KULWICKI RETURNS TO ATLANTA, BUT THIS TIME THERE'S NO GLORY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993                   TAG: 9303210145
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: E10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA.                                LENGTH: Medium
KULWICKI RETURNS TO ATLANTA, BUT THIS TIME THERE'S NO GLORY
Alan Kulwicki had nothing to celebrate in his return to Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he clinched the 1992 Winston Cup championship.
Kulwicki's Motorcraft 500 ended on lap 133 when he lost control of his Ford Thunderbird while racing side-by-side with Geoff Bodine coming out of turn 4.
"I got on the inside of Geoff Bodine and the thing got a little bit loose and it got away from me," Kulwicki said as he emerged from the infield care center after a required examination.
"I thought I cut a tire or had a tire going down a little bit before that, but I don't really know if that was it or not," he said. "Man, I hate this. We should be in the top five in points right now."
His car's rear end was shortened by about two feet when Dick Trickle's spinning car slammed into it on the frontstretch.
"The wreck was ahead of me and I just moved to the left to miss it," Trickle said. "Then I got nailed from the back. I just got collected up. It didn't hurt anything but my feelings."
\ HIM TOO: Another crash victim was Dale Jarrett, who lost his Winston Cup points lead after a solo crash on lap 110, also coming out of turn 4.
"It felt like a tire came down," Jarrett said. "The car felt good, then all of a sudden, bam, and it went around."
Jarrett returned to the race and completed another 137 laps. He finished 31st, and that dropped him from first to fourth in points.
\ GONE LIKE THAT: After leading 140 laps and dominating the first two-thirds of the race, Mark Martin was gone in a flash on lap 225.
"It blew up - just broke all at once," Martin said. "It either breaks a rod or a crankshaft or cracks a block when it does that. The car was awesome. It's just one of those days.
"It happens to everybody throughout the year - some teams more than others. Our stuff's usually bulletproof. I'm not too shook up about it. We're going to win a pile of races this year."
Crew chief Steve Hmiel was far more upset than Martin.
"It was a good day to capitalize on points, and we didn't do it," he snapped, ending his interview after one question.
\ STRONG SIXTH: One of the best unsung performances was by Geoff Bodine, who finished sixth despite becoming sick to his stomach.
"I guess I started to feel sick before I got in the car," Bodine said. "And it wasn't long in that race that I had a stomach problem. They gave me a pill to settle my stomach, but I was worn out and had to drive with one hand half the race. I couldn't hold myself up. I had to put my hand over on the roll bar to hold myself in the seat."
He added: "When I started driving with one hand, I started going faster."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB