Dover

DOVER, Del. -- Jeff Gordon took another step toward the 1995 Winston Cup championship yesterday, winning the rain-delayed MBNA 500 before an overflow crowd at Dover Downs International Speedway.It was the seventh victory of the season and ninth overall for the 23-year-old nicknamed WonderBoy on the NASCAR circuit.Gordon, who drives for DuPont Monte Carlo, has finished in the top five 15 times in 25 starts this season and for 12 consecutive starts has been in the top 10. He has built a commanding lead in the points race.

DOVER, Del. - Jeff Gordon was like a man on a carousel, going round and round seemingly without a care. He led all but 19 laps of the MBNA Platinum 400 yesterday, building a lead that stretched over more than a half-mile before beating Steve Park to the finish line by .828 of a second. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third for his best finish since running second in the Daytona 500 on the day his father, Dale Earnhardt, was killed there. And Ricky Craven, who has been given a second Winston Cup career by owner Cal Wells, finished fourth.

DOVER, Del. - Tony Stewart wedged his racecar into his pit box behind Jeff Gordon's Chevrolet and fumed as a NASCAR official blocked his exit. Stewart's right front tire was judged to be over the pit-box line, and in the world of Winston Cup racing, that's against the law. Stewart, whose No. 20 Chevrolet was the car to beat, lost a lap. Instead of emerging first, where he had been when he entered the pits on Lap 140, he left in 32nd position and a...

DOVER, Del. -- As surely as the changing tide erodes the shore, so does age wear away the skills of a champion.It isn't something that happens in an instant. For three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip, it has come with the repetition of the ride as he has circled countless speedways, lap after never-ending lap.How long has it been since Waltrip was in Victory Lane? Four years? It doesn't seem possible, but it has been almost that long since that sunny September day in Darlington, S.C., when he won the 1992 Southern 500."

Mortuary facilities at Dover Air Force Base, Del., used since the Vietnam War to process the remains of America's war dead, may soon be pressed into the service of colonial archaeology.Henry Miller, chief archaeologist for Historic St. Mary's City, said that, pending final approvals, three 300-year-old lead caskets thought to contain the remains of members of Maryland's founding Calvert family will "probably" be opened at Dover as early as next spring."According to our forensic experts," Miller said, the Dover mortuary "is one of the finest in the world."

DOVER, Del. -- At first glance, the exterior of Dover Downs doesn't exactly conjure more famous gambling venues such as Las Vegas or Atlantic City. You won't find long stretches of glittering casinos, hotels and nightclubs. No excessive bright neon lights and blaring signage. The resort is off a busy highway and commercial corridor, with no boardwalk, beach or desert in sight. Yet Dover Downs has its own brand of low-key appeal, one that draws thousands of visitors annually. "Our amenities stack up extremely well with Vegas and Atlantic City, but the attitude is 100 miles south," says Edward J. Sutor, executive vice president/chief operating officer of Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment Inc. "It's easygoing, and our employees have Southern hospitality.

Delaware's capital is a city of contrasts. In Dover, you can discover 300 years of history, try your hand at high-tech gaming or kick back at places that seem happily stuck in the '50s. You can tour a Colonial homestead within sight of a modern military jetport, shop at an Amish market near a slot machine palace and explore a wetland wilderness not far from discount shopping malls. Such diversity is at the core of Dover's charm. Moderate prices for accommodations and meals, friendly residents and a number of interesting museums add to the city's appeal.

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. - Like most military bases, Dover sends its wide-eyed young troops on their missions and welcomes them home as heroes. But it is Dover's unique and grim mission that distinguishes it from the typical base, because in every major American conflict since the Vietnam War, the dead have come home to Dover. In America's latest conflict, the remains of 189 victims from the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon were identified there, and then prepared to be sent to their families.

DOVER, Del. - If Lupita Rubio's husband died in Iraq, she'd want to see his remains returned to nearby Dover Air Force Base, marked with a ceremony seen by all. "I would like for him to get the recognition he deserves," said Rubio, 38, while eating lunch at the Corner Eatery with her husband, a load- master on a C-5 military cargo plane. Jim Sullivan, 43, a cartographer and former Marine, has a different view - one that seems pervasive in a city with deep military roots. "I don't need to see the caskets coming off" a plane, he said outside the post office downtown.

DOVER, Del -- It took 79 races before Randy LaJoie found Victory Lane, but since then there has been no stopping him.Yesterday, he took the lead from Ricky Craven with eight laps to go and won the GM Goodwrench-Delco Battery 200 at Dover Downs International Speedway. It was his second victory in three races, and he couldn't stop rejoicing."I can't believe it," he said. "It's incredible. It was so much fun to drive out there. What a great day."LaJoie crossed the finish line .283 seconds ahead of Craven, who is coming back from a serious crash in Talladega, Ala., on April 28, in which he broke his third vertebra.