Raudman wins wipeout-filled race at Bullring

Monday, May 7, 2001 | 10:22 a.m.

It wasn't just the temperature that was soaring Sunday afternoon at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Tempers flared on more than one occasion during the StarNursery.com 250 NASCAR Southwest Series race on the 3/8-mile paved oval.

A controversial pass by Craig Raudman of race leader Eddy McKean with three laps remaining sent McKean spinning in Turn 4 and propelled Raudman to his eighth career Southwest Tour win before a crowd estimated at 1,200.

"I don't know if I got Eddy or what," Raudman said. "We were racing pretty tight and we drove in hard and I think it just got away from him -- I don't think I got into him."

Nine laps earlier, Greg Pursley -- who drives the car owned by race sponsor Star Nursery -- was running second and closing on McKean when he was taken out of the race by Scott Backman, who was running 10 laps off the pace.

The incident prompted members of Pursley's crew to confront the crew of Backman in the track's infield. Pursley was unable to return to the race and finished ninth.

"We had a real problem with lapped cars all day long," said Pursley, who drives for car owner Craig Keough of Las Vegas. "(Even if) they were 20 laps down, they wanted to race you for the lead.

"We would have given (McKean) a good run there at the end; we had a fast car today."

McKean, who remained on the lead lap after spinning, finished second. Mark Reed, who won the Winston West race at The Bullring earlier this year as well as last fall's Southwest Tour race at the track, finished third.

Reed was plagued by car problems almost from the start of the race and lost four laps after being forced to pit under the green flag on two occasions. He eventually made up two laps but finished the race two laps off the pace.

"We lost the brakes at about lap 40 ... then we thought we had a tire going down (but) we had a handling problem," Reed said. "We came in and fixed that and the last 150 laps we were the fastest car on the track."

Raudman, who started the race from the pole, averaged 60.862 mph in winning his first Southwest Tour race of the season. The race was slowed by 10 caution periods for 51 laps. Raudman and McKean were the only two cars to finish the race on the lead lap.

Mike Ayers of Las Vegas, the only local driver to start the race, lasted only 31 laps before retiring with engine problems.

Troy Adams, the only black driver on the Southwest Tour, failed to qualify for the race.