Park uninjured in savage wreck.

Dale Earnhardt Incorporated Winston Cup driver Steve Park emerged unscathed from a massive accident with his DEI teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr on the very first lap of Sunday's Pennsylvania 500.

The 20th round of the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship could go down on record as the longest of the year as no less than two red flag stoppages drew the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway out to a monster six and a half hours even with 25 laps being cut from the length of the race.

However the most dramatic moment o the afternoon occurred on the very first lap of the day when Steve Park, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Rusty Wallace collided coming off the first turn. Park's #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet was catapulted across the track and into the infield where it struck the Armco barriers and was launched into a series of flips.

Despite being trapped in the mangled wreckage by his safety equipment once the Chevrolet Monte Carlo came to rest, Park was miraculously uninjured although due to his recent head injuries he was kept at the Pocono Raceway Medical Centre for observation.

Earnhardt Jr in the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet and Wallace in the #2 Miller Lite Ford both sustained heavy damage in the crash, started when Wallace, Park and Jimmie Johnson appeared to check up, but both stayed on all four wheels. Earnhardt Jr returned to the track some 30 laps down and went on to finish 37th while Wallace's Penske Racing crew also got their driver back out onto the racetrack eventually and he was classified 40th. Park was classified 43rd.

"I was on the outside of Rusty and it was the first lap and he started moving up," said a shaken Park afterwards. "I backed off and then he pulled back down like his spotter might have said someone was on the outside. I got back up on the outside of him; and he just he came up on me. It was just a first lap deal.

"It didn?t feel good, I can tell you that. The main thing is I don?t like getting trapped in a racecar. When a racecar gets upside down with the head braces that we have and the window openings, I was trapped. Luckily, I want to thank the safety workers. They came and made sure the car didn?t go on fire and helped me out. I?m real thankful for them. I think Pocono has a first-class safety crew out there."

Earnhardt Jr was equally grateful for the safety-crew's performance as he dashed to Park's car almost as soon as he came to rest and during the ensuing red flag period he gave his view of the incident.

"I was trying to do my damndest to get off of the side of Steve?s car because I knew once we hit the wall my car was going to probably push him over the guardrail into the infield," he said. "It?s a bad deal. There was nothing I could really do. I was kind of in a bad situation.

"Steve and Rusty got together on the back straightaway. Rusty really wouldn?t clear (he) came up the racetrack. Steve came back down and passed my car and I drove him into the guardrail. There was really nothing I could do on that wet grass. I was trying to get away from him, because I knew it was going to be a bad wreck once he got into the guardrail. I?m just glad he?s OK; we?ll be able to go next weekend."

Park was especially lucky not to suffer any side-effects following his Busch Series crash at Darlington last September that kept him out of action for six months and although this was the first occasion where he had inverted a Winston Cup car, this is his third major career accident following Darlington last year and Atlanta in his rookie season four years ago where he sustained leg and hip injuries.

Despite this latest set-back, which occurred just one day after Park stated that he and his Pennzoil crew had begun to turn the corner after a miserable half season, Park was not too fazed by his wild ride.

"I know how to react when it does go upside down," he stated. "You don?t want to just release your seat belt and then hit the roof of the car. I tried to stay calm and do everything I was supposed to do to get out of the racecar. I was just disappointed that I was kind of trapped because of the way the safety devices are in the car and the window opening and stuff. I was very, very fortunate that the safety workers were there to one, prevent a fire, and two, to help me get out of the race car."