A Battle of Opposites : Riverside Showdown Pits Shy, Introverted Elliott Against Brash, Outspoken Waltrip

No stock car driver has ever dominated the superspeedways as Bill Elliott has this year. His 11 wins in 19 races broke David Pearson’s record on the high banks.

Few drivers have ever dominated the short tracks as Darrell Waltrip has in the last five seasons, when 25 of his 39 wins occurred on tracks shorter than one mile.

Elliott has never won on a short track. In eight races this season, his best finish was fifth.

Technically, Riverside International Raceway--where Waltrip and Elliott will decide the NASCAR Winston Cup championship today in the Winston Western 500--is a “superspeedway” because it is more than a mile in length. But Riverside has no banking to speak of, is far removed from the high banks of Daytona, Talladega, Darlington and Charlotte, and does not yield the 200-plus m.p.h. laps that are Elliott’s trademark.

“Riverside is a combination of short tracks,” Elliott said as he contemplated his chances of making up 20 points on Waltrip today in the 500-kilometer chase around Riverside’s 2.62-mile road circuit. “The Chevys have an advantage in accelerating out of Turns 6 and 8 with their higher torque. The Fords might have an advantage down the straightaway and up through the esses when they get wound up.”

Elliott drives a Ford Thunderbird prepared by his brother Ernie in their backyard garage in Northern Georgia. Waltrip drives a Chevrolet Monte Carlo prepared by Junior Johnson in the Piedmont hill country of North Carolina.

To win his third NASCAR championship, Waltrip needs to lead at least one lap and finish third no matter what Elliott does. Waltrip will start third, directly behind pole-sitter Terry Labonte, when the race is flagged away at 11:15 a.m. Elliott will start fifth.

The personalities of Waltrip, 38, of Franklin, Tenn., and Elliott, 30, of Dawsonville, Ga., are as complex and diverse as their opposing car models.

Waltrip, brash, outspoken sometimes to a fault, is a city slicker-type with the button-down look of a successful businessman. Which, with his earnings of more than $6 million in 14 years as a NASCAR driver, he is.

Elliott, shy, introverted and given to secretiveness, is a down-home country boy who, with his tousled red hair, freckles and ‘Aw Shucks’ look could be taken for a 1985-model Huck Finn . . . Except for the fact that in 27 races since Feb. 17 he has won $2,034,468, more than double that of any other American stock car driver in history.

Waltrip lives with his wife, Stevie, in an antebellum Southern mansion outside Nashville. Elliott lives with his wife, Martha, and daughter, Starr, in the basement of his grandmother’s house in a town with a population of about 700.

What the two drivers have to say about each other says a lot about themselves.

Waltrip on Elliott: “This year hasn’t been like the Allison-Waltrip years in 1981, ’82 and ’83. I enjoyed racing with Bobby, even though it got a little heated at times. This year has been kind of different because of Bill being so reserved and so . . . well, different.

“For years Bill had run good but they’d never win. So you never really raced him. He drove the family car, and that’s how he drives. It’s been like, ‘It’s the family car and if I take it home torn up, daddy’s going to get on my case.’ So you never got to really know him or race with him, rub fenders with him to see what kind of personality or what kind of a guy he really is. It’s been basically that way this season.

“The races he’s won, he hasn’t had to race anybody. That car’s so fast. When a guy passes you down the straightaway you just don’t race guys that do that.

“It’s hard to say that because the first thing you do is write that and it’ll probably come out: ‘Waltrip says Elliott can’t drive.’ I’ll tell you what, you give a guy the fastest car out there and he’s still got to drive it 500 miles. He’s got to stay out of trouble and he’s got to make it to the start-finish line. So even though you’ve got a fast car, you still got to be a good driver.

“I’m still saying that car is so fast it’s like putting Willie Shoemaker on Secretariat. He’s a hell of a rider, but that’s a hell of a horse.

“We don’t have any problems racing with him. We know he’s a clean competitor and that makes you feel confident going into any kind of a race you might get into with him.”

Elliott on Waltrip: “Well, I guess I never thought about it (relationship with Waltrip) much. I don’t suppose it’s any different than any other driver. He runs good. Ya’ll know that. I trust all the guys. I know any driver is going to be competitive. Anything can happen. A guy may slip or make a mistake, but all in all, I trust any of them. Darrell’s no different.”

If comes down to adjusting to NASCAR’s only road course, both drivers seem comfortable.

Elliott won his first Winston Cup race here at Riverside late in 1983 so he is not in awe of the right-hand turns the way some old timers were when they first learned they couldn’t keep turning left the way they do the rest of the year.

“I guess I was a pretty decent road racer right off because everywhere you drive in north Georgia you’re on a dirt road course.”

Waltrip has won four races here, two of 500 kilometers and two of 400 kilometers.

Elliott said he is not concerned with the fact he has won 11 races and 11 pole positions this season, yet trails Waltrip, who has won only three races and four poles.

“I don’t have any quarrel with the points system,” he said. “I think it’s fair. It’s based on consistency. Even though I’ve won more races that Darrell, he has been more consistent in his finishes.”

Elliott gained national notoriety Sept. 1 in Darlington, S.C., when he won the Southern 500 to collect a $1-million bonus from Winston for winning three of the four major 500-mile races.