Petty Fails to Qualify but Is Given Last Spot : Veteran Driver’s Plight Overshadows Schrader, Labonte Daytona Wins

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —  No one expects him to win. No one even expects him to challenge for the lead. But it would have been unthinkable if Richard Petty, the longtime king of stock car racing, missed Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Petty, a 51-year-old racing legend from Randleman, N. C., who has won seven 500s at Daytona International Speedway and more races than any other driver in the sport, came as close as he possibly could to missing out after a dismal showing in a Thursday qualifying race. But Richard Petty Fan Club members heaved a collective sigh of relief when NASCAR officials announced that Petty’s Pontiac would start from the 42nd and last spot in the race.

Petty started 19th and finished 21st in the second of two 125-mile qualifying races. And that was after he posted a poor qualifying speed of 186.185 m.p.h.--more than 10 m.p.h. slower than pole winner Ken Schrader’s 196.996. Prospects looked so glum that Petty team representatives were scouting around pit row for a qualified car to buy for Richard to drive.

“I’m pretty tickled,” Petty said after NASCAR put him back in the race. “It takes a lot of pressure off me. I’ve been feeling pressure all week to do good, do good, do good. Now that I’m in the race, I’m in a lot better mood.”

The inclusion of Petty means that his endurance record of 510 consecutive Winston Cup races since November, 1971, will reach 511.

He has been coming to Daytona for every 500 since the track was built in 1959, the year his father, Lee, won the inaugural, although Richard missed the 1955 race when Plymouth pulled its cars out of the 500 because of an engine dispute. He won in 1964, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1979 and 1981. The last race he won, the Firecracker 400 in 1984, was at Daytona.

Since then, he has gone a record 129 races without a victory, including last year’s Daytona 500 when his car was hit and spun on its nose for several hundred yards in one of the most spectacular accidents in Daytona history.

Concern over Petty’s plight overshadowed the two 125-mile races that are held to help establish the starting lineup for Sunday’s 500.

Schrader, in a Chevrolet, won one, which included a 12-car accident that knocked 10 cars out of the race. Terry Labonte, in a Ford, won the second, which did not have a single caution flag.

Bill Elliott, defending Winston Cup champion, did not drive his Ford Thunderbird because of a broken wrist, but reserve driver Jody Ridley finished seventh in the first heat to put Elliott in the 13th starting position Sunday.

“Jody did a fine job, especially in getting through that accident without any trouble,” Elliott said. “Now Jody’s got a real feel for the car for Sunday.” Elliott will start in the 500 in order to be eligible for Winston Cup points, but Ridley is expected to drive most of the race.

The multicar accident along the front straightaway in the first heat also served, in a roundabout way, to move Petty from 42nd to 34th for the start of Sunday’s race.

The cars of eight drivers, among them favorites Rusty Wallace, Neil Bonnett and Ricky Rudd, were so badly damaged that they will have to start in backup cars, which drops them to the rear of the field.

The accident occurred on Lap 18, when Schrader led a charge of faster cars up to the front after a caution flag for a single-car crash involving Greg Sacks. Schrader had just passed Mark Martin for the lead on the inside groove and Lake Speed was trying to follow him when he clipped fenders with Rick Wilson.

Speed’s Oldsmobile did a slow spin in front of the field, triggering a melee of darting and dodging and crashing as drivers sought to escape by sliding through the infield grass or sweeping down the road course. But there was no escaping.

There were so many cars strewn along the road leading to the first turn that starter Harold Kinder red-flagged the race to a stop.

“I couldn’t see what was going on behind me, but after looking at the tapes it appears that one driver was not very considerate,” Speed said, refering to Wilson. “He got my car sideways and once that happened, it was all she wrote.

“From the replay, it looks like I was about 15/16ths of a car length ahead, digging and driving hard. Then I got hit. Rick (Wilson) came over to our trailer and wanted to know why I ran over him, but I didn’t see it that way.”

Rudd, who like Petty was named a provisional starter after taking one of the accident’s hardest hits, blamed them both.

“What happened was a lot of guys were impatient, trying to get around the lapped cars, and cars were rushing to get their laps back (after pitting under the caution flag),” Rudd said. “As far as my car is concerned, it will go straight to the crusher.”

Morgan Shepherd, who finished second to Schrader, was the most fortunate driver in the melee. He threaded his way through the heart of it without getting hit.

“I was right behind it and had no idea I could escape,” Shepherd said. “Speed spun sideways right in front of me and I ducked to the grass and just missed him. Then Neil (Bonnett) came off the wall and went across right in front of me like a sideways bullet. Thank God he missed me. There was so much smoke and dust that I couldn’t see a thing for a second and all of sudden I was out in the open and clear. I was really lucky, that’s for sure.”

The race was stopped for 18 minutes to clear the wreckage, but when it resumed it was no different than it had been earlier--a Schrader parade.

The versatile driver from Fenton, Mo., who tuned up for Daytona by racing in midgets, sprint cars and dirt track cars, has been on a roll since arriving here last week. He won the pole last Saturday, won the 50-mile Busch Clash sprint last Sunday and totally dominated his 125-mile heat.

“It’s always nice to finish first, but Sunday’s the big one, the reason we came down here,” Schrader said after collecting his $30,000 winner’s check. “The 500 is more likely to be like the second 125, with the race not being decided until the last five laps or so.”

Labonte, in a Ford for the first time after car owner Junior Johnson switched from Chevrolet, took the lead in the second 125 with six laps to go when leaders Dale Earnhardt and Geoff Bodine pitted together for a splash of fuel. Labonte and Sterling Marlin, who were running third and fourth, gambled that they would not run out of fuel and coasted home first and second.

“Running 50 laps on one tank is not something we can do in the 500,” Labonte said. “I doubt if we could refire the engine right now on what fumes are left. The car ran dry on the 50th lap.”

Without a caution flag, Labonte set a twin 125 speed record of 189.534 m.p.h. Nevertheless, he is wary of Schrader.

“Schrader’s got more motor than anybody,” he said. “He showed it Sunday in the Busch Clash and he showed it again today.”