Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9411230008
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PHOENIX LENGTH: Long
Earnhardt quickly motioned Irvan to join him, and they talked for a moment about the championship battle that never happened. Earnhardt was leading Irvan by 27 points when Irvan's season, and perhaps his career, came to an end with a devastating practice crash at Michigan International Speedway in August that left him with critical head and lung injuries.
``It was getting to be fun,'' Earnhardt said. ``I think it would have been a classic if that hadn't happened. If that hadn't happened, they would have been talking about me and you and not Rusty. I mean, he was in it, but he wasn't in it.''
And after Earnhardt left the podium, Irvan gave a progress report on his recovery.
``It's good in a lot of ways, but there's not a lot of progress in some ways. My energy is coming up. I'm able to talk about the chassis with [crew chief] Larry McReynolds probably more in depth than I had been able to. But my progress as far as coming back to racing - it's going to be awhile.''
The most significant problem continues to be his left eye.
``I can see, but my eyeball doesn't work,'' he said, adding that nerve damage has weakened the muscles that move his eye.
And when he takes off the patch over the eye, he sees double.
He said doctors have told him it could take eight months to a year for the eye injury to heal completely.
Other than that, he's finished his rehabilitation, except for once-a-week eye exercises. He's getting ready to take a driver's test next week, but said he's already driving.
His main goal, of course, is to drive a race car again. And his greatest daily frustration is not being able to do it.
Irvan said he doesn't know whether he needs the donations that have been received to help pay his medical bills, but the money will go to a good cause in any case. ``If it's not a hospital bill, we're doing to donate it to the National Head Injury Foundation,'' he said.
Irvan said car owner Robert Yates is continuing to pay his salary and has said he will continue to do so next year, so, ``I don't need money to live on or pay my bills.''
``I don't think my vision is going to totally stop me from racing,'' Irvan said. ``There are drivers who drive right now who only see out of one eye. I have always thought we could come back at Sears Point, because we had a car there that was so good I could have driven with one eye shut and still won.''
ANATOMY OF A HORSE WRECK: The worst crash of the week for a Winston Cup competitor came not on the race track but on a horse trail in the mountains of New Mexico. The victim? Car owner Richard Childress.
``He had a hell of a horse wreck,'' Earnhardt said.
Immediately after clinching the points championship on Oct.23, Earnhardt and Childress took off in a frantic rush to New Mexico for an elk-hunting trip. The all-night trek - by plane, car, horseback and foot - put them on the side of a mountain at about 7:30 a.m. Monday.
Earnhardt picks up the story: ``We were leading the horses and they were lunging up on rocks and climbing around. I'm following the guide and my horse slips. Richard is directly behind my horse. My horse goes down on the left side ... and I've got hold of a pine tree and I've got hold of the reins.
``The horse is going down more and he stretches me out, and my fingers are starting to come off. When I released the reins, I realized Richard was behind the horse. As a matter of fact, he was about under the horse at that point.
``The next time I see Richard, he's diving straight down. He's tumbling and the horse is falling about 50 feet down the mountain. They hit pine trees at just about the same time. The horse was standing up when he hit the pine tree and Richard was in a tree backward. I'm looking down and the other outfitter is going down the mountain and Richard's got blood on his face. He was breathing hard and saying, `I'm OK.'
``It wasn't funny. Blood was really flying. I thought he had broke his nose. The horse stepped on him or something. The horse was OK and Richard was OK, but he's got a couple of scratches on him. It was a heck of a wreck.''
Earnhardt went on to describe how he and Childress both bagged elk, and how Childress fell off a rock and bruised his knees in his second crash of the morning.
MAST MOVING: Rick Mast has been one of the hottest drivers during the second half of the 1995 season.
He's finished second, 12th and third in the past three races.
The Rockbridge Baths driver also has become a semi-regular in the top 10 of the starting grid. And when he won the Brickyard 400 pole in early August, he was 22nd in points. Now he has moved up to 15th.
Mast said the momentum should continue in 1995, ``not so much for me but the team. I'm out there running and I know what I've got under me. But the guys working night and day on the car, it just helps them when they can see how good we're running. But when big `mo' gets on my side, it always helps me, too.''
Mast's second-place finish at Rockingham was his best of the year (he also has three thirds). ``I had a better car at
Charlotte and a better car at Indy than I did at Rockingham. But you've got to avoid trouble.''
SECOND-DAY QUALIFYING: Mast, by the way, had the fastest lap in the second round of time trials, earning the 21st starting spot with a speed of 127.850 mph.
There were no surprises in the session. All the regular Winston Cup competitors made the field, with provisional starting spots going to Jeremy Mayfield, who was 42nd fastest, and Loy Allen, who was 47th. Another provisional went to Winston West driver Mike Chase.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB