Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140122
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
After burning pistons in four separate motors Friday and Saturday, Mast participated in the second round of time trials at Daytona International Speedway on Monday - and finished 10th in Sunday's Busch Clash - with what amounted to a throwaway motor.
``All we had left was the motor we've used in our pit stop practice car,'' Mast said.
The only reason Mast ran in the second round was because he had to. ``We had to requalify today in order to try again tomorrow'' in the third round of time trials, Mast said. He was ninth fastest at a modest 187.161 mph.
Mast should have at least one engine back from the team's shop in Denver, N.C., in time for today's third round, which begins at 1 p.m.
The team's motor problems were so bad that when a team member was about to leave for North Carolina with three broken engines on Saturday, Mast told him, ``Wait a minute. Better wait until after pole qualifying.'' Sure enough, Mast burned a piston in qualifying and the team member departed with four engines.
SECOND-ROUND QUALIFYING: Loy Allen was the fastest among 15 drivers who participated in the second round of time trials Monday, reaching 190.247 mph in his Ford Thunderbird. Joe Nemechek was second fastest at 189.422 mph, followed by Jimmy Spencer in a Ford at 189.243.
All three were quicker than in the first round Saturday.
Meanwhile, Brett Bodine was 10th fastest at a mediocre 186.792 mph in Junior Johnson's Ford. Bodine was not allowed to qualify in Saturday's first round after inspectors found that Johnson's engine violated NASCAR rules.
GRAND NATIONAL PRACTICE: The list of speed leaders after the first day of Busch Grand National practice Monday looked similar to the Winston Cup lineup.
Dale Jarrett was quickest at 187.025 mph. In fact, he was more than a half-second faster around the 2.5-mile track than the next fastest driver, Michael Waltrip, who reached 184.813 mph. The others in the top five were Derrike Cope at 184.619 mph, Mark Martin at 184.581 and Mike McLaughlin at 184.072.
PETTY'S UPS AND DOWNS: Richard Petty says he has ``good days and bad days'' as a car owner.
``I still enjoy being involved in it,'' he said. ``I think that as time progresses, I can accept being away from it more and more. My problem now is that I get further and further away from it.
``I've never really run the organization before. I've been the organization. I've run it from the inside out. Now I'm trying to run it from the outside in. Sometimes, I don't know how to approach it. I sort of step back, because there are people working at it from the inside. It causes a lot of confusion sometimes, because I don't even know what they're trying to accomplish. It's been kind of a rattling experience, I guess.''
DALLENBACH'S RETURN: Wally Dallenbach said he hopes to return to the Winston Cup series at Talladega in May in a car owned by Bill Strauser, who owned Mike Chase's Winston West championship car. Dallenbach, who lives in Greensboro, N.C., said the team is looking for sponsorship, but Strauser is ``committed to do 10 races no matter what.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB