The Charlotte Observer du lieu suivant : Charlotte, North Carolina • 46

6P THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Sunday February 7 1993 MOTORSPORTS 50-mile sprint promises plenty of Clash(ing) By LIZ CLARKE Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH Fla It probably say much about who wins the Daytona 500 but 15th Busch Clash should weed out the brave from the timid the lucky from the star-crossed It should be a great show for fans bringing together the 14 pole winners from the 1992 Winston Cup season plus wild-card entry Jimmy Means for a bang up race that awards $290000 for a work A Chevrolet a Ford and a Pontiac occupy the top three spots for the noon start Ernie Irvan sits on the pole with Brett Ford on the outside pole On Row 2 sits Rusty Pontiac alongside Bill Ford Most eyes will follow the back of the pack where four-time Clash winner Dale Earnhardt starts from 13th The 50-mile 20-lap sprint suits raucous driving style just fine as does the plan to invert the field after the first 10 laps Earnhardt proved in 1991 he can blow through the crowd in time storming from dead last to take the first segment and repeating the Iast-to-first feat in the second segment The winner of first 10 laps gets $25000 the winner of the last 10 $35000 The format poses a dilemma for Davey Allison who will start last in the 15-car field: Lay back early for the chance to start from the pole in the second segment or come out charging Earnhardt-style? going to follow my instincts at the Allison said really not too fun to sit there and not race for 10 laps waiting for the last 10 laps going to look at this the same way I did at The Winston They inverted the field there and 1 went all out to grab all I could" Allison edged Kyle Petty by a nose to win the 1992 Winston slamming into the wall seconds later Allison has competed in four Clashes and finished strong in each But given the race format two second-place finishes (1988 1989) one third (1990) and one fourth (1992) paid especially well The Clash carries no points but gives its winner critical momentum going into the new season which starts in earnest Thursday with the Gatorade Twin 125-mile qualifying races for the Feb 14 Daytona 500 Only once in the last decade has the Clash winner gone on to win that Daytona 500 Bill Elliott was the driver the year was 1987 NASCAR star eager for strong season Earnhardt Continued from page ID former driver ran them every race and fed information back to General Motors We were the first to do it We used ourselves as guinea pigs If I had that to do over again well certainly we'd do it differently I thought we were in pretty good shape until we went to Pocono in June We were only 28 points out of the lead in second place Then we had the engine trouble and fell back (to 107 points behind never to get closer) was a blow to the whole team to get knocked that far back in one race We get anything going The strain proved especially tough for longtime crew chief Kirk Shelmerdme who resigned in November explaining that he was out" Shelmerdine now has plans for a driving career of his own moving up from the Sportsman Division to Grand National and Automobile Racing Club of America events To replace Shelmerdine Childress hired Andy Petree who had been crew chief for the Harry GantLeo Jackson team Both Earnhardt and Childress say they have a solid leader in Petree has fit in like he has been here 10 years" Childress said has been well accepted by all the other guys on the team He and Dale work really well together giving him free rein Andy has been around and knows what he's doing optimistic about coming back much better in but hard to predict a great year considering all the competition there is nowadays I promise though what working for going to regain the focus we had before We might have lost it a bit in '92 after we had a problem or Said Earnhardt who tries for a fifth Busch Clash victory today: "My intention is to work and race harder the next eight years than I ever have hope to get two or three more championships out of those seasons (to tie or surpass Richard record seven titles) Then back off the next four to six years and have some In grand scheme the latter includes racing occasionally and riding a horse like LeeRoy a lot motors and that jumped out and bit us That and a fluke thing or two me four races back and the positions I was running in them and we'd have been in good shape In contention with Actually there were 10 races in which trouble soured the season for Earnhardt a Kannapolis native and seventh on all-time list with 53 victories and first in money for all of motorsports with $16159782 Some of them were runs that likely would have produced victories Here chronologically is the breakdown an appropriate word: He was seventh in the Good-wrench 500 at Rockingham but brake failure dropped him to 24 th Second at Bristol and closing on leader Kulwicki but cut a tire and finished 18th First at Martinsville when a broken axle with 30 laps to go placed him ninth Running strong at Po-cono when a burned piston destined him to finish 28th Out first after seven laps at Daytona in July with engine failure finishing 40th Running third at Talladega after moving up from 30th starting position when a burned piston put him out of the race to finish 40th Fourth at Watkins Glen when lug nuts fell off in the pits and ninth place was salvaged Fourth at Darlington when the clutch failed and he finished 29th Third at Dover when there was a wreck and he placed 21st Seventh back at Martinsville when engine failure struck and stuck him in 3 1st "Aw you can say if if if all you want Anyone could do continued Earnhardt I really like to look at it that He paused a couple of those 40ths will kill you Childress had an explanation for what led to a one-victory 1992 season the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and $915463 in winnings the first million tour for Earnhardt since 1985 changed to 18-degree cylinder heads at the first of the year although NASCAR require them until July" said Childress a 500 Kyle Petty captures first Daytona pole Continued from page 1 marks the edge in search of the shortest route around the 25-mile trioval Some managed better than others Bill Ford was third fastest at 189024 mph Car owner Rick Hendrick put three Chevy drivers in the top 15 Ken Schrader (fifth) Ricky Rudd (sixth) and rookie Jeff Gordon (11th) pretty disappointed" said Rudd who had fastest car but was ordered by NASCAR inspectors to switch carburetors just before his qualifying felt we should have had the pole today or at least a better shot at it" Defending Daytona 500 champion Davey Allison also struggled with a 15th-place lap at 188 253 mph And the pressure is really on A1 Unser Jr the Indianapolis 500 champion trying to qualify for his first Daytona 500 Unser's best lap was 184468 mph (38th) which makes a strong finish in race a must Petty took pains to praise his crew afterward and sloughed off suggestions that his success was inherited rather than hard-fought running good and running good because we both have really really good Petty said think the genes or the generation has anything to do with Richard Petty will wave the green flag for next Daytona 500 a big deal for the retired Winston Cup champion Sabco mechanic Jim Long gets a bonus for winning the pole: Car owner Felix Sabates's 1957 Cadillac convertible Farmer bids farewell to Daytona with ARCA 200 start Dale Earnhardt was still in diapers and Bill Elliott hadn't even been born when Farmer first ran at Daytona It was a beach course then back in 1 953 and Farmer was behind the wheel of a Hudson Hornet Farmer a longtime friend of Bobby Allison plans to continue racing short tracks from time to time also get out on the superspeedways when needed to help son Davey test his Ford Thunderbird always say 'Red you were bom at the wrong time Today got factory teams and big salaries and lots of things you have years Farmer says But Farmer trade the memories oi racing alongside the Flock Brothers Cotton Owens Fireball Roberts Joe Weatherly and Curtis Turner for anything Jeff Purvis starts his Chevrolet from the pole and Loy Allen Jr of Raleigh will start second Other drivers who made the 40-car field in second-round qualifying Saturday were: Dale Fischlein of Arden Chevy Alan Pruitt of Hickory Ford Jeff McClure of Harrisburg Chevy Kirk Shelmerdine of Welcome Olds and Ron Burchette of Walkertown Pontiac By LIZ CLARKE Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH Fla Well beyond the glare of TV lights or the notice of most reporters Red Farmer is launching his farewell tour It begins and ends with 1:15 pm running of the 30th Daytona ARCA 200 at Daytona International Speedway The 60-something Farmer who won't give his age will start seventh by virtue of his 184559-mph qualifying lap It'll be his last race on a superspeedway I UUgWMW'iWUlUllllUllUJIgJILWLM fHMWm auiij'iinitii1iiiiiMju 4.