Great Race Rarely Becomes Kids' Game

By SHAV GLICK

Feb. 14, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —

For the first time in history, the Great American Race will be led off the line today by two kids from Indiana who cut their racing teeth in open-wheel competition.

No, it’s not the Indianapolis 500, it’s the Daytona 500.

In stock car land, Winston Cup style, anyone under 30 is called a kid. Jeff Gordon, the pole-sitter from Pittsboro, Ind., and Tony Stewart, the rookie outside pole-sitter from Rushville, Ind., are both 27.

Defending champion Dale Earnhardt is 47, Rusty Wallace is 43, Dale Jarrett, Terry Labonte and Sterling Marlin are 42. Mark Martin and Ernie Irvan are 40.

And the grand old man of racing, Dave Marcis, making his 32nd consecutive start in the Daytona 500, will be 58 in two weeks.

But, as old sage Darrell Waltrip (he’s 52) once said, “That car don’t know when I was born.”

Daytona tradition favors the elder. Of 40 races, only three have been won by a driver under 27--and one of them was Gordon, who was 25 when he won.

Tradition also indicates, however, that the winner is likely to come from the first two rows. Twenty-one of the 40 winners have been from the first four positions.

Bobby Labonte and Earnhardt, winners of Thursday’s Gatorade Twin 125 heat races, will start directly behind Gordon and Stewart.

Earnhardt, who broke a 19-race Daytona losing streak in last year’s 500, has impressed fellow drivers and onlookers with his display of power in the Richard Childress-owned Chevrolet in the 125 and his display of racing savvy in taking the IROC win away from Martin.

“It feels great not to be having everyone keep asking me when I’m going to win the Daytona 500,” Earnhardt said. “But now everyone is asking, now that I’ve finally won it, will I win again.

“I’ll say this, Daytona is my favorite track. I love big, fast tracks and that describes Daytona. I’ve won a couple already this week, so why not Sunday, too.”

Earnhardt has won 33 races here: One Daytona 500, 12 Twin 125s, two Pepsi 400s, five IROCs, seven Busch Grand Nationals, and six Bud Shootouts.

Now that Earnhardt is no longer a non-winner, favorites looking to break winless streaks include Terry Labonte (20 races), Wallace (16), and Martin (14).

“I believe it’s [their not winning] just the restrictor plate racing,” Martin said. “The driver can do so little compared to what the car has to be. It takes a lot of power. Everybody’s car seems to handle good here, so you’ve got to have a lot of horsepower as well as good pit stops.”

Restrictor plates, which reduce the airflow through the carburetor, were introduced in 1988 in an effort to cut speeds after a terrifying accident involving Bobby Allison at Talladega Superspeedway. The plates are used only at Daytona and Talladega.

Earnhardt has won eight restrictor plate races, more than any other driver. He explains his success:

“Restrictor plate racing is all aerodynamics and air traveling around the car and you use it to your advantage. That’s what you’ve got to do.

“I think the driver is as important as he’s ever been in the equation of how much car and how much driver and how much crew and how much engine.”

When Earnhardt is mentioned as the race favorite, nearly everyone adds the aside, “Of course, you can’t count out the kid.”

Gordon has dominated Winston Cup racing in the way Earnhardt, Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty once did. He has won three of the last four championships, won 13 races and $9 million last year and twice won a million-dollar bonus called the Winston No Bull 5.

By winning the Winston 500 last October at Talladega, Gordon is one of five drivers who could collect an additional $1 million if he wins. The others are Jarrett, Terry Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield and Jimmy Spencer.

“Every race we go to there’s a certain amount of pressure we put on ourselves,” Gordon said. “I don’t really pay attention to what’s written in the papers or what’s on TV.

“I’m on the pole, and we’ve got a fast race car. I think we’ve got the combination to win the Daytona 500, the best I’ve ever had, and I think we’ve got an even stronger team than we had last year. That’s pressure I’m putting on myself, that we’re putting on ourselves, not that we’re on the pole, but we should win.”

Stewart, who will be starting his first Winston Cup race after coming to NASCAR from the Indy Racing League, where he won the championship in 1997, said he is looking at today as a learning time.

“There’s a lot to be learned and a lot of trial and error you have to go through,” said Stewart, who first hit the limelight by becoming the first driver to win three U.S. Auto Club championships in the same year.

Daytona Notes

In a wreck-marred race that saw 15 cars suffer heavy damage, former Busch Grand National champion Randy LaJoie threaded his way through the carnage to win the NAPA Auto Parts 300 here Saturday. LaJoie, driving a Chevrolet, won $90,950 in averaging 138.391 mph. Adam Petty, grandson of Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both survived accidents to finish sixth and 14th, respectively. Another Earnhardt offspring, Kerry, finished 20th.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

DAYTONA 500

Daytona facts

The Speedway was constructed at an initial cost of approximately $3 million and has been in continous operation since 1959. Its property covers approximately 480 acres. Pit road is 1,600 feet long.

Race records

Fastest race: Buddy Baker, 177.602 mph, 1980

Slowest race: Junior Johnson, 124.740, 1960

Most victories: Richard Petty (7), 1964, ‘66, ‘71, ‘73, ‘74, ‘79, ’81

Youngest winner: Jeff Gordon, 1997, 25 years, 6 months, 12 days

Past winners

Year:

Driver:

Car:

Avg. speed:

Year: 1994

Driver: Sterling Marlin