Bristol Herald Courier from Bristol, Tennessee • 31

Jays lose Tigers win in pennant fever Page 4D 4 Bristol Herald Courier Bristol Virginia Tennessean BHENTE Sunday August 25 1991 3 Sports i it1' Ji MM 31 Ls ft 1 'V A 4y lorida State preseason pick at No 1 in college football Associated Press lorida State which has never finished first in college football is starting on top in 1991 The Seminoles who have come close to winning a national title the last four years are No 1 in The As sociated Press preseason poll They were the overwhelming choice get ting 49 of 60 first place votes and 1 483 of a possible 1500 points from a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters really doesn't surprise me because everyone seems to be picking us No said coach Bobby Bowden who has 17 starters back from last 10 2 team that finished fourth in the nation I still say there are eight or 10 teams that you can put in a hat that have as much a chance to be up there as we Tennessee is selected for an 11th place finish as selected by sports writers and broadcasters One of those teams is No 2 Michigan which plays lorida State in Ann Arbor on Sept 28 The Wol verines got five first place votes and 1384 points Miami which has won three na tional championships since 1983 is No 3 with two first place votes and 1276 points Washington is next with one first place ballot and 1252 points followed by lorida with one first place vote and 1150 points Rounding out the Top 10 are Notre Dame Penn State Georgia Tech Clemson and Oklahoma Ten nessee is 11th followed by Houston Colorado Texas Nebraska Southern Cal Auburn Iowa BYU Michigan State Texas Alabama Ohio State UCLA and Syracuse Clemson and Houston each re ceived one first place vote With three schools in the Top 5' Please see POLL Page 30 Kulwicki captures win in Bud 500 LORI WORLEY Sports Writer As one of the few owner drivers on the Winston Cup cir cuit Alan Kulwicki has known his share of adversity which has in turn honed his survival instincts Saturday night at Bristol International Raceway Kul wicki put those instincts to good use as he overcame an early two lap deficit to claim the Bud 500 for his first win of 1991 in a battle of the fittest at the 533 mile oval ord which led the last 136 laps and averaged 82028 mph crossed the finish line 94 seconds ahead of Ster ling Marlin on a night where tire wear played a key role in the event Taking third was Ken Schrader followed by Mark Martin and Ricky Rudd both of whom where one lap down Rounding out the top 10 were Morgan Shepherd Dale Earnhardt Darrell Waltrip Terry Labonte and Brett Bod I ine ft The win which made Kul wicki the 12th different winner in 20 races this season was his first ever at BIR as well as his initial short track victory His last win came at Rockingham in the Delco 500 last fall It was a very happy win ner in victory lane last night as Kulwicki who began the season Herald CourlaToby Tobler wlul sptuisursiup uub picneu one up several races into tne year earned the third trophy of his career Despite the margin of vic tory Kulwicki feel the race was his until he crossed the Ernie Irvan in the Kodak car gets caught up in Hut (12)spinout on lap 267 Crash spoils chances at BIR II I A jl A Bl ROBERT ANDERSON Sports Writer Last year Ernie Irvan came to the August event at Bristol International Raceway hoping to win his first race Sat urday night the driver of the Morgan McClure Chevrolet was hoping to improve his chances for a first Winston Cup cham pionship What developed to the liking of Irvan or the Abing don based team however as the defending champion of the Bud weiser 500 finished 18th after a mid race crash took him out of contention Irvan who entered the race in fourth place 167 points behind series leader Dale Earn hardt now stands fifth and tra ils by 191 points with nine races remaining Neither Irvan nor crew chief Tony Glover are writing on me cnampionsmp out it look good even though Earnhardt has struggled for three straight races just depends on what happens the rest of the Glover said everything had run well tonight we had the op portunity to gain some I know is got three more years at least with Ernie two more with our spon sor got our team to gether and improving every A poor qualifying effort had Irvan starting 26th He quickly moved his Chevrolet up through the 32 car field getting to 20th by lap 20 10th by lap 70 and third by lap 160 just missed the setup in Glover said just have our stuff to gether But I think it was ob vious we had the fastest car out here Halfway through the 500 lap event Chevy was one of only seven cars on the lead lap along with Jimmy Spencer eventual race winner Alan Kulwicki Darrell Waltrip Sterling Marlin BiD ElDott and Ken Schrader But the yeUow Kodak car disappeared in a flash on lap 267 as Irvan was unable to avoid the spinning car of Hut Stricklin on the frontstretch The front of car rammed into griU just past the start finish fine 12 car just came slid Please see IRVAN Page 2D stripe for the final time feel it until the checkered flag he said had enough misfortune this year We got two laps down but we battled back for a great victory This is a great day for us knew I could win run weD week in and week out but something has always hap pened But perservered I hope over the hump Kulwicki who started fifth went two laps down early in the race with a flat tire a problem which hampered a number of drivers but was able Hwdd CourWBIII Mcee ll Wl TH Utta JI Alan Kulwicki enjoys the moment Saturday at BIR to get back on the lead lap by the 167 th circuit when a caution flag came out for Bobby spinout in Turn 1 On the restart at lap 185 Kulwicki was eighth in the field and graduaDy moved up mak ing his way into the top five by lap 200 Marlin took his final lead on lap 327 and held it until Kul wicki got around him on 364 just kept working on it after we got that flat tire and got two laps said Kul wicki we kept our cool and made them up When we got the second one back I knew we had a chance to win the Marlin who seemed to be on his way to his first career win had to battle an iD hand ling car over the final laps be fore Kulwicki went around him were too said Marlin on that last pit stop we got a set of tires that helped loosen it up a little bit The power of the car was off a Dttle bit at the end We were lucky to finish Please see BUD Page 2D sidelines SitjiJSSSS vx STEVE BRUIDEn EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR NO MATTER who wins at Bristol International Raceway the track itself always seems to be a major story That was the case again Saturday night during the running of the Bud OUU Alan AU1W1CK1 victory was heartwarming but the surface at BIR caused more than one driver some serious heartache Rusty WaDace was the first to experience the latter emotion After qualifying second he appeared to have a car tuned perfectly to race conditions But on lap 63 he dipped the waD in Turn 2 and laid the blame squarely on the surface of the track cut a right side tire down and that took care of he said hit the wall and it hurt the car pretty bad had some problems with cut tires here They resealed the race track and if some rocks get up on the track it cuts the tires down car was reaDy 'running good and handling good We just left the race too crew did manage to get the bruised vehide back on the track for a few laps but eventuaDy it had to be parked WaDace finished in dead last Michael Waltrip was also one of the early victims cut a right front tire and it gave no indication it was going to Waltrip said after slamming hard into the Turn 4 waD on lap 81 track is causing a problem for the tires Have you ever walked across gravel in bare feet? These tires can take it Waltrip managed to get his wounded car back onto the track and complete the race but finished way back in 25th position THERE WERE a multitude of flat tires that constantly changed the flow and complexion of the race Dale Earnhardt DarreD Waltrip aD this sfipping and sUding not 1 TTT 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 to race on this kind of surface not up to par not safe do everything we can to make these cars as safe as possible And then to have this happen It was dangerous out there I saw guys crash right in front of me for no good Ouch reaDy had to be on your toes out he continued seen it this way before not any worse than before But that i mean something be done i about it it takes is a Dttle money and a Dttle Without a doubt a lot of money has been spent to improve virtuaDy every aspect of BIR down through the years one of the NASCAR 1 most impressive faculties 1 But until something is done td prevent the track from ripping up the drivers are going to Keep on ripping it thp host rar win tnniffht The competition beat us but the very professional We have tires ana race track aia The tales of woe went on Terry Labonte ninth: I had eight count eight flats two at one time You know run some whole seasons without eight flats the entire OK THOSE were aD guys that struggled as their comments could be written off to sour grapes But the harshest critic of aD was the winner Kulwicki had a flat tire and went two laps down he said was so much debris on the track They got the blowers out there and blew some of it off and I thank NASCAR for that I wish they done it And then Kulwicki started to reaDy get wanned up Dke this he said people here are great but this busmess of sealing it before every race Mark Martin and drivers of that stature were aD affected by tire 1 problems was just a case of flat tires said Earnhardt who managed a seventh place nmsn can you do about it? You just have to keep plugging away and do the best you can Jeff Hammond crew chief: want to sound like someone crying over spDled milk but Tire tales: Drivers tired of rough rocky surface at BIR 4 I wi.