Wallace, Penske Win in Michigan

Rusty Wallace won the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., to give car owner Roger Penske his eighth consecutive victory--three in Winston Cup and five on the Indy-car circuit.

It was also Penske’s first victory at the Michigan track, which he has owned since 1973.

Wallace had to overcome a near-disastrous pit stop on lap 176 during the seventh caution period of the race. Wallace took an extra lap and the yellow flag came out and he ran out of gas as he entered the pits and the engine died. As the Penske South Racing crew changed tires and filled the gas tank, crew chief Buddy Parrott sprayed ether into the engine compartment as Wallace tried to get the engine restarted.

By the time the crew pushed him about 10 yards, with Parrott taking a tumble on pit road, the engine fired and Wallace moved back onto the two-mile, high-banked oval 11th among the 12 cars on the lead lap with 19 laps to go.

Wallace, who won at Dover and Pocono the previous two weeks and has five victories for the season, was sixth by lap 186, third the next time around, moved to second on lap 192 and passed Dale Earnhardt for the lead with three laps remaining.

He pulled away after that, leaving Earnhardt to fend off Mark Martin for second place. Wallace crossed the finish line about three car-lengths.

“That was the hardest last 15-20 laps I’ve ever run in my life,” said Wallace, who earned $66,890 and led three times for 83 laps.

A record Michigan crowd, estimated at more than 100,000, turned out despite 95-degree heat and oppressive humidity.

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Hurley Haywood of the United States combined with Frenchman Yannick Dalmas and Italian Marco Baldi on the winning Dauer-Porsche team at the Le Mans 24 Hours race.

Another American, Jeff Krosnow, held his Toyota team together for second after losing the lead in the final two hours because of failed gear linkage.

Former Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan’s team probably had the best car--the other Dauer-Porsche--but two long pit stops put them in third place. His co-drivers were Hans Stuck of Germany and Thierry Boutsen of Belgium.

Miscellany

Mel Blount, former star cornerback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, stockpiled weapons at the youth home he runs in Taylorstown, Pa., according to an investigation conducted by the state welfare department.

Blount also faces a hearing today on an accusation that he shot a neighbor’s tires.

Both cases originated with a complaint filed April 6 by Steve Presto, a former project manager at the Mel Blount Youth Home who was was fired in March.