Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Irwin Earns More Than Experience At Daytona

Associated Press

Auto racing

Kenny Irwin, entered simply to get experience at Daytona International Speedway, won the Firstplus Financial 200 ARCA series race Sunday, a week before he runs in the Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Irwin, driving a Ford Thunderbird prepared by his Winston Cup boss, Robert Yates, won in his only ARCA start and first race on the 2-1/2-mile superspeedway.

Mike Ciocchetti, a factor for much of the race, crashed on the final lap, but managed to escape uninjured from his flaming car after it stopped on pit road.

Mike Wallace, whose older brother, Rusty, won the nonpoints Bud Shootout for NASCAR Winston Cup cars earlier in the day, finished second.

Kenny Wallace, the youngest of the brothers, was second to Rusty in the Shootout.

Irwin, who will drive a new Ford Taurus in the Daytona 500, beat Wallace’s Thunderbird by .244 seconds. Defending race champion Andy Hillenburg was third in a Chevrolet, followed by the Ford of Mark Thompson, who made a magnificent save after getting his car nearly sideways at close to 190 mph on the high-banked fourth turn.

“I learned a lot today; how to draft and what it takes to win races,” said Irwin, a former USAC short-track star who was rookie of the year last season in the NASCAR truck series. “But we’ve got a long way to go.’

Bud finish controversial

Also at Daytona Beach, Rusty Wallace got a ton of help from younger brother, Kenny, in winning the 25-lap Bud Shootout at the Daytona International Speedway.

The finish was controversial, but not because Kenny pushed Rusty by Jimmy Spencer on the backstretch on the last lap. Rather, it centered on whether Rusty improperly passed leader Jeff Gordon on the last restart and whether Bill Elliott should have helped Spencer beat the Wallaces.

Most observers said “maybe” to the first question and “not necessarily” to the second.

“In a race like this,” Rusty said, “you don’t lay around waiting for anybody else. The rules say we can restart at the tri-oval grass, and I did. I wasn’t waiting for Jeff to make his move. I went when I knew it was legal to go.”

Gordon begged to differ. “By the time I took off,” he said, “Rusty was gone. It’s disappointing they let a restart like that get away. I’m waiting and waiting, and he’s already gone. He jumped me big-time, so I just knew they wouldn’t let it go.’

NASCAR spokesman Jeff Motley said Wallace had every right to restart once he reached the grass.’

Makinen rally victor

At Karlstad, Sweden, two-time defending world rally champion Tommi Makinen held off Carlos Sainz by 52 seconds to win the Swedish Rally.

It was the 100th victory in world championship history by a Finnish driver. Makinen, driving a Mitsubishi, took the lead for good when Swedish front-runner Thomas Radstrom spun off the road and his car stopped in a snowdrift on the 12th of 19 special stages.

Makinen had bad luck himself in the Monte Carlo Rally last month when his car spun off the road.