Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 9, 1992 TAG: 9202090124
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
FORDS EXPECTED TO DOMINATE DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING
As the NASCAR Winston Cup teams line up today to qualify for next Sunday's Daytona 500, no longer is it a matter of which car will win the pole, but which Ford.Davey Allison? Geoff Bodine? Bill Elliott? Sterling Marlin?
Take your pick. They're all Ford drivers. And it appears they will make the battle for the pole their own little contest.
Fords took six of the top seven positions in the Busch Clash on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, with Geoff Bodine winning, and the Fords have been consistently faster since testing for the 500 started in December.
However, the only thing that counts is the Feb. 16 race, and nobody is ready to concede the Daytona 500 to the Fords.
General Motors' finest Chevrolets, Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles all may be slower than the Fords, but they seem to be able to keep up in the draft.
"I think it's anybody's shot," driver Ricky Rudd said. "I think the Fords are faster, but it doesn't look like they'll be able to drive away in the race."
Ernie Irvan's Clash performance seemed to confirm Rudd's theory. Irvan's Chevy was second in the final 10 laps, and his fifth-place run in the first segment gave him the best overall finish in the Clash.
Today's time trials will consist of a two-lap run for each car, with the fastest lap counting as the qualifying run.
Also, because of the carburetor restrictor plates used to keep speeds below 200 mph, nearly everybody expects the second lap to be the fastest for most drivers. With the plates restricting power, the cars take longer to get up to speed on this 2.5-mile superspeedway.
The time trials will be televised by ESPN at 8 p.m. in a condensed, one-hour telecast.
\ Richard Petty said Saturday that he never again will compete in a stock car after this year, but he still might drive one from time to time next year to help the team and his new driver seek better performance.
"That's been a thought," he said. "I don't know. I might go out and run the car a little bit to get the feel of it. We'll just have to play that by ear."
But unlike A.J. Foyt, who is returning for more competition after making plans to retire last year, Petty said he will stick by his decision to not race.
"He didn't handle it too good," Petty said of Foyt. "I felt like I didn't need to handle it like that. A.J. was hurting [from his 1990 Elkhart Lake, Wis., crash], but then he went to Indy and ran pretty good and then he wasn't hurting as bad. It's a hard thing to give up.
"I had to sit down and figure out a program for me, the sponsors and fans, the whole gamut. Then, whether I wanted to or not, I knew I had made a commitment to everybody. So, when I say I'm going to quit, I'm going to quit."
\ Jimmy Horton won his seventh ARCA superspeedway race Saturday, capturing the ARCA 200 in a Chevrolet with a V-6 engine and a borrowed carburetor.
Horton's car, which he purchased from Darrell Waltrip in the off-season, was one of only two drivers in the race with the smaller engine.
However, he took the lead from Charlie Glotzbach with 10 laps to go and, after a final caution period that ended with one lap to go, beat Bobby Bowsher to the finish line by 16/100ths of a second in the final 2.5-mile sprint.
Bill Venturi, the 1991 ARCA champ, finished third, followed by defending ARCA 200 champ Ben Hess and Clifford Allison.
"I just feel the car handles a lot better with a smaller motor," Horton said.
Horton's biggest problem came earlier this week when ARCA inspectors confiscated the carburetor from his car because they said it was illegal.
"I had to run to Darrell Waltrip's truck and borrow a carburetor," Horton said. "We put it on and it worked. Lady Luck was on our side all week."
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Ritchie Petty of Randleman, N.C., finished ninth in his first ARCA race at Daytona.
"I'm happy," he said. "We've still got a car to go racing with. In the draft, I was OK, but by myself, I was way too slow."
Still, the top-10 finish was plenty satisfying for Petty, his father Maurice and the entire family. Ritchie's younger brother, 22-year-old Mark, is the crew chief and his older brother, Timmy, 30, builds the engines.
"I'm the sponsor," Maurice said.
The race was slowed by several accidents, including a seven-car melee in turn 2 on lap 24. Nobody was injured.