Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 5, 1991 TAG: 9104050639
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
"It couldn't have come at a better time," Bodine said after posting the top qualifying speed of 161.939 mph, topping teammate Sterling Marlin's speed by .16 seconds, a comfortable margin in NASCAR racing. "Had to stop all those guys with all those rumors."
After his run, which came late in the qualifying session, Bodine said he knew he had the pole because "the corner worker put one finger up - the friendly one."
So it will be an all-Junior Johnson, all-Ford front row when the 500-mile race gets under way at 1 p.m. Sunday. The 367-lap race over the 1.366-mile speedway will be televised live by ESPN.
Ernie Irvan, who also had strong practice runs, starts on the inside of the second row, with Ken Schrader on the outside. The third row will have Harry Gant and Alan Kulwicki. Dale Earnhardt and Brett Bodine are on the fourth row, and Darrell and Michael Waltrip round out the top 10.
Thirty-six cars were rolled out for qualifying Thursday. Among those who failed to qualify in the top 20 were Rusty Wallace, Morgan Shepherd, Terry Labonte, Richard Petty, Joe Ruttman and Lake Speed.
Wallace was thwarted by a chipped valve, and his car sputtered around the track, never getting close to qualifying speed.
"I figured we had a good shot at the front row and then this happens," he said. Wallace will get another qualifying attempt at 2 p.m. today.
Speed, anxious to impress car owner Cale Yarborough after replacing Dick Trickle in the TropArtic Pontiac, did about as well as Trickle has been doing. Speed had the 27th fastest time, which put him just ahead of Chad Little and just behind Petty.
"We didn't do too good," Speed said. "We had the car set up for a hot track. The clouds came in and it cooled down. It was too tight for us."
Bodine has 28 career pole positions and his second in a row for this race. He set the one-lap track record at Darlington in winning last year's pole.
Marlin, meanwhile, has never won a pole.
"Well, we tried," Marlin said. "The [No.] 11 car [Bodine] had run good in testing all day. We figured he'd be the one to beat."
Considering the surplus of trouble-with-Bodine stories in the past few weeks, he probably needed this pole more than Marlin.
Bodine said the stories were unfounded.
"This team is solid as a rock," he said. "There's no problem with the team. The problems have been out on the race track."
But there's no dispute about Bodine's season. He finished 32nd at Daytona, 13th at Richmond and Rockingham and 23rd at Atlanta. And his best starting position was seventh.
Consequently, there's been nothing but glum faces around the Bodine garage on race weekends. And the stories of team discontent have been quick to follow.
"I've just been making mistakes with the set up," Bodine said. "We haven't been running good. So we put Junior to work. Asked him to come over here to help us. He got his hands dirty."
\ TRANSOUTH 500
TOP 5 IN MPH \
1. Geoff Bodine 161.939 \
2. Sterling Marlin 161.085 \
3. Ernie Irvan 161.027 \
4. Ken Schrader 160.927 \
5. Harry Gant 160.659
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB