Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994 TAG: 9403310076
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Long
Jimmy Spencer's injured shoulder blade, which he broke while practicing at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Tuesday, will keep him from playing golf during this weekend off for the Winston Cup series.
He fully expects to run all 500 grueling laps in the Food City 500 at Bristol International Raceway on April 10.
"I feel fine," Spencer said Wednesday. "My shoulder is a little sore. The doctor told me to keep it in a sling and I should be in good shape for Bristol.
"We're not looking for a backup driver. Those are only rumors. I've been very lucky in a race car and never really had any major injuries. I broke my shoulder in the same spot eight or 10 years ago in a Modified car, and this injury is nothing major. I think if I rest it like the doctor told me to, I'll be okay."
Spencer said he had no idea what made the throttle stick on his Ford Thunderbird at the five-eighths-mile home track of his car owner, Junior Johnson.
"We were just making some qualifying runs when the throttle stuck," he said. "We had made about four or five laps and the throttle hung open and I hit the wall" in turn 3.
He came out the car seemingly unhurt, but he soon decided he'd better go to Wilkes Regional Medical Center for X-rays. The morning crash was on the first day of the three-day team test. Given the circumstances, NASCAR agreed to not count the session as one of the team's seven tests of the year, Humphries said.
The car was heavily damaged and may be a total loss, he said. The team had planned to race it at the North Wilkesboro and Martinsville races in April, but not at Bristol.
The prospect of going to Bristol less than 100 percent "really bothers me," Spencer said.
"I just get excited about going to Bristol because I really like that place," he said. "Bristol is a physically demanding track, but I think your mental attitude is more important."
Spencer is hoping his run of bad luck is over.
"They say things happen in threes," he said. "We wrecked at Daytona, had a problem at Darlington while running in the top 10 and now this. So we've got our three bad things out of the way, and now we're set to go racing."
\ TIRE ENCORE: Did Goodyear really have a tire problem at Darlington or were some teams simply taking too many risks with them?
The answer probably lies somewhere in between.
Car owner Jack Roush said his two teams, with drivers Mark Martin and Ted Musgrave, used 31 sets of tires at Darlington "and I didn't have a blister or a separated plywall or a chunk of rubber missing from any tire in any set."
Roush said he thinks he had a problem-free weekend with tires, unlike many other teams, because he strictly followed Goodyear's advice.
"We did what Goodyear suggested we do in terms of air pressure and in terms of front geometry settings, and the tires worked great," he said.
Race winner Dale Earnhardt, after tearing up the sidewalls of two tires in practice Saturday, only had one blister on one tire Sunday.
Rusty Wallace crashed when a sidewall gave way.
"Earnhardt's bunch adapted very well, and Rusty by all appearances didn't manage to adapt too well," Roush said.
Moving to defend his company, Goodyear racing director Leo Mehl issued a lengthy statement that echoed Roush's feelings.
The Darlington tire had a softer tread, Mehl said, and "after we saw the blistering on Saturday, Goodyear engineers reacted by telling the teams to alter camber settings, toe-in and air pressures. Those who did had no trouble on Sunday."
But Mehl conceded that the tire war with Hoosier was forcing Goodyear to build tires with less tolerance for chassis adjustments.
"Blistering always will occur on race tires as long as teams and drivers continue to adjust their cars to get a mechanical advantage," he said. "In the past, we have always designed a tire so that it would perform on even the most poorly adjusted chassis.
"When there is a tire competition present, our job is to make a fast, safe tire, but every team must be willing to follow our recommendations. Excess camber and lower air pressures than recommended can cause tire problems."
Roush, who is no fan of the tire war and is opposed to Hoosier's involvement in Winston Cup racing, said, "Risk in the tire is a new dimension now. For everything where there is an opportunity, there is also a risk. We don't have unsafe tires. But they are different and require different setups. And if Goodyear says, `Don't do this,' we don't do that.
"Since there's another dimension here, we'll endeavor to keep our cars from the crashes and the other things that take other people out because they guessed wrong on tire pressures and cross weights."
\ SPOILED TRIP: Two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys was all set to learn how to drive a stock car, but he had to postpone his participation in a stock car racing school in the wake of coach Jimmy Johnson's resignation Tuesday.
Aikman was scheduled to participate in the Richard Petty Driving Experience on Wednesday and today at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but he canceled after Johnson's announcement, a spokesman said.
\ MARTINSVILLE ADDS SEATS: Martinsville Speedway has added more than 3,000 high-rise grandstand seats to the Hanes 500 Winston Cup Series race on April 24.
The new seats, featuring backrests, are in the second turn. They are priced at $45 each and will go on sale Wednesday.
"We never put any seats on sale until they are actually finished," track president Clay Campbell said. "If there is the slightest variance, we can't afford to have a customer show up with a ticket and have not seat for him. Considering the location and the quality of these seats, we feel they will sell very quickly."
by CNB