The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 23

11 gainfrui t0 I Gordon picks rap pieces wins pole Rebuilt car to lead 600 on Sunday Lug Nut adds another twist to CMS show By TOM HIGGINS Start Writer Jeff Gordon driving a Chevrolet essentially rebuilt in three days after a crash charged to the Coca-Cola 600 pole Wednesday night with a stirring lap of 181439 mph at Charlotte Motor Speedway The NASCAR Winston Cup Senes classic in its 35th running is Sunday at 5 pm (TBS) run snapped previously unbeaten pole streak this season at 10 Going on the 15-mile track 43rd among 47 qualifiers Gordon bumped Joe Nemechek from the No 1 spot and out of the $40500 share of a $56000 time trial purse on pole night Nemechek the rookie who set the track record at 181519 mph Friday evening in qualifying for last Winston Open was clocked in 600 trials at 180252 Nemechek was 35th in the qualifying line in front of a crowd estimated at 50000 a record for time trials at the Charlotte speedway knew Jeff was going to be quick" Nemechek said "1 knew it over but we still had one heck of a lap" Drivers running late had the advantage of darkness and falling temperatures cooling the asphalt making it slightly faster after a 17-minute delay for a light shower However Rick Hendrick the Charlotte businessman who owns Please see Polepage 6B Ron Green columnIA quest is on6B Winning ride: Jeff Gordon returns to the garage a winner after Coca-Cola 600 Gordon turned speeding to the pole Wednesday night in qualifying for Joe Nemechek from the pole Olajuwon has MVP effort MARK SLUDERStart a lap of 181439 mph and bumped in victory Notebook6B 300 qualifying crowded6B He was born Wednesday night emerging from a 10-foot tire in a cloud of smoke and fire He was conceived two years ago at a Charlotte Knights game in a flash of inspiration fueled by a dragon He is Lug Nut the racing fastest mascot and its only mascot so far as anyone knows Does racing really need a mascot? The first effort failed misera-bly after all NASCAR once tried the NASCUBS a bunch of people dressed as bear cubs They do much mainly riding around in pregame pa-1 rades and posing for pictures with Lug Nut young children No one liked them much and the cubs are now hibernating cub things were pretty hideous honestly" said Eddie Gossage the Charlotte Motor public relations director guy is going to be a lot better than Gossage thought of Lug Nut a couple of years ago at a Knights game As he watched Homer the Knights mascot make people laugh he thought: can't we have one of those?" Now they do Lug Nut won the job over 15 other hopefuls impressing everyone when he jumped over a race car on Roller-blades during his audition Lug Nut will have a convertible race car to drive during his performances so that it is easier to cover the eight football fields worth of fans that he must entertain The speedway folks hope to make him celebrity" according to CMS President Humpy Wheeler one knows for sure whether this will be good or this will be Wheeler said sure they asked that about the San Diego Chicken too People seem to like mascots and I think racing needs one Racing is so serious and we want to interject a little more humor into it" Now say The car Jeff Gordon won the pole with Wednesday night is named for his girlfriend Brooke Sealey make me rub it every time they race it for good Sealey said Sealey is a former Miss Winston and she and Gordon started dating last year after meeting on Victory Lane They tried to disguise the relationship for a while since there is an unwritten rule that drivers supposed to date current Miss Winstons But Gordon badly wanted to name a car for Brooke even last year as a token of his love Thus Brooker the car Gordon drove much of last year Think that fooled anyone? we're not trying to hide it anymore and we care what anyone says" Gordon said The two are engaged and plan to wed Nov 26 Bests and worsts Best food takeout name: You can't do better than the Pit-n-Git located in the infield Best preview of something sure to be magnificent colorful and tacky: From Wheeler on the pre-race entertainment Sunday I can say is the Marines will Worst finish for best buddies: Close friends Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace two of the biggest stars even crack the top 20 in qualifying Wednesday night Best baby: A tie between the one born at the infield hospital Wednesday night and the other born en route to the speedway Full moons can do nice things Best working story: John proposed daily double the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 received a wonderful boost when Andretti qualified ninth Best so-so quote: From Todd Bodine after he ran 3 1 st in qualifying- "Could have been better could have been worse" The Rockets were almost flawless from the foul line hitting 32 of 34 free throws Vernon Maxwell finished with 14 points and Kenny Smith added 10 The Rockets outrebounded Utah 42-23 and had eight three-pointers to three Karl Malone bounced back from a mediocre Game 1 and scored 32 points but his six missed free throws in 18 attempts proved especially costly John Stockton had 18 points and 10 assists and Jay Humphries added 11 points for Utah which was 28 of 37 from the line Please see Playoffspage 3B 19 points made all 13 of his free throws and 14 of 22 attempts from the field to lead Houston to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series Game 3 is Friday night at Salt Lake City think we feel the energy at home and playing with so much Olajuwon said "Now we put the pressure on Utah to win at play was especially important because the Rockets get much scoring from their other starters Mario Elie came of the bench to score 17 points including a three-pointer with one minute 55 seconds left that gave the Rockets the lead for good Observer News Services HOUSTON If there was one overriding reason why Hakeem Olajuwon won the most valuable player award it was because he carried a team with no other stars Case in point: Wednesday night Game 2 of the Western Conference final Olajuwon who received his MVP award before the game had 41 points 13 rebounds and six assists to lead the Houston Rockets to a 1 04-99 victory over the Utah Jazz which played much better than it did in the series opener and kept it close until the final 30 seconds Olajuwon scored 12 of final NFL stocking is filled with fear disputes Seifert takes East Meek coaching job By LANGSTON WERTZ Jr Staff Writer Angie Seifert one of the win-ningest active girls basketball coaches in the area is moving from Garmger High to East Mecklenburg Seifert 43 will replace Bill Dulin who coached the Eagles for five years Dulin stepped down to concentrate on his new job as East football coach Seifert said she is making the move because her youngest son 16-year-old Bryan will attend East Mecklenburg next season move made to this point has been a career Seifert said husband) Rick pointed this out to me He said know just think about it given and given to other children Now you need to consider your And for once what going to Seifert turned around a losing program at Garmger in five years going 74-42 She is 294-69 over a 22-year career and her record ranks 10th among coaches in The 106-school Western NC coverage area Her Garinger Please see Coachpage 7B By CHARLES CHANDLER Staff Writer CORAL GABLES Fla Attempts to formulate a plan to stock the rosters of the expansion Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars have been stalled by differences between representatives of league owners and the players union Roster stocking of the two new franchises was expected to be among the primary topics of this NFL owners meeting but it was not formally discussed Wednesday and is scheduled for only a brief discussion in business session League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he has scheduled a special Sept 21 owners meeting for the sole purpose of trying to complete a stocking plan and a realignment of the six divisions At issue in stocking plan discussions between negotiators for the NFL management executive committee (CEC) and the NFL Players Association is the preference to limit the and ability to sign high-profile free agents Some of the plans favored by the CEC are believed to call for restrictions on the number of free agents the expansion teams could sign plus a reduced starting salary cap for the Panthers and Jaguars The players union opposes any such restrictions saying they reduce players' job options and are not allowed under the new collective bargaining agreement "None of that is in that said NFLPA assistant executive director Doug Allen "What is in there is that (the expansion teams) are going to be added job opportunities for players and additional markets for players to Why the push by the CEC for a lower cap and free agent restrictions anyway? Since the expansion teams will start from a zero Please see NFLnext page Getting Slammed Andre Agassi returns the ball to Thomas 7-5 2-6 7-5 victory Wednesday in the Muster during 6-3 6-7 (5-7) French Open Coveragepage 8B Strawberry finished in LA Associated Press The Dodgers said they reached a settlement with their troubled outfielder who was to be paid $3 million this year and $5 million in 1995 to finish out the five-year $2025 million contract he signed Nov 8 1990 Terms were not disclosed As part of the agreement the club will request waivers on Straw- Please see Dodgerspage 4B Associated Press LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles Dodgers once paid Darryl Strawberry big money in hopes he would produce a championship in his hometown Wednesday they paid him to go away Strawberry has not played this season and is in an after-care program following a four-week stay in a substance-abuse clinic next is unclear Strawberry.