Motor Racing Roundup : Rahal Wins Fourth Race of Month

To Bobby Rahal, winning is the pits.

Rahal, crediting the work of his pit crew, pulled away from Mario Andretti following a yellow flag with 15 laps left Sunday and won the Meadowlands Indy-style race by 3.8 seconds at East Rutherford, N.J. It was his fourth victory in June.

Rahal took the lead on Lap 32 of the 100-lap event, following a pit stop, and then never trailed.

“You cannot underestimate the value of that type of help,” Rahal said of his pit crew, which needed a combined total of 35 seconds to change seven tires and refuel twice in two stops. “I don’t think you can win a race with bad pit work.”

Rahal built his advantage to more than 18 seconds before a yellow flag allowed Andretti to move to within a second when the green flag was waved on Lap 85.

But over the final 15 laps on the 1.68-mile, 100-lap road circuit, Rahal drove his Lola-Cosworth away from Andretti’s Lola-Chevrolet. Emerson Fittipaldi was third, 35.17 seconds behind Rahal.

Geoff Brabham was fourth in the 168-mile race, followed by Michael Andretti, Aria Luyendyk, Tom Sneva, Al Unser Jr., Derek Daly and Scott Brayton.

Rahal’s 16th career Indy victory came with an average speed of 86.03 m.p.h., well off the track mark of 92.340 set last year by Danny Sullivan.

Rahal became the first driver to record two victories in the first six CART races this season. He also won June 14 at Portland. The previous week, he earned a pair of victories, winning an International Race of Champions event June 6 and International Motor Sports Assn. race June 7, both at the Mid-Ohio track.

“Usually, I’m never sad to see June go away,” said Rahal, who earned $94,410. “Now, I have to keep hoping to keep it going in July. This has been a fabulous month, one that I’ll never forget.”

Rahal, who made $94,410 during the month, also took the lead in the CART point standings. The 34-year-old from Dublin, Ohio, has 74 points to Michael Andretti’s 70.

Dale Earnhardt held off a furious charge by rookie Davey Allison on the final lap to win the Miller American 400 Winston Cup NASCAR race at Brooklyn, Mich.

Earnhardt’s victory was his seventh of the season and came before a Michigan International Speedway record crowd of almost 78,000.

Though Earnhardt dominated most of the race, leading 153 of the 200 laps, he was seriously challenged in the final 12 laps after a caution flag came out on lap 184. The green came back out at lap 188 to set up the dash for the finish.

Allison gradually made up the deficit and caught Earnhardt in the third turn of the last lap, where Allison went high on the track in an effort to sling his car past Earnhardt.

Earnhardt took the low road through the fourth turn and held off Allison the rest of the way.

“Probably, if we’d had a few more laps, he would have caught us, but the race was over when it was over,” Earnhardt said. “Davey just ran out of time.”

Earnhardt gunned his Chevrolet around the 400-mile distance at an average speed of 148.454 m.p.h. and beat Allison by .29 seconds. The victory was worth $60,250 for the 35-year-old Earnhardt and the Richard Childress team.

Kyle Petty finished third several car lengths behind Allison, and Tim Richmond was fourth. Pole-sitter Rusty Wallace was fifth.

Willy T. Ribbs of San Jose defeated a field that included actor Paul Newman to win the IMSA Kuppenheimer Camel GTO-GTU Challenge sports car race at Braselton, Ga.

Driving a Toyota Celica Turbo, Ribbs beat Greg Pickett of Alamo, Calif., by 23.5 seconds in the 300-kilometer, 74-lap race.

Pickett, in a new Chevrolet Corvette, never challenged Ribbs for the lead after taking second place from Bob Earl with 15 laps left. Tom Gloy of Lafayette, Calif., was third in a Ford Mustang and Earl was fourth in a Pontiac Fiero.

Newman, of Westport, Conn., finished seventh in his Nissan 300ZX turbo.

Terry Visger of Santa Clara, Calif., finished 11th overall and first in the Camel GTU division, completing 69 laps in his Pontiac Fiero. It was Visger’s third straight GTU victory.

Jim Kropfeld cruised to an easy victory in the Thunder in the Ohio unlimited hydroplane race on the Ohio River at Evansville, Ind., after a fire on Chip Hanauer’s boat forced a restart.

The victory on the two-mile Evansville course was the third at the Thunder for Kropfeld, who won last year and was also the top qualifier.

“It’s awesome, I can’t imagine a boat that has the speed and turning ability that this boat has,” said Kropfeld, who averaged 121.456 m.p.h. in the Miss Budweiser during the championship heat. “I’ve never really been able to open it up here.”

Hanauer, driving the Miller American, was not injured but the fire forced him to leap into the water after he shut the boat down seconds before the start.