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

MOTORSPORTS Mansell tops New Hampshire IndyCar qualifying 8D THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Sunday August 81993 making the field but made the final lo to avoid not qualifying for the first time since 1982 his rookie season Michael Brotherton the event's defending champion was uninjured but failed to qualify when his dragster exploded in flames at the finish line Doug Polen has the pole for AMA Superbike final at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington Ohio With a 60-point lead over Canadian Miguel DuHamel in the standings Polen needs only a 20th place finish this weekend or at the final event of the season in Sonoma Calif later this month to clinch the title Kelly Moore drove underneath Robbie Crouch on lap 21 to take the lead for good in the New Hampshire 75 NASCAR Grand National North Series at New Hampshire International Speedway Kyle Konzer overcame a stop-and-go penalty for jumping the start and came back to win in the 1993 DodgeShelby Pro Series at Watkins Glen NY Cory McCIenathan was the fastest Top Fuel qualifier Cruz Pedregon led in Funny Car and Warren Johnson in Pro Stock heading to finals of the NHRA stop at Kent Wash Five-time series champion Joe Amato was down to his last chance before Associated Prtss LOUDON NH On the eve of his 40th birthday Nigel Mansell ran his best lap when it counted most on Saturday Raul Boesel ran his best one lap too early Mansell the Formula One champion and Indy car rookie won the pole for New England 200 with a lap at 169247 mph in a Lola-Ford The pole is worth one point in the driver standings and increases his lead to 124-105 over runner-up Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil Mansell assured of the pole and the point until Boesel whose Lola-Ford was the fastest in each of three practice sessions this week caught some bad luck was so close" Boesel said had a problem with my car on the first run So we came in to adjust" Boesel who practiced at over 1 70 mph early Saturday returned to the pits rather than wrestle the car through two qualifying laps But in doing so he left himself only one lap in which to knock Mansell off the pole The problem solved Boesel returned to the track and ran his lone lap at 169207 mph A mere six-thousandths of a second separated Mansell and Boesel over one lap of the 1058-mile New Hampshire International Speedway went out (the second time) and my warm-up lap was fast enough for the pole but it was too Boesel said the car picked up a push on the second lap nothing I could do" Mansell perhaps the quickest study in motor racing history had never seen this speedway until Thursday He was second in each practice then moved up a spot to grab his fifth pole of the season and first on an oval Scott Goodyear was third at 167863 also in a Lola-Ford He was followed by Paul Tracy of Canada whose Penske-Chevy hit 167788 chance to drive No 28 dream come true NOTEBOOK Sharp IrAAlAO lAArl all the way By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer WATKINS GLEN NY Scott Sharp started from the pole and led all 42 laps to win a Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am Series race Saturday at Watkins Glen International Sharp driving a Chevrolet Camara averaged 77563 mph in his fourth victory this season He finished 1727 seconds ahead of Ron Fellows the runner-up in a Ford Mustang Jack Baldwin rallied from the 33rd starting position to take third in a Camara Brothers Bobby and Tommy Archer were fourth and fifth respectively in Dodge Daytonas Tommy Kendall charged from 41st position to finish sixth in a Ford filling in for Michael Dingman who had to miss the race because of his death The race was marred by a violent crash involving Jerry Clinton right at the start-finish line as the checkered flag waved Ford slammed first into the wall Clinton who is heading the St Louis bid for an NFL expansion franchise bid was admitted to a local hospital complaining of neck pains Football hall of famer Walter Payton drove a Mustang owned by Clinton to an llth-place finish on the lead lap Baldwin said Saturday that he and team owner Buzz McCall plan to buy equipment and run four or five NASCAR Grand National races in 1994 If their program produces satisfactory results the two will run a limited Winston Cup Series schedule in No contract has been signed but John Andretti appears the certain choice to drive Chevrolets for Winston Cup team owner Billy Hagan next year John who won an IndyCar race in Australia is the nephew of Mario Andretti ride is available because driver Terry Labonte is moving to the Hendrick Motorsports team in '94 11:30 pm Sport-sCenter on ESPN will feature a Night with five-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Dr Jerry Punch who conducts the interview said Saturday viewers will see and hear a side of Earnhardt they never imagined of what Dale had to say in the taped show is deeply Punch said talks about how the deaths this year of fellow drivers Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison have changed his Camel GT road racing star Davy Jones entered a Ford for Budweiser At The Glen hoping to make his Winston Cup debut However a multitude of problems some traceable to the Midwestern flood forced Jones to withdraw just before second-round qualifying Saturday transporter was delayed by floods in Missouri and we ran out of time for the race-prep needed before the car could go through technical Jones said decided not to try and qualify an unpracticed Jones said he will try again next week at Michigan International Speedway Associated Press shot: This week at Watkins Glen Lake late Davey Allison crawled in there and it feels Speed takes over the Ford once driven by the like a champion's Speed said I at the Glen at Watkins Glen NY: name Martin as the most talented road racer who has yet to win on one of the twisting layouts His ability is compared to that of Ricky Rudd a three-time victor at the Glen Rusty Wallace twice a winner here Ernie Irvan and Geoff Bodine former winners at Sears Point in California Bill Elliott winner of a Grand National race on the Glen course on June 26 and Terry Labonte who won on the old Riverside (Calif) Raceway layout had a road race won at lineup The lineup for Budweiser As a young man Speed raced go-karts in international competition He won the 1978 World Karting Association championship taking the title at LeMans France Could that experience possibly help in a big Winston Cup car which weighs 3500 pounds? absolutely the same" Speed said matter if on a go-kart a motorcycle or whatever only one place to go on a road course and go fast only one line Either in the right place or the wrong Despite confidence in his ability to maneuver around the tree-lined Watkins Glen track Speed admitted to lot of self-inflicted after getting the Yates ride Some of that went away after the strong qualifying effort I want to loosen up relax a little more" Speed said first day Friday was tough for me a big hurdle "Now past that barrier and guys on the team are getting where they believe we can do it together Now we can take the next step and go race still plenty of tension but going to get settled down and relax to do my best" Any special plans for the 2205-mile race? I want to stay out of trouble Speed said expect a typical deal up here A whole lot of scrambling and beating and banging early on run the first little bit of eliminations to see going to survive to run the race I want to make it through the eliminations because this is a heck of a race car faster even than what I qualified it at not just the cars A lot of NASCAR shops are full of race cars the people on team and how they work including the pit stops knowing how to race buy that off a shelf" No wonder Lake Speed is excited and experiencing insomnia Glen million Winston Cup championship lines up 14th also in a Chevrolet Earnhardt like Martin never has won on a road course but said Saturday that he expects to run well today Concluded a smiling Earnhardt who has won two in a row three of the past four races and five of the past eight: is going to be a rabbit in the race but sometimes rabbits run up on foxes be a lot of foxes out there and some coyotes too" departure WATKINS GLEN NY For much of his life Lake Speed has dreamed of having a race car like the one drive today in The Budweiser At The Glen Now that he has it Speed admitted Saturday so excited about the opportunity he might have trouble going to sleep to have the dream car in Winston Cup race at the Watkins Glen International road course is the No 28 Ford fielded by the Robert Yates Racing team of Charlotte Speed 45 a veteran who drove his own Ford in a limited schedule earlier this season will complete the 1993 tour in the black Thun-derbird made famous by Davey Allison Allison died July 13 of injuries suffered the day before in the crash of a helicopter he was attempting to land at Talladega (Ala) Superspeedway Speed a Mississippi native who lives in Cabarrus County is among the Winston Cup most religious participants He feels deep sadness about the latest in a series of tragedies to befall Allison clan Speed who has one major NASCAR victory in 258 starts dating to 1980 the TranSouth 500 in 1988 at Darlington (SC) Raceway spoke Saturday of what an honor it is to drive such a car for one of the top operations far this is the best situation I've ever been said Speed who qualified fourth fastest at 117755 mph Friday his first day in the car expected the best darn car