Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 2, 1990 TAG: 9005020135
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Since winning Daytona, I haven't been up front and I haven't had Derrike Cope a lot of luck," Cope said. "But I've been waiting for Talladega. That's where I come back."
Cope, who undoubtedly scored the biggest upset in NASCAR history at Daytona, said he's confident he can win Sunday's Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
"We had a great combination at Daytona, so that really makes me feel optimistic heading to Talladega," said Cope, who hasn't finished higher than 12th in seven starts since Daytona.
"The guys at the shop think they've got a better combination for Talladega than we had at Daytona."
With a victory Sunday, Cope would be two-thirds the way to claiming the Winston Million bonus, offered to any driver who can win three of NASCAR's four major races - Daytona 500, Winston 500, Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte, N.C., May 27) and Southern 500 (Darlington, S.C., Sept. 2).
"All I can say," said Buddy Parrott, Cope's crew chief, "is look out Humpy Wheeler [Charlotte Motor Speedway president] because we're heading for that million there.
"I've had a gut feeling about Talladega ever since we left Daytona. I want to take that race car we won Daytona with and put it to 'em one more time.
"If we can put the second leg [of the million] on at Talladega, I think we can win it all."
Cope's Chevrolet Lumina once again will be powered by a Keith Dorton motor. Dorton built the stout powerplant that kept Cope in position to take advantage of Dale Earnhardt's last-lap, cut-tire heartbreak at Daytona.
"The car has got to have motor to win at Talladega," Cope said. "I think you're going to see the guy with a ton of motor out front.
"Ken Schrader [the Daytona 500 pole-sitter] will be there, so will Earnhardt. Those Fords will be tough, too."
Parrott predicted that, depending on what NASCAR does with the cars' rear spoilers, it will take a lap of 198 mph to win the pole.
"We should be able to run faster than at Daytona, but if it gets hot and humid, you won't see it," Parrott said.
Because of NASCAR's carburetor-restrictor plates, Bill Elliott's 1987 record Talladega qualifying lap of 212.809 mph won't be touched.
The pole run will be held Thursday at 4:30 p.m. on the 2.666-mile superspeedway. The top spots in Sunday's 42-car field will be determined in the opening round. Second-round time trials will be held Friday.
Grand National driver Chuck Bown may know no bounds now that he has won his first race for the Ridgeway-based Hensley Racing team.
"It's a tremendous boost for our team," said Bown, after scoring a convincing wire-to-wire win Saturday at Lanier (Ga.) Raceway.
"I always felt this team could win. I just always wondered when it would happen. Now, finally, it's happened."
The victory came in Bown's 37th start for the Hensley operation. Hubert and Jeff Hensley, the father-son combination that heads the team, hadn't seen their car in victory lane since June 1987, when driver Larry Pollard won at Hampton's Langley Speedway.
Bown, a 35-year-old former Winston West champion, ranks a solid third in the GN points chase. He said he hopes to solve an identity problem he has had since moving to the GN tour.
"For some reason, a lot of people think my name is Chuck Brown," he said, laughing.
In Pontiac Motorsports promotional photographs sent out before the season, Bown's mug shot was accompanied by the name: "Chuck Brown." He also is listed as "Chuck Brown" on his 1990 Maxx Racing card.
Jeff Purvis didn't stay in Bobby Allison's car long enough to get the seat warm.
Purvis, 31, who was named to replace Mike Alexander last Saturday at Martinsville, was dismissed by Allison on Tuesday. He will be replaced by Alabama driver Hut Stricklin.
Purvis finished 28th in Sunday's Hanes 500 in his first Winston Cup start.
Stricklin, 28, drove full-time on the circuit last season, but lost his Rod Osterland-owned ride to Jimmy Spencer. He has driven in four races, including a relief stint for Davey Allison at Rockingham, N.C.
The length of Stricklin's contract was not disclosed.
Alan Kulwicki continues to be crossed by the racing gods.
Kulwicki's season of bad luck continued last Sunday at Martinsville when his Ford lost an oil pump belt while running third.
"I just can't believe it," Kulwicki said. "It was a one-in-a-million thing. A ball of rubber flipped up from the track and spun the belt off and it lost oil pressure.
"Unbelievable. I felt like we could have won."
\ LUGNUTS: Through eight of 31 races, Bobby Labonte leads the GN title race with 1,172 points. Hubert Hensley's nephew, Jimmy Hensley, is second with 1,139, with Bown third at 1,114. . . . The GN tour moves to South Boston on Saturday for the Roses 200. Practice starts at 2 p.m. and qualifying is at 5 p.m., with the 200-lap race taking the green flag at 8 p.m. Richmond's Tommy Ellis is the event's defending champion. . . . The South Boston race is the second in a grueling stretch in which the GN tour runs seven events in seven weeks. . . . Sterling Marlin recently unseated Martinsville's Buddy Arrington as the Winston Cup driver who has banked the most money without winning a race. Marlin, who hasn't won in 169 career starts, has career earnings of $1,775,822. Arrington, who retired three years ago, won $1,739,685 in 557 starts.
by CNB