Daytona GM testing Day 1 of 3 (98-01-12)

SOURCE: Daytona International Speedway NASCAR Winston Cup General Motors stock car testing - Day 1 of 3 GORDON RECORDS FAST LAP AS GM TEAMS OPEN FINAL PRE-SEASON TEST AT DAYTONA

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- 1997 Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon posted the fastest time as General Motors NASCAR Winston Cup teams opened their final pre-season test Monday at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the all-new Bud Shootout At Daytona (Feb. 8) and the "Great American Race," the 40th Annual Daytona 500 (Feb. 15). Gordon was clocked at 47.665 seconds, an average speed of 188.818 mph, in one of two Hendrick Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlos that he drove on the day. Ken Schrader of Fenton, Mo., who has turned in some of fastest times thus far during pre-season testing, has had multiple strong performances in the Daytona 500. "Everybody puts more emphasis on the Daytona 500," said Schrader, who captured three consecutive Daytona 500 poles during the years 1988-90. "There's no other place that we go that we test for six days prior to the event, build brand new cars and take them to the wind tunnel. We're testing last year's car and one of the new ones, they're both running real well. We're going to play with the cars and little more, so we're very optimistic. You never really know what to expect before you get here. "You just have to gauge off the other cars and right now we're gauging off the car that won Talladega (Terry Labonte). We were about as fast as he was at Talladega and we're still just about as fast. We'll tweak some more and see what we've got. It would be nice to win the Daytona 500. It's been a good race for us, we've had some good runs. There'll be a lot of guys that have a shot, but we'll be one of the them." The test continues Tuesday. A section of the Oldfield Grandstand is open daily at no charge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with access through DAYTONA USA, "The Ultimate Motorsports Attraction." Guided tours of the Speedway are also available from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a nominal fee.

GENERAL MOTORS TEST SPEEDS -- Jan. 12* NO DRIVER/CAR SPEED NO DRIVER/CAR SPEED 24 Jeff Gordon/Chevrolet 188.818 41 Steve Grissom/Chevrolet 186.208 50 Ricky Craven/Chevrolet 188.723 29 Jeff Green/Chevrolet 186.070 43 John Andretti/Pontiac 188.438 22 Ward Burton/Pontiac 185.782 36 Ernie Irvan/Pontiac 188.100 46 Wally Dallenbach/Chev 185.716 3 Dale Earnhardt/Chevrolet 188.037 71 Dave Marcis/Chevrolet 185.632 30 Derrike Cope/Pontiac 187.923 44 Kyle Petty/Pontiac 185.204 4 Bobby Hamilton/Chevrolet 187.888 1 Steve Park/Chevrolet 185.041 17 Darrell Waltrip/Chevrolet 187.574 84 Norm Benning/Chevrolet 184.536 40 Sterling Marlin/Chevrolet 187.309 35 Todd Bodine/Pontiac 184.317 33 Ken Schrader/Chevrolet 187.130 91 Kevin LePage/Chevrolet 183.914 96 David Green/Chevrolet 187.099 73 Phil Barkdohl/Chevrolet 183.756 8 Hut Stricklin/Chevrolet 186.559 42 Joe Nemechek/Chevrolet 183.722 07 Dan Pardus/Chevrolet 181.178 * Electronic times taken throughout the day's practice sessions.