Gordon Takes High Road, Wins Again

Auto racing

As optimistic as Jeff Gordon is, he didn’t believe he could catch Dale Jarrett on Sunday in the Goodwrench Service 400 at Rockingham, N.C.

Not until the tough North Carolina Motor Speedway, which had forced him to play follow-the-leader throughout the afternoon, suddenly yielded a new pathway to the checkered flag.

“I’m shocked, just really shocked,” Gordon said as he digested the unexpected victory. “Dale Jarrett had us covered all day. I couldn’t find my groove for the whole race, until the end.”

That winning groove was the high side of the 1.017-mile banked track, which Gordon used to pass Jarrett with 43 laps to go. Gordon then ran off to an easy victory, giving him wins in the first two races of the 1997 season and in five of the last nine NASCAR Winston Cup events.

Jarrett looked virtually invincible through the first 350 laps of the 393-lap event. He led 323 of those laps and his Robert Yates Racing Ford appeared to have everybody covered, including Daytona 500 winner Gordon.

But the 25-year-old phenom, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, stayed among the top five throughout the race and finally, on lap 350, began to challenge Jarrett.

On lap 351, Gordon, using the high lane on the banked oval, caught Jarrett, then put the nose of his multihued No. 24 ahead of Jarrett’s No. 88 and began to pull away.

ATSCO Nationals

Gary Scelzi, John Force and Jim Yates were the winners in the NHRA’s ATSCO Nationals in Chandler, Ariz.

The $1,392,050 event was the second stop in the 22-race, $30-million NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series.

Scelzi, of Fresno, Calif., proved Alan Johnson made the right choice when he selected him to replace his brother, the late Blaine Johnson, in the family-owned dragster. The rookie produced again, taking the Top Fuel title with a win over Kenny Bernstein, the defending champion.

Florida Grand Prix

Tom Kendall, driving a Ford Mustang Cobra, came back from an early-race spin to claim his 16th career Trans-Am victory, beating teammate Jon Gooding by 1.853 seconds in St. Petersburg, Fla.