Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 4, 1993 TAG: 9309060217
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
He took his first Darlington practice laps in the Ford, then qualified 10th for Sunday's Southern 500 at a speed of 158.996 mph, which was about 2.2 mph slower than pole-winner Ken Schrader.
Although Irvan's contract buyout and release from Morgan-McClure Racing's Chevrolet Lumina were expected Thursday, the final arrangements did not happen until Friday morning at the raceway, a few hours before time trials.
Irvan would not say how much it cost him to buy out the final year of his contract with the Abingdon, Va.-based team, but said he paid it himself Friday morning. And it was expensive. The speculation started at several hundred thousand dollars and went up to $3 million, although a realistic amount - and the one most frequently mentioned in the garage Friday - was $400,000.
"There was a lot . . . I had to give up to get out of the contract," Irvan said Friday. "It ended up being an awful lot of money, considering I never got a salary. But I made an offer. I had to borrow part of it. I had part of it in the bank.
"In the long run, I know I'll never have that money again, but we can make more money here [with Yates] and win the championship, so you just keep movin' on."
By joining Yates, Irvan will get not only a healthy percentage of his race winnings, but a hefty salary as well. At Morgan-McClure, he received 40 percent of his winnings, but no salary, which is why he asked out of his contract.
Yates said he did not help Irvan buy out his contract.
"All the money came out of the driver's pocket," Yates said. "The team didn't have to suffer for it; [sponsor] Texaco didn't have to contribute - and didn't want to - and Ford didn't have to."
Although Irvan's divorce from Morgan-McClure was final Friday, hard feelings lingered between Irvan and team co-owner Larry Mc Clure.
Irvan said he was shocked by the early release. He wanted to finish the season.
"But [McClure] took off and wanted me to leave now," Irvan said. "To me, that wasn't right. I don't know if he was just trying to put me in a predicament that I couldn't race this weekend. I don't know his reasoning."
Said McClure: "After the Bristol race [where Irvan crashed in qualifying and during the race and finally retired with a blown engine], we looked at our situation. And the reason we decided to [release Irvan] was for the good of our sponsors, the race team and the fans. Also, we had to consider the fact that we didn't want to fix more race cars and blow more motors. He couldn't focus on his job."
Jeff Purvis was Irvan's replacement in the No. 4 car Friday, as expected. Purvis is an infrequent Winston Cup competitor who has never won, but McClure said, "the only thing he lacks is experience."
Meanwhile, several other expected driver changes that were widely reported this week did not occur.
Geoff Bodine remains in the No. 15 Ford Thunderbird for the Southern 500. Jimmy Hensley is still in the No. 7 Ford Thunderbird.
That leaves Lake Speed, who has been Allison's temporary replacement the past three races, without a ride for Sunday. On Friday night, however, he signed a one-year contract with car owner Bud Moore to drive the No. 15 Ford in 1994.
"Well, it's a little disappointing after we tested two days here not to be able to run," Speed said. "But I understood that this could happen at any time, any weekend."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB