Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505230033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
``I'd say it is,'' Marlin said after the wreck during practice for the Winston Select. ``They took away the downforce. I've got less downforce, and with Geoff [Bodine] beside me, he moved up a little bit and it just took the back end out. My car ... gave no warning. It just turned around backward.''
``With this smaller spoiler, you lose downforce and the nose will raise up and the car has a tendency to push, so you try to do something to loosen it up,'' said Larry McClure, Marlin's car owner. ``We did that. He just turned it around.
``That's the first one we've torn up all year.''
In accordance with the NASCAR rules changes announced in April, the Chevys have less spoiler here than the Fords and Pontiacs.
The height of the Chevy spoiler is 53/4 inches; the Ford and Pontiac spoilers are 6 inches tall. The air dams on the front of the Fords and Pontiacs also are a quarter-inch closer to the ground than those of the Chevys - 33/4 inches compared to 4 inches.
Marlin's crash occurred at about 2:20 p.m. His team was preparing his backup car even before the damaged car was returned to the garage.
But before the hour passed, there was evidence that perhaps the spoiler wasn't the culprit. Another car smacked the wall coming out of the fourth turn. This one was the Ford driven by Ted Musgrave, who did not blame his mishap on the spoiler.
``Just lost it,'' Musgrave said. He said his car was loose, ``but that's just due to the weather, because we're using the setup for the nighttime show.'' The setup was fine for night racing, he said, but it made the car loose under the afternoon sun.
Aside from the two crashes, the most notable development during the afternoon practice sessions was blown engines. Dale Earnhardt killed two of them, Jimmy Spencer blew one and Brett Bodine blew one. Musgrave lost one before his crash.
PETTY RETURNS: Richard Petty, recovering from surgery for prostrate cancer, was at the track Saturday for the first time in more than a month.
``I'm doing good,'' he said. ``I've got to go back in a couple of weeks and have them do another test. Hopefully, they got it all. They think they got it, but if any of them little bugs is running around in there, they'll have to do some radiation. But the doctor said it won't be any major deal.
``I've just got to keep checking every six months to make sure they got it.''
Petty was wearing bib overalls and his hair was getting long in the back, although it still has a foot or so to grow to reach the length of son Kyle's hair.
``I laid in that hospital and didn't have time to go get a haircut,'' Richard Petty said.
BRETT AND JUNIOR REGROUP: Brett Bodine said his Junior Johnson-owned Ford team is regrouping after the departure of crew chief Mike Beam.
``Coming here to Charlotte was like going to the first race at Daytona,'' Bodine said. ``Everybody is learning everybody again. We've got people in new positions and different people in charge of different things. This is like our first race of the year again. It's going to take some time for everybody to get in sync with each other. But we'll keep plugging away.''
Bodine said he believes he will enjoy becoming more involved in setting up his race cars.
``I was always heavily involved in that earlier in my career and now it's just a little bit more of my responsibility.''
Bodine said Johnson ``is at the race shop every day now and really paying attention to running the team from day to day.''
Johnson, however, was not around Saturday when the team changed engines after Bodine blew one in practice.
by CNB