Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 23, 1995 TAG: 9509260108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Long
``There's a lot of things that go on that you can't govern, and rain is one of them,'' said Irvan, who had hoped to qualify for today's Goody's 150 SuperTruck race. ``And the way I look at it is the good Lord is who has watched out over me. He's the one who enabled me to go racing and the good Lord is the one makes it rain.
``If he keeps it raining, obviously he's got something else for me that day and I'm going to have to do something else.''
Both the trucks and the Winston Cup cars, which race in Sunday's Goody's 500, were able to practice Friday morning and afternoon until intermittent showers began falling around 1:30 p.m. Unfortunately, time trials (beginning with Winston Cup) weren't supposed to start until 3 p.m.
The revised schedule calls for truck qualifying to begin at 8:30 a.m. today, immediately followed by the first round of qualifying for the Winston Cup series.
The Cup cars have a 30-minute practice session at 8 a.m. and another hour of practice at 11 a.m., followed by the second round of time trials at 12:30 p.m. The truck race is set to start at 2 p.m.
NASCAR is prepared to let the trucks qualify up to only one hour before race time. But if rain washes out today's qualifying, the starting field will be set by championship points and other rules. Under those provisions, Irvan won't make the race.
However, the weather forecast looks promising. Forecasters are predicting partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 60s.
If qualifying does happen, Irvan is confident he'll have no trouble making today's race. He said he expected to qualify among the top four, based on practice times.
RAIN TIRE TEST: The most exciting thing about the rain was that it gave NASCAR an opportunity to test the same rain tires they tested at Watkins Glen in August.
Terry Labonte was the guinea pig Friday. He made four or five semi-quick laps while the rain still was falling. And each time he hit a particular puddle near the finish line, his engine could be heard over-revving as his tires spun in the water.
``That's why those Formula One guys make so much money,'' Labonte said, alluding to the fact that the F-I series races in the rain.
``It felt like you were on ice. You'd go in the corner and it wouldn't turn very good. You'd get in the throttle and think it wasn't bad and then it would break loose.
``We could have gone a little faster than that, but the weather conditions were a little wetter than we wanted them to be.''
There was another compelling reason for being conservative.
``That's the car I'm going to race next weekend at North Wilkesboro,'' he said.
MYSTERY DEVICE: When the Winston Cup cars were on the track practicing, a NASCAR official was in the middle of turns one and two with some sort of a hand-held electronic device to pick up sounds.
It looked like a jumbo ice cream scoop, and each time a car went by, the official aimed the scoop at it and followed it through the turn.
But NASCAR officials weren't saying whether they were measuring noise levels or something else. Winston Cup director Gary Nelson was unwilling to say anything about it.
``Maybe at a later date,'' he said. NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said, ``It's just something that registers sounds,'' but added that he did not know exactly what NASCAR is trying to do with it.
SHEPHERD LOOKING: Morgan Shepherd said he has no prospects yet for a Winston Cup ride in 1996 and was surprised by his release last weekend from the Wood Brothers Ford.
``I was caught off-guard,'' he said. ``This was kind of a shock to me. I wasn't prepared for it.''
Shepherd said when he started hearing rumors in July about him being replaced, he talked to the Woods and ``made it clear to them if they were thinking about making a decision, to give me enough notice so I wouldn't be hung out to dry.
``I hope we're still friends. I just wish I had more notice. But things have gotten bad here. Lately, we just haven't been running good. Things haven't gone our way.''
Shepherd said he has received no calls yet from prospective car owners, but, ``I'm available.''
Shepherd said he had heard a rumor that he was released because he asked for more money. ``That was not so,'' he said. ``It had nothing to do with money.''
TEAM CHANGES: Changes among Winston Cup teams this week:
Hut Stricklin has been named the new driver of the Stavola Brothers No.8 Ford Thunderbird for 1996. The team is losing Raybestos as its sponsor, but a statement said sponsorship plans will be announced in mid-October.
Local driver Jimmy Hensley, who lives in nearby Horsepasture, will drive Alan Dillard's No.31 Chevrolet Monte Carlo this weekend, replacing Greg Sacks after his ``mutually arranged departure'' following the Dover race, a team statement said.
Bobby Labonte and crew chief Jimmy Makar have each signed five-year contracts with car owner Joe Gibbs that will keep the team intact through the year 2000.
Derrike Cope and Bobby Allison announced that Allison has exercised the second-year option in their contract, keeping Cope in the driver's seat of the No. 12 Ford Thunderbird for 1996.
by CNB