Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 11, 1993 TAG: 9306100081
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN DeVIDO
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
It's been a good relationship. The Floyd driver has had plenty of good times with her, and many fond memories to savor. He'll miss her, but she's getting old. And he can't depend on her any more. When trust is gone in this type of relationship, what's left?
Agnew is moving on. He's going to find a new and younger car.
Agnew, the Late Model division's points winner for the past two years, has had problems with his Chevy Lumina this season. There was a broken spindle in one race; the rear end went out in another.
The result? Agnew, who won six LMSC races last year, hasn't won any so far this year.
He's getting tired of the car's constant problems.
"I can't get it workin' this year," he said. "It won't turn in the corner. Guys who can cut corners just cut right in front of you. I have to slow down on corners. It makes a major difference."
Although the car is only two years old, Agnew said it got plenty of wear and tear from running two races a week for the 1991 and 1992 seasons. He raced it at the New River Valley Speedway and the Lonesome Pines Speedway in Coeburn.
"There's probably more than 150 races on that car," he said.
He plans to get, as early as next month, a car made by Hedgecock, which makes racing cars in High Point, N.C. Ronnie Thomas, who has won four LMSC races this year, had his car made by Hedgecock.
His opinion on the makers?
"They actually come to the races and see what's going on," he said. "They're not at the lake on Saturday or Sunday like other car makers."
\ TRAVELING BLUES: When Grump Wills shows up for a Pure Stock race, the other cars in the field pretty much battle for second place.
Case in point: Wills took the lead in last week's 25-lap race on the first lap. At the end of the lap, his lead was already three seconds. Wills won by seven seconds. You can't blame him for driving so fast. He was happy to be at the speedway after what happened two weeks ago.
The West Virginia driver has won six of his eight races this year. Ah, but the two he didn't win . . .
In the first race of the season, Wills broke an axle. Two weeks ago, he ran into trouble of a different kind.
He was in Radford when the races started, but he couldn't compete.
Wills owns a tractor-trailer. He hauls Ford motor parts for Central Virginia Trucking in Lynchburg. He was on the job two Saturdays ago, hauling parts from Detroit to Radford.
He pulled into the Radford Foundry at 5 p.m. and was ready to unload. He had to be at the track by 6, so he knew he'd have to be fast.
There was only one problem: The Foundry broke down. Wills couldn't unload his truck.
"I wanted to come to the track, but they wanted me to stay here," he said. "I thought about getting one of the pit guys to come here and sit with the truck, but it wouldn't have looked good. It's part of the business."
That meant Wills had to sit with the truck while the races went on. "We finally unloaded the truck at midnight," he said. "I slept in the truck and left at 6 a.m."
Wills had another job scheduled a week ago. He was supposed to go to Detroit on Saturday.
"I swapped loads with a guy," he said. "From now on, I'm gonna try to be here."
\ THE COMEBACK KID: When the LMSC race began last week, Ronnie Thomas was sitting in the back of the 25-car field.
Thomas was put there for mixing too much regular gas with racing gas. A certain amount of regular gas is allowed in the mix, mainly because it's cheaper for the drivers.
No problem for Thomas, though. He quickly worked his way back to the front of the field. By the 15th lap, he already was in 12th. He'd jumped to seventh by the 21st lap. On lap 41, he claimed the fifth spot. He snuck into fourth on the 45th lap, then passed Agnew on the inside going into the second turn on lap 50 to put himself in third place.
Would it be the comeback of the century? Would Thomas give new meaning to the phrase "from worst to first?"
Nah.
On the 61st lap he pulled out to change a flat tire he got running over a sheet of metal. He finished 17th.
Still, it was a great comeback while it lasted.
"I didn't really think we'd get up there that quick," he said. "It usually gets tough around fifth or sixth place, but it seemed like my car was running good everywhere - on the corners, on the straightaways, just everywhere."
\ CONTROVERSY ON THE TRACK: Winston-Salem's Johnny Rumley was upset, to say the least, at the conclusion of Saturday's LMSC race. Rumley, who finished second behind Paul Radford, said his chances of passing Radford on the last laps were thwarted because Billy Martin was in his way.
Martin finished 13th and was way behind going into the final laps. He stayed on the inside . . .
"If he isn't smart enough to know that he should've gotten out of the way . . . lapped cars should know enough to get out of the way," Rumley said.
Martin disagreed.
"I was on the inside, where I was supposed to be," he said. "He had 99 laps to pass Radford."
\ SATURDAY'S RACE: The Jesse Jones 200 will have the regular slew of races. There will be the 100-lap Late Model feature, the 35-lap Limited Sportsman race, and 25-lap Modified Mini, Mini Stock and Pure Stock races.
But there's more.
Gatorade will give out extra money to the winner of each race. The Late Model winner gets $2,000 (usually it's $1,700), the Limited Sportsman winner gets $850, the Modified Mini winner gets $450, and the winners of the Mini Stock and Pure Stock races get $325 each.
Gates open at 2 p.m. and practice begins at 4. Qualifying starts at 6:15 and the green flag drops at 8. Admission is $8 for adults and $1 for children 12 and under.
Brian DeVido covers sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB