Motor Racing Roundup : Nothing Rusty About Wallace’s Crew, and He Wins

Rusty Wallace may have had the fastest car in the field at Sunday’s running of the $507,600 Goodwrench 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, N.C., but speed in the pits was more important than speed on the track.

Wallace, 32, easily won a six-lap sprint to the finish after beating three-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt out of the pits during the final caution period.

Wallace, in a Pontiac, beat Alan Kulwicki by 1.3 seconds and earned $72,100.

“This win is for the crew,” said Wallace, of St. Louis, who set a track qualifying record of 148.793 m.p.h. Thursday on the 1.017-mile tri-oval. “It seems we always get down, but we were real fortunate today. The crew did a super job.”

Average speed of the race was 115.122 m.p.h. There were 29 lead changes among 11 drivers and 10 caution flags totaling 65 laps.

Daytona 500 champion Darrell Waltrip was plagued by mechanical problems and had to settle for a 29th-place finish.

Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson combined to win the Miami Grand Prix three-hour sports car race in the favored Nissan prototype.

Brabham, defending IMSA Camel GT champion and 1987 Miami winner, and Robinson, a former series champ, beat John Nielsen of Denmark and defending Miami champion Price Cobb, co-driving a Jaguar XJR-9, by 7.799 seconds.

The race covered 131 laps and 244.97 miles. The winners averaged 81.358 m.p.h. and earned first-place money of about $55,000. The race in downtown Miami drew a crowd of 80,000.

In the GT race, Pete Halsmer, who started from the pole in a Mercury Cougary XR-7, was the winner.

Driver Don Kindree, who suffered head and chest injuries Saturday in a practice session for a 15-minute Vintage car race run Sunday as a support event for the Grand Prix, was unconscious and in critical but stable condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The Nationa Hot Rod Assn. Supernationals at the Houtson Raceway Park were postponed until March 11 because of inclement weather.