Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 57

8F DETROIT FREE PRESSMONDAY, JUNE 26, 1989 )iti' i flames i etty car goes out in 1 TTTK 5 BROOKLYN, Mich. As disaster loomed in the waning stages of Sunday's Miller High Life 400, Richard Petty might have been willing to trade his kingdom for a fire extinguisher. After starting 31st, Petty was wag i JJ best outing of a not-so-kingly year for Petty. A seven-time circuit champion, Petty had finished no higher than 15th (at the TranSouth 500 in early April at Darlington, S.C.) in 11 previous starts this year. "Running by myself, the car would fly," Petty said.

"But when I was around other cars it would jump around a lot. It was pushing in (turns) 1 and 2 and loose in 3 and 4. 1 knew the thing was going to come apart, because it had been vibrating about the last 50 laps or so. I just didn't want it to happen where it did." But a blown engine and the resulting oil fire was not about to dull Petty's sense of humor. "Now, tell me what have I got to do to finish a race? Maybe drive the pace car?" Actually, Petty has finished 10 of his 12 races this year but not in the manner he is accustomed to.

SYMPATHY PAINS: Reigning Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott, who suffered a broken left wrist in early February during practice for the Daytona 500, said he can relate to the plight of reigning Indy-car champ Danny Sullivan. "Every minute of it," said Elliott, whose 19-race victory drought ended Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. Sullivan suffered a broken right forearm in a May 11 crash during practice for the Indianapolis 500. During last Sunday's Detroit Grand Prix, one of seven screws surgically implanted in Sullivan's arm began backing itself out, and X-rays indicated that the break had begun to separate. Sullivan, who did not run in Sunday's CART race at Portland and will also be held out of next Sunday's at Cleveland, succumbed to pain after only 16 laps at Detroit.

Elliott said his wrist is "100 percent." "I just know what he's going through," Elliott said. "I could stand here and explain how tough it is, but nobody really can realize it until they're in that situation. The things that we go through each and every day even we take for granted until you have to drive a race car with that kind of injury." CHEVY SHIFT: Along with Darrell Waltrip, Geoff Bodine and Dale Earnhardt, Ken Schrader turned in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo for full-time use of the new Chevy Lumina beginning with the May 7 Winston 500 at Talladega, Ala. Dave Marcis owns a Lumina, but runs it only in selected races, such as Sunday's Miller 400. Sunday's race was the fourth Winston Cup appearance this year for Butch Miller of Coopersville, and his second in a Lumina.

The Monte Carlo, introduced in 1983, won six manufacturers titles and sprouts flames as Ricky Rudd passes him. mg a stirring duel for fifth place with Ricky Rudd on Lap 171. As he took about a half-car length lead over Rudd, the left front corner of Petty's engine caught fire, and seconds later flames had engulfed the oil-soaked underside of his Pontiac Grand Prix. Petty, 51, did a masterful job of Maintaining control of the car, which had turned sideways before he brought it back low on the track and out of harm's way. "Did I know it was on fire? Heck, yes!" said Petty, who finished 30th.

"I felt it on my left knee. I wanted to get to the extinguishers, but I knew I had to keep my hands on the steering wheel to keep from losing it. By the time I got it under control the fire had already put itself out." So ended what promised to be the Warn Circle Steve Crowe Auto racing jk Michigan International Speedway has been kind to Bill Elliott, with four victories in the Miller High Life 400 and three in the Champion 400 since 1984. Here are the NASCAR drivers with victories at MIS: DRIVER VICTORIES David Pearson 9 Cale Yarborough 8 Bill Elliott 7 Richard Petty 4 Bobby Allison 4 Darrell Waltnp 2 Charlie Glotzbach 1 Buddy Baker 1 Benny Parsons 1 Dale Earnhardt 1 Ffusty Wallace 1 Davey Allison 1 Richard Petty's Pontiac Grand Prix a string of foun consecutive Winston Cup champions! The Lumina Hps i (1984-87). 4- about a foot shorter with more sophisticated i aerodynamics and sleeker deston won two of its first three Winston Cup races, but only two of six overall Although thi reviews have been glowing, for the most part, Schrader's pole at MIS wad the Lumina first.

"It's a bettef car than the Monte Carlo was, and we especially thought this was a trade where that would show," Schrader said. "It's got more 1 I ft Miller High Life 400 slock car race at Michigan seconds. i ifciis MICHAEL VEHAP take his place among the NASCAR-greats: "I said 10 years ago that time was always on my side. I was 32 when Richard (Petty) was 42, so I could look at the numbers and say, 'Look, I'm-going to wear him Same thing with Cale (Yarborough) and Bobby (Allison), the guys I had to compete against. I knew I had a mathematical advantage.

"But now I'm 42, and there, are. some cats behind me thinking the same thing." MIS is the place to be for Elliott MIS, from Page IF 'TZl Wallace passed Waltrip, who finished. third, with relative ease. But Wallace never again threat-ened. Before a record estimated MIS crowd of 85,000 longtime observers had never seen a larger infield crowd or earlier traffic tie-ups Elliott averaged 139.023 m.p.h.

and won $71,450. There were five cautions for 25 laps under partly sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. Of his pursuit of Waltrip, Elliott -said: "The main thing that concerned me was trying to fight my way through the traffic. I had to gle with a couple of cars there. But the car had worked well all day long, and I was able to get back to the front because Darrell and those other guys didn't put on new tires.

"Michigan's been good to me. But, shoot, Dover, Darlington, Charlotte you go down the list and they've been good to me. At those other tracks, if there's a situation on the track, you can easily be the victim of it. But there's a lot of running room here, and it makes the odds for a car that's running well that much better." "This was a real good run," said Wallace, who was seeking his fourth victory this year. "The car handled perfect all day long.

"I just got a set of tires the next-to-last pit stop that made the car very -loose, and allowed Bill to catch me and pass me (on Lap 180). But we'll take this one. Second place is a good' run for us we moved up a lot in points." Dale Earnhardt entered Sunday knowing he would retain his lead in the drivers standings entering next day's Pepsi 400 at Daytona Beach. But Earnhardt, who finished 17th in a Chevrolet Lumina, now has 2,057 points, diminishing his advantage over Wallace (1,935) and Waltrip Wallace explained his hot foot thus- ly: "We've got a fan inside the car that keeps the floorboard cool, and the third lap I felt something hit me in ir the foot and it snapped a blade off it. And the floor got real hot the rest of the day, so my foot's blistered and I'm'" just trying to cool it down a bit." Waltrip's gamble was reminiscent of February's Daytona 500, in he also opted not to pit in the waning laps and won virtually on fumes.

"We gambled a little bit there at the end, but I thought it was the right thing to do and it almost paid off," said. "We had a faster car Lumina), but just couldn't get through the corners. Rusty runs hard, but he ran his car sideways and slideways and everything else." The first Winston Cup appearance of Bill Venturini's career ended on Lap 86, when his Chevrolet Monte met the Turn 1 wall. After the rear end of Venturini's car swung up toward the wall, he seemed to overadjust, sending him up the bank and into the wall. It took rescue workers about 20 1 minutes and the jaws-of-life device to pry an opening to remove Ven-1; turini, 36, from his badly damaged car.

The former ARCA champion flown by helicopter to Ann Arbor's'' Catherine McAuley Health where he was listed in stable condition 3t Sunday evening. He was being treated for head, neck and back injuries. Venturini was reportedly conscious and even joking at the hospital. downforce front and back and you need that at a high-speed place like this where you spend a lot of time in the turns." Of the Lumina's shorter design, Schrader said: "I tell you what, sitting in them it seems like they fit into a lot of holes the Monte Carlo won't." Among Sunday's 40-car field, only Mike Miller of Lansing (34th) and Bill Venturini (37th) drove Monte Carlos. SPARE PARTS: Waltrip, 42, on waiting to 5 MuMxj ,9 1 1 J' jK" ,4 JOHN COLUERDetrolt Free Press International Speedway: 44-47; Gant 48; B.

Bodine 49-50; Waltrip 8 on his Ford Thunderbird. Miller high life 400 Results The order of finish for Sunday's NASCAR iviliftTlil-riiiin Bill Elliott's pit crew goes to work beating Wallace by 1.99 seconds. It was the third time in his 14-year career that his first win of the season has come at MIS. The win, though, was only an aspirin for the pain of defeat. Temporary relief.

Welcome though it was, Elliott was not ready to pronounce Sunday's win the end of his team's problems. "You've got to be competitive week in and week out. We haven't been that until recently. Up until a few weeks ago, it seemed like we were just making laps," he said. "You struggle all year long and it depends on circumstances whether you win or lose.

We were talking this morning. Sometimes you can do all you can do and you can't win. "We'll get it worked out but it'll take time." Bill Elliott's win Sunday may have been due to circumstances beyond anyone's control. It may have been a fluke. Or luck.

Maybe. And maybe he would even question it later. Back home in Dawsonville, Ga. But in the late-afternoon heat, Bill Elliott did not question victory. He spent more than half an hour in the winner's circle.

This time he kissed the pretty girls. This time they handed him the loving cup that goes to the victor, and he turned it upside down and put it on his head as if it were a helmet. This time, he posed for endless pictures. With executives from Ford Motor with people from Coors, his sponsor; with members of the Melling family, who own his car; with his crew members. This time he held up the single finger of victory as Wallace, all but anonymous in his second-place finish, walked alone across the track.

For Bill Elliott the hotel beds are suddenly softer, the days cool-, the road more friendly. Elliott is first again at last Charlie Vincent, from pe if ran finishes on his record and a knot of disgust in his throat. He was 0-for-13 in starts this season. He broke his left wrist in a crash while preparing for the Daytona 500 in February and, though the arm recovered, the Elliott racing team never did. Most Sundays, they were not even in contention.

They finished 35th in the Daytona 500; 19th in the Goodwrench 500 at Rockingham, N.C.; 22nd in the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro, N.C.; and 21st last weekend at the Miller High Life 500 in Pocono, Pa. When he showed up on NASCAR's fast track, Bill Elliott was nicknamed Huckleberry Finn because of his freckles and his down-hoine view of life. Poor finishes did not affect the freckles, but they darkened his attitude and made him sullen, not at all like a haracter from Mark Twain's imagination. "I want to win races and I'll be the first to admit that," Elliott said Sunday. "You have ups and downs and you have to deal with them and there have been some days when I didn't want to get up and go to the racetrack.

"If I can't win, I want to get to a situation where 1 can win." He did not necessarily believe, though, that Sunday's win at MIS signified the end of his team's problems. "Sometimes you fall into it," he said. "I don't want to say we fell into it today, but things did fall into place for us." He led only 43 of the 200 laps Sunday, and the difference between winning and finishing somewhere else, he said, was "luck." Three men had a real chance to win the race when Means crashed 14 laps from the checkered flag: Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip and Elliott. Waltrip chose not to pit under the yellow, and to make a run to the finish with worn tires. It was, it turned out, a bad choice.

Wallace had a poor pit stop, the result of a mistake made in jacking up the car, and fell to eighth place when the green came out on lap 190. This time Elliott was in the right place at the right time. Within three laps he ran don Waltrip and eight laps later he had won his first race of 1989, POS ST. DRIVER RESIDENCE TYPE OF CAR LAPS WINNINGS 1 2 Bill Elliott Dawsonville, Ga. (Ford Thunderbird 200 71,450 2 9 Rusty Wallace St.

Louis jPontlac Grand Prix 200 63,025 3 14 Darrell Waltrip Franklin, Tenn. Chevrolet Lumina 200 31,600 4 33 Ricky Rudd Chesapeake, Va, Bulck Regal 200 24,575 5 13 Brett Bodine Chemung, N.Y. Ford Thunderbird 200 22,025 6 12 Rick Wilson Bartow, Fla. Oldsmobile Cutlass 200 15,475 7 15 Lake Speed Jackson, Miss. Oldsmobile Cutlass 200 13,900 8 8 Sterling Marlin Columbia, Tenn.

Oldsmobile Cutlass 200 12,900 9 16 DerrlkeCope Spanaway, Wash. Pontiac Grand Prix 200 10,075 10 22 Kyle Petty High Point, N.C. Pontiac Grand Prix 199 9J3O0 11 1 Ken Schrader Fanton, Mo. Chevrolet Lumina 199 16,900 12 4 Mark Martin Baleavllle, Ark. Ford Thunderbird 199 10,775 13 20 Jimmy Spencer Berwick, Pa.

pontiac Grand Prix 199 10,725 14 11 Terry Labonte Corpus Texas Ford Thunderbird 199 12,825 15 32 Phil Parsons Detroit Oldsmobile Cutlass 199 9,675 16 '28 Michael Wallace Owensboro, Ky. Pontiac Grand Prix 199 7,500 17 6 Dale Earnhardt Moorsevllle, N.C. Chevrolet Lumina 198 13,775 18 30 Ernie Irvan Modesto, Calif. Pontiac Grand Prix 198 6,350 19 26 Larry Pearson Spartanburg, S.C. Bulck Regal 198 5,785 20 27 Bobby Hlllln Midland, Texas Bulck Regal 198 8J195 21 34 Oave Marcis Chevrolet Lumina 197 7,000 22 18 DaleJarrett Hickory, N.C, pontiac Grand Prix 197 6,785 23 24 Ronnie Thomas Christiansburg, Va.

Ford Thunderbird 196 3,925 24 17 NellBonnett Hueytown, Ala. ford Thunderbird 194 6,515 25 25 Dick Trickle Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. Bulck Regal 194 6,605 26 40 KB. Bailey Houston Pontiac Grand Prix 192 3,595 27 5 Geoff Bodine Chemung, N.Y. Chevrolet Lumina 188 10,535 28 39 Jimmy Means Forest City, N.C.

Pontiac Grand Prix 179 wreck 3,475 29 29 Eddie Bierschwale San Antonio Oldsmobile Cutlass 175 3,365 30 31 Richard Petty Randleman, N.C. Pontiac Grand Prix 170 engine 4,755 31 10 Davey Allison Hueytown, Ala. ford Thunderbird 145 engine 11,650 32 7 Harry Gant Taylorsvllle, N.C. bldsmoblle Cutlass 141 engine 10,200 33 19 Hut Stricklln Calera, Ala. Pontiac Grand Prix 141 engine 3.775 34 37 Mike Miller Lansing fchevy Monte Carlo 137 driver fatigue 3,075 35 23 Morgan Shepherd Conover, N.C.

Pontiac Grand Prix 132 engine 1 1 ,040 36 3 AlanKulwlckl Greenfield, Wis. ford Thunderbird 119 clutch 6,110 37 38 Bill Venturini Chicago Chevy Monte Carlo 80 wreck 2,975 38 36 Butch Miller Coopersville, Mich. Chevrolet Lumina 74 rear end 2,960 39 21 Greg Sacks Mattltuck, N.Y. Pontiac Grand Prix 34 oil pump 2,945 40 35 Rodney Combs Lost Creek, W.Va. Pontiac Grand Prix 2 rocker arm 2,925 Time of race: 2 hours, 52 minutes, 38 Margin of victory: 1.99 seconds.

Caution flags: five for 25 laps. Lead changes: 13 among six drivers. Lap leaders: Schrader Elliott 2-8; Schrader 9-19; Elliott 20-40; Wallace 41-43; Schrader Aallana ttt-17Q. Elliott mrWIRR. Alaana 1R7.

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