NASCAR Winston Cup Series Mountain Dew 500 Preview: #98, John Andretti
28 August 1997
#98 John Andretti, RCA Ford Thunderbird
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Mountain Dew Southern 500 Advance
Darlington Raceway
CHANGES WON'T MAKE DARLINGTON ANY EASIER TO TAME
DARLINGTON, SC - "It doesn't matter where you put the start/finish line at
Darlington. It will still be and always will be Darlington. They call it the
track too tough to tame and that is a very appropriate name."
And Cale Yarborough should know.
The legendary driver, now car-owner of the RCA Ford driven by John Andretti,
won five times at Darlington. He won two poles and shared fastest qualifier
honors with Charlie Glotzbach in 1968. Glotzbach got to sit on the pole
because he qualified before Yarborough, but the pair had identical times.
Yarborough is one of five drivers to have swept events on the famed
egg-shaped oval - he did it in 1969.
When the NASCAR Winston Cup cars take to the track this weekend, the lady in
black will have a whole new look. Since racing there in March, the
front-stretch and back-stretch have been flip-flopped. Unlike Atlanta, where
not only have the front and back-stretches been flipped, a dog-leg has been
added on the new front-stretch, altering the length of the track, the shape
and make-up of Darlington have not been changed.
"Darlington has been Darlington ever since they built it. None of that will
change Darlington one bit," Yarborough said. "They had to change to allow for
expansion."
Expansion is keeping tracks and teams on their toes, with the Winston Cup
cars traveling to new venues almost every year. This season saw the debut of
two new tracks - Texas Motor Speedway and California Speedway. Next season
they will travel to Las Vegas Speedway for the first time. Everybody has an
opinion about the new tracks and what could have and should have been done
differently. But, imagine what everyone would think if they saw Darlington
for the first time in 1997.
"I don't think many people would like it," Yarborough laughed. "There is
nothing easy about racing at Darlington. Anybody with a Darlington win on
their record is awful proud of it."
One of the factors that makes the 1.366-mile track one of the circuit's most
difficult is the increase in technology and thereby speed.
"This track was built (in 1950) to accommodate speeds of 80 miles per hour,"
Yarborough said. "Now they are running twice as fast as that. There is no
margin for error."
In fact Ward Burton set the track record at Darlington in March of 1996 with
a lap speed of 173.797 mph.
Andretti is not afraid to admit that he actually likes Darlington. Why would
he be? After all he won his first career pole in 1995 for the Mountain Dew
Southern 500 and he comes to Darlington this fall with another pole
(Talladega) and his first career win under his belt (Daytona).
"I really like Darlington," said Andretti, who has three top-12 finishes,
including a fifth in this event last year, in just seven races at DR.
And the RCA Racing team is coming off it's best-ever finish at Bristol -
11th.
"That track had been a huge thorn in our sides," said Andretti. "We finished
11th in a car we'll never be able to use again. The car is so banged up, but
that's Bristol and this was a big boost for us. We qualified decent enough to
be on the frontstretch pits and then we go out and get our best finish.
"I'm ready for Darlington."
1997 SEASON RESULTS
POINTS
DATE LOCATION START FINISH MONEY STATUS POSITION
2-16 Daytona Beach, FL 32 25 63,325 Running 25
2-23 Rockingham, NC 25 34 19,015 Running 32
3-2 Richmond, VA 22 31 20,615 Running 33
3-9 Atlanta, GA 33 15 31,805 Running 28
3-23 Darlington, SC 33 25 21,165 Running 30
4-6 Fort Worth, TX 30 12 80,300 Running 27
4-13 Bristol, TN 26 24 23,490 Running 27
4-20 Martinsville, VA 27 28 19,615 Running 25
5-4 Sonoma, CA 17 30 31,710 Running 26
5-10 Talladega, AL 1 4 57,920 Running 22
5-17 Charlotte, NC ** 12 9 7,500 Running ** Non-Points
5-25 Charlotte, NC 26 30 28,450 Running 24
6-1 Dover, DE 23 29 25,490 Running 26
6-8 Pocono, PA 9 40 17,265 Engine 26
6-15 Brooklyn, MI 40 37 21,890 Running 27
6-22 Fontana, CA 35 21 34,975 Running 27
7-5 Daytona Beach, FL 3 1 109,525 Running 24
7-13 Loudon, NH 8 14 33,425 Accident 22
7-20 Pocono, PA 13 24 21,415 Running 22
8-2 Indianapolis, IN 35 17 80,095 Running 22
8-10 Watkins Glen, NY 30 20 24,885 Running 22
8-17 Brooklyn, MI 25 30 22,490 Running 22
8-23 Bristol, TN 20 11 27,915 Running 22
JOHN ANDRETTI DARLINGTON RACEWAY CAREER RESULTS
YEAR EVENT START FINISH LAPS MONEY STATUS
1997 TranSouth 400 33 25 291/293 21,165 Running
1996 TranSouth 400 35 40 87/293 15,654 Accident
1996 Mtn. Dew Southern 500 15 5 366/367 32,120 Running
1995 TranSouth 400 15 10 292/293 13,980 Running
1995 Mtn. Dew Southern 500 1 12 367/367 24,445 Running
1994 TranSouth 400 18 38 170/293 9,510 Engine
1994 Mtn. Dew Southern 500 29 16 360/367 11,930 Running
By RCA Racing Public Relations