
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991                   TAG: 9104060172
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C.                                  LENGTH: Medium

RALL RICHMOND RACES TO RUN UNDER LIGHTS

NASCAR has approved Richmond (Va.) International Raceway's request to stage this fall's Winston Cup and Grand National races at night.

The Miller Genuine Draft 400 will be held Saturday evening, Sept. 7, instead of the following afternoon, and the Autolite Platinum 200 will be Friday evening, Sept. 6, rather than the next day.

The starting times have not been set, but the green flag is tentatively scheduled to fall at 8 p.m. each night.

Qualifying for the Winston Cup race is scheduled to precede the Friday night Grand National race.

Raceway president Paul Sawyer said he sought the move to night racing to benefit the fans.

A Saturday night race provides the event with a Sunday afternoon rain date, thus reducing the chance of having a Monday rain date, which Sawyer said was sure to create a "colossal traffic jam" between track-bound race fans and work-bound commuters.

"I don't like a Monday rain date and the fans don't like it," he said. "Also, the heat's been terrible in Richmond on Sunday afternoon the last three or four years.

"And one of the real main reasons is if we were rained out on Sunday and had to run Monday, where do I get my help from? Almost all of my help have regular jobs they have to go to on Monday. Where do I get my policemen? Where do I get my parking people and the people who run the concessions?"

The Sunday back-up date "assures an opportunity for fans, competitors and hundreds of part-time workers to participate in a rescheduled event," said Les Richter, NASCAR's vice president for competition.

Sawyer has ordered nine towers of temporary lights to illuminate the track and has scheduled a pair of 200-lap races for NASCAR Modifieds and All Pro cars on Saturday, Aug. 3, to test the system.

The temporary lighting will allow officials "to evaluate television to be sure we have enough candlepower without having any dark spots," Sawyer said. Next year, he said, he plans to install permanent lights.

\ Showers Friday afternoon washed out the second and final qualifying session for today's Busch Grand National race at Darlington International Raceway, leaving Davey Allison out of the 200-mile race, which starts at 1 p.m.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB