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Earnhardt encounter left mark on Mayfield

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 14, 2001

Ask him what happened on the final lap of the Pocono 500 last June and Jeremy Mayfield remains unsure even today.

"I still haven't seen any tapes," he said, "not where I actually sat down and really studied it."

Who really needs instant replay of the moment when Mayfield pulled an Earnhardt on Dale Earnhardt entering the final turn?

Mayfield won when Earnhardt's car drifted up the racetrack and out of the lead as his opponent's car closed to within a hair of his rear bumper -- a move employed in reverse by the seven-time Winston Cup champion countless times before.

"I can't tell you for sure whether we touched or whether I took the air off of him or what," said Mayfield, who's won two of the past three races at Pocono. "Beating Dale Earnhardt was pretty special. As many times as Earnhardt beat people, beating him once like that has got to be special. Yeah, it probably means even more now after what happened in February.

"I'd love to be in that situation again with him. I don't know how it would come out, but I'd love to be in that situation again."

The Owensboro, Ky., native could be returning to the 2.5-mile oval at the perfect time. Though he is 20th in the points standings, Mayfield has three top-10 finishes in the past five races.

"A lot of people have said a lot of different things (about last year)," Mayfield said. "It really was just hard-nosed racing there at the end."

BEING DALE JARRETT: Dale Jarrett raced through the pain of a broken rib and torn rib cage muscle for the past three weeks, but managed to finish fifth in the MBNA 400, eighth in the Coca-Cola 600 and 18th in the Kmart 400.

So does pain affect a driver's ability?

"You just want to race," said Ken Schrader, who drove in the 1998 Daytona 500 and finished fourth after breaking his sternum three days earlier. "It ain't no big deal. You look at yourself and say, 'You're the one that wanted to be the race car driver.' You just do it."

SLOW DOWN: Five CART drivers participated in a special test Tuesday at Michigan International Speedway designed to slow cars through new superspeedway engine and aerodynamic changes.

Gil de Ferran posted the top speed at 224.278 mph, which was more than 10 mph slower than that at which Paul Tracy won the Michigan 500 pole last year. Christian Fittipaldi, Dario Franchitti, Max Papis and Bryan Herta also took part.

The changes involved the reduction of manifold pressure and adjustments to the Handford device, and will be in place for the Marlboro 500 on Nov. 4 at California Speedway.

"I spoke with a lot of the guys throughout the day and, by and large, today was a successful day," CART chief steward Chris Kneifel said. 'The guys were able to tune the cars with the new wing package, we were able to reduce speeds and the driveability of the cars appears good. We expect the speeds to increase some by race weekend, but ultimately the speeds should be down from last year."

FILLING IN: Wally Dallenbach will drive the No. 33 Chevrolet in place of the injured Joe Nemechek this weekend at Pocono Raceway.

Nemechek, a Lakeland native, will miss the Pocono 500 while he continues recovering from a crash during practice last month at Dover Downs. He broke his right shoulder blade and right elbow and suffered a small lung bruise.

Bobby Hamilton Jr. has been driving the car but is busy this week with the inaugural Busch Grand National race Saturday at Kentucky Motor Speedway. Scott Pruett will drive the car June 24 at Sears Point.

ODDS AND ENDS: The winner of the Radisson Indy 200 has gone on to win the IRL championship in three of the past four seasons. Tony Stewart won in 1997 followed by Kenny Brack in 1998 and Greg Ray in 1999. Eddie Cheever broke the streak by finishing third in the points last season. ... IRL rookie Felipe Giaffone and Eliseo Salazar are the only IRL drivers to finish in the top 10 in every event this season. -- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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