AUTO RACING : Earnhardt, Wallace Are Separated by Just 82 Points

While Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace shoot it out for the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup championship, there’s plenty of action behind them, too.

Only 82 points separate Earnhardt and runner-up Wallace going into Sunday’s race at Rockingham, N.C., as they battle for the $1.5 million title payoff. Second place pays $350,000.

But just 46 points separate third-place Mark Martin and fourth-place Dale Jarrett in the chase for third, worth $235,000--$65,000 more than fourth.

The battle for the fifth-place payoff of $130,000 is wide open, with Morgan Shepherd holding down that spot, leading Kyle Petty by 39 points, Ken Schrader by 53 and Ernie Irvan by 98.

With only three races left in the 30-event schedule, Earnhardt is the earnings leader with $1,509,910.

Other drivers who have earned more than $1 million already this season are Martin with $1,165,895, Irvan with $1,142,775 and Wallace with $1,040,685. Jarrett, who opened the season with a victory in the Daytona 500, needs a big finish to get over the $1 million mark for the first time. He’s at $909,700.

ONE REASON WHY Rusty Wallace still has a shot at his second Winston Cup championship is that he has done very well in the head-to-head battle with longtime friend and rival Dale Earnhardt.

In 27 starts, Wallace has finished ahead of Earnhardt 16 times, including seven in a row before Earnhardt came in third, just ahead of Wallace, two weeks ago at Charlotte.

Wallace, who won the title in 1989, has 17 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes this season. Earhardt, a five-time series champion, has 15 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes.

Wallace, who has won eight races to Earnhardt’s six, said the duel keeps him and the rest of the Penske South Racing team on their toes.

“I know exactly where (Earnhardt) is at and he knows exactly where I’m at all the time,” Wallace said. “You can bet your rear end on that.”

ERNIE IRVAN’S FIRST few weeks with Robert Yates Racing have been a wonderful honeymoon, with two poles and two victories in six events.

This is the same team that nearly won the Winston Cup championship in 1992, despite crashes and injuries to then-driver Davey Allison. It began this season with very high hopes, only to see them dashed when Allison died in July after a helicopter crash.

The stunned team took a while to regroup, but Irvan seems to have been the catalyst to take it back toward the top, with lots of talk about a championship year in 1994.

“It’s not a total surprise that we’ve run well,” Yates said. “Our team has always rebounded from different kinds of problems. When things get tough, they just seem to get that much tougher.

“This year really took the wind out of us,” he added. “The other things--getting healed and getting going from whatever--crashes, injuries, losing the championship--was tough. But this year was quite a different deal.

“What do you do? Do you do anything? You have to be realistic and ask what you want to do with your life. And it comes down to you don’t have much of a choise. Racing is a learning skill.”

Added Yates, who is a master engine-builder and mechanic, “This is a pretty unique job, as far as skills are concerned, even within the automotive areas. I’d be sunk if I had to go back to an automotive dealership and try to work as a mechanic. We do things differently in racing.

“So the guys got together and didn’t want to stop racing. We had a driver (Allison) who wasn’t just a contracted driver. It was a unique situation. We’d always had a sponsor. We’d always had the driver. There were never thoughts of having anyone else.”

After Allison’s death, Yates didn’t know who would be in his car. Indy car star Robby Gordon appeared in one race, then NASCAR journeyman Lake Speed drove a few events before Irvan decided to insert himself into the equation, buying out the remainder of his contract with Morgan-McClure Racing and asking Yates for the job.

“What happened was one of the top, most high-skilled drivers made himself available to us,” Yates said. “We certainly didn’t turn that down. And we didn’t go on vacation while we were waiting for things to shake out. . . . We had guys drive our car in the interim, and they did a great job that helped us get our program going again.

“But it’s like I’ve always said: If you have the best seat in the house, or one of the best seats in the house, somebody’s going to want to drive your car. That’s what has worked out here.

“Now the pressure’s on us because I know Ernie’s going to keep the equipment revved up. That’s our objective. We want to run up front all day, win races and win the big carrot, the Winston Cup championship.”

HAL NEEDHAM LOVES stock car racing and its people.

Needham, a producer and director of movies and one-time Winston Cup car-owner, is producing another film in the “Smokey and The Bandit” series.

Instead of Burt Reynolds--who was Needham’s partner in that 1980s Winston Cup effort--as The Bandit, it will be Brian Bloom eluding authorities in a new Dodge Stealth in the film, titled “Holy Smokes.”

Much of the made-for-TV movie was shot two weeks ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Mello Yello 500 festivities.

The movie also will star Tony Curtis and model Kathy Ireland.