Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507240091
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
Two cars flipped in separate accidents, and two other cars slammed into the pit wall, coming dangerously close to crew members. One driver, Robbie Reiser, was seriously injured.
There was plenty of good racing in the 117-lap event as well, but it seemed that the competitors were driving over their heads throughout the long, hot afternoon.
Three of the seven crashes were big ones, including a 13-car melee on the 11th lap and a six-car crash with only seven laps to go.
Reiser received a closed head injury in the last crash and was listed in serious but stable condition at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham. ``He was conscious but very disoriented at the hospital,'' track spokesman Jim Freeman said. "He was put on a ventilator as a precaution.''
Mark Martin also left the track in an ambulance after banging his knee in a wicked four-car crash on lap 41. He was taken to a local hospital for X-rays. Martin broke no bones, but returned to the track on crutches for the final Winston Cup practice.
The first big wreck started when Johnny Benson tapped Ward Burton and sent Burton's car into a spin. The roof flaps on Burton's car popped open like they were supposed to, but Burton's car lifted off the ground anyway when it straddled the banking and the flat apron. It flipped on its roof and slid far down the track as the other cars crashed trying to avoid it.
Burton was uninjured, but said, ``It was `Days of Thunder' all over again because I just saw pavement in front of me.''
Later, Kevin LePage spun on pit road and slammed the wall in his pits. And Michael Waltrip, who crashed after colliding with Jimmy Spencer, didn't come to a stop until he hit the pit wall.
In the final crash, Lajoie, driving in relief of Tommy Houston, climbed over another car and flipped 11/2 times. When it was over, at least 25 of the 42 cars in the race were involved in one crash or another. Twenty-one cars dropped out of the race because of wrecks.Usually, one big crash here has the effect of settling down the survivors. But this wasn't the case Saturday. Even after two big crashes, the remaining drivers were still battling like cats and dogs, racing three wide and banging against each other.
"It's just a lot of hard racing,'' said Little, who won his fourth race of the year after holding off Spencer in a one-lap sprint. "I think that was probably the main thing. I hope [the DieHard 500] is not the way it was today. We had a good race, but too many cars were in accidents today.''
There was poetic justice after the final crash. Pace car driver Elmo Langley ran over debris and blew a left rear tire. So, for several laps, a rescue truck had to pace the field.
HENSLEY OUT: John Andretti and Robert Pressley cracked the top 10 in today's DieHard 500 starting lineup Saturday morning, while Little led a sparse contingent in the second round of time trials.
Jimmy Hensley of Horsepasture was the big loser in qualifying. He stood on his Friday time, was bumped from the field and wasn't eligible for a provisional starting spot.
When rain washed out the end of the first round of time trials Friday, nine drivers were left on the line waiting their turns. They went out beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday and Andretti qualified ninth in his Ford Thunderbird at 193.384 miles per hour, while Pressley was 10th in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
In the second round, Little qualified 22nd.Provisional starting spots went to Kyle Petty, Bobby Hamilton, Derrike Cope, Ward Burton and Bill Elliott, who took the champion's provisional.
BODINE HURTING: Geoff Bodine, ailing from a kidney stone, has lined up Grand National driver Mike McLaughlin as a possible relief driver in today's race.
Bodine went to a local hospital after qualifying on Friday, where he was diagnosed. He was not admitted and returned to the track, where he practiced Saturday.""I feel like, what else can go wrong?'' he told Ford's Wayne Estes.
INDICTMENT: Sam McMahon III, who owned the failed Team III Winston Cup team in 1990 and 1991, was named in a 25-count federal criminal indictment in Charlotte recently on charges of bankruptcy fraud.
by CNB