Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 26, 1994 TAG: 9405260037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Andretti will start 10th in the Indianapolis 500, which starts at 11 a.m.. And he has the ninth starting spot for the 600, which begins at 5 p.m.
"Maybe now we'll be able to sell a few of these," he said, unzipping his driver's suit to show a T-shirt with his Indy car on the front and his stock car on the back.
"It looks like we even have a pretty decent starting spot for the 600," Andretti said after pulling into the garage. "I couldn't ask for more."
Although Andretti easily qualified with his speed on the first of two laps, it wasn't an easy run. He nearly crashed in turn 4 on the second lap.
"The car bottomed out in the back in turn 3 and sent me sideways," he said. "I thought that was the end of the car."
Off the track, the only thing that has bothered Andretti thus far about his effort is the unrelenting publicity.
"I'd prefer if nobody talked about it until it was over with," he said. "It's sort of like getting asked, when I got started in racing, `What's it like being an Andretti?'
"I was answering questions like this during the first week of qualifying [at Indy] and all it did was make me more nervous. Pretty soon I was thinking that I wasn't going to be in either race."
Although Andretti's Chevrolet Lumina, owned by Billy Hagan, still has no sponsor for the year, the team is getting help for the 600 from Bryant Heating and Cooling and Jonathan Byrd Cafeterias, the sponsors of his Indy car.
"It became a natural tie-in for them to do it," he said. "After all, it's easier for a dumb driver to remember when you have one sponsor on both cars."
Andretti says he has Phil Parsons standing by to drive his stock car if he doesn't make it to Charlotte in time or if the effort proves to be too demanding.
"Actually, I feel great," he said. "My concentration has never been better because all I'm thinking about is the race car all the time. We're going to go out and race as hard as I can race and see what comes out of it. It's going to be the hardest day I ever spent in a race car."
Whatever happens, Andretti is planning to continue to do most of his racing in stock cars.
"I've got more driver friends in Winston Cup than in Indy cars, because in Indy cars nobody talks to anybody," he said. "In Winston Cup, I can talk to anybody. I still have trouble down here adjusting to the stock car mentality, where everybody helps everybody else."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB