Despite History, Daytona Drivers Striving to Win the Pole

Starting on the pole in the Daytona 500 is no guarantee of success. The pole-sitter has not won since 1987, when Bill Elliott did it. In 38 years, only four drivers have ever started first and finished first--Elliott twice, Cale Yarborough twice, Richard Petty and Fireball Roberts.

So why will 55 drivers be doing everything they can Saturday to win the

pole for this year’s Super Bowl of stock car racing?

“I feel like I can win the race wherever I start, but there’s a lot to be said for winning the Daytona 500 pole,” said defending champion Dale Jarrett, who did just that in 1995.

“For one thing, the team gets a tremendous amount of exposure for the sponsor. You’re talked about for an entire week. And another advantage is that you don’t have to worry about what happens in the twin 125s on Thursday. You can run the race you want to run. All in all, it’s definitely worth going for the pole.”

The two front-row cars for the 500 on Feb. 16 will be the fastest in Saturday’s time trials. Starting positions of all the others will be determined by their finishes in a pair of 125-mile races Thursday.

John Andretti, starting his first full NASCAR Winston Cup season with Yarborough’s Ford Thunderbird team, had the fastest lap during preseason practice last month, 189.458 mph.

“We went to Daytona hoping to be the fastest in testing and then take the pole,” Andretti said. “I think we can do that with the knowledge we have and the people we have. We’re halfway there.”

Jarrett, however, doesn’t attach too much significance to practice speeds.

“You don’t know when somebody runs a fast time what they were trying to do,” he said. “Sometimes they’re not totally on the up and up. Things change in cars when they have to face [Winston Cup Director] Gary Nelson’s scrutiny Saturday morning. Speeds before then are not necessarily indicative of what’s going to happen in those two laps that count.”

Each car gets two timed laps Saturday, the fastest one counting.

The record of 210.364 mph, set by Elliott in 1987, is not in danger. Speed restricters--governors, as they’re called in passenger cars--have substantially reduced speeds in recent years. Dale Earnhardt won the pole last year at 189.510.

Jarrett’s best practice speed of 187.383 in one of Robert Yates’ Thunderbirds ranked only 13th in January.

“We don’t know what to expect, but we feel we’ll be in the thick of things for the pole,” Jarrett said.

“One thing is important, though. You don’t want to bring a car to Daytona just trying to get on the pole. We did that in 1995. We were extremely fast, and we got the pole. But when the race started, we found out we were aerodynamically not suited for running in a draft. And if you’re going to have a chance to win the race, you’ve got to be prepared to run in the draft.

“Doing well in qualifying also makes living easier. When things aren’t going good, it’s miserable. The 12 days we spend at Daytona can seem like 10 months. It gets so the wife and kids don’t want to see you come back to the room frowning all the time. Run good Saturday and everyone’s glad to see you.”

Jeff Gordon, the 1995 Winston Cup champion who won 10 of 31 races last year but lost the title to Terry Labonte, said he was more concerned with the race than the pole.

“We’re not trying to set any records,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is have a good speed and a good race car. I’m looking more forward to the 125s and the race than I am qualifying.

“I got bored to death out there testing. That’s for the engineers and for Ray [Evernham, team manager]. They build these cars and go to the wind tunnel and they’ve got all these things they want the drivers to test.

“All I am is just another computer chip that’s plugged into the seat to push the pedal down.”

Yeah, right. Last year, in the July race at Daytona, Gordon put his Monte Carlo on the pole.

NASCAR

It doesn’t count in Winston Cup points, but the 50-mile Busch Clash (Channel 2, 9 a.m.) on Sunday at Daytona can sometimes be as exciting as any championship race. Fourteen drivers, all but Rusty Wallace pole winners during the 1996 season, will race two 10-lap segments for $370,000. Wallace won a drawing among the fastest second-day qualifiers. Jarrett won last year.

The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is the winningest nameplate in Winston Cup history with 237 victories. Darrell Waltrip, with 48 of them, was the major contributor. The Ford Thunderbird is next with 172 wins. . . . Truck driver-builder Walker Evans of Riverside is switching from Dodge to Chevrolet for the Craftsman Truck and SODA off-road series. Butch Miller will be his driver in Craftsman races.

CART

At first glance, it would appear that 1997 may be a lot like 1996. During a three-day spring-training session at Homestead, Fla., the two fastest cars were Chip Ganassi’s, the matching Reynard-Hondas driven by Jimmy Vasser and Alex Zanardi.

Vasser, defending PPG Cup champion, ran 195.467 mph on the 1.517-mile oval. Zanardi, last year’s rookie of the year, ran 195.174.

“All in all, we’re pretty happy,” Vasser said. “We were quickest each day, and I don’t think we showed all our cards yet.”

Mark Blundell, who was hospitalized after hitting the wall in a PacWest Reynard, has been released and is expected to be ready for the season opener March 2 at Homestead. . . . Driver P.J. Jones and his boyhood friend, drag racer Tony Pedregon, will fly with the Navy’s Blue Angels in F/A-18 Hornets Monday in maneuvers over Imperial Valley.

FORMULA ONE

Jacques Villeneuve, the former Indianapolis 500 winner who is favored to win his first world championship this year, says that Grand Prix authorities are making too many rules regarding safety precautions since the death in 1994 of Ayrton Senna.

“I think they’ve gone a bit overboard on safety,” said the young Canadian, who finished second to Williams’ teammate Damon Hill last year. “The sport is safe enough and I would like to see a little more excitement.”

The season starts March 10 with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

IRL

With the next race six weeks from now on March 23, some Indy Racing League drivers are keeping busy elsewhere.

Versatile Tony Stewart, last year’s Indianapolis 500 pole-sitter, won a U.S. Auto Club midget feature on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway after finishing seventh in a Sprint Car Racing Assn. main event Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway.

And Davey Hamilton, one of A.J. Foyt’s drivers, drove in midget, supermodified and Silver Crown dirt-car races at Phoenix, finishing fifth in the Silver Crown feature.

Kenny Brack, 1996 European Formula 3,000 runner-up from Sweden, is testing with Galles Racing.

NHRA

Bobby Taylor of Laguna Hills won the Federal Mogul dragster championship at the Winternationals last week. Federal Mogul is the new NHRA designation for top alcohol. . . . Joe Amato lost to Gary Scelzi in the top-fuel final, but the five-time champion collected a $35,000 bonus from the MBNA World Record Club for setting a national elapsed-time record of 4.564 seconds. Warren Johnson received $12,500 for a similar achievement in pro stock with his 6.927 second run. . . . The second NHRA event will be the 13th annual ATSCO Nationals, Feb. 20-23, at Firebird Raceway, south of Phoenix.

Motor Racing Notes

SHORT TRACK--Former Saugus Speedway promoter Ray Wilkings has resigned as general manager of Las Vegas Motor Speedway to resume working on his pet project--building a new half-mile oval in Irwindale. Construction on the track, which will be near the intersection of Live Oak Avenue and Interstate 605, is not expected to begin until next year.

SPORTS CARS--Southern Californians did well in last week’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Bill Auberlen of Redondo Beach, Derek John Hill of Santa Monica (former world champion Phil Hill’s son) and Boris Said of Carlsbad joined with Javier Quiros of Costa Rica and Tom Hessert of Cherry Hill, N.C., to drive a BMW M3 to victory in the GTS-3 category.

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Daytona Facts

* WHAT: Daytona 500 qualifying.

* WHERE: Daytona Beach, Fla.

* WHEN: Saturday.

* CONDITIONS: Two fastest cars qualify for front row in Daytona 500 Feb. 16. Others qualify for twin 125-mile races Thursday.

* TV: Saturday--ESPN2, 11 a.m.; ESPN (delayed), 5 p.m.