CBS Sports telecast Ned Jarrett's call as his 36-year-old son gave the family its first Daytona 500 win "Come on Dale go baby go All right come on I know gone to the floorboard He do any more Come on take her to the inside don't let him (Earnhardt) get on the inside of you around the turn Here he comes "Earnhardt's Dale and Dale as they come off Turn 4 You know who pulling for is Dale Jarrett Bring her to the in side Dale let him get down there He'fe gonna make it gonna win the Daytona 500 All right! Look at Martha wife) Oh can you believe it! Daytona Continued from page 1 into Petty's path But luck was toughest of all He had won all three races leading up to race and was considered a favorite to win his first Daytona 500 It seemed ordained early on Earnhardt ran close to the front all day and waltzed unscathed around the seven wrecks that took on Lap 141 which brought Richard Petty running from the pits into the garage As the car came to a halt Petty paced briskly around it inspecting the damage on all four corners Then he grabbed a mallet and started banging out the dents Kyle wreck was triggered when Earnhardt sent Unser sliding in path Hillin went skidding across the grass then back up on the track when Petty rounded the lose the same race after running out of gas on the last lap thought get this one for the whole Dale Jarrett said Gibbs whose son works on the Jarrett race team equated the thrill to winning the Super Bowl exactly the same feeling" Gibbs said only difference is in this one I know I have that much to do with it The guys did it" While Jarrett was being interviewed in the circle Gordon and Earnhardt pulled into the garage one behind the other Gordon popped out at once and wait to talk about his fifth-place finish heckuva day! One heckuva day! I ask for a better Gordon said beaming Earnhardt just sat in his out strong cars like Jimmy Ernie and Al Unser Derrick Cope had a strong car too and led 30 laps before getting involved in the accident that sent Wallace flying Earnhardt took the lead for the last time on Lap 179 With the rest of the pack in single file behind him it seemed a battle for second When Jarrett bolted his father Ned a former driver who was analyzing the race for CBS cheered him on from the anchor booth Dale Jarrett couldn't hear of course but obeyed instinctively His mother Martha prayed from the front seat of a van parked in the infield Car owner Joe Gibbs coach of the Washington Redskins was praying too Afterward Jarrett recalled standing in the Daytona infield when he was 7 watching his father seat staring straight ahead He wiped his face sipped some Gator-ade and stared some more A few minutes passed before he climbed out lost this race about every way you can lose Earnhardt said been out-gased out-tired out-run out-everythinged tough to run the way we did all week and have the success we've had all week and not win the big one getting tired of winning everything up until the 500 and then not win Jarrett empathized guy has done everything you can do in Jarrett said of Earnhardt without question the best race driver hit this circuit in a long time You almost feel a little sorry for him But a man and be at Rockingham trying to win WBMWIiWUflUH uKKMlt'i.