The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 53

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Sunday May 17 1992 MOTORSPORTS For Kyle Petty ending special NOTEBOOK By CHARLES CHANDLEH Staff Writer Kyle Petty said The mad dash of a finish with two spinouts between the fourth turn and the checkered flag made a special occasion extra special "When you run for this kind of money and the first nice race the fans want to see something" Petty said the saw Did they ever Petty trailed Dale Earnhardt by less than a car length heading into but couldn't hold off Allison "Dale and I had a bad angle coming out of Turn 3 and it stayed that way to Turn 4" Petty said that there was just nothing I could do with Davey" And there was nothing crew could do with his car trashed" said Gil Kerley shop foreman "It took some extremely hard licks at the finish probably not a piece on it 12 inches in diameter not bent" was as much my fault as his Maybe I should have let up (at the finish) not so much that out of control as using each other to lean on" Petty who won this season said he would have won if not for the caution flag that followed Darrell spinout on the 63rd of 70th laps Petty was leading by several car lengths at the time He led again briefly after skid on the race's last turn the fourth turn Earnhardt spun out as Petty roared on with Davey Allison in hot pursuit said Earnhardt "Hard Down the stretch Petty and Allison went side by side The purse was $200000 scraped the whole Petty said "He was pushing right and 1 was pushing left We were both trying to get from point A to point as fast as we Allison had a better angle and more car when it counted and won by half a length As they crossed the finish line their cars bumped again Allison's car spun out of control and slammed into the wall in the front straightaway The finish was as dangerous as it was dramatic Allison missed the Victory Lane celebration He was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center and was reported to be in stable condition of us were going in the wrong direction" Petty said win marred by finish-line crash MARK SLUDERStaff after tangling with Petty near the finish line Petty was second and Earnhardt was 14th of the Winston at Charlotte Motor Speedway Allison went on to win the race but crashed All-star Final turn: Dale Earnhardt spins Kyle Petty (42) and Davey Allison Race Continued from page 1C through that end of the speedway When Dale's car got away from him I had to ease up a little But Davey was able to hold his line and my only hope was to block him" Petty had come to the press box to describe the finish because Allison and members of team wanted to go to the hospital "I hate up here and Davey I like to be involved in wrecks" Earnhardt had no harsh words for Petty after the stirring show that marked the first major use of the $17 million lighting system was just trying to take what was his" said Earnhardt the only other two-time winner of special event "This is the Winston and he was going for it" Finishing third through 10th: Ken Schrader Chevy Ricky Rudd Chevy Bill Elliott Ford Rusty Wallace Pontiac Alan Kulwicki Ford Ernie Irvan Chevy Richard Petty father Pontiac: and Format brings out daring path ends again in Charlotte By CHARLES CHANDLER Staff Writer Philip Ross never wants to see Charlotte Motor Speedway again Last May 18 Ross wrecked in Turn 4 in a Sportsman Division qualifying race at the speedway and survived the fire that engulfed his Monte Carlo Friday night Gary Batson wrecked the same car in the same turn in another Sportsman qualifier Again there was a fire Batson died Saturday morning believe Ross said Saturday afternoon in a telephone interview from his home in Greer SC such a strange thing such a small world" Ross who has fully recovered from his accident said he believes both crashes were God's will But he added there's something about that car" Ross recalled that before he owned the car Geoff Bodine driving for Rick Hendrick wrecked it Bodine remembers the car but sure when he crashed Ross who has retired from racing sold the car at auction in February to owner Lawrence Ledford already had a car but he really liked that Monte Carlo" Ledford said told me 'Why you buy The car was rebuilt after wreck in Charlotte After Ledford bought it Ross supplied Batson with tires and parts was a nice fellow" Ross said got to be friends" Before Batson from Rest SC left for Charlotte he visited Ross and gave him pictures of the fully refurbished car Both men were proud of it talked to him about about how there was all this reaction that he was driving that same Ross said told him knows me as the man who blew up that But Gary never showed any signs of being scared about it He just said been waiting his whole life for the chance he was about to Ross planned to come to Charlotte to watch Batson race but able to because of business obligations never go back to Charlotte Motor Speedway now" Ross said Faggart shows way Robby Faggart of Concord started from the pole and dominated the Sportsman 1 00 for his third win in the division at Charlotte Motor Speedway Faggart led each of the 67 laps in pacing a parade of Concord Speedway regulars into the top finishing positions Lee Tissot of Arden was injured in a crash The extent of his injuries was not immediately known Sportsman rttutts 1 Robby Faggart Chevy 2 Dennis Setzer Ford 3 Freddie Query Chevy 4 Mark Cox Chevy 5 Peter Gibbons Chevy 6 Skip Pope Chevy 7 Marty Ward Chevy 8 Jason Keller Buick 9 TuckTrentham Chevy 1 0 Michael Docken Chevy 1 1 Ricky Sanders Chevy 12 Mickey Hudspeth Chevy 13 Richard Jarvis Chevy 14 Paul Shaver Chevy IS David Smith Chevy 16 KirkShiel-merdine Chevy 1 7 Jimmy Sharpe Chevy 1 8 Shot Howard Chevy 19 Mark Purcell Chevy 20 Glen Darnell Chevy 21 TW Taylor Chevy 22 Monroe Snyder Pontiac 23 Ronnie Sewell Chevy 24 Steve Kanlpe Buick 25 Jabe Jones Chevy 26 William Hobgood Chevy 27 Larry Caudle Buick 28 Lee Tissot Chevy 29 Bubba Urban Pontiac 30 Curbs Miller Chevy 31 Fred Yelmek Chevy 32 Scott Kilby Chevy 33 Jerry Knowles Chevy 34 Tim Bender Chevy 35 Shart Minter Chevy 36 Junior Franks Chevy 37 Tim Kepler Chevy: 38 Danny Sikes Chevy 39 Steve Allison Chevy 40 Henry Wallace Chevy Schrader hurting Driver Ken Schrader said he has a herniated disk in his neck but the Hendrick Motorsports driver plans to try to complete the NASCAR Winston Cup Series season Twenty races remain on the schedule starting with the Coca-Cola 600 next Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway "1 plan to have corrective surgery in November after the season is Schrader said An auction to benefit the 600 Charities is set Wednesday for the 600 at the hospitality village near Turn 4 Personal items donated by Richard Petty Dale Earnhardt Davey Allison Ken Schrader Rusty Wallace Kyle Petty Alan Kulwicki and Brett Bodine will be for sale Fans light up If a sampling of fans in the Charlotte Motor Speedway infield before the running of The Winston is any indication this night racing just might catch on can see the cars better it's cooler" said Scott Jones of Weddington "I know just a better atmosphere Staff writers Leonard Laye and Stan Olson contributed to this article Green Continued from page 1C This was a heartbreaker an accident that came an instant after Allison had passed Petty to beat him to the line It was difficult to say whose fault it was The Allison and Petty cars came together and slid sideways hit the wall at the end of the front straight and slid across the track spewing sparks Petty said he was as much at fault as Allison said Petty hate that it happened I hate it anytime there's a wreck "We were banging all the way down (the front stretch) He was turning right and I was turning left We were still rubbing when we got to the finish line Both of us were in the wrong It was as much my fault as his I look at it as Seconds earlier Dale Earnhardt had been in first closing in after being tapped as (28) sweep by on the Terry Labonte Olds Earnhardt wound up 14th Allison charged from the sixth starting position in the final 10-jap dash of the segmented race which opened with two 30-lap increments His winnings for the Robert Yates Racing team based in Charlotte were $300000 overall counting $50000 for taking the pole Friday night and $50000 for winning the first 30-lap segment The Thunderbird prepared by a crew has finished first first first second and first in five starts at Charlotte and has winnings of about $12 million The team also had planned to use the car nicknamed "007" in the Coca-Cola 600 but unlikely because of the damage it sustained Kyle Petty collected $130000 including $50000 for leading the second 30 laps He started the 10-lap dash from the pole and pulled to a lead of almost a second in just three laps However Darrell Waltrip got into the frontstretch grass in his Chevy spun and stalled in Turn 1 forcing a yellow flag that bunched the field Earnhardt took the lead on the restart on the sixth lap setting up the furious finish is restricted to limit speeds NASCAR also sanctions Sportsman races: at Pocono Pa and Richmond but speeds at those tracks are not as high as at Charlotte and do not create the same level of split-second reaction time necessary to avoid accidents The three most serious crashes in the division have come at Charlotte in 1 990 when a crash in the fourth turn took the life of David Gaines 27 of Goldston in 1991 when Philip Ross of Greer SC sustained severe bums and Friday when Batson wrecked There have been six other deaths at Charlotte Motor Speedway four of drivers and two of mechanics hit in a pit road crash But the last in a racing division for experienced drivers was in 1 965 evening's accident was most unfortunate But when you review the tapes and film an accident that wasn't necessarily all driver NASCAR vice president Les Richter said "Somewhere the drivers are going to develop experience at a place like Charlotte or Pocono If not in this format it might be The chain of events that led to final lap Saturday format that encourages abhor-ant behavior it has some smoking history In 1987 Bill Elliott and Earnhardt played a frightening game of chicken Earnhardt was forced into the grass in the frontstretch tri-oval and responded by nudging Elliott toward the wall a couple of times When the race was over and Earnhardt had won Elliott slammed his car into on the cool-down lap Meanwhile Kyle Petty and Rusty Wallace were trying to fight in the garage area but were kept apart In 1989 Wallace won after he and Darrell Waltrip collided between turns 3 and 4 on the last lap Waltrip going into a long slow slide Waltrip growled hope he chokes on that Allison won $250000 Saturday night to go with $50000 he got for leading qualifying but that seemed an unimportant footnote when he was being cut from his car dies CMS deaths 1964 Driver Glenn "Fireball" Roberts in July from bums suffered about a month earlier in a World 600 crash 1964 Driver Jimmy Par-due during a tire test in September when his car went over the Turn 4 wall 1965 Driver Harold Kite in a Turn 4 crash at the National 400 in October 1974 Drag racing mechanics Reid Jackson and Blaine David Oxendirte Jr hit by a jet car making an exhibition run along pit road in March 1978 Motorcycle racer Thomas DeBlass III in September 1 990 Driver David Gaines from head injuries suffered in a crash during Sportsman Division practice in May 1992 Driver Gary Batson from bums suffered in a crash during a Sportsman Division qualifying race Questions arise as Sportsman driver on the victory but as he raced the fast-closing Petty toward the fourth turn his car slid sideways and went up against the wall That cleared the way for Petty but Allison was just over his shoulder Petty said he touch Earnhardt that both he and Earnhardt were out of control after the way they had gone into the third turn Earnhardt registered no complaint "He (Petty) just went for what was his" he said Until injury it had been a splendid night under Charlotte Motor new lights When the Winston cars cranked and started their warmup laps for the first of two 30-lap segments and the decisive 10-lapper a full moon hung over the backstretch and "Bad To The Bone" played on the public address adding a little chill to the moment The sellout crowd was on its feet The Winston is only eight years old but because of a itself an unusual accident at least one driver believed the inexperience with high speeds and greatly reduced reaction time could have played a role "I think a lot of people out here think they have a lot to Keller said saw guys who were in front of me swapping paint you just do that on a 1 W-mile track at 150 mph" Batson 40 was single His parents are deceased Four brothers and a sister were with him when he died He ran Feed Store a barbecue restaurant and catering service in Travelers Rest SC and had competed for seven seasons at Greenville-Pickens Speedway Richter said NASCAR will down and critique what doing with the Sportsman series" and review Friday's accident Two more Sportsman feature events are scheduled next week before Sunday's Coca Cola 600 was doing what he dreamed of doing" Keller said "But that account for the fact that there was and will be a lot of "Sometimes you see the hard side (of racing) and Friday night was the hardest side of ail" Wheeler said By LEONARD LAYE Sports Editor Stock car driver Gary Batson died Saturday in Chapel Hill becoming the second fatality in the past three seasons of Sportsman Division racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway His death the result of cardiac arrest and burns sustained in a crash Friday night again brought up safety concerns in the four-year-old division for beginning superspeedway drivers And it raised one question that everyone agrees is without answer: How do you give a driver experience and avoid the potentially fatal dangers that come in the process? "It makes you said Jason Keller of Greenville SC who won race "This series is for guys like me You've got to get your experience somewhere but it makes you wonder where" Sportsman drivers by definition are without experience on high-banked high-speed tracks such as 15-mile speedway Their cars must meet the same safety standards applied to Winston Cup cars in major-league division though engine size the fire in wreck was rare Moving quickly on the track to avoid a spinning car he collided with a car driven by Neal Connell car turned on its side the side pinned down against the top of car and the right side against the retaining wall The crash came at the end of the fourth lap when the cars were still carrying near-full fuel tanks and some fuel spilled from a valve onto the track It caught fire and spread like a fuse to the cars as they came to rest on the front straightaway sending both cars into flames Connell got out Batson was trapped inside He was taken to Cabarrus Memorial Hospital and then airlifted to the bum center at NC Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill with burns over 80 of his body was not a Sportsman said Charlotte Motor Speedway President HA Wheeler who created the Sportsman division four years ago "An accident happened that never happened anywhere "I've seen wreck after wreck here just like that and nothing While the Batson crash was in.