Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 25, 1994 TAG: 9409270051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Martinsville is more crowded than most tracks simply because it is so small. But the crowds have grown to a point where something had to give.
And on Saturday, it did. Eleven of the top 12 teams - more than ever before - roped off work areas behind their haulers to keep out fans and visitors.
``It's always been nice to let the fans get close and be part of what going's on,'' said car owner Robert Yates. ``But the crowds keep thickening. And you can have your hands full and people will still ask you to sign autographs.''
Of all the problems in the ever-more-crowded Winston Cup garages, autograph scrounging is one of the worst.
And this is a car owner talking. Listen to a driver.
``If you've got to use the bathroom, it costs you 20 autographs,'' Mark Martin said. ``Autographs are like dollar bills. And if you want to go to the bathroom, it costs you 20 bucks.''
``The only complaint I have about being at the race track is that it's becoming more and more difficult to race. It's getting to be more and more like a social outing and less and less like a race.''
Martin and other drivers believe NASCAR should do something to control the fans who manage to get into the garages and pits.
Martin will not sign autographs if he's working on his car, talking to crew chief Steve Hmiel, eating or otherwise busy.
``I tell them they'll have to catch me later,'' he said. ``But we don't need to be in a position where we hurt people's feelings, reject them or make them feel bad. And if you hurt someone's feelings, later you feel bad about it, period.''
``I think the drivers should be protected from making the hard choice of saying no to fans,'' said Martin's car owner, Jack Roush. ``They want to be generous and warm, but they can't be that 24 hours a day.''
These days, Dale Earnhardt rarely is seen in the garage. He is an endangered species, prone to feeding frenzies by autograph hounds the instant he shows his face at the back end of his hauler. Consequently, most of the time he's not in his car, he's in the lounge in the back of his hauler.
``It seems like they just don't cut him any slack,'' said Don Hawk, Earnhardt's business manager. ``It could be three minutes from starting engines, and they'll get mad when he turns them down.
``They don't let you walk in the garage when you're getting your car fixed. That's the mechanics' work area. But here, you can walk right in and stick your head under the hood. But these guys need that space to work on their cars.''
``It's getting more crowded,'' said veteran driver Dave Marcis. ``I get enough, and I can imagine it's terrible for guys like Earnhardt and Rusty and Mark Martin. I bet if Earnhardt came out of his trailer right now, he wouldn't get 300 feet before you couldn't see him for the crowd around him.''
``I'll tell you what,'' Marcis said. ``I'd like to see NASCAR give a $100 fine to any driver who got caught giving an autograph in the garage. NASCAR has got to help us. Maybe they could put a time for it. But they've got to do something because these people just walk right in.''
Andy Hall, a NASCAR spokesman, said the sport's sanctioning body is aware of the growing problem (NASCAR's top officials have to fight the garage crowds like everyone else) and is considering alternatives.
Some small steps have been taken to ease congestion.
Martinsville is one of the few tracks in the Winston Cup series that opens the infield gates after a race to anyone who wants to visit. But the problems, including theft, became so severe that the speedway now waits at least 30 minutes after a race before opening the gates.
Yates remembers that Bristol International Raceway stopped opening the gates right after races when he got into a fight with a fan in 1980, when he was working with Darrell Waltrip and the DiGard team.
``The guy was drunk,'' said Yates, one of the mildest-mannered men in the garage. ``I take a lot, but he was bad-mouthing Darrell and he shoved me and he shoved Jake Elder. And finally, he threw a beer on the top of the hood.''
Yates beat him up.
It would be nice to say something that ugly couldn't happen today. But shortly before the second Pocono race, Ernie Irvan was standing on pit road when a man came up to him, looked him in the face and told Irvan he hoped he crashed.
Irvan took a nonviolent approach and summoned a NASCAR official, who kicked the man out of the track.
by CNB