Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990 TAG: 9007010101
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Randy King
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
NASCAR spokesman Chip Williams confirmed this week that the sanctioning body will employ computers "on a trial basis" on Aug. 12 at Watkins Glen, N.Y.
"We don't know what the computers will do," Williams said. "We just want to play with them a little bit. We can't know anything definite until we study the situation . . . try them out and see if they work."
The computer system at Watkins Glen will serve as a backup to the present hand-scoring method.
NASCAR's latest scoring flap came on April 22 at North Wilkesboro, N.C. Brett Bodine got a controversial victory when the pace car, at the control tower's request, picked up the wrong lead car. Bodine, in essence, got a free pit stop and went on to win the race.
Darrell Waltrip, who finished second in the race, still maintains that he won the Wilkesboro race.
\ Waltrip, the three-time Winston Cup champion, and his team remain in a puzzling slump. A six-time winner in 1989, Waltrip has yet to win a race and is buried in eighth place in the points standings.
"I know in my heart, and I think this team knows in their heart, that we're much better than this," Waltrip said. "We just need a break. Honestly, I still feel we can win six or seven races this year.
"We've had things break that never should happen. You begin to ask yourself, `When will it all stop?' I know I want to win and the crew wants to win. Everybody has all these ideas of why things aren't going well. I hear, `What's wrong with Darrell? What's wrong with the car? What's wrong with the crew? What's wrong with the sponsor? Is it this? Is it that?'
"I've heard it for most of the year. It's nothing. We're just in a slump and we'll come out of it. When we do, everybody will forget about it.
"It's gone on with us to the point where it's on the edge of ridiculous. We're too good to keep having these things happen to us, but they do.
"I keep telling the guys that this is a test. If we get through all this and don't kill each other and the team doesn't fall apart because of it, we're going to be a better race team. That's the way I've got to look at it."
Obviously, Waltrip is not about to stand pat. He is close to buying the team from car owner Rick Hendrick and is expected to make wholesale personnel changes.
Also, it is almost certain he will lose Tide as his major sponsor at the end of the season.
\ Defending champion Davey Allison says Saturday's Pepsi 400 at Daytona will be "a whole new ballgame" since Goodyear will use its radial tires on the high-banked oval for the first time in competition.
Goodyear, the exclusive tire supplier for the Winston Cup Tour, brought in the radials for the 1988 Daytona 500 but quickly withdrew them after Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott crashed in practice.
In addition to the radials, the cars will be running with a new 29/32nds-inch carburetor restrictor plate.
"The radial tires, when we tried them before, it was not a comfortable tire for me," Allison said. "The [new] restrictor plate, we feel, will slow us down about four miles an hour. The radials will probably be 2 1/2 miles an hour faster than the bias-plys were, so we'll get some of it back.
"Still, it's not going to change how you drive in a restrictor plate race. You still mash down on the gas and nothing happens. We're used to instant response most places, and not getting it can cause problems."
\ Although the season hasn't hit the halfway point yet, the rumor mill already is churning regarding possible changes for 1991.
Geoff Bodine, who is working a one-year deal with car owner Junior Johnson, is said to be on the way out despite his current third-place standing in the Winston Cup points race. Johnson and team members reportedly are upset that Bodine and crew chief Tim Brewer apparently have a personal deal to split certain bonus earnings.
Insiders say Johnson wants to hire Sterling Marlin as his driver in '91. Marlin will be free since he is in the final year of his contract with car owner Billy Hagan. If Marlin doesn't land in Johnson's seat, he could be headed to the Wood Brothers Ford, which is expected to be vacated by Dale Jarrett at the end of this season.
Another man on the move will be Jimmy Spencer, who is driving his first season for car owner Rod Osterlund. Spencer has said privately he will not be back with the team in '91. Insiders say Osterlund is having financial problems and the team's future could be in jeopardy.
Spencer also could be a candidate to replace Bobby Hillin in the Stavola Brothers Buick or the Woods' Ford. Hillin is said to be on the way out, unless he wins a race in the final 15 events.
\ Richmonder Tommy Ellis' job with the J&J Racing team apparently is safe for the remainder of the Busch Grand National season. Tired of hearing rumors of Ellis' imminent demise with the team, David Pitt, vice president of Standard Candy Co., which sponsors the team, issued a statement. It said: "Tommy Ellis was the driver of choice when we entered NASCAR racing for the same reason he remains our driver today. There has never been any thought of replacing Tommy, much less any consideration given to it. If anyone in the media hears differently, we are available to discuss the rumors and would appreciate the opportunity to do so." The struggling team fired crew chief Mike Hillman earlier this month, prompting car owner John Jackson to say, "We've had to make some personnel changes that, hopefully, will cure our problems."
\ Kyle Petty got a Rolls-Royce from car owner Felix Sabates when he won at Rockingham, N.C., in March. Now, Petty wants another car - an Indy car. Sabates has guaranteed Petty an Indy-car ride for three road-course races in 1991 if Petty can win three Winston Cup races this season. By the way, reports say Sabates and Petty will have to find a new sponsor to replace Peak Antifreeze in '91. . . . Hendrick's high-dollar teams continue to struggle. Waltrip, Ken Schrader, Ricky Rudd and Greg Sacks are a combined 0-for-47 this season. . . . There have been nine different winners in the first 14 Winston Cup races. . . . Seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty turns 53 Monday. The King, who finished a season-best 11th last Sunday at Michigan, hasn't won a race in six years, a span covering 167 races. . . . Ken Schrader's July racing schedule reads like a major-league baseball team. The tireless Schrader will be in a race car for 25 days in July. Schrader's itinerary includes doubleheaders on July 7-8. "If there's a race, we might as well go to it. My idea of relaxation is not a weekend at the lake," said Schrader, who ran 103 races in 1983.
by CNB