Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994 TAG: 9404070297
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. Dougherty
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
What other explanation could there be for the strange goings-on at New River Valley Speedway during the season-opening FM 94 Radio 200?
Only one race - the 25-lap Modified Mini Stock - avoided a caution flag. The other four races combined for a total of 25 caution periods. Five in Late Model. Five in Pure Stock. Six in Mini Stock. Eight in Limited. Even two red flags - Pure Stocks and Limited.
"I thought I had the race won three times," said Ronnie Vaught, who captured the Pure Stock race that had to be extended by five laps to 30 because of late-race wrecks. "Then I would see the yellow come out and I thought 'Oh No!'."
In three of the four races, the leaders were at least part of the reason the yellow flag waved.
Aaron Deplazes dominated the first three-quarters of the Pure Stock race. But Deplazes had no place to go when he came up to lap Amos Stanley on lap 20 and Stanley spun on the back stretch. Deplazes worked his way up to fourth but could not get his car going without help from the pits after a red flag situation and finished sixth.
Gene Duncan led the first 12 laps of the Mini Stock race before spinning entering turn two. Despite the slide, Duncan almost won, coming in second.
Mark Akers had the same thing happen to him in the Limited Sportsman race. And after leading the first 19 laps he had to settle for seventh place.
EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER: And there was good reason to last weekend.
It could have been the cause or a victim of the unusual happenings at the track.
On a day when the forecast called for clear to partly cloudy skies and temperatures near 70, rain fell.
It was only brief and spotty intermittent showers. But the water caused things to run about15 minutes late.
At the weather's worst - dark and threatening skies and a few actual drops - the thought of a possible postponement was on a few drivers' minds. And that could have meant running on Easter Sunday - something no one really wanted to do.
"I'm already an outcast in my family," Late Model driver Tink Reedy said during the drivers' meeting. "If I miss Easter dinner, I'm really going to be in trouble."
FAMILIAR FACES IN OTHER PLACES: A few regular front-runners weren't at NRVS to see the track open for the year.
Stacy Compton and Michael Ritch went to the Winston Select 300 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C. However, both had their problems, finishing 20th and 26th respectively in the $32,000 race won by Wayne Patterson. Finishing eighth was Danny Willis, the 1989 NRVS Late Model champ.
Meanwhile, Johnny Rumley returned to the scene of his Busch Grand National triumph, Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway for the BNG Sundrop 300. He ran in the top 10 all day and finished eighth after qualifying third.
Also at Hickory was Chris Diamond who raced at NRVS most of last season. In his first Grand National start, Diamond spun about half a dozen times. But he was still running at the end and ended up 20th,11 laps down.
SO FAR, SO GOODYEAR: The new track tire, Goodyear, passed its first test as real racing began.
"They're fine," said Tim McGuire, echoing the comments of most drivers. "And I think we'll get more use from fewer of them because they are a harder compound."
There were some problems, though. A few drivers had problems with the tires coming apart. Among the worst problems were experienced by Malcolm Fink who said he had tires that were separating after just six laps. These problems appeared to have been caused by bad tires rather than the brand, however.
Also, the harder compound meant slower first-lap qualifying times in Late Model. But most drivers improved by between a quarter and a half a second on their second lap.
PROPHECY COMES TRUE: The new carburetor and intake rules that the Ford and Chrysler drivers said would make them uncompetitive appeared to do exactly that, unfortunately.
The top finish by a non-General Motors car was Ronnie Thomas' 13th place finish in a Chrysler.
Rookie Chad Harris had the top Ford - 15th.
Reedy ran as high as eighth in his Chrysler but lost a lap when he was black flagged for jumping the restart on lap 54 and then developed mechanical problems and ended up 17th.
Problems also plagued the other two Ford drivers. Frankie Pennington was in and out the pits and finished 18th. Roger Austin was involved in an accident and ended up 21st.
Help may be on the way though. The Fords and Chryslers will be allowed to run last year's carburetors - which are larger on top than those used by GM products - this week as part of an experiment taking place in the Mid-Atlantic Region. They will also have to add 50 more pounds of weight to their cars to even things out.
QUICKNESS COUNTS: Jeff Agnew captured the pole with a lap of 16.55 seconds (90.49 mph). That was two-tenths of a second (and more than 1 mph) faster than last year's fastest qualifying mark and 0.37 seconds faster than Agnew's only pole of 1993.
Thomas' 13th place performance was even more impressive considering his team got its new engine at 1:30 a.m. Saturday - just 131/2 hours before the beginning of practice. "We're trying to do in two practices what every one else done in the last month," he said.
Last year's Limited champ Kenny Montgomery was a surprise entrant in the Limited Sportsman race. He showed up with the old, Street Stock car he owns and raced a couple of years ago. He qualified seventh and finished third. "We decided to do it a couple of days ago," said Montgomery. He added the plan is to showcase the car, sell it and then buy or build or get a Late Model ride.
RADIO RACING: For talk about racing, there are two weekly call-in shows about NRVS.
WFNR (710 am), WNRV (990 am) and WBNK (100.7 fm) has a 30-minute show Tuesday nights at 6:30, just before NASCAR Live, with M.J. Dougherty as the host.
WRIQ (101.7 fm) and WRAD (1460 am) will be doing a half-hour weekly interview show every Thursday at 5:45 p.m. hosted by Brian O'Donnell.
THIS WEEK AT THE TRACK: It's a regular night of racing at NRVS with the Pepsi Cola 200.
There will be a 100-lap Late Model feature, a 35-lap Limited race and 25-lappers in the Pure Stocks, Mini Stocks and Modified Minis.
Gates open at 2 p.m. Practice begins at 4. Qualifying starts at 6:15. And the green flag drops at 8.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $1 for children 12-and-under.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB