Motor Racing Roundup : Mears Adds 200-Mile Victory to His 500 Win

It’s like old times for Rick Mears and Penske Racing.

Mears dominated the field in the Miller High Life 200 Sunday at Wisconsin State Fair Park in Milwaukee, adding that victory to the one a week earlier in the Indianapolis 500.

Considering that Mears won the pole and led until a slower car got him involved in a crash in the season opener at Phoenix, Ariz., Mears has had things pretty much his way this season.

“It feels a little more like ‘82, when we had the cars that were working so well,” said Mears, who won the last of his three Indy-car series championships that year. “It’s a really good feeling.”

Teammate Danny Sullivan finished second Sunday, despite struggling with his car’s handling all day. “I was trying, but I wasn’t going to take any chances,” Sullivan said. “We dug ourselves a pretty deep hole . . . but we ran hard and got a break and, most important, we finished.”

Emerson Fittipaldi finished third, a lap behind, followed another lap back by fellow Brazilian Raul Boesel and A.J. Foyt.

Two-time defending series champion Bobby Rahal was three laps behind in sixth, followed another lap behind by Michael Andretti.

It was the 24th career victory for Mears, who jumped past Andretti and Boesel into the CART-PPG Indy-car point lead.

The 36-year-old driver from Bakersfield won his first race on Milwaukee’s 1-mile oval in 1978, but had not won there since.

Mears drove his Chevrolet-powered Penske PC17 to an average speed of 122.820 m.p.h., winning $47,460 as he crossed the finish line 5.72 seconds ahead of Sullivan.

There were five caution flags in the race, the last two brought out by engine problems suffered by rookies John Andretti, Mario’s nephew, and Scott Atchison.

The 200-lap race was run in sunny weather with a crowd estimated at more than 40,000.

At Dover, Del., Bill Elliott scored his second NASCAR victory of the year.

Elliott, after falling almost two laps behind the leaders early in the race, beat the front-runner to a caution flag twice en route to winning the Budweiser 500 before a record crowd of 61,000 at Dover Downs International Speedway.

Elliott’s margin of victory in the 11th event on this year’s Winston Cup circuit was 18.08 seconds.

“We were almost two laps behind and we were able to beat Morgan (Shepherd) back to the flag,” Elliott said. “Then we were able to beat Davey (Allison) 20-25 laps later and we were able to get a lap back.

“I felt once we got that lap back from Davey that we could win it.”

Elliott, who started in the 17th position, led almost exclusively the final 150 miles over the high-banked, 1-mile oval.

The $53,000 he earned for the 26th Winston Cup victory over his 13-year career was his biggest payday of 1988. He won the Valleydale 500 in Bristol, Tenn., on April 10.

Finishing second behind Elliott was Shepherd, who was driving in place of injured Harry Gant.

Elliott, 32, of Dawsonville, Ga., also won this event in 1985.

At Lexington, Ohio, Geoff Brabham scored a record-tying fourth straight International Motor Sports Assn. Camel GT sports car victory, teaming with Tom Gloy to win the Nissan Grand Prix of Ohio at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Brabham, a native of Australia now living in Noblesville, Ind., started on the pole. He and Gloy led all 129 laps around the 2.4-mile road course in a Nissan GTP prototype. They averaged 100.351 m.p.h. in completing the 500-kilometer race in 3 hours 5 minutes 6.566 seconds. They earned $34,500.

Brabham tied the single-season record of four straight victories held by Peter Gregg and John Fitzpatrick.

In a 200-kilometer GTO-GTU race, Chris Cord of Beverly Hills was the winner with an average speed of 94.710 m.p.h. Tom Kendall of La Canada won the Camel GTU division by finishing fifth overall.