Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 15, 1994 TAG: 9402150198
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Long
Since Thursday, two drivers have been killed and two others injured in separate, savage accidents.
Is it the tires? Is is the wind? Is it the chassis set-ups? Is it the way the Winston Cup drivers drive the 2.5-mile speedway?
Amid much speculation, there were no concrete answers.
"What the deal? That's the question everybody is trying to answer," said retired driver Benny Parsons. "And no one has an answer."
The deaths have been particularly troubling in the wake of 1993's tragic deaths of Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison in aviation accidents.
"We all came down here hoping we could put 1993 in the past and the way we've started out is terrible," said Dale Jarrett.
"It concerns me," said Kyle Petty. "It concerns everybody. But there's not a lot you can do about it."
Orr, 31, died shortly before 10 a.m. Monday when his car spun out of control in turn 2, flipped and hit the wall roof first. Friday, veteran Neil Bonnett was killed in a crash in turn 4. The day before Bonnett's death, ARCA driver Andy Farr broke his sternum and punched a hole in the turn 4 wall in a qualifying crash.
Sunday, Mark Thompson suffered three broken ribs and a concussion after flipping down the backstretch during the ARCA 200. Thompson was still hospitalized at Halifax Medical Center here Monday, but was moved from intensive care to a regular room.
"I'm telling you, I'm tired of losing my friends on the race track," said Rusty Wallace. "What I'm saying is drivers have got to use their brains. You just don't go out and mash the gas. This is one race out of 31 and you gotta think about what you're doing."
"No one knows what's going on. Let's hope it quits," said Geoff Bodine. "But if you look at all the accidents, they have not involved top-flight drivers and they have not been top-flight cars. Even Neil, because he hadn't been racing a lot. I think that's part of it.
"Even with all the experience I have, I have trouble getting the right set-up," Bodine said. "And if you've got an inexperienced guy out there and his car is not handling but he doesn't know it, he could get in trouble real fast.
"I don't know - the wind has been bad. Here's it's been bad coming off turn 2. That's tough. And the angle the guys have been hitting the wall has been bad," he said.
Before the days of carburetor restrictor plates, when drivers were lapping the track at around 210 mph, they used to enter the turns low. The high speeds then would carry the cars high into the turns. With speeds down around 190 mph, that has changed.
"Now you go in a little wide and cut back down," Bodine said. "And when you go through the turn and look across the track and you're aimed at that wall coming off turn 4, you know if you get in trouble, something bad's going to happen.
"I think the way the drivers are running on the race track has a little something to do with it," said Junior Johnson. "The cars are running so low in the turns, that gives `em a bigger impact when they hit the wall.
"And they're all running soft [using softer springs] in the back end, trying to get the spoiler down out of the air to go faster. I think experience means a lot here and maybe some don't have as much experience as they need."
"No matter what, there are different levels of drivers, there are different levels of cars and there are different levels of mechanics," said Petty.
"Have the accidents been in a Richard Childress car? Have they been in a Bud Moore car or a Wood Brothers car or a Petty Enterprises car? I don't think so.
"We're not running any faster this year than we were running last year. There have been no more crashes right now than usually happen," Petty said.
"A guy will see the other guys running at 190 and they're running at 182 and they think their car can run 190, but they can't. And the driver doesn't have enough experience and his car is not good enough. Accidents happen when you get over your head. It doesn't matter whether it's in a backyard swimming pool or here or whatever. And that's what you're talking about here."
Although tire failure has not been a factor in any of the crashes, there is an undercurrent of concern about tires, especially among the Goodyear drivers, because all of the bad wrecks have involved cars using Hoosier tires.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming Hoosier tires," Jarrett said. "But it just seems odd that none of the Goodyear cars have been having this problem.
"I wish I had answers for what's happening here," said Jarrett. "We're seeing things that we've never seen happen before. Cars are breaking loose and turning right into the wall."
For all the speculation, no one was talking about stopping.
This was typified by the attitude of Red Farmer, the aging Alabama gang driver who broke his shoulder in the helicopter crash last July that took the life of Allison.
Farmer was close friends with Bonnett as well, but here he was at Daytona on Monday, working on a race car on the very day Bonnett was laid to rest in Alabama.
Farmer is the crew chief for Allison's old Grand National team, which was recently bought by Orlando investor Ronald M. Zook. The car is entered for Saturday's Goody's 300 with Hut Stricklin as driver. But Farmer said there is still a lot of work to do and "it's important to get off on the right foot.
"I had real mixed emotions on staying here," he said. "But it's just like Dale [Earnhardt] understands and I understand and Neil would understand. Our job here is as a racer, so you go on and we do the best we can. Our hearts are still back in Hueytown with the Bonnett family, but we just got to continue."
Farmer was asked if he thought people outside racing would understand this.
"I don't really give a damn what they think, to be honest with you," he said. "If they're not racers and can't understand it, I don't care what they think in the first place."
\ SUSAN BONNETT SPEAKS: In the midst of the latest tragedy here, Bonnett's widow, Susan, issued a statement thanking the NASCAR community for their prayers and thoughts.
"I'm not bitter," she said. "Neil always knew that whatever he decided to do that I'd go along with him. The day after he decided to start racing again, he came home with a big smile on his face and asked me what I thought. I just smiled with him.
"After Neil was hurt in 1990, I tried not to pay attention to racing for awhile. But I had to. It's been part of my life for the last 25 years. I know I'll always be connected to racing."
\ SECOND-ROUND QUALIFYING: Jeff Burton was the fastest second-round qualifier Monday, lapping the speedway at 188.107 mph in his Ford Thunderbird. He was followed by Ford drivers Brett Bodine at 187.551 mph, Geoff Bodine at 187.422 mph, Rick Mast at 187.324 mph and Jim Sauter at 186.854 mph.
This qualifying session, as well as other ones today and Wednesday, will not affect the Daytona 500 field, but will shuffle the starting lineups for Thursday's Twin 125 qualifying races.
In other track action, the Busch Grand National cars began practicing Monday for today's pole qualifying for the Goody's 300 on Saturday. Harry Gant was the fastest of 53 drivers on the track with a speed of 185.870 mph in his Chevy.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB