Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 8, 1992 TAG: 9202080173
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
NEWCOMER ZIPS TO POLE FOR ARCA 200
Driver Loy Allen Jr., a 25-year-old unknown from Raleigh, N.C., proved Friday that with the right equipment, even a superspeedway beginner can blister the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.Driving one of Davey Allison's old cars, the Daytona rookie won the pole for today's ARCA 200 with a speed of 192.033 mph, beating veterans such as Charlie Glotzbach, 1991 ARCA champion Bill Venturini and Jimmy Horton.
Allen is so new to superspeedway racing that he won the pole even before learning how to draft on the high banks.
"I haven't gotten any track time to draft with anyone," he said.
"I just want to finish the race and learn from some of these guys," he said. "Right now, having not raced in the draft, I'll be satisfied if I'm comfortable on the track. We didn't expect anything like this. . . . My goal was to come here, qualify and finish the race."
Allen has been competing in about 80 short track races a year since starting his driving career in 1982. But he's never raced on any track longer than five-eighths of a mile.
"I've just got to take it easy and stay out of trouble," Allen said. "I know there are a lot of good drivers starting behind me. If I can just get with some of them and hang in there during the race, it'll be good."
Glotzbach qualified on the outside of the front row, followed by Venturini, Horton, Bob Keselowski and Bobby Bowsher. Forty-two cars will start the race.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Ritchie Petty of Randleman, N.C., Maurice Petty's son and Richard's nephew, qualified 19th with a lap of 184.053 mph.
The ARCA 200 begins at 2 p.m. today. ESPN will tape the race and show it at 8 p.m.
\ Dave Marcis, who is still looking for sponsorship this year, moved into a new home last fall in Avery's Creek, N.C.
Marcis owns seven race cars and a complete race shop, but until his recent move, "we lived in a trailer house for 25 years," he said.
Marcis said he doesn't need the multimillion dollar sponsorship packages demanded by other teams. "We can be pretty efficient for $800,000 for a season," he said.
| Car owner Felix Sabates is doing everything he can to change the commonly held notion that drivers race for victories and titles, not money.
Sabates has given his driver, Kyle Petty, a $6 million incentive package for the 1992 racing season.
If Petty wins the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16, Sabates will give him a $1 million bonus. The same bonus also applies for victories in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Mello Yello 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, or if Petty wins five races in 1992, or the Winston Cup championship or the Winston Million.
And if Petty has a truly spectacular season and wins all five bonuses, Sabates will throw in an additional $1 million.
Sabates presented Petty with his 1992 salary contract and bonus package (written on a piece of yellow notebook paper) while they were traveling to an appearance in Las Vegas.
Petty "never even looked at it," Sabates said. "He said that whatever I wanted to pay him was fine. When we got to the hotel, he read it.
"Then he said, `Are you kidding? I ain't worth that kind of money.'
"I told him, `If you win all that, you are worth it.' "
\ After all the trouble that Winston Cup teams experienced over the winter trying to make their cars conform to NASCAR's tougher inspection standards, you would think they would have breezed through inspection here.
But only four or five of the more than 60 cars that were inspected Thursday passed on the first try. And there were still several teams that had not passed inspection Friday, although none were top-line teams.
In addition to body shape problems, the fuel cells were too large on some cars. On others, the cowl, or air intake opening on the hood, was too large.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING