Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 25, 1993 TAG: 9309270248
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
But it's certainly a step up from the old plaster casts, because Bodine was vigorously shaking hands and signing autographs with his right hand at Martinsville Speedway on Friday before qualifying for the Goody's 500.
A week ago Friday, Bodine suffered the broken arm, as well as a concussion and torn knee ligaments in a practice accident at Dover, Del.
The device on his arm, called a WristJack, was installed Tuesday by sports medicine doctors in Allentown, Pa., "to keep everything in alignment," Bodine said.
"These two pins are in my arm," he said, pointing to a couple of pins sticking out of the top end of the WristJack. "And these two pins are in my hand," he said, pointing to the other end.
"The only thing I've lose is mobility. I've lost no strength at all. So far, so good. I'm extremely pleased with the results."
Bodine said he will wear the WristJack for about five weeks and will have a couple of weeks of rehabilitation after that.
Dick Trickle qualified Bodine's Ford Thunderbird on Friday, earning the 14th starting spot. But Bodine plans to start Sunday's race and go as long as possible. "I'll run as much as I can," he said. "I ran this morning in practice and it felt real good. I ran real competitive times."
\ NEW DIRECTION: Wally Dallenbach, Jr., hopes Richard Petty will be able to provide the direction he feels he needs to make it big in the Winston Cup series.
Petty on Monday signed Dallenbach, 30, a second-year Cup driver who lives in Greensboro, N.C., to drive the No. 44 Pontiac Grand Prix for 1994, replacing Rick Wilson. The news was officially announced Wednesday.
"If Richard Petty can't get things through my thick skull, nobody can," Dallenbach said Friday before Goody's 500 qualifying at Martinsville Speedway. "I'm real excited. Who wouldn't be? It's going to be a real good opportunity for me because I'm going to learn a lot."
"The biggest problem I've got right now is qualifying, and that's something I've got to get on top of," he said. Dallenbach has only three top-10 starts this year, and two of those were on the road courses - his strength.
"I'm leaving Roush Racing on good terms - and I've still got a job to do for them for the rest of the year. But in a one-car operation, the whole team can focus on my needs, and that's going to help me. Richard Petty has always been a winner in a race car and he wants to be a winner as a car owner, too."
\ HENSLEY EIGHTH: Jimmy Hensley, meanwhile, qualified eighth as Wilson's replacement driver in the Petty car. Wilson cracked a couple of ribs in a crash at Dover last Sunday.
Wilson was not at Martinsville on Friday, but Petty said he is expected to return to action next weekend at North Wilkesboro and will finish out the season in the car.
"We're running pretty good," said Hensley, who is driving his third different car of 1993. He drove Jimmy Means' Ford in the first three races of the season and was in the late Alan Kulwicki's Ford most of the rest of the season.
"You've got different setups on different cars," he said, "and it's just a matter of getting a feel for them."
Between personal and professional commitments, the 47-year-old Hensley, who lives in nearby Ridgeway, Va., has been a busy man.
He worked his day job - driving a fuel oil truck for H.C. Lester Oil Co. of Collinsville - on Monday, Tuesday morning and Wednesday. On Tuesday afternoon he was at the Petty shops in Level Cross, N.C. getting his seat fitted.
On Thursday, he joined Hut Stricklin, Morgan Shepherd and Derrike Cope at the Reidsville (N.C.) Kiwanis Club's annual NASCAR celebrity golf tournament and then rushed off to see one of his three daughters, Amy, play an evening basketball game.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB