Ashford’s Extra Gear Made Her a Racing Machine

If a sprinter comes from behind to win a race, it’s often said he or she had an extra gear. Physiologists scoff, claiming humans don’t have an extra gear.

Evelyn Ashford did.

It was in her heart.

When she’s inducted into the U.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame on Thursday at Dallas, the former UCLA sprinter will be introduced as a member of five Olympic teams, the winner of four gold medals and a silver, and a two-time world-record holder at 100 meters. I hope her presenter also emphasizes how she achieved her impressive resume.

Two races in particular come to mind.

One was in 1984, days after she had won two Olympic gold medals. Critics claimed she was no better than the second-best sprinter, ranking behind East Germany’s Marlies Gohr, who hadn’t competed in Los Angeles because of the Soviet-led boycott.

It was a foregone conclusion that Gohr would win when they met at 100 meters in a meet at Zurich. And for 90 meters, there was no reason to believe otherwise. But Ashford, shifting into her extra gear, overtook Gohr and won in a world-record time of 10.76 seconds.

Anchoring the U.S. 400-meter relay team four years later in the Seoul Olympics, she and Florence Griffith Joyner had a bad baton exchange. When Ashford finally secured it, she was third behind Gohr and Russia’s Natalya Pomoshchnikova.

Long before you could say the Russian’s name, however, Ashford passed her, then Gohr to win.

“Everybody talks about my relay race,” Ashford said from her home in Walnut. “But it doesn’t stand out for me. I was still mad because I finished second in the 100 to Florence.”

No woman could have beaten Griffith Joyner in the 100 that summer. But not to this day can you convince Ashford of that.

Xerox is sponsoring the Hall of Fame ceremony in Dallas.

I’d like to see them make a copy of Ashford.

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After I applauded Al Michaels for his comments about Al Davis and the Raiders during their game against the Broncos on “Monday Night Football” last week, callers complained because I hadn’t included the comments. . . .

Here goes. . . .

The Raiders’ commitment to excellence is “just a bunch of empty verbiage.” . . .

The Raiders are “the most underachieving team in the league this season.” . . .

Davis “could star in ‘The Howard Hughes Story.’ ” . . .

I assumed most football fans here cared enough about the Raiders to watch them play. . . .

I guess if that were the case, they’d still be here. . . .

George Foreman’s promoters, Jeff Wald and Irving Azoff, have pursued their protest of his controversial loss to Shannon Briggs in Atlantic City, N.J., all the way to Washington. . . .

They’ve found an eager listener in Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). . . .

If it’s true that only about 3,000 UCLA fans can be expected to travel for a bowl game, that’s embarrassing. . . .

The University of Hawaii has that many traveling fans--for women’s volleyball. . . .

I’m exaggerating. The Wahine are expected to have a mere 500 fans for the NCAA subregional on Friday and Saturday at Long Beach State. . . .

They’re so popular that they have their own nickname--the school’s other teams are known as the Rainbows--and the university distributes trading cards of the players. . . .

“Everywhere I went on the islands, I signed autographs,” said former Wahine Brandi Brooks of Costa Mesa. . . .

If the Wahine beat Loyola Marymount in the first round, their Saturday opponent is No. 1 Long Beach State. . . .

Maybe their fans will have to start paying attention to the men’s basketball team. . . .

Hawaii’s victory last week over Indiana was led by guard Anthony Carter, a transfer from Saddleback College. . . .

No. 7 USC also hosts a women’s volleyball subregional Friday and Saturday. One of the teams, Kansas State, is coached by Jim McLaughlin, who coached the Trojans to the 1990 NCAA title. . . .

Fred Claire would like to answer the Dodger shortstop and outfield questions before his vacation to Hawaii next week. . . .

But with Antonio Osuna’s knee surgery Tuesday, he also must be concerned about whether he has a closer. . . .

Too bad the Dodgers seem unable to afford free agent Rod Beck, who would like to come home to Sherman Oaks.

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While wondering if the 49ers would rather have Eddie DeBartolo back or Jerry Rice, I was thinking: Don’t be surprised if George Seifert ends up with the Cowboys, maybe Latrell Sprewell belongs with the Raiders, Jeff George probably could have found a better forum to announce he’s becoming a role model for children than Penthouse.