Motor Sports Roundup : Wallace Bumps and Runs to Win

Rusty Wallace had no apologies for Darrell Waltrip after his fender-banging victory Sunday in the Winston, NASCAR’s $800,000 all-star stock car race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

“The Winston is an awful tough race,” Wallace said after sending the front-running Waltrip spinning into the infield with one lap to go in front of 84,637 fans. “It’s like running a 500-mile race with a shotgun to your head.”

After a caution, Wallace held off Ken Schrader by 0.23 of a second to win the $200,000 purse. His average winning speed was 133.15 m.p.h.

Waltrip, still upset over the controversial incident, said: “I just hope he chokes on that $200,000. He knocked the hell out of me.”

Waltrip was leading in the race’s final 10-lap shootout when Wallace’s car tapped him on the left rear fender as they came out of turn four, sending Waltrip’s car into the infield and out of the running.

“It’s an ugly way to win,” Waltrip said. “A lot of guys let greed overcome speed, and that’s what happened. I got spun out. A guy drove underneath me and drove up into me and spun me out. It was pretty blatant.”

The controversial finish erupted into a fistfight between the drivers’ pit crews as Wallace drove his Kodiak Pontiac into victory lane.

The non-points race has a unique--and often controversial--format. It is run in three segments of 75, 50 and 10 laps, almost guaranteeing a close finish.

In 1987, Dale Earnhardt won the race after he was involved in a paint-swapping encounter with Bill Elliott and Geoff Bodine in the final 10 laps.

It appeared that Waltrip, who won the race in 1985, was going to run away with it Sunday before Wallace got up on his rear bumper with one lap left.

After a caution period, Wallace held off Schrader and Earnhardt to take home $240,000, which included $40,000 in bonuses.

Elliott was fourth and Alan Kulwicki was fifth.

Jeff Bagley was in critical condition Sunday at UCLA-Harbor General Hospital in Carson after suffering internal injuries in a crash during the sprint car main event Saturday night at Ascot Park.

Bagley, 29, of San Clemente, the 1988 California Racing Assn. rookie of the year, was involved in an accident with Bobby Ferguson on the first turn of the fourth lap.

Ferguson, of Harbor City, was released from the hospital after receiving treatment for a concussion and a broken collarbone.

Hans Stuck and Hurley Haywood demonstrated the superiority of their all-wheel drive Audi 90 Quattros finishing one-two in the International Motor Sports Assn.’s two-hour GTO/GTU Summit Point Grand Prix at Summit Point, W.Va.

Stuck, with Haywood following, took the lead from Peter Halsmer with 45 minutes left in the race.

France’s Bob Wollek and West Germany’s Franz Jelinski drove a Porsche 962 to victory in the Dijon 300-mile sports prototype race.

The winning time was 2 hours 42 minutes 21.903 seconds over the 2.45-mile course in central France.

Jim Kropfeld piloted Miss Budweiser to victory in the opening event of the American Hydroplane Series season at Houston.

Kropfeld, racing for the first time in nearly a year after breaking his neck in the 1988 season-opener in Miami, averaged 126.7 m.p.h. in the final, beating Chip Hanauer, piloting Circus Circus.