Motor Racing Roundup : Elliott Ends Slump With Win in Talladega 500

Bill Elliott was sure that the bad luck that has been plaguing him all year was making another appearance halfway through Sunday’s Talladega 500 at Talladega, Ala.

Instead of giving up, though, Elliott battled back and ended a 15-race winless streak by holding off Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt before a record crowd of 105,000 at Alabama International Motor Speedway.

“I thought we broke an axle midway through the race,” Elliott said after his 19th career victory and first since the season-opening Daytona 500.

“I thought, ‘Here we go again.’ I came in and we pulled the axles out and took a look. There wasn’t anything wrong with them, and the car ran fine after that.”

Nine cars were running in the lead pack as Elliott led the last 33 green-flag laps in the race.

Allison, who fell all the way back to eighth after getting out of the draft with about 20 laps remaining, battled back, passing Earnhardt for second place just three laps from the end.

Elliott earned $70,920 for the victory, giving him a season total of $897,445. Earnhardt, the defending Winston Cup champion who holds a huge lead over the second-place Elliott in the season points after winning 8 of 17 races, earned $35,050 for third. He has $1,023,815 for the season, giving him more than $1 million for the second straight year.

Elliott, who joined Dave Marcis as the only drivers to win at Talladega from the pole position, averaged 171.292 m.p.h. He also became the 17th winner of the race since it was first run 19 years ago.

Two-time world champion Nelson Piquet of Brazil won the West German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, West Germany, and took the lead in the tight race for the Formula One driver’s championship.

It was Piquet’s first victory of the season, and his second straight in the West German Grand Prix. The first-place finish gives the Brazilian 39 points to 35 for countryman Ayrton Senna, who was leading the season’s standings. Piquet covered the 44-lap race in an average speed of 136.975 m.p.h.

Chris Cord took advantage of the bad luck of teammate Willy T. Ribbs to win the IMSA Purolator Camel GTO-GTU production-based sports car race at Portland, Ore., International Raceway.

Cord, of Beverly Hills, finished the 300-kilometer event by more than a lap over Ribbs, who drove an identical Toyota Celica Turbo prepared by Dan Gurney. Ribbs started second but moved in front of pole-sitter Scott Pruett of Roseville, Calif., on the first lap and led until he pitted on lap 45 of the 97-lap race. A cross-threaded lug nut cost Ribbs 34 seconds in the pits, and Cord took the lead.

Winston series point leaders Joe Amato and Kenny Bernstein won the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories of the $577,100 National Hot Rod Assn. Mile High Nationals at Denver’s Bandimere Speedway.

Amato, of Old Forge, Pa., won $21,000 for defeating Frank Bradley of Napa, Calif., for his second Winston victory of the year. Bernstein, of Newport Beach, posted his fifth victory of the year by defeating John Force of Yorba Linda. Bernstein also won $21,000.

Miss Budweiser, driven by Jim Kropfeld, won the Columbia Cup unlimited hydroplane race at Kennewick, Wash., in a decision disputed by Chip Hanauer, who finished second in Miller American.

Hanauer claimed that he had been cut off by Kropfeld in the first turn of the final heat, but race officials disagreed.