Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509250112
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The partly cloudy skies that were forecast for southern Virginia ended up being fully cloudy, with rain to boot.
Scratch practice. Scratch qualifying. Scratch the Goody's 150 SuperTruck race. And scratch Irvan's comeback at Martinsville Speedway.
The trucks will race here at 10 a.m. Monday, but Irvan won't be in the 36-truck field. Because qualifying was canceled, the starting field was set by points and other provisions, including the order in which entries were received.
Irvan's entry, which arrived Monday, was postmarked too late to get him into the field.
``I'm disappointed, just as disappointed as anybody can imagine,'' Irvan said after qualifying was canceled shortly after noon. ``It's a tough setback, but we've been through a lot of setbacks this last year and a month.''
Irvan had no criticism for NASCAR when it became apparent he would miss the race because of the sanctioning body's rules.
``I've got to honor NASCAR in a lot of ways, because they did everything they could to get the qualifying in ... '' he said. ``It's like when Danny Sullivan went to Rockingham and missed the race. They didn't just put him in because he was Danny Sullivan.''
Irvan said he planned to stick to his schedule and compete in both the truck race and the Winston Cup race next weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
``I feel good about him going back to racing,'' said Irvan's wife, Kim. ``I'm nervous, but I want him to be able to do it. He had to convince me that he was capable of racing again, and he's done that.''
``When I met him, he was racing. When I married him, he was racing. I knew what I was getting into, I just didn't know the extent of it. One thing I had to realize is I thought it couldn't happen to us. It's always someone else. But it's not.
``But if you live to be 100 years old, but you don't have any happiness or goals fulfilled, what have you got?'' she said.
``It's sort of a relief that he's finally going to be able to do it. I just want him to get that first one under his belt and go on. It will get easier.''
Said Ernie Irvan: ``This is just one small little setback. But next week obviously will be great. And I think the people in Wilkesboro won't have no trouble selling tickets.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB