Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406140181
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA. LENGTH: Medium
After failing to lure Bill Elliott into the Pontiac fold (he's contracted to Ford for another year), Pontiac has turned its sights on Ricky Rudd and Dale Jarrett, sources familiar with the discussions report.
Rudd started his own team this year with Ford, and Jarrett is in the GM camp with Chevrolet.
"We have been approached," Jarrett said Saturday. "But I would say right now we're pretty happy where we're at. Chevy has a new car [Monte Carlo] coming out and [crew chief] Jimmy [Makar] has been working hard with GM on that. So at this particular time I couldn't foresee us making a change from where we're at."
Rudd said he couldn't comment on whether he has been approached by Pontiac or what his team might do for next year, "but we'd have to have open ears, as would anybody in the sport" to any offers of assistance.
Rudd would seem to be a more likely prospect than Jarrett because he's in a Ford. Sixth in points, Rudd also is doing the best of the new car owners. While he gets help from Ford, he's not at the top of Ford's pecking order.
Pontiac has Kyle Petty, Wally Dallenbach, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip and Bobby Hamilton. The best finish among them in 1994 is Waltrip's third at Talladega.
Don Taylor, the Winston Cup program manager for GM's Motorsports Technology Group, said he could not comment on whether Pontiac is courting Rudd and Jarrett. He did say: "I don't believe Pontiac would want to be in a situation where they're adding teams just to add teams. Pontiac has had a small number of teams, and the MTG has been working very closely with those teams. Our first priority is working with the existing teams to optimize their performances and get them back in the winner's circle."
\ RAIN, RAIN: The intermittent, light rain that fell Saturday forced cancellation of all on-track activities. Second-round qualifying for today's UAW-GM 500 was wiped out, as were the ARCA and Sportsman races.
The Sportsman and ARCA races were rescheduled to the Pocono race weekend in July. They will be run on Thursday, July 14, which normally is the qualifying day for those divisions. The Sportsman and ARCA races planned for July 16 will be run as scheduled.
The cancellation of time trials sent two drivers home early: Billy Standridge and Andy Belmont. The provisional starting spots went to Chuck Bown and ARCA regular Bob Keselowski, who is in Jimmy Means' No. 52 Ford Thunderbird this weekend.
\ HOOSIERS OFF: The Hoosier tires have matched the Goodyears on performance in the past several races, but that may not be the case this weekend.
Most Hoosier drivers were privately shaking their heads about the Pocono tire, although some felt the tire would perform better during long runs.
"The Hoosiers are off this weekend," driver Jeff Burton said.
The first indicator was the decision by all the switch-hitting drivers - Darrell Waltrip, Harry Gant, Rick Mast, Steve Grissom and Joe Nemechek - to use Goodyears almost from the moment the track opened Friday.
Greg Sacks, who will start 20th, was the fastest Hoosier qualifier. Ward Burton starts 25th, Geoff Bodine is 30th, Loy Allen is 31st and Jeff Burton is 35th.
\ HOT PROSPECT: Although his 19th-place finish at Sears Point is his best this year, John Andretti has emerged as the hottest early prospect for teams looking to make a driver change in 1995. Former Ford racing honcho Michael Kranefuss, co-owner of the new Kranefuss-Haas Winston Cup team, is only one of about six car owners who are interested in Andretti, sources report. Although he has yet to record a good finish in 1994, he has failed to qualify for only one race, the Food City 500 at Bristol.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB