Ford and Chevrolet battling to the finish

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 1:34 a.m.

By MIKE HARRIS

AP Motorsports Writer

The driving championship is all but over, with Jeff Gordon needing only to show up at the last two races to grab his third title.

Not so for NASCAR's Manufacturers' Championship. Going into Rockingham, N.C., for Sunday's ACDelco 400, Ford holds a one-point lead over Chevrolet, thanks to Rusty Wallace's victory in a Taurus last Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Some people are stunned that Ford's Taurus, which took the place this season of the discontinued Thunderbird, has come out of the box so strong.

"I'm a little bit surprised," said Dan Davis, head of Ford's worldwide racing program. "I guess I would say I'm more surprised at how close we are to the driver's championship than I was the manufacturers' championship because we have so many very, very strong Ford teams that they really contribute to the manufacturers' championship.

"With a lot of strong teams, you've got a better chance at that title. Strong teams are a help, but they don't assure you a driver's championship."

Gordon, who has 11 of Chevy's 14 victories, is mostly responsible for keeping the General Motors marque in the manufacturers' chase.

"I haven't said anything about the Fords all year long, but look at what they did earlier in the season," Gordon said. "Those suckers were just dominant. For us to hang in there when they were showing their dominance, and then be able to pull off what we have throughout the remainder of the year is just unbelievable. That Taurus is a super strong car."

Fords, led by series runner-up Mark Martin's seven victories, have won 15 times. In fact, positions two through five are held down by Ford drivers, with Dale Jarrett, Wallace and Jeff Burton following Martin.

Through the first 31 races, Taurus has come up with 93 top-five finishes out of a possible 155. Chevy has 47 and Pontiac, which has three wins, has registered 15 top-fives.

Not a bad showing for a new car and the first four-door model used full-time in the stock car series.

"It's a very satisfying year, I think, for Ford and for the drivers and the teams," Davis said. "It didn't look so good at the beginning. I think Ford had pretty good confidence with all the data we had, but you can't give that confidence to the teams with engineering data. They want to see performance on the track and in the races.

"There are so many variables for them. They want to see it in action, and now they have, and in my mind the season has been an incredibly good one. I think we've set the stage for next year where Taurus will be a very powerful force to be reckoned with."

Wallace, who has been Ford's top finisher four times this season, said, "I hope we win the manufacturers' championship because Penske Racing designed the car and that would give us a lot of joy, to say we've done that much for Ford."

---

PLAYING CATCH-UP: Since Taurus does look like a substantial car with a great future, that makes it imperative for Chevrolet to find a new way to compete.

The GM brand will introduce a new Monte Carlo body around midseason in 1999.

"The current Monte Carlo has a lot of wins and quite a few championships and has proven to be a great car, but we have to keep up with the times," noted Philippe Lopez, crew chief for Steve Park's Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Chevy.

"A new body is always a major change for us," he said. "Any time you change the aerodynamic package on a car, you really have to test that car. Not just for those aero changes, but also for their impact on the shocks and springs and the car setup.

"I think you will ultimately see this car in victory lane a heck of a lot in the coming years."

---

STREAKS OVER: Two of the most famous drivers in Winston Cup racing, Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace, each ended the longest winless streak of his career in 1998.

Earnhardt did it with a win in the season-opening Daytona 500 and Wallace on Sunday in Phoenix. Both ended their winless ways at 59 races.

---

FAMILY PLAN: A lot of familiar names were trying to get into Saturday's Busch Series race at North Carolina Speedway.

Among the drivers on hand were series points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr.; Adam Petty, son of Kyle Petty; Bobby Hamilton Jr.; Barry Bodine, son of Geoff Bodine; and Toby Robertson, son of former Sports Marketing Enterprises president T. Wayne Robertson.

All of them tested on the 1.017-mile oval on Monday.

The least known of them is Robertson, whose father was instrumental in promoting the Winston Cup series for sponsor R.J. Reynolds for 10 years before a fatal boating accident this year.

"Since the death of my father, Jimmy Spencer has taken good care of me and given me opportunities I wouldn't have had," Robertson said. "I feel like the luckiest person in the world to be here (in Rockingham)."

Earnhardt, the furthest along of the bunch, said, "Racing with Adam and the other second- and third-generation drivers is a lot of fun. We all grew up together and have known each other for a long time."

---

STAT OF THE WEEK: The only drivers locked into their points position with two races remaining are Gordon and Martin. Third-place Dale Jarrett cannot catch Martin, but he could be passed by Wallace. Every other driver in the top 40, including Wallace, could either improve or slip by at least one position before the year is over.