Motor Sports Roundup : Earnhardt Has a Flat, Paving Way for Labonte

Earlier in the week, Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte discussed the fortunes of racing.

Sunday at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina, the good fortune went to Labonte; the bad to Earnhardt.

Labonte notched his second consecutive victory at the 5/8-mile track, winning the First Union 400 Winston Cup NASCAR race before a track-record crowd estimated at 33,000.

But the victory by the Corpus Christi, Tex., native didn’t come without fate on his side.

Earnhardt, the two-time defending Winston Cup champion, held the lead until the right rear tire of his Chevrolet went flat with less than 20 laps remaining. Labonte, also in a Chevrolet, easily made the pass with 11 laps remaining and went on to win by 1.49 seconds.

“Friday, Dale and I were sitting on the back of the truck and a lady came up and said she was taking a survey about luck in racing,” Labonte said. “We talked about having a flat tire as being just bad luck.”

But Labonte, who has been in or near the lead throughout the 400-lap race grabbed the opportunity brought about by Earnhardt’s misfortune.

“It’s tough luck on his part,” Labonte said. “But good luck on mine.”

Earnhardt, who had to settle for a third-place finish behind Buick-driving Ricky Rudd, appeared to take the turn of events in stride.

“That’s the way it goes,” Earnhardt said. “We just hung on and took what we could keep there at the end.”

Earnhardt led 265 of the 400 laps. He also had to work his way from the back of the field after being penalized for jumping the start. But it took him only 70 laps to move into first place. Labonte led 114 laps and never fell out of the top five.

Rusty Wallace, in a Pontiac and Kyle Petty in a Ford, finished fourth and fifth, respectively, and were the only other drivers on the lead lap.

Rounding out the top 10 were Richard Petty, Phil Parsons, Davey Allison, Geoff Bodine, and Bill Elliott.

Labonte’s average speed was 99.075 m.p.h. There were five cautions totaling 20 laps.

Labonte’s victory was especially sweet for team owner Junior Johnson, whose house and racing shop are located only eight miles from the track in Ingels Hollow, N.C.

“I’m tickled to death,” Johnson said. “I’m sorry Dale had problems. They had us beat until they had the problem.”

The victory was Johnson’s 18th as a car owner at North Wilkesboro, more than any other team owner. The 57-year-old Johnson also won four races here during his racing career before retiring in 1966.

Labonte, the pole-sitter with a track record of 117.322 m.p.h., became only the second driver in the past 20 years to win this race after starting from the pole. The other was Darrell Waltrip in 1982.

Earnhardt, despite the third-place finish, increased his lead in the points standings as he seeks his third consecutive title. The Mooresville, N.C., resident has 1,059 points through 7 races and leads Wallace by 53 points.

At Jerez de la Fontera, Spain, Johnny Herbert of Britain drove his Reynard-88D Cosworth car to victory in the Formula 3,000 race, the first event counting for the European championship.

Herbert won the race, which consisted of 49 laps around the 4,186-meter circuit for a total of 127 miles, in 1 hour 17 minutes 20 seconds.