ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
Ernie Irvan says the thing that bothered him the most about crew chief Larry McReynolds' departure to work on Dale Earnhardt's team is that he tried to take some crew members with him.
McReynolds said last week that he thought Irvan might be a bit ``hurt'' by his departure.
Irvan's reaction? ``If Larry McReynolds wants to change jobs, that's fine,'' Irvan said Saturday at the Winston Cup preview in Winston-Salem, N.C. ``But when he tries to break up the team, that's not.''
Irvan was quick to add: ``Nobody left.''
``We treasured the time we had with Larry,'' Irvan said. ``I hate that he did leave. But it's not like it's going to stop us. We have Marc Reno now. We still have everything in place except for Larry. Right now, all we have to do is build on what we already have.
``Larry's got a lot of problems in a lot of ways,'' Irvan said. ``Larry was just not happy. Robert Yates did everything in his power to make Larry McReynolds happy, but if we ran second, he wasn't happy, and if we won, he was more worried about what was happening next instead of celebrating the win.''
``Robert Yates has been in the hunt for a championship a lot of times, and it's not like I forgot how to set a car up. I feel like we should be able to rebound and win some races.''
DOWN THE TUBES: After announcing in the fall it would sponsor Lake Speed's Ford Thunderbird, the University of Nebraska may be backing out of the deal.
``We were notified [Friday] that the [sponsorship] check hadn't come,'' Speed said at the Winston Cup preview. ``So the Nebraska thing may not be on. We've been waiting a long time, so we're not waiting anymore. We're looking for another sponsor.''
Speed said the disappointment will not affect the team's Daytona plans.
``All the guys, when they heard the news, they said, `We've seen this picture before. We'll tough it out.' We just feel like we have a good enough race team to do that.''
As for what happened, he said, ``My understanding was that they just have not been able to secure the corporate backing that they thought they could.''
ANDRETTI FASTEST: John Andretti posted the fastest lap of the month at Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday as Ford Thunderbird teams were stymied by morning rain in the second day of their final three-day test for the Daytona 500 on Feb.16.
The 18 Ford teams at the session did not get onto the 2.5-mile track until 1:30 p.m. and only had about four hours of track time Tuesday.
Still, Andretti reached 188.739 mph, topping the previous fastest lap of 188.446 mph by Rusty Wallace on Jan. 5. Greg Sacks (187.770 mph) was second fastest, followed by Wallace (185.586), Bobby Hillin (185.525) and Jimmy Spencer (185.487).
The car Andretti was testing is the same chassis Jeremy Mayfield drove to the pole position at Talladega in July.
``They don't tell me a whole lot,'' Andretti said, ``but I think there's some left in it. It surprised me and I think it surprised them a little bit, too. We're not a big team, but we've got a really good motor program.''
Today is the final day of Ford testing. General Motors cars return for their final three-day test Monday. The track opens for Daytona 500 practice Feb. 7.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB