From: ah335@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Richard Banks)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport
Subject: [PMH2962@ZEUS.TAMU.EDU: Re: GOBs at Pocono; D.Allison, DW, the BIG one ...]
Date: 21 Jul 92 18:10:59 GMT
Reply-To: ah335@cleveland.Freenet.Edu


    ================= Begin forwarded message =================

    From: PMH2962@ZEUS.TAMU.EDU (unknown)
    To: ah335@cleveland.Freenet.Edu
    Subject: Re: GOBs at Pocono; D.Allison, DW, the BIG one ...
    Date: Sun, 19 Jul

    
    -------------- your msg ---------------
    From:	SMTP%"ah335@cleveland.Freenet.Edu" 19-JUL-1992 17:36:15.08
    To:	pmh2962@zeus.tamu.edu
    Subj:	Re: GOBs at Pocono; D.Allison, DW, the BIG one ...
    Message-Id: <9207192236.AA23046@cwns2.INS.CWRU.Edu>
    Date: Sun, 19 Jul 92 18:36:07 -0400
    From: ah335@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Richard Banks)
    To: pmh2962@zeus.tamu.edu
    Subject: Re: GOBs at Pocono; D.Allison, DW, the BIG one ...
    Reply-To: ah335@cleveland.Freenet.Edu
    I did not see the race. Who won? Please describe the actual crash.
    What does GOB stand for?
    --------------- my reply -----------------
    Richard,
    	Howdy!
    	First -- GOB stands for (I guess) "Good Ol' Boys", in keeping
    with the (slightly outdated) legend of moonshine-running fellas of days
    gone by.
    	Second -- Darell (sp?) Waltrip (and Harry Gant) took a gamble and
    did NOT stop for a "splash-n-dash" fuel stop in the last 20 laps.  All others
    in the top 10 or so did, giving up positions to DW and HG.  Eventually DW
    and HG were 1-2, with third place Ted Musgrave (he actually led for around
    five laps until he hit the pits for gas) about a half a lap behind.  
    	Alan Kulwicki had the field covered during the last half of the race,
    but he couldn't make up the .5 lap -- eventually passed Musgrave for third.
    Ricky Rudd had an excellent run -- ran second to AK all day -- and passed
    Musgrave, too, to finish 4th.
    	After a caution-free first half of the race Davey Allison and DW got 
    together after the restart of the second (or third?) caution.  DW's right
    front got into DA's left rear as they both dove toward the inside of the back 
    straight to (presumably) go around Kyle Petty and some lapped cars in front of 
    DA.  The contact forced the number 28 Texaco Havoline Star Ford Thunderbird
    sideways, tail out/nose toward the infield.  The car seemed to float across
    the infield grass for a split-second, then got airborne.  There was an ESPN 
    camera directly in front (behind?) the 'scene of the crime', so TV viewers
    got to see the deed numerous times in various speeds during the ensuing
    looonnnngggg caution period.
    	It wasn't clear if the car lifted "on it's own -- i.e., 'cause air
    got underneath it <someone mentioned the cars are NOT required to wear the
    side skirts like on the high-speed/high-bank ovals>; or if a leading-edge
    tire dug into the turf and bounced the car up.
    	Whatever -- once airborne, the scene became ugly.  Remember DW's
    flip down the backstretch at Daytona (last year)?  DA's ride was chillingly
    similar.  The car shedded virtually all the sheet metal and tires, then landed
    several times in a single-strand guardrail.  The guardrail removed a ton more
    stuff and appeared to shear part of the rear of the car.  That's the point that 
    I noticed liquid (fuel?) spraying all over through the air, with one large hose 
    flapping around spurting the said liquid.  It looked very scary.
    	The car came to rest (finally!) a few feet from one of the emergency
    crew trucks, so help was on the scene immediately.  In fact, if you get a
    chance to check a reply, there's one guy running toward the car before it even 
    settles down after the final pirouette.  Great job by the safety guys.
    	Anyway, there's some tense minutes while we watch the medical folks
    scurry around the car.  After (an eternity) a couple minutes word comes Davey
    is conscious and (relatively) OK.  Later they announced DA probably had a
    broken right arm and a possible skull fracture above his eyebrow. Whew!
    
    	The above is purely my own interpretation of the events as I saw
    them on the ESPN broadcast.  I hope you get a chance to see a reply of the race
    (I think ESPN will rebroadcast it late at night at least once this week).
    	Feel free to post this to the r.a.s. group if you want, Richard.  Thanks
    for the response to my post!  Later .....
    
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