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Auto Racing Analysis Race Facts Bulletin

13 August 1997

AUTO RACING ANALYSIS RACEFACTS BULLETIN

August 10, 1997

	Tom Kendall (All Sport Roush Ford Mustang) made history
Saturday by winning his ninth consecutive SCCA Trans-Am
Championship event, breaking Mark Donohue's 1968 record! 
Tom's first-ever Watkins Glen Trans-Am victory came after he
set Fast Qualifying time, drew the pole, set Fast Lap in the
race, and led every lap!  Paul Gentilozzi was runnerup in
the Riso Chevrolet Camaro as Ford clinched the Trans-Am
Manufacturers title!
	Kendall's streak is tied for the honor of the longest
documentable road racing series win streak with the
nine-race win streaks of Alberto Ascari (World Drivers
Championship, 1952-1953; last 6 of 1952, first 3 of 1953),
Don Knowles (SCCA U.S. Endurance, 1988-89, last race 1988,
all eight 1989), Gene Felton (all nine races, 1980 IMSA
American Challenge), and Ayrton Senna (1983 British Formula
3)!  Steve Kinser's 12-race 1987 World of Outlaws Sprint Car
win streak is the longest documentable win streak in major
series racing.
	Jeff Gordon's victory in Sunday's Bud at the Glen
Watkins Glen NASCAR Winston Cup race gave Jeff his first
road course win!  Jeff became the eighth driver in Winston
Cup history with at least one win on each of the eight types
of track currently contested in Winston Cup!  The track
types are 1) short tracks of less than one mile; 2) "mile"
ovals; 3) Darlington; 4) 1.5-mile ovals; 5) 2-mile ovals; 6)
2.5-mile ovals; 7) Talladega; 8) road courses.
	The first driver to achieve the feat was David Pearson
when he won at Talladega on May 7, 1972; Richard Petty was
the second with his August 11, 1974 Talladega victory. 
Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough followed among the
now-retired drivers.  The first of the "active" quartet to
achieve the feat was Darrell Waltrip, followed by Bill
Elliott, Dale Earnhardt, and Gordon!
	Among "active" drivers, four drivers are one category
short of the feat: Ernie Irvan has not won at Darlington,
Mark Martin has not won on a 2.5-mile oval (Daytona, IMS,
Pocono), Ricky Rudd has not won at Talladega, and Terry
Labonte hasn't won on a 2-mile oval, but can rectify that
omission by winning this weekend at Michigan!
	Gordon is only the second driver to win the Daytona 500
and Watkins Glen in the same season, joining Ernie Irvan
(1991)!  Jeff is the first driver to win the Charlotte 600
and Watkins Glen in the same season!
	Alessandro Zanardi (Target Ganassi Reynard
97I-Honda-Firestone) won Mid-Ohio's Miller 200 CART PPG
World Series race and now has a commanding lead for the 1997
point title!  Alessandro's teammate Jimmy Vasser won the
title in 1996, and if Zanardi wins the 1997 title, it will
mark the fourth time in the postwar era the same team has
won consecutive titles with different drivers!  The
Vels-Parnelli Jones team won the 1970 USAC Indycar title
with Al Unser and won the 1971 title with Joe Leonard. 
Penske Racing achieved the feat twice, with Tom Sneva
winning the 1978 USAC title and Rick Mears taking the 1979
CART title, and again when Rick Mears won the 1982 CART
title and Al Unser followed in 1983!
	Ron Hornaday, Jr. (NAPA Earnhardt Chevrolet) became the
all-time leader in victories in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck
series with his Saturday win at Flemington!  Ron now has 17
wins to 16 for Mike Skinner!
	Seventeen was an important number in another category
as Ron scored his seventh win of the season in the
seventeenth race of the season!  Ron is also pursuing the
season win record of eight victories set by Mike Skinner in
1995 and 1996; in those eight-win seasons by Skinner, Mike
took his seventh win in the nineteenth race of each season
and thus Ron is ahead of Mike's record pace!
	Ron's win continued an impressive streak for Chevrolet:
Chevrolet has won every NASCAR "touring series" race at
Flemington dating back to 1970!  In 1970, Tiny Lund won the
NASCAR GT race on dirt in a Camaro; NASCAR touring action
returned to the track in 1991 with a Modified Tour event won
by George Kent in a Chevrolet modified.  Later in 1991 at
Flemington, Ricky Craven won a Busch Grand National North
event in a Lumina.  Doug Hoffman won the 1992 Modified Tour
race in a Chevrolet modified.  Hornaday won the 1995 Truck
race in a Chevrolet and Mike Skinner won the 1996 Truck
event in a Chevrolet!
	Ted Christopher (LesCare Kitchens Chevrolet Monte
Carlo) won Saturday's Burnham Boilers 150 NASCAR Busch Grand
National North race at Watkins Glen; he was the fifth winner
in the race's five-year (1993-97) history!  Chevrolet has
now won three of the five events and the Chevrolet Monte
Carlo became the first model to win the race consecutively!
	Christopher's victory was his second in the series,
joining a September 8, 1996 win at New Hampshire
International!
	Ted is a real "grass roots" NASCAR racer; he started
his career in SK Modifieds at Stafford in 1983!  Christopher
won the 1987 Stafford and Tri-Track
(Stafford/Thompson/Waterford) SK Modified Championship
titles.  In 1988 he was Thompson's NASCAR Small Block
Modified champion and in 1989 was Thompson's NASCAR Winston
Racing Series Modified titlist!
	Damon Hill's (Danka Arrows A18-Yamaha V10-Bridgestone)
runnerup finish after leading most of the Hungarian Grand
Prix marked a milestone for the Arrows team: while the
runnerup finish was the fifth in the team's history in a
World Championship event, it marked the first time one of
its runnerup finishers had actually led the race!
	Arrows was last "on the podium" not too long ago: the
November 1995 Adelaide GP, where Gianni Morbidelli started
thirteenth but finished third, two laps down.
	Three of Arrows' runnerup finishes were scored by
Riccardo Patrese in the team's early years in Cosworth
Ford-powered entries.  Riccardo started fifth and finished
second in 1978 at Anderstorp (Sweden), finishing 34.019
seconds behind Niki Lauda.  In 1980 he started eighth at
Long Beach and was runnerup to Nelson Piquet by 49.212
seconds.  In 1981, Patrese started ninth and was second to
Piquet at Imola by 4.58 seconds.  Patrese did not lead any
of these events.
	Thierry Boutsen drove a BMW-powered Arrows A8 in 1985;
he started fifth at Imola and finished second, one lap down
to Elio DeAngelis; he did not lead the race.
	The 1980 Spanish GP at Jarama was a nonchampionship
event due to the FISA/FOCA dispute; Jochen Mass drove an
Arrows A3-Cosworth Ford to a runnerup finish from a
fourteenth-place start, 50.94 seconds behind Alan Jones.

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