ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
After Morgan Shepherd finished 24th in Sunday's Save Mart 300 at Sears Point International Raceway, he and car owner Butch Mock had a tense discussion.
``If you feel like you can do better equipment-wise, you should go find another ride,'' Mock told his driver. Shepherd took that to mean that he had been fired, and began telling people such. Not true, Mock said Tuesday.
``There was some confusion on comments I made to Morgan and I think he took it wrong,'' Mock said. ``It's all been clarified now. He felt he was released. But that comment was not made and was totally taken out of context.''
Shepherd is participating in Kyle Petty's cross-country motorcycle ride for charity, but Mock said he reached him by phone to assure him he hadn't been fired. The team is 33rd in points, with a single eighth-place finish at Darlington to show for top 10s.
``We're struggling here a bit,'' Mock said. ``Our biggest single problem is actually the performance and handling of the chassis on the race track.
``Morgan has always been a hands-on chassis and shock guy of his own.
``We're applying the same concept here - where he's got total control of the chassis and car. He just says he's missing a little bit. He's trying some new things that are just not working the way he wants them to work.''
ELLIOTT REHAB: Bill Elliott is on a daily routine of physical therapy at home in Blairsville, Ga., after being released Sunday from Healthsouth Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala.
Elliott spent a week at the hospital as his initial recovery from a shattered left femur, which he suffered in a single-car accident at Talladega on April 28.
Elliott will return to the Alabama hospital every two weeks during a recovery that could last up to four months.
THE WINSTON SELECT: The next event on the Winston Cup schedule is not for points, but for glory. And Jeff Gordon, defending champion of The Winston Select, which will be run the night of May 18 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, explained why it's the most exciting race of the year, at least before it starts.
``It's nothing but fun,'' he said. ``I don't think we necessarily expect to use that race car the following weekend, so anything goes.
``When you get out there on that front straight and you see the fans ... And for some reason, whether it's nighttime, or whether the moon comes out, or I don't know, the fans really start getting wild. It just lit a fire in me when I heard those fans go nuts the way they did.''
PAY NOW, WIN LATER: Ray Evernham, Gordon's crew chief, said Tuesday that if NASCAR fined Rusty Wallace $25,000 for having his car a quarter-inch low after winning at Sears Point, ``just let me go to Indianapolis an inch low and I'll pay $100,000.''
Evernham said he can understand why parts got bent and the car settled (it was 3/16ths of an inch below the minimum 51-inch height rule in post-race inspection) and that's why ``we've actually been starting with our car 1/16th of an inch high everywhere we go, because I don't want a win tainted.''
He added: ``That really had nothing to do with Rusty winning the race.''
Evernham also said he's still keeping the pressure on Kenny Schrader, who hasn't won since 1991 while driving for team owner Rick Hendrick.
``I stay on him pretty hard,'' Evernham said. ``He's on a real serious training program. That team is going to win some races. The second half of the season for them is going to be really good.''
Evernham then went out on a limb, saying ``I believe Kenny Schrader is going to get a win before the second Pocono race'' on July 21.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB