Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408140006
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He confirmed Saturday at Watkins Glen International that he will not drive Moore's car next year.
"Maybe we can do like Ricky (Rudd) did," said Speed. "I just want to run good. Nobody twisted any arms. Nobody forced anybody to go. We'll just have to wait and see what kind of options are available and make a decision."
He was reluctant to say much more than that, but it seems clear that Speed has the itch to go it alone again. Since joining the series in 1980, Speed has alternated between fielding his own team and driving for others. His sole victory at Darlington in 1988 was in his own car.
"It was just a situation where Lake wanted to get back out on his own and do his own thing," said Moore. "In a way I'm sort of disappointed, but there's no hard feelings."
Given Speed's performance, which includes five top-10 finishes, Moore said he was surprised at the decision, but added, "This is just what he wanted to do."
As to his own plans, Moore said: "Sometime next week, we'll see what all is out there and see what direction we're going to take. But right now I have no earthly idea what we're going to do."
VACANCIES: With Speed's announcement, Bud Moore now joins Richard Petty and Kenny Bernstein as car owners with vacant seats for 1995.
But there are always more drivers than cars, it seems, and those without rides include John Andretti, Wally Dallenbach, Brett Bodine, Speed, Bobby Hillin, Chuck Bown and an assortment of non-regulars trying to get back in, such as Rick Wilson, Phil Parsons and Joe Ruttman.
RAIN, RAIN, RAIN: A steady afternoon rain washed out most Winston Cup activity on this 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course, including the second round of time trials.
But the teams did get about 75 minutes of practice Saturday morning, which was enough time for Mike Wallace and his team to dig themselves an even deeper hole than they did on Friday.
On the last lap of the Friday afternoon practice, Wallace blew his qualifying engine. The team didn't have another qualifying engine, so Wallace missed the first round of time trials.
Then, on the last lap of the Saturday practice, using an engine from Brett Bodine's team, Wallace crashed.
"I had a left front tire go flat, I guess, as I got to the top of the esses. . . and drove right into the fence. It was a hard hit. This car won't be fixed, I know that."
Although Richard Petty was willing to lend Wallace his backup car for qualifying, the second round was washed out.
So that left Wallace out of the race, along with Loy Allen, Jeremy Mayfield, Brian Bonner and Scott Gaylord. The provisional starting spots went to Rick Mast, who was 40th fastest, and Greg Sacks, who was 42nd. This race normally has a 38-car starting field.
BROOKS, SABATES JOIN FORCES: Dick Brooks and Felix Sabates confirmed Saturday that Brooks has become a partner in Sabates's No. 40 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Bobby Hamilton.
Although no money has changed hands, they said Brooks will be a 50 percent owner (as opposed to the 49 percent reported Friday).
There have been reports that Brooks will become the sole owner next year, will switch to Chevrolets and will move the team to his hometown of Spartanburg, S.C.
Brooks was noncommital about becoming sole owner and moving to Spartanburg. "All that's a little vague yet," he said.
But he indicated he might well switch brands. "We're kinda in the talking stages of Pontiac or Chevrolet," he said. "I've got a couple of Chevrolet stores, so we'll have to see.
The former driver, who sports a salt-and-pepper beard and usually wears overalls, said his primary aim this year is to help get the car qualified in the first round of qualifying and finish in the top 20 on a consistant basis.
"We're going to sit down next week and see what part I can play," he said. "I don't know exactly for sure what I'm doing."
Brooks also said he's committed to be a Motor Racing Network pit announcer for four or five more races this year, but he doubts he'll do much radio work next year. "I'd like to spend more time with the team on the track during the race," he said.
STRAIGHT TALK FROM SABATES: Explaining why he joined forces with Dick Brooks, the Cuban-born Sabates was remarkably frank about his own shortcomings as a Winston Cup car owner and how they have affected his primary car, the No. 42 Pontiac driven by Kyle Petty.
"I'm kinda hard-headed," he said, "but I finally realized that the guys who win out here every week - these people are racers. I'm not a racer. I'm a businessman in racing.
"I don't know anything about cars. I don't know anything about tires, I don't know anything about setups. I don't know anything about driving. And with the problems we've had with Kyle's team this year, I asked (NASCAR President) Bill France what I needed to do to get better.
"And Bill said, `You need somebody to come in who knows about racing, because you don't.'
"I had talked to Jimmy Means about shutting down his operating and coming with me, but he wanted to keep on going on his own. And so that's the basic reason I've got Dick. A lot of things have happened this year with the 42 car, a lot of mistakes have been made, and I didn't know any better. Dick will be a lot more involved and he can help with the 42 car, too."
RACE RESULTS: Although the Winston Cup cars didn't run much Saturday, the wet weather didn't stop the sports cars, which race rain or shine.
Canadian Ron Fellows won the 42-lap Trans-Am championship race by 9.663 seconds over Dorsey Schroeder. Tom Kendall was third, followed by Paul Gentilozzi and Scott Pruett.
Former Indy car racer Pruett, however, lost 10 driver championship points and $3,000 (half of his fifth-place prize money) after inspectors found that his rain tires had been grooved by hand, a Trans-Am rules violation. Pruett leads Kendall 255 to 251 in the title hunt.
In the day's second race, Scott Harrington won the 25-lap Dodge Shelby Pro Series race.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB