MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Wallace Gets By With Help of His Friends

A “perfect� pit stop was the difference when Rusty Wallace won Sunday’s Slick 50 300, the inaugural NASCAR Winston Cup stock car race at New Hampshire International Raceway in Loudon.

Wallace, admitting he lost his rhythm after a crash on May 2 at Talladega, Ala., that left him with a broken wrist, found it Sunday on the 1.058-mile oval.

But it took a 17.1-second stop for four fresh tires and a tank of gas during the last of six caution periods to give Wallace the final push toward his fifth victory of the season and 26th of his career.

After the pit stop, Wallace got out ahead of Davey Allison, who had taken the lead during a series of green-flag pit stops by the leaders about 30 laps earlier.

“(Allison) was really hooked up, and it looked pretty grim there for awhile,� Wallace said. “The last caution was the kicker. It was just what we needed to get up front.�

Wallace, who had started 33rd in the 40-car field, kept his Pontiac Grand Prix in front the rest of the way. Mark Martin got past Allison to take second, 1.31 seconds behind Wallace, who averaged 105.947 m.p.h. and earned $77,500.

*

Paul Tracy slipped past Nigel Mansell on the 15th of 85 laps and led the rest of the way in the Cleveland Grand Prix, outrunning Penske teammate Emerson Fittipaldi and Mansell for his second Indy car victory.

Tracy had won the pole but lost the advantage to Mansell immediately, while several cars behind them collided on the hairpin turn at the start.

After a five-lap caution flag, Tracy soon regained the lead. He averaged 127.913 m.p.h. on the 2.369-mile, 10-turn temporary road course at Burke Lakefront Airport and won won by 18.09 seconds over Fittipaldi, who overtook Mansell on the 73rd lap.

*

Alain Prost earned his 50th Formula One victory, increased his championship lead and said he was disappointed about the fate of Damon Hill at Silverstone, England.

Prost, a three-time Formula One champion, won the British Grand Prix in a Williams-Renault after Hill’s stopped on Lap 42 with smoke and flames spewing from a blown engine.

Hill, the son of Graham Hill, was leading at the time, cheered by some 70,000 British fans.

Michael Schumacher’s Benetton-Ford finished second to Prost, 7.660 seconds behind.

Indy car champion Michael Andretti, a Formula One rookie, failed to get past the first turn, sliding off after passing two cars in a fast start. It was the second time Andretti failed to get past the first turn and the third time he had not completed a lap.

*

Bryan Herta of Hilliard, Ohio, increased his lead in the 1993 Firestone Indy Lights Championship by winning the Buick Challenge of Cleveland. Herta, a senior at Ohio State, started from the pole position. He fell back quickly, but passed teammate Steve Robertson of England on Lap 12. Robertson finished second.

*

In Elkhart Lake, Wis., Germans Manuel Reuter and John Winter averaged 106.23 m.p.h. in driving a Porsche 962C to a two-lap victory in the IMSA Piggy Wiggly Grand Prix of Road America, the first victory in more than two years for Porsche in an IMSA Camel GT race.

*

Chuck Graves of Granada Hills finished third in the first leg and won the second to take overall title at the Formula USA motorcycle races at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, Calif.

Graves topped teammate Michael Martin of Dallas and Paul Harrell of Canyon Country.

Graves’ teammate, Michael Martin of Dallas, was second in the first leg and fourth in the second leg to take second overall. Paul Harrell of Canyon Country took third overall with sixth and second-place finishes in the two-leg format.

First-leg winner Rich Oliver of Fresno crashed on the final lap of the second 12-lap leg while battling for second with Robert Miller of Buena Park, who also crashed.