Engine failure dooms Wallace's title hopes
August 13, 2001
10:01 AM EDT (1401 GMT)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- An engine failure handed Rusty Wallace a huge blow to his championship title hopes early in Sunday's Global Crossing @ The Glen.
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Rusty Wallace finished 43rd at Watkins Glen.
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The problem occurred because the water line wasn't correctly hooked up to the engine.
"Man, I'll tell you -- it's tough," the two-time Watkins Glen winner said. "The car is running strong, real strong. We just keeping having these stupid problems. But, today we had another stupid one."
After starting fifth, Wallace had problems getting around the 2.45-mile road course of Watkins Glen International right from the start.
After falling behind because the engine was running too hot, he pitted on lap 12 to change tires and take tape off the grill, hoping to cool the engine.
"We came in and pulled all the tape off and went back out and it didn't help us at all," a dejected Wallace said in the garage area. "It just kept getting slower and slower and the brakes weren't stopping as nearly as good as they should have. I was getting passed a lot going into Turn 1. I could hold my own everywhere else."
After re-entering the race in 43rd place, he drove around for four more laps but was forced to the garage area with smoke coming from the back end. The crew pulled the hood up and that was when they discovered the disconnected water line.
Wallace finished 43rd for the third time this year, scoring last-place finishes at Las Vegas and New Hampshire as well.
The finish pushed him back from sixth to ninth in points, 521 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.
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