Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 10, 1994                   TAG: 9411100074
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE                                 LENGTH: Long

MARTINSVILLE DROPS GN RACES, BANKS ON LATE MODELS

But that's exactly what Martinsville Speedway is doing. The track is relinquishing its two Busch Grand National races, and in their place it will hold the richest NASCAR Late Model Stock party in the country.

Clay Campbell, the track's president, announced Wednesday that Martinsville's spring and fall Grand National/Late Model doubleheaders will be strictly Late Model affairs - the most lucrative NASCAR Late Model races in the United States.

Each of the 200-lap races, one March 19 and the other Oct.15, will pay $25,000 to the winner and will have total purses of about $70,000.

Campbell has slashed ticket prices from $30 and $25 for the doubleheaders to $15 for the Late Model races, and each ticket purchased in advance will come with a free T-shirt. He's hoping for a crowd of at least 15,000.

Campbell said the move to drop the GN series ``was definitely a decision by us'' and not by NASCAR. The GN purses alone had reached about $150,000, and with doubleheader crowds of about 18,000, ``having the two races was not financially feasible any more,'' he said.

Campbell said it was impractical to think of having the GN and Winston Cup races on the same weekend, as many tracks do, because it would be a ``logistical nightmare`` at Martinsville because of a lack of infield space and accommodations, among other things.

Martinsville has drawn more than 100 entries for its Late Model races and with the increase in the winner's purse from $10,000 to $25,000, ``I think this is going to attract a lot of interest all over the country,'' Campbell said.

``You might see some of those Busch guys building one of these [Late Model] cars,'' said driver Johnny Rumley, who has been racing in both series of late. ``At $25,000, they don't pay that much to win in some Busch races.''

IRVAN STILL A LEADER: After every Winston Cup race, NASCAR revises a statistical summary of driver and team performance that is called the ``Miles Leader Standings."

And as the season comes to a close, the driver who has led more miles than anyone is not the series champion, Dale Earnhardt, or even Rusty Wallace or Geoff Bodine. It is Ernie Irvan, whose season - and perhaps career - came to an end in August with a crash at Michigan.

Irvan had been contending with Earnhardt for the Winston Cup championship when he suffered life-threatening head and lung injuries in a crash during practice on Aug.20. Of course, he immediately began plummeting in the title standings, and now ranks 20th.

Despite competing in only 20 of the 31 races, however, Irvan still is first in miles led. And unless Wallace blows away everyone at Atlanta, Irvan likely will remain in first.

Irvan has led 2,419.51 miles in 1994. Wallace is second at 2,113.53. Wallace must lead 306 miles, or 202 of the 328 laps, at Atlanta to overtake Irvan.

But that's not all. Irvan also leads in the category of times led, having been in front 79 times in 17 of the 20 races he ran.

Moreover, Irvan stands to win the True Value Hard Charger award, a competition in which drivers earn points for every lap of every race in which they run first, second, third, fourth or fifth.

Since his Michigan crash, Irvan's point total has been frozen at 22,041. Wallace after that race had 16,552. He's now accumulated 20,841.

``I'm pretty proud of it, but most people don't even know about it,`` Irvan said at Phoenix. ``It's pretty neat to still be leading it just because when people open up their papers, there's something my name's still there for leading.``

Irvan, by the way, is second in laps led, with 1,781. That's behind Wallace (2,142), but ahead of Geoff Bodine (1,710) and Earnhardt (996).

ATLANTA ANTICLIMAX: The season-ending NASCAR Winston Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway can be as dramatic as any in the series, as it was in 1992, when Alan Kulwicki won the championship and Richard Petty retired. Or it can be a mere afterthought to officially close the season.

And that's what seems to be in store this weekend.

The Winston Cup championship has been Earnhardt's for almost three weeks. The manufacturer's championship went to Ford almost two months ago at Martinsville.

And when the weekend of racing gets under way at 2 p.m. Friday, the only contest of significance to be decided is the rookie of the year, and Jeff Burton still is in charge of that race.

WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER: The ambitious resurfacing project at Dover Downs International Speedway is under way, as workers this week began assembling a giant paving machine that will spread one large continuous strip of concrete around the mile track.

``Where we are right now is the asphalt surface has been milled to the desired depth and the world's largest erector set is sitting on the front straight,'' said Al Robinson, a speedway spokesman. ``The equipment arrived on several large trucks earlier this week and is currently being assembled with the aid of a very large crane.''

Workers also have built a concrete plant by the Dover Downs horse barns. Robinson said the actual surfacing work should begin next week and is expected to take eight days.

Dover, where the high-banked, asphalt turns were murder on tires, has followed the lead of Bristol International Raceway, which switched to concrete in 1992.