Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 14, 1993 TAG: 9311140087
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium
Hoosier President Bob Newton first read a prepared statement, then pulled out three pages of prepared questions and answers and read those, too.
It was a real-life version of that Bob and Ray comedy skit in which Bob is forced to interview Ray using a question-and-answer script already prepared by Ray.
"Question: Is Hoosier being involved good for the series?" Newton droned from his script. Then he read the canned answer: "This series is built on competition . . ."
On and on it went.
Once that was done, however, and reporters had a chance to ask spontaneous questions, Newton had fresh answers.
He said Hoosier is serious about its return to Winston Cup racing.
"This is my golf game," he said. "I play it seven days a week. I want to do away with the image of a country boy in a two-stall garage sitting on a creeper and eating a bologna sandwich."
Newton said Hoosier will have at least two teams in 1994: A.G. Dillard Racing with driver Ward Burton and Stavola Brothers Racing with Ward's brother, Jeff.
"We're going to have more than two rookies, but I can't say who yet," Newton said.
Newton and Goodyear's director of racing, Leo Mehl, say they don't expect a repeat of the tire war of 1988 and 1989, which saw a rash of hard crashes resulting from tire failures as reliability suffered in the quest by both companies to produce faster tires.
Each man said his company doesn't expect to repeat the mistakes of the first tire war.
"We learned a lot," Mehl said in an interview in the garage. "We're very confident we're not going to have the tire failures we had then. What it comes down to is we'd much rather lose a race than compromise safety."
One question that remains unanswered is whether teams will be able to change brands during a race, as they could in 1988-89.
While Newton said he is assuming the rules will be "the same as they were the last time," NASCAR spokesman Chip Williams said NASCAR's "thinking, at this point in time," is that "whichever brand a car qualified with will be the brand they have to race with."
On the track Saturday, Ken Schrader, who crashed his primary car Friday in the final turn of a qualifying lap that probably would have won the Hooters 500 pole, came back in his backup car to lead the second round of time trials.
"At least I made it back around today," he said.
Schrader's lap at 173.926 mph would have taken the 12th starting spot during Friday's qualifying session, but he will start 21st in today's race.
Kyle Petty and Hut Stricklin were among 21 drivers who ran in the second round, but both Winston Cup regulars failed to make the top 40. Petty was 41st and Stricklin 42nd. That's where they will begin today, using provisional starting spots. Each was about a full second slower than pole winner Harry Gant.
John Andretti, P.J. Jones and Jimmy Means were among nine drivers who failed to make the field.
Also on Saturday, car owner Jack Roush and his new driver, Ted Musgrave, unveiled their new No. 16 Ford Thunderbird that will be sponsored in 1994 by The Family Channel cable network.
"It will be my fourth year in Winston Cup racing, and I guess it's time to get going," Musgrave said. "I haven't finished any better than 18th in the points, but I can see maybe a top 10 next year."
In other news, the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Goody's Manufacturing Corp. announced it will sponsor pole qualifying for the Atlanta race next March, and TriStar Motorsports - headed by George Bradshaw and Dave Fuge and best known for fielding the Country Time Ford with Bobby Hamilton and Greg Sacks - announced it will merge with Allen Motorsports and driver Loy Allen Jr. for the 1994 season with sponsorship from the Hooters restaurant chain.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB