All Things Being Equal, Gordon Will Take IROC Victory

For a time Friday, it seemed as if International Race of Champions President Jay Signore and his IROC crew had done too good a job of making the 12 pastel-colored Pontiac Firebirds as similar as possible.

Rain stopped the race on the 30th lap of the scheduled 40-lap race around Daytona International Speedway with Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon’s silver-colored car in front. He averaged 179.045 mph during a race in which caution-flag laps did not count.

NASCAR drivers took the first four positions with Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt behind Gordon.

The cars were so equal that seven of the 12 starters led at least one lap, with drivers swapping the lead two and three times in a single lap.

They were so equal that when they tried to go four abreast through the corners, it led to some fender-damaging accidents.

Trans-Am champion Tom Kendall was the first victim of the tight racing. After having led three laps, his aqua Firebird was being shuffled back in the draft. Gordon, hoping to set up a two-car draft with Kendall to get to the front, nudged him from behind, but the nudge caused Kendall’s car to slide sideways up the banking, where he squeezed Busch Grand National champion Randy Lajoie against the wall.

Kendall dropped out, uninjured, while Lajoie returned with a heavily taped car that had lost its aerodynamic balance and was quickly lapped by the field.

“I felt terrible about that because I’m a big Tommy Kendall fan,” Gordon said. “I wanted to help him, and ended up putting him out.”

Martin, a three-time IROC champion, led 17 of the 30 laps and was leading when CART’s Jimmy Vasser spun into the infield, bringing out a caution flag on Lap 27.

On the restart, Gordon made a bold move that took him from fourth to first. Two laps later the rains stopped the race.

“The whole key to winning an IROC, rain or not, is being in front at the right time,” Gordon said. “You go from the front to the back, and from the back to the front so fast, and so often, that you’ve got to be there at the right time.

“That last restart gave me my big break. I slipped inside Terry [Labonte], then Jeff Burton gave me a big shove that shot me past Earnhardt and the momentum enabled me to get around Martin on the backstretch.

“Burton was trying to move up himself, but he had no place to go so he ended up helping me. I know he didn’t do it for that reason, he really wanted to help himself, but it ended up helping me.”

Martin said his problem was that in front was not the place to be on a restart.

“The way these cars are, the guy leading the race is at a disadvantage,” Martin said. “I knew that, but there wasn’t anything I could do.”

Vasser, who was driving with a sprained wrist, said his spin was caused when someone tapped him in the right rear. He injured the wrist during a champ car test Thursday at Sebring.

“I decided to drive because I didn’t want to start the season with a substitute driver,” said the 1996 CART champion. “When it happened, I thought about Earnhardt winning the pole at Watkins Glen with broken ribs. That crash didn’t keep Earnhardt out of his car, so this one wasn’t going to keep me out.”

The second IROC will be May 2 at California Speedway in Fontana with Kendall starting on the pole and Gordon at the rear.

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Daytona 500

Facts

* What: Daytona 500, first Winston Cup race of NASCAR’s 50th season.

* When: Sunday.

* Where: Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5-mile, high-banked tri-oval track in Daytona Beach, Fla.

* Purse: $7 million, with $1 million guaranteed to winner.

* Defending champion: Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

* TV: Twin 125 qualifying races, Today, Channel 2, 7 a.m. (tape); Busch Series 300, Today, Channel 2, 9 a.m.; Daytona 500, Sunday, Channel 2, 9 a.m.