Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 2, 1994 TAG: 9405020095
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
Spencer, driving Junior Johnson's Ford Thunderbird, triggered a 12-car accident, nearly started a few others, made a dangerous pass inside a slower car with three laps to go, incurred the wrath of nearly every driver on the track and, on the final lap, discovered that no one wanted to draft with him.
So he finished fourth, which did not please him, and he spun his tires coming into the garage.
After a long, silent walk from the gas pumps back to his car hauler, Spencer had calmed enough to talk.
"I'm real upset," he said. "We had every opportunity in the world to win that race, and there wasn't one soul out there that would help me. The only person that would ever help me is my mother, and she wasn't here today."
"I would have helped you, Jimmy," said his father, Ed, who was at his side.
"No, I've raced you in the past, and you wouldn't have helped me," Spencer said.
Perhaps Ed Spencer wouldn't have helped after all, because nearly everyone else was furious with Jimmy Spencer, particularly after the big crash in the trioval on lap 113.
The incident began when Spencer tapped the rear of Terry Labonte, sending Labonte into the outside wall. Labonte came off the wall backward and slammed into Rusty Wallace, setting off a chain reaction.
"He's just an idiot," Labonte said of Spencer. "His crew . . . they know he's an idiot. I guess he likes to take people out every week, so I guess it was just our turn today."
"Is it just impatience?" Labonte was asked.
"He's crazy!" Labonte said.
"Coming off turn 4, I was `talking' to Spencer," Wallace said. "I said, `C'mon Jimmy, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that.' He tried to make it three-wide and got into Terry Labonte and had one heck of a wreck. It was a bad deal. Unfortunately, though we've got a great sport here, we don't have enough qualified drivers to run this fast."
Ernie Irvan spent much of the race cursing Spencer on his radio. Afterward, Irvan said: "How [he] finished the race today, I'll never know. He made a lot of enemies."
And even as Dale Earnhardt enjoyed the spoils of another victory, he was critical of Spencer.
"I'm really concerned when people are pushing fenders in on cars on a 2 1/2-mile race track," Earnhardt said. "He thought he was still at Martinsville or Richmond or North Wilkesboro. He was into the side of just about everybody, I think."
Spencer and Earnhardt were battling side by side with three laps to go when they came upon Todd Bodine's car going slower into turn 1. Spencer shot below Bodine in one of the boldest moves of the race.
"I didn't think that was too smart on his part, but he made it," Earnhardt said.
"I mean, Mr. Excitement's got to do something today," Spencer said, recalling the move. I knew it was a risky move, but I knew if I made a mistake, I'd back out and not cause an accident."
As for the collision with Labonte, Spencer pleaded guilty.
"I bumped the No. 5 car," he said. "My fault. I'm sorry for it. I got bumped out there plenty of times today. I didn't mean that to happen."
So now it's three crazy races in a row for Spencer. He wrecked twice with Ken Schrader at North Wilkesboro and spun Schrader purposely after the first one. At Martinsville, he spun three times. And now Talladega.
Is Spencer concerned about other drivers are saying?
"I don't really care," he said. "Earnhardt got where he is by being aggressive. He sure as hell bumped me enough today.
"I love it. I love racing like that. I always feel that what goes around, comes around. It's just part of racing."
\ MAST'S OFF DAY: Rick Mast quietly struggled to a 20th-place finish, one lap down.
"We didn't run a lick when we got here, we didn't run a lick in practice, we didn't run a lick in qualifying and we didn't race good," said the driver from Rockbridge Baths. "But we've got a new car to go back to Daytona with."
\ WOOD BROTHERS NINTH: Morgan Shepherd avoided both major accidents, kept his Wood Brothers Ford Thunderbird in the lead pack most of the day and finished ninth.
"We went from third to ninth there in the last few laps," Shepherd said. "The car was good, but we were a little short on oomph."
\ HENSLEY CRASHES: Jimmy Hensley, involved in the second major crash on the frontstretch, limped home to a 30th-place finish, completing 121 laps.
"It didn't hurt us much," said the Ridgeway driver, "it just knocked us out of the race."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB