Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 21, 1994 TAG: 9405210060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Rookie Joe Nemechek, using Hoosier tires on Larry Hedrick's Chevrolet Lumina, led the qualifying session for the Winston Select Open, a preliminary event that will send the top six drivers to compete with 14 others in tonight's feature, The Winston Select.
Nemechek circled this 1.5-mile track at 181.519 mph and was the fastest of the 11 drivers who smashed the 2-year-old track record of 179.027 mph set by Alan Kulwicki.
Rusty Wallace, meanwhile, won The Winston Select pole with an average speed of 139.126 mph in his Ford Thunderbird for three laps and a two-tire pit stop.
Of the 14 qualifiers for The Winston Select, Wallace was fifth fastest with his first lap of 178.412 mph, but he had the fastest pit stop (10.13 seconds). That gave him the pole.
"It was a real good run," Wallace said. "The two key things were the fast pit stop and getting off turn 4 and down pit road as fast as I could. Ernie [Irvan] beat me on the race track . . . but then we got them back coming down pit road and on the pit stop."
Irvan took the outside pole in another Ford, with an average speed of 138.356 mph. He was second quickest on the first lap, with a speed of 179.778 mph, but fifth on the pit stop (11.31 seconds).
Dale Jarrett was third quickest overall at 136.414 mph in a Chevrolet Lumina, followed by Geoff Bodine in a Ford (136.328) and Terry Labonte in a Chevy (136.197). Bodine had the fastest first lap in Winston Select qualifying at 180.608 mph.
The real excitement of the evening was the one-lap, pure-speed qualifying session for the Winston Select Open, particularly because it was the first full head-to-head test at Charlotte in the ongoing tire war between Goodyear and Hoosier.
Give the early advantage to Hoosier. Besides Nemechek, the other top three Open qualifiers were all on Hoosiers.
Rookie Ward Burton, who has failed to qualify for four races this season, took the outside pole for the Open in a Chevy at 180.959 mph. Burton's brother, Jeff, also a rookie, was third fastest at 180.814 mph, followed by Greg Sacks in a Ford at 180.681 mph.
The fastest Goodyear driver for the Open was Brett Bodine, who qualified fifth in his Ford at 180.560 mph.
Also breaking the track record were Jeff Gordon (Chevy, Goodyear) at 179.886 mph; Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths, Va., (Ford, Hoosier) at 179.766; Loy Allen Jr. (Ford, Hoosier) at 179.706; Todd Bodine (Ford, Goodyear) at 179.265; Harry Gant (Chevy, Hoosier) at 179.259; and Wally Dallenbach Jr. (Pontiac, Goodyear) at 179.223.
Of the 36 drivers in tonight's Open, scheduled to start at 7:45 p.m., 15 will be on Hoosiers, including new customers Gant and Mast. And of the 14 drivers already in The Winston Select, Geoff Bodine and Waltrip will be riding on Hoosiers.
Waltrip's return to Hoosier, after quitting the company as a contract driver in April, signaled just how strong the Lakeville, Ind., company's tires are at this track.
The Hoosiers were up to a half-second quicker per lap than the Goodyears in recent test sessions here. And when Waltrip ran Hoosiers and Goodyears back to back in practice here Friday morning, he was about three- or four-tenths of a second quicker on the Hoosiers.
"This is what we're looking for," said Bob Newton, Hoosier's president. "I felt like Charlotte was going to be kind of a break-over point for us, that we would get more cars. It looks like that is happening. We feel like we will have half the field before this [season] is over with.
"We're just getting rolling. I think we've got the better product from here on out. I don't see a bad [race] coming up."
Said Nemechek: "I can't say we're going to run away with [the Open]. But I expect them to hold up good. I'm expecting them to hang in there all day long tomorrow."
But Wallace expects a Goodyear driver to win the Winston Cup races, as they have all season.
"It's a lot different story when it comes to race day," he said. "I've seen the Hoosier tire perform pretty well in the short runs, but Goodyear always pulls us through on the long runs and when the track gets really greasy on race day."
Most drivers, to be sure, are still unhappy about the tire war - even some who have switched to Hoosiers.
"Well, I tell you what it's doing," Mast said. "It's making race car drivers out of anybody who straps a helmet on. That's all that needs to be said."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB