Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 26, 1993 TAG: 9309260181
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
When Ernie Irvan chatted for the last time with Davey Allison at New Hampshire International Raceway a few days before Allison's death on July 13, Davey told him he would be driving Robert Yates' No. 28 Ford Thunderbird for a long, long time.
"He was talking about how long he was going to stay with this race team, about how much he enjoyed this race team," said Irvan. "I never knew I'd get a chance to find out from the side he was on. But this team is so strong and dedicated to what they're doing, I understand exactly what he's talking about now."
Irvan, like most who follow the NASCAR Winston Cup series, still sees the distinctive black, red and yellow Texaco Havoline-sponsored car as Allison's car.
But it became Irvan's car after he bought out his contract with car owner Larry McClure and the Kodak Chevrolet team. And in today's Goody's 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Irvan will start from the pole.
The fact that Irvan has replaced Allison after the Alabama star's untimely death has not set well with many diehard Allison fans.
But Irvan - a hard charger with a single-minded drive to win - probably is best suited to lifting the spirits of team that was devastated by the death of their driver. Allison and his team were as tight as any driver and team in the series.
Irvan probably never will achieve that closeness. He is not trying to replace Allison in his teammates' hearts, only in victory lane. And that's probably the best tonic for them, too, because it will go a long way toward taking their minds off the tragedy.
Irvan, for instance, said he has spent little time at Yates' shop in Charlotte, N.C., even though he lives in the area.
"I've been to the shop about one day a week," he said. "Those guys don't need any help over there, that's for sure. They know what their job is. And they don't need me there saying, `Why don't we try this? Why don't we try that.' I don't want to interfere with what they're doing."
Still, good communication is essential between a driver and his team. And Irvan said that has been easy so far with crew chief Larry McReynolds.
"I keep telling him to set it up the way he thinks it's right, and we'll go to the race track and go from there," he said. "The communication part has been awfully simple. Larry keeps a note on everything. And Larry seems to be able to ask me the right questions to get the right answers out of me. And that seems to be what it takes to be able to communicate."
Early last spring, before the Hanes 500 here, Allison spent three days testing at the .526-mile Martinsville oval, putting in some 600 laps of practice to try to improve the team's previously poor qualifying efforts. He started sixth and finished second to winner Rusty Wallace.
"We came to this race track with exactly the same setup they qualified with Davey," Irvan said. "Some of the stuff Larry said we were going to do for qualifying I was a little leery about. I wasn't sure it was going to work. But it sure did."
In his first races in the car, Irvan has followed his career pattern, which has been a mixture of flashes of brilliance and inconsistent results. He finished fifth in the Southern 500 and then earned the outside pole at Richmond, only to break a motor. At Dover, he won another outside pole, but crashed, admitting, "I made a mistake."
"We're ready to race," he said. "Whether it's going to work for 500 laps, I don't know. But we seem to be able to make changes in the race that seem to help. Now it's just a matter of being there at the end."
Meanwhile, Saturday's cloudy, cool weather made for a busy second round of time trials, as every non-qualifier except Dave Marcis made another qualifying attempt in hopes of improving his time.
And everyone went faster.
Mark Martin led the 14 drivers who ran, posting a lap at 91.985 mph to take the 21st starting position. Had Martin run that lap in Friday's first round, he would be starting third today. Bill Elliott was second fastest at 91.624. It was the sixth-fastest time in the two days of qualifying, but he'll start 22nd today.
Marcis' decision to stand on his Friday time did not help him. He plummeted from 22nd to 32nd. Two drivers - Phil Parsons and Greg Sacks - needed provisional starting spots to make the field. Jimmy Means failed to make the race.
The race starts at 12:40 p.m. and will be televised live by ESPN.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB