The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 30

14 111 3 tt 88 THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Monday September 6 1993 MOTORSPORTS Emotional Allison joins racing's hall of fame to follow him to see how it was done Dad followed for two laps then passed John and won the race "He never had a footprint on the brake pedal He also was called 'The Hoss' and he won 20 times at Martinsville and two 300-milers at Charlotte and those victories meant very much to him He was a man of few words but there never was anything arrogant about him "Dad raced a lot against Bobby Allison And him being inducted with Bobby makes it all the greater" Admission to the hall which features film clips and memorabilia covering all members is $2 Allison the Winston Cup's most popular driver six times in voting by fans "I've come to Darlington a lot of years and I can think of so many things that went on It's nice to be remembered here "I've got to thank my mother and father for any success I had When they were raising me they always insisted tha: I be the best I could And every time I get down a little bit they would push rre up" Allison's mother known as Kitty attended the ceremony His father known fondly as Pops died in 1992 "We've been through some tough times lately" said Allison a five-time winner at Darlington Raceway licluding four times in the Southern 500 "But other people have tough times too So we've got to turn our thoughts to the good times A lot of people have contributed to that and I thank them" Hendrick won close to 800 races in a long colorful career scoring mostly on short tracks in weekly modified and Sportsman Division races Hendrick who died Sept 28 1990 at age 61 after battling cancer was buried in his driver's uniform Roy Hendrick also a race driver represented his father "He got the nickname 'Rapid Ray' early in his career and it sure fit" Hendrick said "When he first started racing he ran a second car fielded by another ownerdriver John Tadlock John told my dad crashed while practicing in Michigan for a Grand National race Bobby Allison the 1983 Winston Cup champion has 84 NASCAR victories tying him for third place all-time with Darrell Waltrip Allison's driving career ended in 1988 when he suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash at Pocono (Pa) Raceway but he continues in stock car racing as co-owner of a team that fields Fords for driver Jimmy Spencer Allison appeared touched when he received a long standing ovation after being introduced and inducted into the hall by Steve Wald president of the press association "This is a tremendous honor" said By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer DARLINGTON Legendary NASCAR driver Bobby Allison and the late Ray Hendrick became members of the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in moving ceremonies Saturday night at nearby Florence Country Club The hall is at Darlington Raceway It was the first public appearance by Allison 56 since the July 13 death of his son Winston Cup Series star Davey Allison Davey died of injuries suffered in a helicopter crash the day before Bobby and his wife Judy also lost their other son Clifford in August of 1992 when he Mark Martin's win streak Mark Martin has won his last six starts in major NASCAR races Here's a list of those wins: 1 Aug 8 Bud At The Glen Watkins Glen NY 2 Aug 14 -Detroit Gasket 200 Brooklyn Mich 3 Aug 15 Champion 400 Brooklyn Mich 4 Aug 28 Bud 500 Bristol Tenn 5 Sept 4 -Gatorade 200 Darlington SC 6 Sept 5 Southern 500 Darlington SC --Grand National races '4' 1 wrrtrl1t RIny y- 1 f-- tr1 J1 0 to vss 17rp tdS 1 4' ki --1): f1: e4 I sit i'1 43 air-1k'''''- 4 4w' 0 It tx 4 '501 l'-'-' 1 qik44r itl: 4 i 1 x'''''- 1 7777 sNit r77 itINI l'r: UI Wol 7:1 1::1 'it i rrt A 't 7 ''3rA' 1' i 6'(rdqhs-k cakA'Aiik44 emc Martin turns out glimmer of hope in Darlington dash Race MARK SLUDERStaff Keeping watch: Southern 500 winner Mark ing rain made the track abrasive and increased Martin's crew cleans the front air vents on their tire wear which caused rubber to sweep up off Ford during Sunday's race at Darlington Morn- the pavement and block the air vents Continued from page 1B Light laps ran out too fast for Brett Bodine's chances Sunday's results Best decision: NASCAR officials deciding to shorten the race froln 367 laps to 351 because of darkness Racing very ouch longer could have put the drivers at risk Turning point: Mark Martin taking the lead on Lap 189 He was in front the rest of the way except when he pitted under the green flag and other front-runners briefly stayed on the track Martin led 159 of the final 163 laps Worth mentioning: It is only the fourth time in 44 runnings tat the Southern 500 has been forced into an early concksion by rain but the second in a row Darrell Waltrip passed up a pit stop stayed on the track and won when the 192 race was halted after 298 laps or 407 miles Quote of the race: It was just like looking in the dark I had a dark face shield on and I couldn't see anything I looked over at Dale (Earnhardt) on the last restart and he had changed visors curing the pit stop He had a nice clear one on He could see and I couldn't and going into Turn 1 I had a tough deal getting through there" Third-place finisher Rusty Wallace on the growing darkness Fin St Driver Car Laps Earnings Reason Out 1 4 Mark Martin Ford 351 $67765 Running 2 12 Brett Bodine Ford 351 40690 Running 3 11 Rusty Wallace Pontiac 351 27495 Running 4 6 Dale Earnhardt Chevy 351 31090 Running 5 10 Ernie Irvan Ford 350 28395 Running 6 16 Ricky Rudd Chevy 350 16940 Running 7 2 Harry Gant Chevy 350 19945 Running 8 21 Shepherd Ford 349 16025 Running 9 1 Ken Schrader Chevy 349 19195 Running 10 31 Kenny Wallace Pontiac 348 14255 Running 11 30 Wally DallenbachFord 348 14405 Running 12 27 Dale Jarrett Chevy 348 16510 Running 13 25 Michael Waltrip Pontiac 348 13820 Running 14 3 Bobby Labonte Fore 347 12130 Running 15 14 Jimmy Spencer 347 13390 Running 16 28 Kyle Petty Pontiac 347 15770 Running 17 5 Derrike Cope Ford 347 12500 Running 18 7 Bill Elliott Ford 347 17625 Running 19 32 Bobby Hamilton Ford 347 7245 Running 20 29 Geoff Bodine Ford 346 15625 Running 21 34 Phil Parsons Chevy 346 9090 Running 22 15 Jeff Gordon Chevy 346 8870 Running 23 26 Jimmy Hensloy Ford 345 15900 Running 24 19 Bobby Hillin Jr Ford 345 6325 Running 25 13 Greg Sacks Ford 344 6215 Running 26 22 Jeff Purvis Chevy 343 15655 Running 27 17 Todd Bodhe Ford 341 5945 Running 28 24 Darrell Wiltrip Chevy 339 15635 Running 29 33 Dave Macis Chevy 333 5725 Running 30 35 Rick Witon Pontiac 327 7315 Running 31 9 Sterlinc Marlin Ford 321 10080 Running 32 8 Rick Mast Ford 316 9965 Running 33 20 Terryabonte Chevy 299 9875 Running 34 18 Ted Musgrave Ford 257 9815 Engine 35 36 Mike Skinner Ford 145 5180 Engine 36 23 HutStricklin Ford 135 9620 Engine 37 40 HB Bailey Pontiac 54 5050 Engine 38 38 Brad Teague Chevy 13 5010 Vibration 39 39 Jirimy Means Ford 11 4930 Handling 40 37 Bob Schacht Ford 0 5870 Didn't start Time of race: Three hours 28 minutes 34 seconds Average speed: 127539 mph Margin of victory: 146 seconds Caution flags: Three for 16 laps Lead changes: 21 among 10 drivers Lap leaders: Schrader 1-12 Earnhardt 13-27 Martin 28-31 Hensley 32 Gant 33 Martin 34-36 Earnhardt 37-61 Irvan 62-93 Cant 94 Gordon 95-97 BBodine 98-100 Irvan 101-112 Earnhardt 113-129 Martin 130-141 Irvan 142-143: Gant 144 Earnhardt 145-188 Martin 189-247 BBodine 248 Martin 249-299 Wallace 300-302 Martin 303-351 Point standirgs: 1 Earnhardt 3379 2 Wallace 3075 3 Martin 3072 4 Jarrett 2987 5 Shepherd 2938 6 Petty 2732 7 Schrader 2724 8 lrvan 2692 Bodine 2670 10 Gordon 262811 Elliott 2605 12 Spencer 2539 13 Marlin 2526 14 Gant 2517 15 Bodine 2480 Observer Cup standings: 1 Earnhardt 165 2 RWallace 145 3 Martin 111 4 Schrader 110 5 Jarrett 93 6 lrvan 887 Petty 68 8 Shepherd 58 9 56 10 Elliott 52 Rudd 49: 12 TLabonte 46 13 Allison 44 14 GBodine 43 15 (tie) Gordon 38 DWaltrip 38 17 Spencer 36 18 Gant 2a 19 Parsons 28 20 Blabonte 26 The two diced dramatically often swapping the lead twice on the same lap keeping the crowd standing and cheering in excitement "I had to let everybody know what it's all about I'm here for one reason and that's to Re 4 win races It looks like the guy you've got to be motivated to beat is Mark Martin Earnhardt is the guy in the other brand right now and 4) we're going to do our best to turn the manufacturer's championship sz around Hopefully we can be the spoiler on the other end now" 4 Between Laps 37 and 61 Earn- "i hardt and Irvan battled back and forth until the two made contact in Irvan Turn I and Irvan slipped sideways He maintained control and took and I'm real happy for our guys I chased Mark all day and just couldn't get there" Earnhardt scraped the wall on Lap 347 while battling Bodine for second place and fell back The outcome trimmed Earnhardt's lead in the standings toward a possible sixth Winston Cup championship from 309 points over Wallace to 304 Martin closed to within 307 Martin had mounted a lead of almost nine seconds before Ernie :7 4 Irvan's spin forced the race's only yellow flag because of an incident Irvan lost control on Lap 337 while A attempting to get onto pit road i That enabled Bodine Wallace and Earnhardt in that order to close on Martin's bumper for the Martin restart Irvan wound ut5 fifth a lap down in his first start in the Robert Yates Racing team's Ford which developed handling problems Completing the top 10: Ricky Rudd Chevy Harry Cant Chevy Morgan Shepherd Ford Ken Schrader Chevy and Dick Trickle driving a Pontiac in relief of injured Kenny Wallace The first 100 laps produced the best battling this season especially the stretch between Laps 37 and 61 after a mandatory pit stop to check tire wear Martin led on the restart but Earnhardt immediately surged ahead followed by Irvan The sport's two hardest chargers battled for most of the next 24 laps Irvan could pass Earnhardt in Turn 3 but the Ford driver couldn't keep his car low and Earnhardt would dive down and regain the lead Finally the inevitable happened The two made contact on Lap 62 and Irvan slipped sideways After green-flag pit stops among the front-runners between Laps 84 and 97 the dueling resumed among Martin Earnhardt Irvan and Bodine From Laps 176-189 Earnhardt was dicing at close quarters again this time with Martin Like Irvan Martin could get by down the backstretch but would slide high in Turn 3 and Earnhardt dived right back by Martin made a pass stick on Lap 189 after another series of green-flag stops and from this point he was in command leading stretches of 59 51 and 49 laps Martin's six-race streak equals the stretch of victories Cant strung together when he became "Mr September" in 1991 four Winston Cup wins and two Grand National Martin goes for a fifth straight Winston Cup victory Saturday night in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 in Richmond No driver has won five in a row since Bobby Allison in 1971 By TOM HIGGINS Staff writer DARLINGTON SC Had the Southern 500 gone its scheduled distance Sunday just maybe it might have been Brett Bodine going to Victory Lane at Darlington Raceway rather than Mark Martin But darkness falling rapidly forced NASCAR officials to halt the Winston Cup Series race 16 laps short of the 367 needed to cover 500 miles A 10-lap dash following a caution period was ordered and Bodine needed more than that We were a little off on new tires and that would get us almost half a straightaway et- oc i back to the leader after pit stops' said Bodine the runner-up to his fellow Ford driver "We weren't good enough soon enough on new i 1 tires "We needed a longer green-flag 'N if run at the end of the race to have 4:: any chance at Mark Say 40 laps would have been great tlion 40' "This is a great track for us (the Kenny Bernstein-owned team) I Bodine love racing here and we finally had a day without incident Out pit crew has made tremendous gains on pit stops People haven't noticed because we haven't been in contention to win but that's one of the reasons we did so well today and it's going to be a factor in the short track races coming up" Bodine's best previous 1993 showing was a fifth place The outcome Sunday was his sixth top 10 of the year in 22 races Donnie Richeson Bodine's brother-in-law and crew chief was named mechanic of the race Irvan's debut thrilled a few Ernie irvan looked strong enough to be a winner the first time out in the Robert Yates Racing team's Ford But after he led 46 of the race's first I 50 laps the car's handling began fading and lrvan wound up fifth a lap down "Me and Dale Earnhardt had a heck of a race for a while" said lrvan taking over the ride made famous by the late Davey Allison who lost his life in a July helicopter crash "I knew we were putting on a good show" Ltt' 'f174034' i' 4112 4 000: 1 Allatii i j't 40tfri' the lead At this point Earnhardt's team owner Richard Childress radioed his driver with this message: "Dale cool it! You've got to finish the race" lrvan joined Yates on Friday after buying out his contract from team owner Larry McClure who fields Chevrolets Martin's victory enabled Ford to narrow the gap with arch-rival Chevy to 149-141 in the points chase for the manufacturer's title Pontiac has 128 points Said Yates: "I feel a lot of relief (after watching lrvan's performance) We think we can settle down now and win races From the driving compartment Ford's got a really good driver added to its team I hope we can keep the Chevy-Ford people excited" It's a learning process Jeff Purvis hired to replace Irvan finished 26th in his first start for the team eight laps down "I had a lot of fun out there" said Purvis who was in his seventh Winston Cup start "I just got tired of getting passed I couldn't get turned through the middle of the corners It might have been the driver I'm not sure "I couldn't relate to the crew what we needed and we lost the radio midway through the race "I promise I'm going to be better next week" Said McClure: "I think Jeff did a good job We're excited about having him This is a tough place to break in a new driver He learned a lot today" 11111 Wil IIE 11010 11E) 111111 te 141 ir 1 l'' fro pkw- i'''' 1 14--i7i1--i- 1- f'''' li-i! I ''''''-i- 't-4- -5 wili ij A -1-- No driver in the history of Charlotte Motor Speedway has ever pne faster around the challengim 15-mile oval than Winston Cup Champion Alan Kulwicki -f i Alan's commitment to VINg119)N' excellence and dedication to til vt '1 i frAmit i racing ing was the key to his incredible rise to the NASCAR championship Charlotte Motor Speedway honors the memory of Alan with a beautiful limited-edition Kuliviclii Commemorative Ticket Portions the proceeds will be donated in Kulwicki's name to the 600 Giildren's Charities '07! Available now for $10 this special collectors item is also your ticket to the competitive 1114r WINSTON POLE NIGHT Wednesday October 6 gr fo' 0 9 CD CO CD Illist i' 0 ILE tro SE ow NE 030 11010 VW 0 411010 ra ory of Alan 141101 a le Ticket Portions ''''''r tell 00' Jio I Wm It'l gr: 'ff :::4 0 0 t-itoN I1 i cool EivilED11011 frkTOVE TOCCIEll '') fr 4 'i' 1 -rr ::7: '''fr '''0 7if''t 1'1 't 1 i 1 I 1 l'' 1 -1'- t-) A47i44) if-' ri e- 1 1 li I ik 4 g- 1 iir' "li 4 il: it A 'I 1 A Ns 4 '4 1- '44 i 34 44r4 0 1-Vt lhOt 1i 7 1 1 1 1 1 I 7'- A wa 1 Al 4 Ar 4i 4 -r 1 1-Ile (00'''' 6 P- 7'1 4 1 it P- 7 17' 444'11 '724 4 -7 i rt''-s 1 vr I- or 1 i i' i it- i I i 7 IS j'A tittlh 7 A 1 47 )14- 41 si- i i 44 1 41ii44713i J--- nit? '1 i A 1' I it fr -'1 15- i '''1' tl- A riv -44 i '''t 7 i I i t- 4 4 A 'c 7 i 4': 4-4s4NA40-4waa4t0140- I 1 1 i so cr) 41:31010 AeSCI '077 takrz Ecant CHARLOTTE -141c77ri7P MOTOR SPEEDWAY lizzzlEN7 7 el 4 43-55 -32(00 WINSTON POLE NIGHT 7PM: Wednesday October 6 Qualifying for Mello 500.