Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992 TAG: 9202150240
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
DON'T COUNT OUT HENSLEY
Even though this has not been Jimmy Hensley's week at Daytona International Speedway, don't count him out in today's Goody's 300 for NASCAR Grand National cars.Hensley, the 46-year-old racing veteran from Ridgeway, Va., has a knack for coaxing the most out of a sub-par race car.
He proved that last year.
In the Goody's 500 Winston Cup race last September at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, he finished 10th in the weak Team III Pontiac.
He won three Grand National races and finished fifth in the championship in Don Beverly's car despite almost no sponsorship all year.
But Hensley has a lot of work to do to get to the front in today's 300-mile race, which begins at 12:30 p.m. He starts 34th in the 44-car field in his Beverly Racing Oldsmobile.
"We started out with two brand-new motors Monday and blew both of them," he said. "We had one lap on each motor."
The third motor hasn't blown yet, but in first-round qualifying Tuesday, it only carried him to the 44th fastest time, leaving him in danger of having to use a provisional starting spot for the race if he didn't improve.
Characteristically, Hensley gained 10 spots in second-round qualifying and easily made the field.
But he's still four miles per hour slower than Michael Waltrip, who won the pole Tuesday with a speed of 186.556 mph.
In today's race, "we just want to try to get the car comfortable in the draft and hopefully salvage a good finish," he said. "The way things have gone this week, I'd say a top-15 finish would be pretty respectable."
Hensley and a number of other notable Grand National drivers, including Tommy Ellis and Tom Peck, have endured bleak winters as they searched without luck for sponsorship.
For a driver, there's little worse off the track than seeing a potential sponsorship deal fall through. That happened several times to Hensley.
"You think you have something and then it doesn't pan out," he said. "It's real frustrating.
"We're hanging in there, trying to beat the bushes and get something. We're doing all we can do. We're not asking for that much money."
Even without a sponsor, Hensley and Beverly hope to run another full Grand National campaign.
And even though he is 46, Hensley hopes to move into the Winston Cup Series if the right deal comes along.
"There's too much money and prestige up there now not to do it," he said.
\ Maxie Bush of Conestee, S.C., won the Florida 200 NASCAR Dash series race Friday after leading 40 laps of the 80-lap race for four-cylinder cars.
Bush took the lead for good from Will Hobgood on a restart on lap 77 and still was in front when the yellow flag waved again on lap 79. The raced ended under caution.
Kevin Brookshire was third, followed by George Crenshaw and Johnny Chapman.
\ The Nashville Network will feature Richard Petty on a live call-in show at 9 p.m. Sunday, a few hours after the end of the Daytona 500. Callers may try to chat with "The King" by calling 1-800-452-8747.