Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 9, 1994 TAG: 9404090058
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
While his Winston Cup team continues to search for sponsorship, Chuck Bown continues to coax fast qualifying runs out of the Bobby Allison-owned Ford Thunderbird, winning his first career pole Friday for the Food City 500 at Bristol International Raceway.
Bown, 40, was the point man on another massive assault on a track record, circling the .533-mile high-banked oval at 124.946 mph. Twenty-eight other drivers also were faster than the record of 122.474 mph, set by the late Alan Kulwicki two years ago.
"We were just hoping to get in the top 15, as close as [competition] is," Bown said. "If you get in the top 15, it gets you a good pit on the frontstretch. They give you two laps here and the first lap was close to a perfect lap. But a lap goes by so quickly here, it's just hard to do everything right. I was able to do that on the first lap."
The competition was so close, the difference between sitting on the pole and not even making the field probably will be less than a half-second. Bown's pole winning lap took 15.357 seconds. But Wally Dallenbach's lap time of 15.716 seconds was good only for 35th fastest and left him in danger of missing his third race of 1994.
Since everyone is going a lot faster than last year, Sunday's race is bound to be brutal on the drivers, said Mark Martin, who qualified third.
"I believe we're looking at the granddaddy of all coming up Sunday," Martin said. "Sunday's race is going to be the toughest we've ever had here for race car drivers. Even if it was 30 degrees outside, I believe it is going to be the hardest."
Bown, who has been a strong qualifier on every level of stock car racing, has qualified in the top 10 for the past four races. He doesn't have to worry about making races these days. But a larger concern - the survival of Allison's team - looms large. The team has no major sponsor and no strong possibilities at the moment.
"It's kind of surprising to me this far in the year - with the team we have to offer - that we don't have one yet," Bown said.
"I really can't answer that, either," Allison said. "We've talked a lot and there is a lot of interest, but a lot of the interest kind of leans toward 1995. It's just been a really tough deal."
Rusty Wallace took the outside pole at 124.889 mph in a Ford. On the stopwatch, Wallace's time was only 7/1000ths of a second slower than Bown's.
Despite the close times, the Ford Thunderbirds trounced the General Motors cars in the first round of time trials. There were seven Fords in the top 10, while only five Chevys made the top 20.
Mark Martin was third fastest at 124.849 mph in his Ford. Jeff Gordon had the fastest Chevy, securing the fourth starting spot with a lap of 124.686 and Ted Musgrave was fifth fastest in another Ford at 124.347.
Also in the top 10 were rookie Joe Nemechek in a Chevy (124.291), Ernie Irvan in a Ford (124.275), Todd Bodine in a Ford (124.170), Bobby Labonte in the fastest Pontiac (124.002) and Morgan Shepherd in a Ford (123.945 mph).
Among those who failed to make the top 20 were Ken Schrader (21st), Dale Earnhardt (23rd), Geoff Bodine (26th) and Rick Mast (27th). Bodine was the fastest of the six drivers using Hoosier tires.
Today's second round of time trials begins at 12:30 p.m.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB