ARA Racefacts Bulletin and Model Review (11/02/97)
3 November 1997
AUTO RACING ANALYSIS RACEFACTS BULLETIN November 2, 1997 Dale Jarrett's victory (Ford Quality Care Yates Ford Thunderbird) in Sunday's Phoenix Dura-Lube 500 K NASCAR Winston Cup race was his seventh of the 1997 season and the fifteenth of his Winston Cup career! Dale has now won Winston Cup races on ten racetracks, with Charlotte leading the way with 3 wins (one 600, two 500s); he has won twice at Michigan (two 400-milers), twice at Daytona (both 500s), and twice at Pocono (500 milers). He has one win each at Atlanta, Bristol, Darlington, Indianapolis, Richmond, and now Phoenix! Five of Dale's seven 1997 wins came on tracks new to his Winston Cup win list: Atlanta, Darlington, Bristol, Richmond, and Phoenix! His Bristol win was his first Winston Cup victory on a "short track" and his Phoenix win is his first Winston Cup triumph on a "mile." The Phoenix victory, Dale's 13th Winston Cup win on a "superspeedway," was his first Winston Cup "superspeedway" win in a race of less than 400 miles distance (in this case, 312 miles)! Jarrett's seven wins in 1997 (second only to Jeff Gordon's ten victories) mark the 26th "modern era" (1972-1997) season of seven or more wins achieved by a Winston Cup driver! Dale is only the 11th driver to achieve the feat! Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough lead in "modern era" seasons with seven or more wins with four apiece. Cale won eight races in 1977, nine races in 1976, and ten races in 1978 as he won the Winston Cup title all three seasons for Junior Johnson! Ironically, his best year in terms of wins, 1974 with ten, did not take the championship! DW won seven races in 1979 and 1984 and twelve times in 1981 and 1982; he won the 1981 and 1982 Winston Cup titles. Richard Petty achieved three seasons of seven or more wins in the "modern era," taking the Winston Cup title each time: 1972 (8 wins), 1974 (10 victories), and 1975 (the modern era record of 13 triumphs). David Pearson's three "modern era" seasons of seven or more wins all came in "partial schedule" efforts for the Wood Brothers and thus Pearson did not contend for the title in those seasons: eleven wins in 1973, seven in 1974, and ten in 1976! Jeff Gordon has three consecutive seasons of seven or more wins: seven in 1995 (his championship season), ten in 1996, and ten thus far in 1997 as he leads the title chase into the Atlanta finale! Dale Earnhardt has achieved seven or more wins in a season only twice, each time a titlewinning year: he won eleven races in 1987 and nine in 1990. Bobby Allison achieved two "modern era" seasons of seven or more wins, ten in 1972 (for Junior Johnson) and eight in 1982, neither total achieving a championship! Rusty Wallace suffered the same fate, winning ten races in 1993 and eight in 1994 but failing to take the title in both seasons! Jarrett joins Bill Elliott (1985, 11 wins, championship runnerup) and Tim Richmond (seven wins in 1986) with one seven-win season. Dale's seven-win 1997 season is the first for a Yates Racing driver! The ten Phoenix Winston Cup races (1988-97) have now produced seven Ford victories, two Chevrolet wins, and one for Pontiac (Bobby Hamilton in 1996). Only Davey Allison has achieved two Phoenix Winston Cup wins (1991 and 1992) and his victories plus Jarrett's 1997 win give Yates Racing three Phoenix wins as it is the only team with more than one! Joe Ruttman (LCI Roush Ford F150) won Saturday's GM Goodwrench/Delco Battery 300 K NASCAR Craftsman Truck race, ending Chevrolet's domination of Phoenix Craftsman Truck events! The Bowtie Brigade had won the first five Phoenix Truck events: both 1995 races with Mike Skinner, both 1996 events with Jack Sprague, and the first 1997 race with Sprague! Ruttman achieved a new record for a Ford Craftsman Truck driver: he's the first Ford pilot to win four races in a Craftsman Truck season, eclipsing Dave Rezendes' achievement of three wins in 1996 driving for Geoff Bodine! Joe, who won twice in the Truck series for Irvan/Simo in 1995 (short track events at Bristol and Martinsville) and was winless in 1996 for Roush, has won in 1997 twice on superspeedways (DisneyWorld and Phoenix) and twice on road courses (Heartland Park and Sears Point)! The last time Joe won as many as four events in one touring series in one season? 1980, when he won five USAC Stock Car series events! Jack Sprague (Quaker State Hendrick Chevrolet) wins the 1997 Craftsman Truck title by merely starting the 1997 finale at Las Vegas. Jack is a real product of the NASCAR Winston Racing Series; he was Concord WRS late model champion in 1989, runnerup for the title in 1988, and third in 1991 and 1992. Jack was runnerup for the 1994 NASCAR Winston Racing Series Eastern Seaboard title and fourth in the 1989 Eastern Seaboard standings. Mike Stefanik (Burnham Boilers Chevrolet) won Saturday's Richmond NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour race, the tenth win of his 1997 championship season! Mike's ten wins rank second all-time in the 1985-1997 existence of the touring series only to Richie Evans' 12 victories in 1985! Stefanik's ten 1997 wins came on seven tracks, encompassing mile "superspeedways" (Nazareth and New Hampshire), a road course (Watkins Glen), three wins on "intermediate" short tracks (Richmond and twice on the 5/8-mile Flemington), three wins on the half-mile Stafford, and a win on the quarter-mile Riverhead! Three of the tracks hold Winston Cup events, four hold Busch Grand National races, and five hold Craftsman Truck races! ARA MODEL REVIEW BRUMM 1:43 DIECAST FERRARI 250 TRS 1960 This model (Brumm R94) faithfully depicts the #5 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa TR60 as driven to second place by Wolfgang Von Trips/Richie Ginther in the 1960 Buenos Aires 1000 Kilometers, the opening round of the 1960 FIA Sports Car World Championship. Its sister car, #4, driven by Phil Hill and Cliff Allison, won the event as the TR60 model made its debut with a 1-2 finish! The Brumm model is the appropriate vivid red and its rich detail (especially in 1:43 scale!) is evident as the TR60 was a car replete with detail, with front and rear fender air scoops, Ferrari logos, a prominent headrest fin, and protruding engine with bubble cover! Note the detailed wire wheels! Brumm has created a very evocative representation of this classic Ferrari sports car! The Ferrari Testa Rossa (red head sport, heads painted red) was a legendary and successful sports/racing car. The first model had a dual ignition system with 4 distributors and 4 spark coils; later models had a single ignition system. It was built with either double or single camshaft. The 1960 engine specifications: V12, 60 degree, 2953 cc, 300 horsepower. In his book, Ferrari: Sports Racing and Prototypes Competition Cars, Antoine Prunet notes "The 1960 Testa Rossas were little changed. The dry sump lubrication system, introduced for the Tourist Trophy, had become standard. Externally, the TR60 was easily recognizable from its 25cm high windscreen, complying with the new regulation of the CSI. One could also recognize the TR60 by its longer bootlid and by the position of the petrol filler cap, which had been moved from the center of the boot and was now fitted in the headrest fin." Note: the Brumm model clearly incorporates this petrol filler cap location! Prunet continues: "Reintroduced that year, the Buenos Aires 1000 km, on 31st January, constituted the first round of the 1960 World Championship. In the absence of Aston Martin, and after the failure of the astonishing Birdcage Maserati, a very clear double victory was achieved by the only two TR60s entered. As in 1958, Phil Hill was at the wheel of the victorious Ferrari and Wolfgang Von Trips was driving the one in second place, the co-drivers being Cliff Allison and Richie Ginther." The TR60 went on to achieve a third-place finish in the 1960 Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers driven by the team of Phil Hill, Cliff Allison, and Willy Mairesse. The race was won by the Stirling Moss/Dan Gurney CAMORADI Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage with the Joakim Bonnier/Olivier Gendebien Porsche RS60 second! A TR60 (numbered #11) won the 1960 LeMans 24 Hours driven by Paul Frere and Olivier Gendebien. The TR60 entered in the 1960 Targa Florio for Richie Ginther and Cliff Allison contended for the win but did not finish due to an accident as Ginther hit a tree! The Scuderia's main 1960 Targa Florio effort was the entry of Dino 246S models; they finished second (Wolfgang Von Trips/Phil Hill) and fourth (Willy Mairesse/Ludovico Scarfiotti/Giulio Cabianca). The Testa Rossa's initial incarnation, the TR58 of 1958, won four FIA Sports Car World Championship rounds. Phil Hill and Peter Collins won the 1958 Buenos Aires 1000 Kilometers and Sebring 12 Hours as TR58s finished 1-2 in each event. Luigi Musso and Olivier Gendebien teamed in a TR58 to win the 1958 Targa Florio and Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill won the 1958 LeMans 24 Hours in a TR58. A TR58 didn't win the 1958 Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers but TR58s finished 2-3-4-5! Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham won the race for Aston Martin. The 1959 model (TR59) won only one race, the 1959 Sebring 12 Hours, achieving a 1-2 finish led by the winning team of Phil Hill, Olivier Gendebien, Dan Gurney, and Chuck Daigh. TR59s finished 2-3-5 in the 1959 Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers and 3-5 in the 1959 Goodwood Tourist Trophy. In 1960, a NART TR59 finished second in the 1960 LeMans 24 Hours and Jack Nethercutt and Pete Lovely drove a TR59 to third place in the 1960 Sebring 12 Hours. BRUMM MODELS DISTRIBUTED BY: AUTOMOBILIA DIVISION OF LUSTRON INDUSTRIES 18 WINDGATE DRIVE, NEW CITY, NEW YORK 10956 BRUMM WEBSITE: http://www.cdsystems.it/brumm Phone or fax: 914-639-6806 e-mail: lustron@worldnet.att.net Our website at http://members.aol.com/autoracg/ provides a wealth of useful and interesting auto racing information!