MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Victorious Earnhardt Finds No Restriction

Most drivers despise the carburetor restrictor plates that NASCAR makes them use to slow their stock cars at Talladega, Ala., and Daytona Beach, Fla.

Dale Earnhardt might hang one in his den after winning Sunday’s DieHard 500 at Talladega.

Although Earnhardt dominated the race, leading 134 of 188 laps on the 2.66-mile, high-banked oval, he had to work, outdueling Bill Elliott over the final 50 laps to win by 0.26 seconds in the fifth-fastest race in Winston Cup history. Earnhardt averaged 174.429 m.p.h., just shy of Lennie Pond’s race record of 174.700 in 1978.

It gave Earnhardt his third victory in four restrictor-plate races this season. He led 519 of 736 laps in those events.

NASCAR mandates the plates, which cut horsepower by restricting airflow to the carburetor, at its two fastest ovals in the interest of driver and fan safety.

“I’ve been driving these tracks since 1978, and I learned a lot from drivers like Buddy Baker, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough,” Earnhardt said. “I learned a lot and I got beat a lot.

“Now the difference out there is in experience, not in the restrictor plate or the motor.”

Elliott grabbed the lead on lap 151, but Earnhardt regained it on lap 169 and held on to win his fourth Talladega race.

In his 45th career victory, Earnhardt earned $152,975.

Ayrton Senna of Brazil passed Alessandro Nannini with 11 laps to go and pulled away to win the West German Grand Prix at Hockenheim for the third year in a row.

The victory put Senna in first place in the Formula One season standings with 48 points.

Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, had the pole position but gave up the lead after a tire change on the 18th lap of the 45-lap race. Nannini, of Italy, held Senna off for 15 laps. But Senna finally passed Nannini’s Benetoon-Ford on the long straightaway on the 4.22-mile circuit and won by 6.52 seconds.

Jaguar driver Davy Jones scored a runaway victory in the IMSA Camel GT prototype sports car race at Portland, Ore., International Raceway.

Jones led 90 of the 97 laps around the 1.915-mile road course, averaging a record 114.238 m.p.h. to earn $70,000.

Gary Ormsby drove his Castrol GTX dragster to a quarter-mile time of 5.099 seconds at 278.46 m.p.h. to defeat Frank Hawley for the top-fuel title at the California Nationals at Sears Point International Raceway at Sonoma, Calif. Hawley clocked 5.113 at 279.15.

John Force claimed his fifth funny-car victory of the season and Darrell Alderman’s Dodge Daytona won for the second time.