ever driven and what I got crawled in there and it feels like a Speed was concerned that he might not get the chance to drive at the nine-turn 245-mile Watkins Glen track for the team led by Yates and crew chief Larry Mc-Reynolds called and asked me about it I said 1 know you're prone to find yourself a road racing star (from another sanctioning body) But 1 have 19 years worth of road-racing experience I love road races You give me a car that will steer when I turn the wheel we can said I know look into it I know 'til I went to a press conference Robert called (on July 29) and was told they wanted me for all 12 remaining races I said Thank the got more years and experience on road course than I do on good road racer I think I have a chance to said Schrader who qualified at 117946 mph things have happened" Qualifying third through 10th Labonte Chevy Lake Speed Ford Earnhardt Chevy Wallace Pontiac Petty Pontiac Elliott Ford Rudd Chevy and Wally Dallen-bach Jr nominal teammate in a Ford Irvan starts 12th in a Chevy and Dale Jarrett second to Earnhardt in the standings toward the $15 that as they say separate men from boys have to pick up and go on" says North athletic director Leroy Holden also the junior varsity football coach got some skill position people to fill the spots of those who left Coach Rust confident will do a good job 1 think the boys'll overcome any adversities got some seasoned veterans back Naturally disappointed with happened But I think everything will be fine" Rust says that no sophomores will likely make the varsity this year meaning that the players he Rivals: Martin man to watch at Watkins Ti Sears Point and got knocked out with just a few laps to said Martin looking back to 1991 when he was spun out by Tommy Kendall while leading run a close second to Rusty at Sears Point and third to Ernie out there 1 was second to Rusty here in '89 and fourth behind Kyle Petty last year I'm confident on road courses and enjoy running Sharing the front row with Martin will be Chevrolet driver Ken Schrader who conceded Saturday that he consider himself a Campagna told his coaches what his doctors had told him For his health have to stop coaching football Rust was quickly inserted as his replacement two weeks before practice would begin If that tough enough less than 72 hours before that first practice Patterson moved to High Point to live with his mother and play for High Point Andrews in his senior year lie it hurt" Rust says For the teenagers on the North team these were devastating times but to hear the players tell it these ae also defining times times Vikings absorbing loss of retirement Race Continued from page ID would be frustrating would be running lousy and not Roush is a master at preparing cars for road races His drivers have won five International Motor Sports Association championships and three Trans-Am Series titles NASCAR observers most often seemed noimal enough The players ran their drills one encouraging another The mission for this season ever since the last one ended was always to win the championship the conference championship the state championship but now the mission has changed just a little Add to the list Win some for the coach is a lot to deal with 1 admit Alexander says better to have it happen at the beginning of the season than in the middle And I tell you going to get together for us and for coach We've got that closeness Even as talking though you can see in his face that this is a tough time This was a team expecting return to play out the 34 th and final year of coaching career at North and the Vikings had wanted to send him out with a year to remember And Campagna wait to get started He had a young team arid knew that most of the nucleus would return this season "1 began to sense that something was wrong with Will this Rust says "He was just a little different 1 just knew something was Finally about three weeks ago goes with are all players who played for Campagna last season players who understand this special mission always thought coach Campa-gna would be here for this last says lineman Andy Elli-thorpe and I thought have LP (Patterson) until he graduated It hurts a lot but really got to be behind us now because 1 mean last year was incredible Ellithorpe pauses collecting his thoughts Then his head raises and his eyes brighten like the sun after a long rain "This he says hope to do the same thing" fM Continued from page ID He was referring to the media coming to watch his team again this year just as they did last year when North had its dream season And he seems keenly aware that the television cameras will be rolling that reporters will scribble in their note pads a lot more often if North chooses that latter option if North wins The Vikings' practice Friday 1.