Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 12, 1994 TAG: 9402120180
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
The mood was somber, but the work continued.
Ernie Irvan, who was fastest in January testing at Daytona International Speedway, still was fastest Friday, with a quick lap of 189.705 mph on this 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Rookie Loy Allen Jr. was a surprise in the second spot at 189.123 mph. Also in the top five were Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt and Morgan Shepherd.
Allen also had a good day in his ARCA car, winning the pole position for Sunday's ARCA 200 with a speed of 190.219 mph. Tim Fedewa won the outside pole at 189.998 mph.
"Hopefully, we can do a little bit better than last year, when we finished second" in the ARCA race, Allen said.
As for his Winston Cup effort, "we'll try to make the race, which will be our first goal," he said. "When you see the size of the field, I think this will be a difficult goal for anyone."
Fifty Winston Cup cars practiced Friday and more than 70 cars are entered. The Daytona 500 will start 40 cars with up to three more provisional starters. Qualifying begins at 2 p.m.
\ CASEY ELLIOTT FIGHTS CANCER: In a Friday morning news conference here, Bill Elliott said his nephew, aspiring Grand National driver Casey Elliott, was to undergo cancer surgery Friday at a Gainesville, Ga., hospital.
Casey Elliott, the son of Bill's brother, engine-builder Ernie Elliott, was diagnosed with a malignant cancer in the back of one of his thighs in December.
"They found it about a week after the banquet" in New York, Elliott said. "He's been taking radiation and they were going to operate on him today to remove the cancer.
"He's kind of in limbo right now as far as what his [racing] future will be. We don't know where he'll race this season or if he'll race this season."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB