Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 15, 1994 TAG: 9405150072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SONOMA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
He had to take provisional starting positions at North Wilkesboro and Martinsville. And he started 39th at Darlington and 38th at Talladega. But he still made every race - until Saturday at Sears Point International Raceway.
For the first time in 1994, Trickle did not make a Winston Cup race, failing to qualify for today's Save Mart 300.
Trickle stood on his Friday time and it cost him.
After 19 drivers had finished their second-round qualifying laps, Trickle's speed had dropped from 35th fastest to 42nd. And he did not get a provisional spot. Those went to Chuck Bown and Greg Sacks, who were slower than Trickle, but ahead of him for provisionals.
"Our plan was to requalify today, but we ended up smoking an engine this morning in practice," Trickle said. "We were forced to stand on our time. We lost our fighting chance. I guess if you're not man enough to take this, you're not man enough to win. It hurts, though. I hate it."
Jimmy Hensley failed to qualify, his third DNQ this season. His Friday speed was 38th fastest; on Saturday he dropped to 45th even though he was less than a tenth of a mile per hour slower.
"We ran a lot quicker in practice on older tires," Hensley said. "We put new tires on for qualifying, and it never hooked up. I ran faster the first time I came here than I did today."
The only other regular who didn't make it was Loy Allen, who has made only four of 10 races this year.
Meanwhile, Geoff Bodine was the fastest qualifier in the second round with a speed of 91.046 mph, which would have put him fourth on the starting grid had he run that lap Friday. Bodine has had one of the fastest cars in practice, but he was only 31st fastest in qualifying Friday after he lost a cylinder as he took the green flag for his lap. Bodine will start today's race 26th. Ward Burton was second fastest Saturday and will start 27th. Mike Wallace was third fastest.
\ TRUCK SERIES: The new NASCAR "SuperTruck" series was formally unveiled Saturday, and President Bill France said it will debut with an exhibition race on July 30 at Mesa Marin Speedway in Bakersfield.
Dick Landfield, Jim Venable, Jim Smith and Frank Vessels, four off-road truck racers who approached NASCAR with the idea, all confirmed they will compete in the series with one or two-truck teams.
The trucks will be built to specifications that are close to NASCAR Winston Cup cars. They will be powered by 358 cubic inch, 9.5:1 compression engines, will weigh 3,400 pounds (100 pounds less than Cup cars) and will have a wheelbase of 112 inches (two inches more than Cup cars).
Three other exhibition races are scheduled for August and September in Oregon, California and Arizona, but France said track owners in Phoenix, Richmond, Va., Martinsville, Va., Milwaukee, New Hampshire and Indianapolis Raceway Park are interested in hosting events in 1995. NASCAR's goal is to have a 15-race series next year.
"This could be a support series, it could be a stand-alone series or it could be a combination of the two," France said.
He said Chrysler may want to enter the series with its Dodge 1500 series trucks, but "I think maybe they've got to fire up a V-8 engine facility and build some V-8s. But they've got a truck that fits the right size."
\ ANDRETTI'S DOUBLE: When John Andretti qualified for the Indianapolis 500 at 223.263 mph Saturday, he completed the second part of a grueling three-part prelude this weekend to his unprecedented attempt to compete in both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 29.
The third part of this weekend's effort is racing in today's Save Mart 300 Winston Cup race.
Andretti's busy weekend started Friday with qualifying for today's race. After running 33rd fastest in the first round, Andretti hopped on a Lear Jet and headed to Indy.
Fortunately for Andretti, his qualifying run Friday was fast enough to forego having to requalify Saturday. Had he needed to requalify, Andretti had veteran Hershel McGriff standing by.
Although it rained off and on at Indy on Saturday, Andretti managed to complete his qualifying run during the final hour of the session. He was eighth fastest on the day, but many drivers were unable to make their runs because of the weather.
Andretti was lucky. If he had been unable to qualify, he would have had to decide whether to stay in Indy today for the second day of time trials or compete in the race here.
Andretti says he's trying to accomplish this doubleheader because he loves racing.
"I wouldn't work this hard for publicity in my whole life," he said. If he received no publicity at all, "I'd still do it."
"When it's all over and done with, I don't want to look back and say that was a stupid thing to do. And I'm working hard to make sure that doesn't happen."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB