BUMP 'N RIDE GORDON PERFECTED TAP, SAYS IT'S NASCAR TREND AUTO CLUB 500 SUNDAY, NOON, CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY, FONTANA.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

FONTANA - It's just a little nudge. A front bumper hitting an opponent's rear bumper. The who's who of NASCAR has done it. Cup champions Richard Petty, Bobby and David Allison, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip. Current champ Matt Kenseth.

Sometimes, it's a love tap, a gentle reminder that there are others behind. But more often than not, the bumper-to-bumper move is an effort to get the other driver out of the way.

And it's a growing trend, says four-time series champion Jeff Gordon, who was a winner last week at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

``Now what happens is if a guy ever gets to you, he knows that's his one golden opportunity,'' said Gordon, who will try to win his third California Speedway race Sunday in the Nextel Cup Automobile Club of Southern California 500. ``He has to take advantage of it and he may use force.''

Because of speeds and tighter courses, bumping is a necessary evil at races on shorter tracks like Bristol, Tenn., and Martinsville, Va. But at tracks like 2-mile California Speedway, or 2.66-mile Talladega, bumping has become more evident.

``I think at some tracks, that's more accepted than at others,'' Gordon said. ``I think the short tracks, obviously, it's more accepted. The speeds are down and there's a lot more contact. But you get to tracks like California Speedway, and I don't think that should be accepted.''

All this bumping to pass can be attributed to improvements in racing. The NASCAR image of Southern boys runnin' what they brung no longer applies here. Just like its technical-savvy open-wheel brethren, NASCAR Cup racing is a high-tech sport. Cars are run through wind tunnels. Each part is analyzed by computers.

``Before we get to each track, the car is set up based on the computer from that track,'' says Kurt Busch, the winner of last year's Automobile Club 500.

Roger Penske's Alltel Dodge team employs a driver (Ryan Newman) and crew chief (Matt Borland) who both have mechanical engineering degrees. The Chip Ganassi team employs engineer Jim Hamilton. Heused to work for TRW Space Systems Group, which created programs to make spacecraft more efficient. He's now doing the same thing to Cup cars.

``It's so much harder to pass now with the aero(dynamic) grip,'' Gordon said. ``The cars have increased speeds through the corners. It's increased the aero push that we all talk about.

``So basically, as leader of a pack or of a race, it's almost as if your job now is to watch your mirror and block cars behind you. All you have to do is put your car in front of their car and block the air to their nose. It really prevents them from being able to get to you and make the pass.''

Gordon is no saint when it comes to the move. He and Rusty Wallace had a well-publicized to-do at Bristol's half-mile two years ago. Gordon bumped Wallace out of the way en route to the victory.

``I think what happens at Bristol and Richmond (Va.) and Martinsville is totally different than what happens at other racetracks,'' he said. ``It's no different than my bump-and-run with Rusty. But I tried two laps in a row to pass him clean and wasn't able to, and that was the next step.''

But that ``next step'' at California, Daytona or Talladega can take out 10 or more cars.

``We need to respect one another as competitors out there,'' Gordon said. ``There is the safety factor, and I was always brought up to where you can race hard, you can race aggressive and they can race you, but you respect them. You work as hard as you can to pass them cleanly.''

Gordon has done that successfully at Fontana. He won the inaugural NASCAR event at the facility in 1997 and won again in 1999. He has four top-five finishes, has led more laps, run more miles and earned more money than any other Cup driver at Fontana. He is one of three drivers to have been running at the finish of every Fontana race.

Ken Schrader, a former Hendrick teammate of Gordon, is in his 20th year of Cup racing. He admits it's a lot tougher to pass now.

``There are not just a few teams that are good anymore,'' Schrader said. ``It's that they're all good. That makes it a lot harder to pass cleanly, especially at some tracks where there is only one groove.''

Keith Lair, [phone]

keith.lair(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) no caption (Jeff Gordon)

(2) Jeff Gordon has made a successful - albeit controversial - career out of the tap move to pass cars. Gordon will try for his third California 500 win on Sunday.

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Box:

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