Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 15, 1990 TAG: 9004150142
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For the fourth time in five years, the 43-year-old NASCAR driver now finds himself sidelined with serious injury stemming from an accident.
Broken shoulder at Pocono, Pa., in 1986. Shattered leg and hip at Charlotte, N.C., in 1987. Broken sternum at Dover, Del., in 1989.
At the start of this season, a rejuvenated Bonnett said he wanted to forget his physical woes. Well, that's no problem now. The guy has an acute case of amnesia as a result of a hard lick taken two weeks ago at Darlington, S.C.
Although Bonnett has made some progress - his memory appears to be coming back slowly - physician Dr. Charles Baldwin admits it might be weeks or months before the Alabama driver fully recovers.
"And it's very premature to talk about when he might return to his race car," Baldwin said.
Baldwin said there's no medicine to treat amnesia victims. Time and environment are the keys, he said.
"It's my strong feeling that he needs a chance to progress in his home and family environment at his own pace," said Baldwin, who has taken several rides in a car with Bonnett the past week trying to rekindle the driver's memory.
Bonnett's wife, Susan, continued to field phone calls at the family's Bessemer, Ala., home Friday. She said her husband watched last Sunday's NASCAR stop at Bristol, Tenn.
"He talked about how well the Wood Brothers car was running and said he was pleased with the good finish [substitute driver Dale Jarrett finished 11th]. His doctor had cautioned us not to ask him a bunch of questions about the race, but instead to allow him to react naturally.
"He's come a long way. In the Florence hospital right after the crash, he thought he had fallen out of a tree. He didn't know me or the team members until he was told who we were."
Susan Bonnett said her husband has yet to discuss the resumption of his racing career.
"That decision will be up to him," she said. "We certainly aren't going to rush him."
Jarrett will drive the Woods' mount on a race-to-race basis until Bonnett returns. Of course, no one knows when - or if - that will be.
"We don't know when Neil will be back," team manager Eddie Wood said. "We hope he will be back within the next few weeks. Meanwhile, we're fortunate to have Dale."
Jarrett took the Woods' car to the front at Bristol, leading for 39 laps before three cut tires and two spinouts relegated him to 11th place.
\ No doubt, many NASCAR teams will be working overtime when they check into Martinsville Speedway for the April 29 Hanes Activewear 500.
With Goodyear's radials being used for the first time on the low-banked .526-mile oval, Bill Elliott said teams had better be prepared to make a rash of chassis changes in order to find a proper setup.
"The radials have changed everything," Elliott said. "You might have had a good setup for a particular track last year, then here comes the radial. Therefore, you have no real baseline on how to set up springs and shocks.
"With the radials, it's come down to who can find the right setup first. I think the radials are one reason why we've seen some new guys up front. Gary Nelson [Kyle Petty's crew chief] apparently has found how to work with them. A lot of the so-called other good teams have not, though."
\ The biggest surprise story of the season continues to be Morgan Shepherd and the Bud Moore Ford team. Shepherd, who currently ranks second to Dale Earnhardt in the Winston Cup standings, is the only driver on tour to post top-10 finishes in all six 1990 starts. The six top-10s already matches the team's output for the entire 1989 season with driver Brett Bodine.
Since pulling his shocker in the Daytona 500, Derrike Cope has returned to reality. In the five races since Daytona, Cope has finished 29th, 12th, 29th, 27th and 32nd. He has plummeted to 21st in the points standings.
\ So much for Richard Petty's resurgence. Petty, who turned heads with a dazzling run in a 125-mile Daytona 500 qualifier, has finished 34th, 35th, 32nd, 25th, 21st and 26th in six starts.
\ Greg Sacks' new Paul Newman-Rick Hendrick team will make its debut in the Winston 500 at Talladega, Ala., on May 6. Sacks will drive the same Chevrolet Lumina he steered to a second-place finish in the Busch Clash in February.
Gary DeHart serves as crew chief for the new operation, which will run a limited schedule.
\ Steve Largent, the most prolific wide receiver in NFL history, has been named the Grand Marshal for the Apr. 29 Hanes Activewear 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The retired Seattle Seahawks' star does promotional work for Hanes.
In a Martinsville schedule change, time trials for the Raven Boats 150 Modified event have been moved from Friday, April 27, to the morning of the race on April 28.
by CNB