ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606030134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
One day after hopping into the No.95 Ford Thunderbird for the first time, Gary Bradberry found the speed it took to qualify for the Miller 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway. Bradberry, in his first Winston Cup race of 1996, is replacing Chuck Bown.
Bradberry reached 152.304 miles per hour during the second round of qualifying here Saturday, which won him the 26th starting spot in today's race.
Had he run that lap Friday in the first round, Bradberry would have tied Sterling Marlin for 19th.
``We got here yesterday, and I had never seen this race track,'' Bradberry said. ``It was really a last-minute deal to come up here. We had no idea that we'd be the second round quickest.''
Bradberry needed to crack the top 38, since he does not qualify for a provisional starting spot. The same was true for Hermie Sadler, who cracked off a lap of 151.815 mph to win the 30th starting spot.
Several other drivers also ran in the second round, so the provisional starting spots went to Greg Sacks, Dave Marcis, Darrell Waltrip and Jeremy Mayfield.
MARCIS TALES: He's 55 now, and things have changed since Marcis started racing in the NASCAR Winston Cup series in 1968.
``It was a little different then,'' said Marcis. ``Our cars were more nailed down to the ground then. Aerodynamics weren't as important.
``Today, aerodynamics are so important on the race cars that if you bend them up a little bit, they don't handle anymore. And it don't take much of a tap on the cars today to spin 'em.
``Years ago, we could lay against one another and rub and bang and keep right on going. It was probably more fun then.''
Marcis, who is famous for his appetite, said he hasn't been ``thrown out of any restaurants for eating too much lately. I was asked not to come back to a restaurant here in Dover about 15 years ago.
``It was a seafood place. We ate for about four hours. It was pretty high-priced, so we had to get our money's worth. The guy told us when we were leaving that we didn't need to come back.''
MORE FINES: NASCAR fined Rusty Wallace's crew chief, Robin Pemberton, $2,500 for having roll bars that were too thin in the door cage area on one side of the car.
NASCAR also fined the crew chiefs of Busch drivers Dennis Setzer, Tommy Houston, Buckshot Jones and Hal Browning each $1,000 for having the same problem, and fined Danny Edwards' crew chief $2,000 because the wrong bars were on both sides of the car.
The violations were found Friday.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Marcis.by CNB