Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 14, 1994 TAG: 9402140086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
The race had to be stopped for about two minutes near the halfway point when Mark Thompson flipped savagely down the backstretch after hitting the spinning car of Michael Dokken. Witnesses said Thompson's car flipped 10 times.
Thompson, 42, of Cartersville, Ga., had a concussion, three fractured ribs and shoulder bruises. He was reported in serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit at Halifax Medical Center on Sunday night and was to be held at least overnight.
Dokken said that after Thompson's car hit his, "I could just see his car flipping, and garbage and trash going all over the place."
Thompson was unconscious when rescuers reached his car but regained consciousness while still behind the wheel. He was airlifted to the hospital.
Wallace, driving a Chevrolet owned by Winston Cup star Ken Schrader, led 35 laps of his first superspeedway victory. He had to overcome an incident early in the race when a big chunk of his back bumper was knocked off by a car that hit him from behind. But Wallace said the problem did not affect the handling of the car.
"Kenny came on the radio with about 10 laps to go and said he wasn't going to tell me how to drive, but . . . told me to protect the low side, and that's what I did," Wallace said. "Nobody could be any happier than I am right now."
In addition to Thompson's crash, there were seven others that caused the yellow flag to fly for 40 laps of the 80-lap race. No other drivers were hurt.
In the most bizarre incident, pole winner Loy Allen, who has the pole for next Sunday's Daytona 500, crashed in turn 4 while at low speed during a caution period and took out three other cars.
"I don't know what happened," Allen said. "The car just snapped to the right."
A tie rod reportedly broke.
\ THE TIRE WAR: The 20-lap Busch Clash on Sunday was too short to give a true assessment of the status of the tire war between Hoosier and Goodyear, but the Goodyear drivers have been feeling a lot more confident in the past couple of days.
"If I thought Hoosier had a better tire down here, I'd say it," Ernie Irvan said. "And they don't."
The Hoosiers were strong in preseason testing - as much as three-tenths of a second faster per lap - but questions are being raised about their stability, particularly after Andy Farr crashed in turn 4 Thursday and Neil Bonnett was fatally injured in a similar crash there Friday. Both drivers were on Hoosiers.
There was no tire failure in either crash, but some drivers were saying Hoosier-shod cars were more apt to be loose in the turns.
Hoosier driver Darrell Waltrip said he was asked about that a number of times Saturday.
"I feel like I bought me a new [airplane] and was getting ready to go on a big trip and I just got a notice in the mail that the wings are falling off," he said.
Irvan, for one, is convinced the Hoosiers are unstable.
"This has happened every other time Hoosier has been in the series, why shouldn't it happen now?" Irvan said. "I've been on a lot of cars with Hoosier tires in my career, and every one of them was out of control."
In the Clash, Hoosier driver Harry Gant finished 10th in the 13-car field and Geoff Bodine was 11th.
Each had handling problems but said it wasn't because of the tires.
"We missed on our set-up," Bodine said. "In the first 10 laps, we were too tight. We made adjustments and overcompensated."
Gant said much the same thing.
"I tried Goodyears and Hoosiers both yesterday, but my car wasn't right, so I couldn't judge," Gant said. "I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal. You don't know until the end of a full green-flag run in the 500 - 35 laps or whatever you can go. We still won't know until then."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB