Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406190118
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
"It's one groove, until that groove tears up," outspoken Ernie Irvan said after qualifying 23rd in the second round of time trials Saturday. "The track is going to tear up, and we'll have a lot of wrecks. Every time anybody races on it, it's going to tear up."
A strong dissent was offered by Jeff Purvis, who dominated the ARCA race Saturday and beat Gary Bradberry by 4.14 seconds to the checkered flag.
Turn 3, he said, "turned out to be the fastest point on the track. I can't say enough about the track conditions and the [Hoosier] tires. I went through that corner really, really well. It seemed like the race track got faster as we went."
There were a couple of minor crashes in turn 3, but the race was surprisingly free of trouble, considering the track conditions and the tendency for ARCA races to be accompanied by mass automotive carnage.
But in the final Winston Cup practice, Hut Stricklin lost control in turn 3 and demolished the front end of his backup car. On Friday, he crashed his primary car in the same turn, which was repaved recently.
"Today, the rear end came around," said Stricklin, who was unhurt. "It's a weekend you'd rather forget right now."
Stricklin was fresh out of cars, so Junior Johnson lent him Bill Elliott's backup for today's race, which starts at 1 p.m.
Track spokesman Steve Brown said no special overnight maintenance was planned for turn 3, where 780 feet of new asphalt has been coming apart in the heat.
Friday night, the repaved turn was cooled with water and lime was applied to absorb oil seeping from the asphalt.
But that wasn't the right way to do it, Dale Earnhardt said.
"They did it backwards, and that messed up the track this morning," Earnhardt said. "They should have put the lime on the raw pavement and then cooled it all night and let the pavement harden. They cooled it all night and then put the lime on it. Lime will not bond to cold pavement."
Said car owner Jack Roush: "One of the things about this track is the cars can race side-by-side all the way around. They're not going to do it [Sunday]."
\ SPENCER FASTEST IN SECOND ROUND: With the same rented engine that Bill Elliott used to qualify third on Friday, Jimmy Spencer led the second round of time trials Saturday with a speed of 177.945 mph.
Spencer's run was more than four miles an hour faster than his Friday speed. Had he run his Saturday lap on Friday, he would have qualified 12th.
But Spencer had some help on Saturday that wasn't available the day before. He used an engine prepared by Ken Wilson, Jeff Burton's crew chief. Wilson rented the engine to car owner Junior Johnson, who put it in Elliott's car for pole qualifying Friday.
Both Spencer and Elliott will use Johnson-prepared engines in the race. Elliott reportedly slowed down almost a second a lap after the Wilson engine was replaced.
\ DISTRACTED BY O.J.: Along with track conditions, the most predominant topic of discussion in the garage Saturday was the incredible drama in Los Angeles involving O.J. Simpson. Nearly everyone watched the Simpson pursuit Friday evening in their motel rooms.
Junior Johnson had a typical reaction: "Beats anything I've ever seen."
\ THE OTHER WALTRIP: He still hasn't won his first race, but these days Michael Waltrip is running like he might have a chance.
Waltrip, eighth in Winston Cup points, is doing the best of all the Pontiac drivers.
He has three top 10 finishes in the past five races, which fueled his move from 16th in the points (at Martinsville) to eighth.
"Kind of the weird thing about it is that it has not been without trouble," Waltrip said. "At Richmond we blew a tire and wrecked. At Atlanta we were in the top 10 and broke a shock." He also was swept up in a crash at Daytona.
Waltrip says he enjoys the better finishes, but mostly "it's more fun because the car is a lot better. I've got good cars now and they drive good."
He starts 11th in today's race.
by CNB