Budweiser 400 : Change of Tires Gives Labonte Edge to Win

Terry Labonte led the first 20 and the last 15 laps of Sunday’s Budweiser 400 at Riverside International Raceway, but in between fans were treated to one of the most competitive stock car races in the venerable old track’s history.

It was also one of the cleanest races ever as 25 of the 42 starters were running at the end and only one car had a minor brush with the wall as a crowd estimated at 32,000 looked on.

Eight drivers led at times and during one 10-lap stretch in mid-race, the lead was swapped and re-swapped among Harry Gant, Kyle Petty, his daddy Richard Petty and Bobby Allison. Others who led were Tim Richmond, Darrell Waltrip and Bill Elliott.

A 25-second pit stop during which Dale Inman’s crew changed all four tires on Labonte’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo while the cars were racing at full speed under the green flag was a major factor in the win. Labonte was seventh at the time when he pitted on lap 67, but with fresh rubber all around, the Ice Man from Corpus Christi, Tex., began to run down the leaders one by one.

Labonte quickly caught and passed Ricky Rudd and Neil Bonnett and, after Gant and the Pettys pitted, he had only Allison to catch.

On lap 80, fifteen laps from the end of the 400-kilometer race, Labonte made a daring pass on the outside of treacherous Turn 9--the same turn where he crashed and nearly ended his career in 1982--to get by Allison and pull away.

“I knew I could catch him, but getting by the Old Man is tough,” Labonte said. “I knew I had to pass him as soon as possible before my tires started to go away.”

In the final race of 1982, the Winston Western 500, a cut tire caused Labonte to crash hard in Turn 9. The accident broke his right foot and left ankle, fractured some ribs and caused extensive cuts on his face, necessitating plastic surgery.

Although he said at the time that he would have quit racing if his wife, Kim, had asked him to, Labonte now says the horrors of that day do not enter his mind anymore.

“The first time I raced here after that I thought about it, but not any more,” Labonte said. “I think we’re about even (with Turn 9) now.”

At the end, Labonte’s main concern was Gant, Mr. Second Place, who was closing fast but fell short by five seconds. Gant, who finished second to Labonte in last year’s Winston Cup points race, has been second in his last four races--the Dover 500 to Elliott, the Winston sprint and the World 600 at Charlotte to Waltrip and Sunday’s race to Labonte.

“I was concerned about Gant because I knew he pitted after I did, so he had fresher tires,” Labonte said. “I’m glad we ran out of laps.”

Third was Allison, the 47-year-old veteran from Hueytown, Ala., who has won six races at Riverside dating back to 1971. Allison warmed up for his task by racing Saturday night at Saugus Speedway, where he finished fourth behind Dan Press, Jim Thirkettle and Ken Sapper, all veterans of the unique Saugus track. It was the first time Allison had seen the one-third mile flat oval.

Kyle Petty was fourth and his daddy, Richard, was sixth with one lap remaining, but both were passed on the white flag lap. Rudd got by Kyle to finish fourth and Elliott pushed Richard back to seventh.

Waltrip, the pole-sitter who had his Junior Johnson-Chevy in front for 12 laps, dropped from contention on lap 52 when his right rear tire went flat and started shredding. By the time he reached the pits and made a change the leaders were nearly a lap ahead.

“The tires just weren’t right all day,” said Waltrip, who had hoped to carry over his good fortune of last weekend, when he won $290,000 in two races at Charlotte.

A new NASCAR rule this year that prohibits changing more than two tires at a time during a yellow caution flag period caused unusual problems at Riverside--the only road course where NASCAR’s Good Ol’ Boys have to turn right as well as left.

“The pavement is so coarse that it wears all the tires bad,” Labonte said. “We always used to get four fresh tires during a stop, but when we stopped the first time on a yellow, we only changed the left side tires. Before the next stop, the right sides were completely worn out.

“We had trouble getting through Turn 9 because of the right side tires, but once we pitted under the green (flag) and got four fresh tires, the car ran really good. This was the first time we’d ever been in the position where we couldn’t change all four tires under the yellow.”

Labonte averaged 104.276 m.p.h. for the 2 hour 23 minute 35 second race, but he was clocked at 168.53 going down the back straight while trying to catch Elliott’s Ford in mid-race. Elliott had taken the lead when Waltrip had his tire troubles, but no sooner had Elliott taken over than he, too, had tire problems.

Elliott, winner of five of the first 11 races this year, spun in the esses when his right front tire went flat, and Labonte regained the lead. As happened to Waltrip, the long trip back to the pits for a new tire cost Elliott any chance at winning.

Labonte earned $39,200 for Billy Hagen’s Stratagraph team, but almost as important was padding his Winston Cup lead. He now has 1,815 points to 1,766 for Elliott. The season leader after 28 races collects $250,000.

This was Labonte’s first win this year and the fifth of his career.

In the Winston West competition, rookie Glen Steurer of Simi Valley was the first finisher in 11th place, but two-time defending champion Jim Robinson of North Hollywood moved into sole possession of the lead when he finished 13th (second among West Coast drivers) and 57-year-old Hershel McGriff dropped out with engine failure.

Robinson and McGriff had been tied going into Sunday’s race, No. 3 on the Winston West schedule. The next race is Saturday night at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield.

Hagen, the Louisiana oil developer who discovered Labonte when he was racing stock cars in Texas, usually makes all Winston Cup races, but he wasn’t here Sunday.

“Billy went fishing last year when we came to Riverside and we won,” said Labonte. “It was our first win of the year. Last week, Billy was talking about how we needed to win our first race here this year when he said, ‘Fellows, I think I’d better go fishing again.’ ”

Hagen may not be back next year, either.

Duke Hoenshell of Orange led wire-to-wire to repeat as winner of the LA 200 for Grand American cars Sunday at Riverside International Raceway.

Hoenshell, 28, took the lead from pole-sitter Glen Cummings of Highland at the start and averaged 102.106 m.p.h. in his Pontiac for the 200 kilometers (125 miles). Cummings did not last a single lap as his engine blew going through Turn 9 his first time around the track.

Hershel McGriff, 57, who has won 12 races here and set the race record of 104.970 in 1982, dropped two laps back early in the race when his crew had to repair a loose oil line. McGriff finished 10th.

Hoenshell, who designed and built his car at home in his garage, finished 1 minute 20 seconds ahead of Ron Esau.