Amid the Silence, Rookie Allen Makes a Loud Noise at Daytona : Auto racing: He startles most by winning the pole for next Sunday’s NASCAR race as others reflect on Bonnett’s death.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —  When rain delayed the start of Daytona 500 qualifying half an hour Saturday, it was as if the heavens were asking for a few moments of silence in the memory of Neil Bonnett.

The death Friday of one of racing’s most beloved figures cast a pall over Daytona International Speedway, overshadowing one of the most tense and unexpected rounds of qualifying in Winston Cup lore. Bonnett was killed when the car in which he was practicing crashed head-on into the Turn 4 wall.

NASCAR officials, after inspecting the scene, called it driver error, but that didn’t matter. It still brought grief to the stock car racing fraternity and fans who had become familiar with the Hueytown, Ala., driver as a TV commentator the last three years.

When Loy Allen Jr., a little-known rookie driver from Raleigh, N.C., stunned his elders by taking the pole for next Sunday’s 500 from six-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, it should have brought a moment of celebration, but it, too, evoked mixed emotions.

Allen, 27, drove the orange and white Hooters Ford around the 2.5-mile trioval at an average speed of 190.158 m.p.h. to edge out Earnhardt’s 190.034 and become the first rookie driver to win the pole in the 35 years of the Daytona 500.

Allen was driving in the colors made famous by the late Alan Kulwicki in winning the 1992 NASCAR championship. Only 10 months ago, Kulwicki became the first of three prominent Winston Cup drivers to be killed in less than a year. He and Davey Allison, the 1992 Daytona 500 champion, were killed in aircraft accidents, Allison in July.

“I’m still in shock about the whole thing,” Allen said after sweating out Earnhardt’s late attempt to win the No. 1 starting position.

It was such a shock to his sponsors that they tried to stick patches on his uniform at the last minute before he appeared for interviews.

Earnhardt, 42, who has given racing advice to his young North Carolina neighbor, was not surprised.

“My hat’s off to Loy Allen,” Earnhardt said. “A lot of people might have been surprised, but I knew he’d be fast. I hate he got the pole. I really wanted it, and I thought we had a good shot at it.

“The guy who started second (Dale Jarrett) won it last year, so maybe that’s the place to start.”

Earnhardt, winner of six Winston Cup championships, 59 races and more than $14 million, has not won the Daytona 500 in 15 starts.

Earnhardt, Bonnett’s closest friend among the driving fraternity, left immediately to fly to Alabama to be with Bonnett’s widow, Susan. Before leaving, Earnhardt and car owner Richard Childress, who had provided Bonnett with race cars for his comeback last year, issued an emotional joint statement, remembering him.

Bill France Jr., NASCAR president, said of Bonnett: “He was one of the most likeable men I’ve ever known. In fact, I don’t think I ever met anyone who didn’t like Neil. Our hearts and prayers are with Susan, David and Kristen.”

For those who were at Ontario Motor Speedway in November 1977 when Bonnett won his first superspeedway race, the Los Angeles Times 500, one of the most enduring and endearing memories of Bonnett is of him putting his daughter Kristen, then 3, in a gigantic silver loving cup and holding her aloft to the cheering crowd in victory lane.

A memorial service for Bonnett will be held tonight at the Central Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, with funeral services Monday at the Garywood Assembly of God in Hueytown, Ala.

Allen, who emerged as a promising driver when he won the World Karting Assn. championship in 1982, also won the pole for the ARCA 200, a Speed Weeks support race that will share today’s spotlight with the Busch Clash for 1993 pole winners, plus wild-card driver P.J. Jones.

The qualifying speed for the ARCA race, 190.219 m.p.h., was faster than for Allen’s Winston Cup car, primarily because of a more forgiving restrictor plate rule. Allen is the first driver to sit on the pole in both Daytona races.

Today’s Busch Clash, a 50-mile sprint for $280,000, will mark the first and last appearance of Jones in the Harry Melling Ford. Jones and Melling public relations director Alexis Laras quit the team Saturday after a dispute with team manager Harry Hyde.

“I tested three cars for Melling in January with the idea that I was going to be their driver all season,” Jones said. “When I got here to prepare for the Daytona 500, I was told (by Hyde) that instead of a one-man team, I was going to share the team with another driver (Joe Ruttman).

“I didn’t feel Melling Racing was ready for a two-car team. In fact, they didn’t have enough engines and equipment to properly run a one-car team. I saw no future for myself.

“I will drive their car in the Busch Clash. After the race, that will be it for me with Melling. I’m doing the clash for Anheuser Busch and NASCAR. It’s an embarrassing situation for everyone. I want to go out with some class and do this for them. The ones I feel most sorry for are the crew. They worked really hard to have a good race car for me.”

Jones, who will be a development test driver for Dan Gurney’s Toyota Indy car project this year, got into the Busch Clash when his name was drawn from a group of drivers who were the fastest second-day qualifiers last year.