ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603120032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
With everything else on rookie Johnny Benson's mind, you could have forgiven him if he put racing on the back burner.
The first-year Winston Cup driver out of Grand Rapids, Mich., has plenty to occupy him these days. His first child was born Thursday, and he's gradually overcoming a bout with pneumonia.
Friday was a culmination of all those positive vibes when Benson won his first Winston Cup pole position by putting his Pontiac Grand Prix in the top starting spot for Sunday's Purolator 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a lap of 185.434 mph.
Mark Martin was second fastest at 185.183 in a Ford, despite having almost no practice Friday morning after ignition problems.
``The last 24 hours have been pretty exciting,'' Benson said. ``We had a little baby girl last night a little after 10 o'clock. That's been the greatest part of the weekend no matter what happens.''
Benson's wife, Debbie, gave birth to Katelyn Rae Benson at Charlotte Medical Center. She weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces.
``I was there all the way,'' Benson said. ``I got home [in Charlotte] about 1:30 last night, got up about 5 a.m. and flew down here.''
As for the pneumonia, which was at its worst at Richmond last weekend, Benson said, ``I`ve still got a cold, but it's going away slowly. I'll be OK by Sunday, but it's going to be another week or two before I get up to 100 percent.''
``The cold weather stinks,'' he said. ``I'm going to stay in as much as I can.''
As for the cold weather, NASCAR might as well be holding this race in northern Wisconsin. It didn't get above freezing all day Friday, and a brisk wind kept the wind chill index in single digits. The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies today with a high near 40.
Benson won the pole with the second of his two qualifying laps.
``It wasn't wide open all the way around,'' he said. ``Earlier in practice, I thought maybe we could do it. I know you could in the Busch cars. But with the weather being as cold as it is, it wasn't possible.
``Instead of going in as deep as I wanted to, I just lifted a little bit early, and I got in the gas earlier, and it seemed to work out fine.''
Behind Benson and Martin, Terry Labonte was third fastest in a Chevy at 185.096 mph, followed by Jeremy Mayfield (184.946) and Geoff Bodine (184.777), both in Fords.
Also in the top 10 were Bobby Hamilton in a Pontiac (184.746), John Andretti in a Ford (184.510), Bobby Labonte in a Chevy (184.485), Hut Stricklin in a Ford (184.193) and Wally Dallenbach in a Ford (184.039).
Joe Nemechek qualified 12th on his first lap at 183.761 mph, then crashed hard in the fourth turn on the second lap. He backed into the outside wall, spun around and hit the inside wall hard.
``All of a sudden it just busted loose,'' Nemechek said. ``There wasn't a thing I could do about it. It was almost like I hit a patch of ice or something. We'll just get the backup car out and try to go fast with it.''
A second round of time trials is set for 11 a.m. today, but there are 43 cars for 42 spots, so all of the regulars likely will make it.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Johnny Benson Jr. won his first Winston Cup pole onby CNBFriday at Hampton, Ga. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING