Daytona : Competition Ready for Elliott This Year

Bill Elliott and his Ford Thunderbird won the pole in 11 of 28 races on the Winston Cup stock car circuit last year, and it would seem that he might start 1986 by winning the pole for next week’s Daytona 500.

But NASCAR has a way of equalizing things so that no car, or manufacturer, dominates racing for long.

“Our aim is to have close racing and have as many (car) makes as competitive as possible,” Bill France Sr. said a decade ago, and his edict still rules in the stock car world.

This year’s equalizer supposedly will be the new profile of the General Motors cars with their sloping rear windows, which make them look much like Elliott’s T-Bird.

The two front-row positions in the 500 will be determined in time trials today. The qualifying will also set the fields for Thursday’s two 125-mile qualifying races. Only the front row will be fixed after today since the other positions in the 500 are determined by how they finish in the 125-milers.

Elliott’s year-old one-lap record of 205.114 m.p.h. would appear to be in jeopardy if last month’s testing times are to be believed.

Tommy Ellis, a journeyman driver who has never finished better than fourth in 42 Grand National starts, blistered Daytona with a 205.292 lap Jan. 22 in a Chevrolet. Other 205-plus laps were turned in by Joe Ruttman, also a NASCAR nonwinner, in drag race champion Kenny Bernstein’s Buick, and Geoff Bodine, in another Chevrolet.

When practice formally opened Friday, however, and the big field got in its final laps before the ones that count today, the speeds were substantially slower.

Only Bodine could regain last month’s speed, reportedly hitting 205.151. All clocking Friday was unofficial, however.

“Now we can appreciate what kind of advantage the Ford drivers enjoyed last year,” Bodine said. “With the new fastback, the Monte Carlo is much easier to drive in the corners, and we’re still running fast on the straightaways.”

Elliott, who has never been one to show his hand when it doesn’t count, was caught at 200.673.

“We don’t have it together right now like we did last year,” Elliott said. “I think we caught some people by surprise a little bit, maybe even a little unprepared, but it sure is different this year.

“The GM cars are quick, and we just can’t seem to find the speed we need. The car is handling all right, not super, just all right. And the motors are all right, not super either. We haven’t been able to find the right combination. We’ll keep looking until my number’s called Saturday.”

Crew chief Ernie Elliott changed engines several times in hopes of finding more speed for today’s test.

One of the faster cars during practice was the Oldsmobile driven by A.J. Foyt, the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner who, at 52, would like to win his second Daytona 500. Foyt, who won in 1972, had a lap at 201.790.

“We’re pretty happy now because we know we can run in the 202s easily,” Foyt said. “We’ll put a pretty high gear in the car. Those new rear windows make a big difference.”

Today’s pole winner will receive $1,500 and will be one step in front for the $30,000 award to the driver who wins the most poles this season.