Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 9, 1995 TAG: 9505090120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SONOMA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
But the spectator who perhaps was the most delighted to be there was last year's race winner, Ernie Irvan, who was released from a San Francisco hospital Sunday morning and went straight to the track.
Irvan arrived a few minutes before the race started.
``I'm here and I feel good,'' Irvan said. ``The doctors want me to come back and get checked out in the morning [Monday], and then I can go home.''
Irvan had surgery Friday at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center to repair a circulatory problem that lingered after his recovery from near-fatal head injuries suffered in August in a crash in Brooklyn, Mich.
The surgery corrected a circulatory problem below Irvan's brain at the base of his skull and preserved his left carotid artery. Although the vision problem in Irvan's left eye is unrelated, there is hope the surgery might help his vision by taking some pressure off nerves.
``They really feel like the stuff they fixed is going to make my eye heal,'' Irvan said. As for the effect of the operation, ``I can't tell any difference. I feel exactly the same.''
Irvan still hopes to return to racing later this year.
``It probably set me back a little, because I was probably gearing up toward running next month,'' he said. ``But now they want me to sit and do another test in about three months. They just don't know what I can do as far as racing for a while.''
SHAKEUP AT JUNIOR'S: As many of the teams headed home Monday from the West Coast, a shakeup reportedly was occurring on the Junior Johnson-owned Ford team with driver Brett Bodine.
Crew chief Mike Beam and two other crew members were said to be resigning Monday, with Beam forming his own company in Hickory,
N.C., and planning to join Bill Elliott, who would move at least part of his operation to North Carolina.
GORDON'S STREAK ENDS: Jeff Gordon's streak of leading at least one lap in every race this year ended at Sears Point. But he remained in the top five throughout the race and finished third. A NASCAR-record 29 cars finished on the lead lap.
MAST HAPPY TO FINISH: Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths finished 16th on Sunday and was pleased simply because he completed a race.
``Finished a damn race,'' he said. ``I was kind of idling along all day, just letting them wrecks happen and take out those guys in front of me. And I passed a bunch of cars, too.''
by CNB