Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993                   TAG: 9307170053
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA.                                LENGTH: Long

NO. 28 ON MANY MINDS AS DRIVERS GET BACK TO BUSINESS

There was little to suggest that the sport had lost one of its stars only four days earlier.

All the cars had No. 28 decals on their cars - the number of Davey Allison's Ford Thunderbird.

And there was an empty space where the hauler of Allison's race cars should have been parked, right there in the fifth position for Winston Cup points, in between the Morgan Shepherd and Kyle Petty haulers. Allison's team withdrew from the race.

There also was an empty stall in the garage - a stall in which emptiness kept the tragedy fresh in the mind of Brett Bodine, who was parked nearby and discovering he was "just not into it today."

But other than that, it was business as usual - on the surface.

There was a three-hour practice session in the morning, and shortly after 3 p.m. on a sunny day, Ken Schrader wheeled his Chevrolet Lumina onto the track and won the pole for Sunday's Miller 500 with a lap at 162.934 mph. It beat Schrader's record of 162.816 mph set last month.

"Well, you know, it's not like it takes your mind off it," Schrader said. "When you're in the car, you think about racing. But when you're out of the car, you think about lots of stuff. You walk by there and see the empty spot.

"Davey was with us when Alan [Kulwicki] was killed, and that was something that hit him, but he did what he had to do. You know, that's our job."

So crewmen and drivers kept their minds on business and their heads under car hoods, getting ready, as always, for another race.

"You feel like we really ought to have an off week right now to mourn him," Rusty Wallace said. "But we're back racing as usual, and that's part of the schedule. Whether we like it or not, we're here."

Said Dale Earnhardt, "There ain't nothing nobody can say. It's just going to take time to get over it.

"There's tragedy all around if you look - earthquake in Japan, floodwaters in the Midwest. And in our lives, we see so many sick kids and kids with cancer and Make-A-Wish Foundation kids. Over and over you see that. But you have to go on about your business."

And even as the auto racing world reeled from the news of Allison's fatal helicopter crash Monday at Talladega Superspeedway, other NASCAR drivers and owners were facing their own fresh tragedies and unexpected hardships.

Richard and Lynda Petty were in Los Angeles on Monday night for a television special when an emergency telephone call came.

It wasn't about Allison. It was the news that Lynda's 76-year-old father, Leonard Owens, who had lung cancer but had been in stable condition in an Asheboro hospital, suddenly had died.

Moments later, when the Pettys called their son, Kyle, to pass along the news of his grandfather's death, he told them about Allison's crash.

"We heard about both of them at the same time," Petty said. And the only reason he wasn't at Allison's funeral was because his father-in-law's was the same day.

Rick Mast, meanwhile, took an emergency phone call after last Sunday's race in New Hampshire to learn that his house in Rockbridge Baths, Va., had burned. He estimated the damage at $80,000.

"We were running around Monday feeling sorry for ourselves, looking at this mess, and we heard about Davey's crash," Mast said. "On Tuesday, after he died, I looked at Sharon and said, `We ain't got a problem in the world.' "

For those closest to Allison, like Hut Stricklin, it was "very hard to keep focused."

Allison finished third at New Hampshire on Sunday, crashed on Monday and died on Tuesday. The wake was Wednesday, and after the funeral Thursday, everyone rushed to get here for qualifying Friday. There hardly has been time to catch a breath.

"We went through the same thing," said Paul Andrews, Kulwicki's crew chief. "We know what they're feeling. And they know what we went through."

Kulwicki, the Winston Cup champion, was killed in an April 1 plane crash while en route to a race at Bristol.

"This is what Davey would have wanted - all of us here working hard to do the best we can," said Dale Jarrett, who grew up in the NASCAR infields with Allison and Kyle Petty.

So the teams kept at it Friday.

While Schrader won his fourth pole of the year, Bill Elliott had his best qualifying effort of 1993, winning the outside pole at a speed of 162.637 mph in a Ford Thunderbird. Ricky Rudd was third in a Chevrolet at 162.317 mph, followed by Ernie Irvan in another Chevy at 162.262 mph and Mark Martin in a Ford at 162.241 mph.

Also in the top 10 were Ford drivers Jimmy Hensley (162.110 mph), rookie Bobby Labonte (161.830 mph), Morgan Shepherd (161.201 mph), Derrike Cope (161.094 mph) and Brett Bodine (161.054 mph).

There was other news, too.

Veteran Buddy Baker has signed to drive for Rick Hendrick in the DieHard 500 at Talladega Superspeedway next weekend.

Also, Wally Dallenbach Jr., who has been struggling all year, said he has requested his release from Roush Racing and the team's Ford Thunderbird in 1994 and is free to talk with other teams.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING