Auto Racing Roundup : Elliott Beats Out Allison at Finish; Bonnett Injured

Bill Elliott avoided numerous crashes in Sunday’s NASCAR Oakwood 500 at Concord, N.C., including one wreck that hospitalized Neil Bonnett, to win his fourth Winston Cup race this season.

Elliott, driving a Ford, finished 2.22 seconds ahead of Bobby Allison, in a Buick, for his 21st career victory. Third was Sterling Marlin in an Oldsmobile. Terry Labonte took fourth in a Chevrolet, one lap down. Richard Petty finished fifth in a Pontiac.

Bonnett, 41, was sent to Cabarrus Memorial Hospital after suffering a broken right hip when his Pontiac smacked the wall in turns 3 and 4. It took rescuers and Bonnett’s crew about 20 minutes to cut away the car’s roof and remove the driver.

Bonnett was in stable condition in the intensive care unit and was scheduled for surgery today. A spokesman said Bonnett was expected to be hospitalized for a week.

Elliott started seventh but didn’t lead until lap 273 of the 334-lap race. He took the lead during the series of final pit stops and never lost it.

In gaining his second career win at the 1.5-mile track, Elliott averaged 128.443 m.p.h. in the race slowed by 7 caution flags for 60 laps. There were 29 lead changes among 17 drivers with Allison, who started on the pole position, being the top lap leader. Allison, 49, led six times for 143 laps.

The race also produced two serious multi-car crashes in Turn 2.

A six-car accident, after only 21 laps, involved Ken Schrader, Buddy Baker, Derrike Cope, Jimmy Means, Greg Sacks and Dale Earnhardt. Schrader received repairs to his Ford and returned to the race, 32 laps down. Earnhardt lost three laps for repairs, fought his way back into the lead lap, but then lost the brakes on his Chevrolet. He finished 12th and must now wait until the race at Rockingham, N.C., in two weeks, to clinch his second straight championship.

The race’s other major crash, on lap 126, involved eight drivers: Darrell Waltrip, Dave Marcis, Rick Wilson, Brett and Geoff Bodine, Bobby Hillin Jr., Alan Kulwicki, and Terry Labonte.

Pete Halsmer of Anaheim won his fourth Bendix Trans-Am race of the season at Road Atlanta in Flowery Branch, Ga., defeating polesitter Elliott Forbes-Robinson by 7.437 seconds.

Halsmer, in a Merkur XR4Ti, took the lead on lap 10 and wasn’t passed again. Halsmer averaged 89.168 m.p.h. for the 40-lap, 100.8-mile race that took 1:07:49.585 to complete.

Actor-racer Paul Newman, in a Nissan 300XZ Turbo, started at the fifth position and finished third, his best Bendix Trans-Am finish in six starts this season.

Forbes-Robinson of Denver, N.C., led nine of the first 10 laps before Halsmer passed for the lead. Driving a Porsche 944 Turbo, Forbes-Robinson dropped to third on two occasions before regaining second, nine laps from the end.