Top Row Seat - Dover Downs
Dateline: 09/24/97Mark Martin took a step in the right direction this weekend as he won the race and led the most laps. Unfortunately, Jeff Gordon finished in the top ten (seventh) so Mark still trails Jeff by 105 points in the Championship battle.
Mark is doing everything he can, but with only six races remaining he needs to have Jeff Gordon run into some bad luck or the Winston Cup is again going to go to Rick Hendrick and the Chevys.
Martin and his crew did everything right on Sunday and the race ran with only one caution period. These factors played into Mark's fuel mileage game perfectly. Kyle Petty had the fastest car for a good portion of the day but unfortunately he had to make one extra pit stop for fuel and that cost him the race.
With about 100 laps to go it became obvious that Mark would win the race if it stayed green. Mark said to his spotter, "Tell Ward [Burton] not to wreck." Well, thanks Mark! I'm sure it never occurred to Ward that wrecking his car would be a bad thing. I know you were just trying to help, but it's an odd statement to make.
Then with about ten laps to go Kyle had pitted and the race was Mark's to win. Steve Hmiel (who did a masterful job on Sunday) was calling out the steadily increasing split from Mark back to second place when Mark said "I'm running extra hard to get it over with sooner." Steve's reply was "Feels kind of like Christmas Eve don't it."
Random Scanner Bytes
One of my favorite scanner quotes from the weekend came in Friday morning practice before qualifying. Dale Earnhardt was running a hot lap when the car got away from him in turn two and he made a great save. As he coasted up the backstretch his crew chief asked him for the oil pressure reading, his reply was "I don't know what the oil pressure was but the driver's pressure is pretty high."
About half way through the race the guy I was sitting next to burst out laughing. According to him Ernie Irvan came on after struggling with an ill handling race car all day and said. "Robert, I oughtta buy you a Harley since I don't have to drive this piece of [explicative deleted] next year."
Steel Chariots
I've received some e-mail today from folks wondering why I am updating this website a day late. Well I just couldn't resist watching Steel Chariots on Fox last night. Typically NASCAR does not get portrayed very accurately in the movies and on television. Sadly, last night's made-for-tv movie was no exception. This was Melrose Place meets NASCAR where they simply plugged in race cars instead of that cheesy apartment complex as the setting.
Every time a motorsports movie is released I hope that for once things will be accurate. I'll allow for some creative license in the name of a good story, but you've got to at least be in the ballpark!
The scariest part of the movie was that they have obviously laid the groundwork for a sequel or, worse yet, a complete television series based on the film. Let's hope that if that happens they hire some technical consultants who understand NASCAR.
Go Fast, Turn Left, Stay Safe!
Send your tips, rumors and comments to me at nascar.guide@miningco.com.
