Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 7, 1992 TAG: 9203070195
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The forecast calls for rain and drizzle in the morning, with variable cloudiness and a 70 percent chance of thundershowers in the afternoon.
Gordon, 20, is hoping the forecast is wrong because he thinks he is on the verge of winning his first Grand National race.
"Hopefully, it won't rain," he said. "Boy, the car feels good. I want to win my first race here."
Gordon, a former USAC midget champion, said he is more comfortable on the shorter tracks because he has more experience on them.
"If a win is going to come, I would think it's going to be a shorter track like Richmond," he said. "I would think that before it happens at a Talladega or a Daytona, it's going to happen someplace like here. At least I hope so."
Gordon's pole-winning speed of 120.466 mph in his Ford was just enough to edge former Grand National champion Chuck Bown, who turned a lap of 120.353 mph in his Pontiac. Defending GN champion Bobby Labonte was third at 120.321 mph, followed by Joe Nemechek at 120.198 mph and Jimmy Spencer at 120.171 mph.
Also in the top 10 were Kenny Wallace (119.734 mph), Jeff Burton (119.311 mph), Butch Miller (119.200 mph), Jimmy Hensley (119.042 mph) and Darrell Waltrip (118.822 mph).
Ward Burton, who won his first career Grand National race last weekend at Rockingham, qualified 11th with a speed of 118.473 mph.
As he starts his second year in the Grand National series, Gordon said his primary goal, other than winning, is to be consistent.
"If we can run up front and get a top five or top six finish, that's what we really want," he said.
\ Jimmy Hensley is still hurting from the cracked ribs he suffered in the Goody's 300 three weeks ago at Daytona, but the injury did not slow him down much Friday.
Hensley, of Ridgeway, Va., was ninth fastest in qualifying, which lets him start today's Grand National race ahead of Winston Cup stars Davey Allison and Harry Gant, among others.
But Hensley said he still is not sure he will be able to drive the entire race.
"The ribs are a lot better than they were last week and hopefully they'll be a lot better next week," he said.
Last weekend in Rockingham, Hensley drove until the first caution period and then was relieved by Winston Cup driver Morgan Shepherd.
\ NASCAR car owner Harry Melling's decision to withdraw the No. 9 Ford from this weekend's Pontiac 400 at Richmond International Raceway marks the first time in almost 10 years the car will fail to start a Winston Cup race.
After seeing two of his cars - including the team's best car - wrecked in the space of four days, Melling dismissed driver Phil Parsons and decided "to step back and reevaluate our program," he said in a statement released Friday.
Melling's crew chief, Gene Roberts, was in the garage Friday and said the unsponsored team would return to the Winston Cup series next weekend with another car for the Motorcraft 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with road racer Dorsey Schroeder as driver.
"Basically, it is a question of economics," Melling's statement said. "To all intents and purposes, we lost a good race car [in a crash] last weekend at Rockingham and [Wednesday's practice] accident at Atlanta totally destroyed the car we planned to run next week."
Parsons, 34, was not injured in either crash.
\ Veteran car owner Junie Donlavey has veteran driver Charlie Glotzbach piloting his Ford.
Glotzbach was 35th fastest out of 36 cars that made qualifying attempts. His best lap was 115.518 - almost six miles per hour slower than pole winner Bill Elliott's lap. \
SHORT TAKES: For the second weekend in a row, Barry Dodson will be the interim crew chief for Derrike Cope's Chevrolet. . . . Privateer Jimmy Means has a one-race sponsorship from the Funshine RV Center of Staunton, Va. . . . Elliott's pole win Friday was the 42nd of his career. But this is only his sixth pole on a short track. It is his second pole at Richmond.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB