Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 27, 1995 TAG: 9502280056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
It was the most beautiful February race day here in years, but the way some drivers were feeling, it might as well have rained.
There was Ken Schrader, leaning against a post midway through the race, his back turned to his wrecked Chevrolet as his crew frantically tried to piece together something that would run on the race track. They never succeeded. Schrader finished 39th.
There was Todd Bodine, sitting in his car a few feet from Schrader after taking both of their cars out, leaning his helmeted head against his gloved hand in obvious displeasure.
You couldn't see his face, but you didn't have to. He finished 31st.
There was Rick Mast, victim of someone else's mess, sitting on the cold cement floor of the garage, rubbing his sore neck while his team performed semi-successful mechanical surgery on his Ford. Mast of Rockbridge Baths, Va., finished 35th.
And these men didn't even have the worst of it in the wreck-strewn first half of the Goodwrench 500. There were eight crashes in the first 247 laps, but only two more in the final 247 laps.
The worst of it went to Greg Sacks, who left the front end of his Pontiac scattered on the pavement after plastering Jimmy Hensley of Ridgeway, Va., on the front straight during a four-car crash, the biggest and most spectacular of the event. The impact launched the back end of Hensley's car about eight feet into the air.
``I was coming through [turns] 3 and 4 and saw Hensley's smoke,'' Sacks said. ``I chose a line, went through the smoke, came out and dodged [Dick] Trickle, and Hensley came off the wall. There was nowhere to go. I got some ice on my neck. It was just starting to feel better after my crash in the Busch Clash.''
Said Hensley: ``I tried to keep it up against the outside wall, but I couldn't do it.''
Mast was taken out by Kenny Wallace on lap 92 and was bitterly disappointed.
``I had a good car - better than last fall,'' he said. ``I was just trying to soft pedal it.''
Schrader and Bodine tangled in turn 1 on lap 217.
``Bodine got loose, and I was outside on him,'' Schrader said. ``Tore the car up pretty bad.''
``I made a mistake,'' Bodine said.
Other crash victims included Jimmy Spencer, Davy Jones and Lake Speed.
NOT A SPRINT CAR RACE: For someone who didn't tear up his car, no one had a tougher day at the Rock than Steve Kinser.
The veteran sprint car driver, competing in his first event at Rockingham, struggled around the one-mile track at about three-fourths the speed of everyone else. If he was passed once, he was passed a thousand times. Literally.
In fact, Kinser was probably passed more times than in his entire sprint car career.
In the early going, Kinser was passed by leader and race winner Jeff Gordon about once every 10 laps. By the 47th circuit, he was five laps down. Later in the race, he had battery problems.
When it was over, Kinser was in 27th place, 56 laps behind Gordon. But he finished. And he brought the car home in one piece.
A HAPPY EX-COACH: Joe Gibbs was one unhappy ex-NFL coach last fall when Dale Jarrett jumped ship to the Robert Yates-owned Ford.
But he wore a broad smile Sunday afternoon after his new driver, Bobby Labonte, finished second. Labonte also had a strong Daytona 500 until he crashed late in the race.
``I told Bobby last week at Daytona that I was the most happy disappointed guy that ever hit the planet,'' Gibbs said.
``We were a threat there, and we were a threat here. To be a factor in the first two races is really exciting. I think the guy is great. He's aggressive. He knows what he wants in the car. It gives us a big lift.''
Jarrett, meanwhile, never led a lap, but still chalked up his second straight fifth-place finish.
``We hung in there,'' he said. ``We had to work pretty hard all day. We had to adjust the car and we just couldn't get exactly what we were looking for. I just couldn't get through [turns] 3 and 4.''
Jarrett's efforts earned congratulations from Ernie Irvan, who told him, ``You made the best of what you had to work with.''
WALLACE'S DEAD ENGINE:Although he never led a lap, defending champion Rusty Wallace was in the top 10 all afternoon until his engine began to die with about 100 laps to go. He dropped out after 451 laps and finished 24th.
``What happened is the same thing that was happening late last year,'' he said. ``We had an overheating problem. All of a sudden [the engine] started shooting water out. We've got to find this problem before we go to Richmond, because it's the same problem that haunted me for about three races at the end of last year and helped me lose the championship.''
by CNB