Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 22, 1994 TAG: 9408220026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
But the field of 42 cars didn't even get through the first turn before eight cars tangled in a violent crash that sent Bobby Hillin's car on a wild ride on its side for a second or two.
And late in the race, the hood of Jeremy Mayfield's car blew off, flew high in the air and landed in the midst of spectators at the steps of an infield grandstand without hitting anyone.
The first-lap, first-turn crash happened after Derrike Cope collided with Billy Standridge and they both spun. Cope, who accepted the blame for the crash, had gone into the turn three-wide with Standridge's Ford and another car.
On his way to the wall, Standridge was hit by Jeff Burton. And as Burton was hit from behind by Dale Jarrett, Standridge was creamed by Hillin, whose car lurched onto its right side and slide for a bit before coming back down on its wheels.
"I didn't have anywhere to go, did I?" a bewildered, upset Hillin said as he left the infield care center after a routine checkup. "I don't know. Did anybody see it on tape? Did it look like there was anything else I could've done? I mean, I tried to stop, but they were all right there in front of me."
This explanation was given, in one form or another, by about five other drivers who had no place to go. Dick Trickle, Phil Parsons and Morgan Shepherd also were involved. None of the drivers was hurt.
"I think I'm all right," Hillin said. "I let them check me out pretty good, because I got hit a bunch. You could just see that one coming. I knew I was up on my side. My window net came down and that scared me a little. Then I got hit again. It's just so disappointing. Why on the first lap? Why?"
The flying hood had the potential to be a real catastrophe.
"It came within probably a foot of hitting the grandstands," said Cary Agajanian, John Andretti's attorney and agent, who was standing close to where it landed. "It came down on the ground right in front of the stands."
The hood blew off Mayfield's car near the finish line on about lap 170 of the 200-lap race and "continued to sail and spin in a constant arch maybe 100 feet in the air," Agajanian said. "It actually gained altitude for quite a while and was flying like a Frisbee."
"Everybody was watching it come down through there," said Bill Ingle, Ricky Rudd's crew chief. The area in front of the grandstand was fairly crowded with spectators, but "everybody saw it coming. And they just cleared out a hole and it landed right in it."
Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt was a victim in the second crash of the race, which occurred on lap 55. He dropped out of the race and finished 37th, but remains the points leader for the Winston Cup championship.
Earnhardt's crash was with Todd Bodine.
"[Earnhardt] apologized to me in the care center," Bodine said. "He got into my quarter panel and it turned me out in front of him. He admitted he screwed up. It'd be nice if he says that on TV."
Earnhardt did 'fess up . . . almost.
"It was basically something that happened that I didn't want to happen," Earnhardt said. "It shouldn't have happened, but it's just one of those things. I got close to him to draft him and hold it down the straightaway. When we got together, I couldn't get off him."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB