The Atlanta Journal from Atlanta, Georgia • 34

de Atlanta onraal Monday March 16 1987 keep Parsons from victory By BH Robinson Staff Writer HAMPTON Ga Put on cold tires and the track turns cold hearted But no matter what heartbreak rac ing deals him Benny Parsons remains No 1 good olboy the ambassador of goodwill Leading the Motorcraft 500 and only 13 laps from becoming big winner Parsons ran out of the precious tires needed to finish knows what would have Parsons said had this race won three times But as we say Parsons pitted his Chevrolet on lap 315 coming out to again lead through lap 321 just seven laps from the big jackpot But Ricky ord with scuffed hot tires blew by him to win Now Parsons was parked next to a gas pump in official filling station in garage area sitting in his No 35 racer The olgefs Chevrolet was being filled with gas The racer painted in the colors of its sponsor resembled a bent up coffee can for its sheet metal had been rearranged in two different wrecks After the mandatory post race inspection Parsons released his hefty bulk from the window Par sons removed his goggles and shook the grime and dirt from his uniform His face was dark with tire dust ex cept for the stark flesh white where the goggles had been Yet Parsons still wore his trademark the big smile The last time he had pulled in for gasoline things were frantic and different Parsons not only had to take on a load of gas but his racer required the changing of all four tires Crew chief Harry Hyde explained: stay out there any longer The longer the track stayed green the better it was for us But that last caution right be fore the end brought us in and did us in And three last set of tires we took off were so thin you could see the air in Still Hyde was happy: tickled Benny drove a heckuva Hyde said be still know when his regular driver Tim Richmond would return Richmond nearly died over the winter reportedly with pneumonia and Parous has been his substitute so far this season everything I hear from what I Hyde said be until May the earliest from what I really know that Richmond can Parsons ran a limited schedule in 1986 His last win was the 150 mile Atlanta Invitational in July 1986 The Winston Cup champion of 1973 had been pulling in his racing horns allowing younger brother Phil to run the short tracks Meanwhile Benny Parsons the jovial older brother began doing more and more color commentary for ra dio and television becoming a spokesman for stock car racing Only two weeks ago at Rockingham NC after leaving the race he was in a TV booth when ill driver Sterling Martin asked him to finish the race tor him Benny changed back into a racing uniform and finished the race His best finish before Sunday was a second (behind Bill Elliott) in the Daytona 500 a 8122420 payday This Sunday he won 836125 He smiles big butte is still not happy says the big picture looks Parsons said we need a STEVE DEALStaff DISAPPOINTID: BiO Elliott walks back to Ns trailer after blowing an engine in Motorcraft 500 hopes smoke go up in By Ed Hinton Staffwriter HAMPTON Ga While the rest of the field flew coach Dale Earnhardt was in first class and Bill Elliott in business They darted and flew 1 2 concerned only with each other for most of the race Then suddenly they were gone leav ing the Motorcraft 500 to the bourgeoisie race had opened as billed as purely a duel of Earnhardt and Elliott But on lap 255 of the 328 lap event Elliott's Thunderbird died with a blown engine superior Chevrolet quit 25 laps later with a shorted safety switch and repairs cost him seven laps in pits ollowing the failures their smiles of resignation were in different classes Earnhardt wore an irrepressible grin of certainty that this was only a minor nick in a season that has begun splendidly for jj him Elliott wore a faint weak smile it took courage to summon Earnhardt exited Atlanta Internation al Raceway laughing in a limousine for a shorted wire is a laugher of a way to lose Elliott exited quickly quietly for engine problems can be a symptom of worries to come in a season just blew Elliott said as he climbed from the Bird just decided it didn't want to live any longer I Chasing Earnhardt had been futile" Elliott said just too But as Elliott drove off the grounds Earnhardt pitted suddenly A "kill switch which safety crews use to kill the ignition in the event of a wreck had shorted and killed engine un invited His crew clamped the wires back together and he continued still faster than eventual winner Ricky Rudd and the rest of the survivors but too many laps down to win He finished 16th failing to win a third consecutive time on the NAS CAR Winston Cup tour but keeping the lead in the season point standings had a good time Earn hardt said as he jumped aboard the lima good losers just like good winners Besides they all knew where we were today When hot hot baby get This is no big Was this in any way discouraging to car owner Richard Childress? said an equally bubbly Chil dress be back next race (at Dar lington SC on March 29) This was an expensive little lesson for us (a 812 part meant 840000 difference in winnings) but we learned it But crew chief bis elder brother Ernie was clipped in his analysis just blew up Ernie said Why? have no he said Engine failures could mean days or weeks or months of painstaking research at the Dawsonville Ga shop of the El liotts Also ominous was that two more ord engines in the cars of Alan Kulwicki and Ken Schrader blew Sunday The new Special Vehicle Operations en gines developed by the carmaker had ear lier presented sky high hopes to the ord crews Childress meanwhile diagnosed and fixed electrical problem be fore the crew even loaded the Chevy on the trailer This was the first race of the season not won by Elliott or Earnhardt Elliott won the season opener the Daytona 500 and Earnhardt won the next two at Rockingham NC and Richmond Va Earnhardt led race for 195 laps more than the rest of the field put together Elliott led only 22 laps but was second to Earnhardt most of the time be fore they fell out Petty feuding with Yarborough after By BIH Robinson Staff Writer HAMPTON Ga rustration and the continued yielding to young lions apparently became too much here late Sunday afternoon for two all time winners Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough are feuding All it took was the twisted metal of a wreck to touch things off After the collision No 43 rac er reflected his feelings: all hurt he said got my race car bent up I too happy about it Thought I was running good Then I went backwards If he (Yarborough) had hit me I might have been OK But be flat ran right into me And it a love tap either Maybe they ought to consider giving some of these guys some color blind Yarborough admitted the mistake but considers MOTOBCRAT NOTEBOOK late start of the Motorcraft 500 delayed for national television a possible villain sun in the corner was real Yarborough said created a blind spot By the time I realized Richard was in front of me it was too late and I had hit him sure Richard realizes it was just one of those things and I help it An earlier start to the race certainly would have helped When I entered that turn (Hie fourth of Ift mile track) the sun was just going down and I see a The accident came on lap 284 (of 328) and cost six laps under caution the next to last yellow flag of the race Petty who had led for a single lap (224) limped home 14th three laps behind winner Ricky Rudd Yar borough who led on three different occasions the last on lap 264 finished eighth A young driver too had late lap problems Terry Labonte the new driver for Junior Johnson tried to avoid OK spinning machine on lap 317: had no place to go The guy hits the wall I brush into him and my brake pedal broke I have any brakes I couldn't pit then I gave out of gas and had to coast the last lap around losing a Labonte actually led laps 318 19 but wound up fourth Last Motor craft winner Morgan Shepherd said: have an off day we had an off week gonna take a look at our overall Rudd ROM 1C trical short That left the race to the rest of whom Rudd was best passing Ben ny Parsons with seven laps left and then holding off Parsons and Rusty Wallace at the finish and Elliott just drove away from the rest of Rudd did admit I told Bud on the radio going to catch them at all better start mak ing adjustments right now And now was about 60 miles into the race All afternoon the crew worked whenever pit They ad justed the chassis and adjusted tire stagger the difference between the size of the left side tires and the size of the right side were constantly toying to improve our said Rudd 30 of Chesapeake Va by late in the race we finally had it about right But I still quite get by Benny So when the last caution came out (ending on lap 319) we played with the stagger a little more If we made that ad justment I think have had a chance to On a NASCAR circuit currently dominated by Earnhardt Rudd had not won since last September at Do ver Del The sudden disappearances of Earnhardt and Elliott awakened an Atlanta International Raceway crowd estimated at 60000 been lulled on the springlike after noon by the Earnhardt Elliott runaway A four car pack inherited a glimpse of the circle but Terry Labonte was the first of those to fall back with brake failure Parsons led followed by Rudd and Wallace When Rudd made his move with seven laps to go went into the first turn too hard and hit Rudd said mean to I just meant to dive under him He had to Bhe CHOICE 976 7007 2 Per Call BASKETBALL PICKS back off for a win the seventh of his career moved him from eighth to third in this Winston Cup standings Even with their faltering Earnhardt and Elliott maintained their 1 2 position in the season points Declaring intentions toward the championship never seen this team this fired said Rudd who has driven for Moore since 1983 TaylorToppe THE UL1HUTE HAIR REPLACEMENT Taylor Topper offers you a hair replacement that is as near perfect as possible WE OER Prices Guarantee on 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