Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 4, 1993 TAG: 9310040051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Twelve months ago, the Holly Farms 400 went all 400 laps without a caution period.
Sunday, the first big crash occurred the moment the race started.
The trouble came in the middle of the pack, but it started at the front.
Pole-sitter Ernie Irvan was driving slowly as he brought the 34-car field to the green flag. Ricky Rudd, holding the outside pole, anticipated the green and hit the gas. But he hit the brakes when he realized he was going to jump the start ahead of Irvan.
"The flagman flew the green flag and Ernie didn't jump," Rudd said. "I wasn't about to jump the start and get black-flagged."
"I guess the No. 5 car [Rudd] must have felt like he jumped the No. 28 [Irvan] and pounded the brakes," said Mark Martin. "And the No. 14 [Terry Labonte] slammed on the brakes, and I slammed on the brakes and somebody [Bill Elliott] hit me from behind."
The accordion-style bumping at the front of the field turned into wrecking in the middle of the field. And it snared the inside line of cars when Jeff Gordon spun toward the inside wall.
Many cars were involved, but the ones that sustained the worst damage were those driven by Gordon, Geoff Bodine, Morgan Shepherd, Lake Speed and Ted Musgrave.
Most of these drivers didn't have a clue as to what caused the crash.
"It was just a pileup, kind of like you see on the city streets in rush hour," said Bodine, who finished 31st. "One guy stops and everybody runs into him."
Although he kept going, Martin also was a casualty.
When Elliott hit him, the impact bent the rear of his car's chassis and that dropped the spoiler about 4 inches.
"You can't go without down force," said Jack Roush, the car's owner.
"We were a dead duck after that," said Steve Hmiel, Martin's crew chief.
"So we ran two races here this year and got wiped out before we completed the first lap of either race," Martin said. "I just think it's ridiculous."
Martin finished 16th, five laps down.
After winning four consecutive Winston Cup races in August and early September, Martin has all but disappeared in the last four.
"It looks like we're not doing anything anymore," Martin said. "But we're not doing anything different."
\ ANDRETTI DEBUT: John Andretti's goal here Sunday was to finish his first Winston Cup race.
He finished the Holly Farms 400, but not the way he wanted.
Andretti spun four times, causing three of the race's four yellow flags. He also received a stop-and-go penalty for failing to move out of the way of the leaders.
Three of Andretti's spins came after run-ins with Jeff Purvis, another inexperienced Winston Cup driver. And he blamed Purvis.
"I know who's who, anyway," he said. "I think that the first one was questionable, and the next two were really uncalled for.
"It was a real letdown, because we were down so far so early," he said. "So we didn't get to race guys. But I'm just really glad to be in the race, and I got a lot of experience."
Andretti also can take heart from the final standings. He and Purvis finished the race 20 laps down. But Andretti was 24th, while Purvis was 25th.
\ MAST HAS GOOD RUN: Although Rick Mast's eighth-place finish was not his best of 1993 (he was fifth at Bristol in August), he had his best run of the season, leading twice for 21 laps.
"It was pretty good," said the Rockbridge Baths driver. "It was kind of like Martinsville. Five or six cars were hooked up, and we happened to be one of them.
"But with about 150 laps to go, the right rear shock broke. And after that I just kind of hung on for dear life. It feels like you've got a flat tire. The car is bouncing and it wants to jump out from under you."
Mast was three laps down at the checkered flag.
\ APOLOGIES NECESSARY: The close-quarters banging in short-track races sometimes requires apologies afterwards, and that's exactly what Irvan did to Rudd after Sunday's race.
"Sorry I got into you there, man," Irvan told Rudd moments after they got out of their cars.
Irvan was referring to a moment early in the race when he hit Rudd in the left rear corner while they were passing lapped traffic.
"That's OK," Rudd said. "I knew you didn't get into me on purpose. How were you today?"
And for a few more moments, they reviewed their performances.
Later, Rudd said, "He just got me sideways a little bit. It could have been big, but we came out of it pretty good."
Irvan finished third, while Rudd was fifth, one lap down.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB