Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502280016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
The Busch champion reached 150.642 mph in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo in a lap around the 1.017-mile North Carolina Motor Speedway. Daytona champion Chad Little was second with a lap of 150.475 mph in his Ford Thunderbird.
Derrike Cope was third fastest at 150.234 mph in a Ford, followed by Chevy driver David Bonnett at 150.203 mph and Mark Martin in a Ford at 150.166.
Kevin Simmons of Narrows, Va., was 36th at 143.576 mph.
Green, who won nine of 28 poles in the series last year, including the one for the Busch finale here last October, said it will be nice to actually mix it up with other cars when the green flag is waved for today's event at 1 p.m. today.
``Hopefully, it'll be a different race for us than last fall,'' he said. ``We had to be conservative then because of the point championship. Last year, I was kind of a bundle of nerves. I can't wait to go now.''
Green finished 14th at Daytona, but he was driving a Chevrolet Lumina instead of the new Monte Carlo. He said the team decided it had enough of a challenge at Daytona with the new 9:1 compression V-8 engine without trying to work with a new body style as well.
``We took the Lumina to Daytona, and we got passed by Monte Carlos all day,'' he said. ``As we found out, the Monte Carlo is definitely better. I was so excited to get in the Monte Carlo here. I couldn't wait to get here, get on the brakes a little bit and slide around a little bit.''
HENSLEY GETS A RIDE: Jimmy Hensley came to North Carolina Motor Speedway Friday as a visitor and left as a newly hired Winston Cup driver.
Hensley, who lives in Ridgeway, Va., was on pit road watching qualifying Friday afternoon when he got the call from the No.32 Active Motorsports Chevrolet team, which dismissed former Winston West champion Mike Chase after Chase was the slowest of 44 drivers who completed qualifying runs.
The switch underscored a couple of facts of life in the Winston Cup series. One, it doesn't take long in a season for teams to begin to make big changes and, two, it's smart for unemployed drivers to make their presence felt in the garage.
``I'm certainly excited about it,'' said Hensley, who will requalify the car during the second round of time trials today. ``This car ran good last year at the end of the year, and hopefully we can get it going a little bit better than they are now. I'll do my best and we'll see how things go.
``I was going home tonight because I didn't have a room here,'' he said. ``But I brought extra clothes and my uniform just in case.''
A DEATH AT JUNIOR'S: After struggling through a miserable, embarrassing Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, Brett Bodine and his Junior Johnson-owned Ford team were hit by tragedy earlier this week.
Sidney Winningham, 39, the team's jackman, was killed Tuesday night in a one-vehicle accident after leaving the Johnson shops in Wilkes County. Winningham reportedly lost control of his car and struck some trees along Somers Road near the Wilkes-Yadkin county line at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.
The jackman is widely considered to be the most important member of a team's pit crew, and Winningham's death comes on the heels of the $45,000 fine - largest in NASCAR history - levied against Johnson for using an unauthorized manifold at Daytona. After the manifold was confiscated, Bodine needed a provisional starting spot to make the 500 and finished 25th, one lap down.
``Daytona was pretty unimportant compared to what happened this week,'' Bodine said. ``It was a real shock. Sid worked his whole life to get somewhere in racing and he was finally doing what he wanted to do.''
Winningham, a native of Kansas City, Mo., moved to North Carolina in 1990 and was a part-time employee with Johnson until he was hired full-time at the beginning of this year. He and his wife, Stephanie, had celebrated their first anniversary on Feb.12.
``He was a positive person,'' Bodine said. ``At Daytona, after all the tough times we had there, he was the one saying, `Don't let it get you down. Keep working at it.' It's tough to put it behind you.''
GOODWRENCH 400?: Rusty Wallace said he's heard that Rockingham will make the Goodwrench 500 into a 400-mile race next season, and he's all for it.
``It makes for a better race for the fans. There's more cars running at the finish, and it's less boring,'' Wallace said.
Rockingham already has downsized the fall race from a 500-mile race to 400 miles. But Chris Browning, Rockingham's general manager, said no decision has been made about shortening this event, although it's under consideration.
by CNB