Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 28, 1991 TAG: 9102280275
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press and staff reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Should Petty, the defending champion, win the 500-mile race, his crew chief, Gary Nelson, gets a Harley Davidson motorcycle, courtesy of team owner Felix Sabates, who didn't stop there.
Nelson's wife, Barbara, receives an entire living room of furniture if Petty wins. And the crew gets a 30-foot Donzi boat worth about $75,000.
If Petty doesn't win, however, Sabates told him he can buy the crew's boat.
"I'm not sure about that," Petty said Wednesday.
Last March, when Petty won this race from the pole, Sabates gave him the keys to a Rolls Royce that Petty had had his eye on.
Sabates' glamorous bonus plans "just makes it a whole lot more fun," Petty said. "It just spreads some of the wealth out. And it gives you a little bit of incentive to go out and know that you're not working for yourself, but working for the whole team."
Petty is not predicting victory again Sunday, but he said his Pontiac Grand Prix was "real strong" in a test session last week - his was the fastest of 20 tested - and "hopefully, we'll be just as competitive."
Petty said last year's victory was one of those races that former drivers Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons told him to expect only once or twice in a lifetime.
"We ran good right off the trailer," he said.
After winning the pole, Petty dominated. He led 429 of 492 laps and lapped all but one car on the 1.017-mile banked track.
The victory earned Petty $294,450, the largest purse in NASCAR history. Most of his winnings came from the $228,000 Unocal bonus for winning from the pole.
Before Petty's victory, it had been a year since a race had been won from the pole, so Unocal's per-race bonus of $7,600, which is added to the pot if the pole winner doesn't win, had rolled over many times. For Sunday's race, the bonus stands at $68,400.
Sunday's $605,525 race is preceded by the Busch Grand National Goodwrench 200 at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Qualifying for the Winston Cup cars begins at 2:30 p.m. today.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB