ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170058
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
New Hampshire International Speedway owner Bob Bahre said Tuesday he'll spend whatever it takes to fix the asphalt racing surface in the low-banked turns of the one-mile track.
"It's not a question of money,'' he said. ``I don't care about that. We think we can get it licked."
The track began to crumble in the turns during Sunday's race, which was won by Ernie Irvan. It made for treacherous driving and a single-groove track.
"It was better than it has been before, but it looked bad,'' Bahre said during the weekly Winston Cup teleconference. ``I'm not going to say it wasn't. But when you say it broke up, what happened was it took a little off the top. We've got six inches of blacktop. This was maybe a quarter of an inch, or three-eighths. It made it a little like a washboard. It was not good. I'm not going to make excuses. It was wrong and we're going to make it right.''
Bahre was caught off guard when asked about a statement his North Wilkesboro Speedway partner, Bruton Smith, reportedly had made that he would shut down North Wilkesboro if Bahre didn't sell his half.
``That's the first I heard of that,'' Bahre said. "I think that sounds a little ridiculous. He talked about how he wants to take care of the fans. I think by acting that way, he's not. But that's the first I heard he was going to shut it down.''
Bahre said he'd have to think about whether he'd be willing to sell his half to Smith.
Charlotte Motor Speedway spokesman Jerry Gappens said the first priority was to settle the issue over North Wilkesboro's two Winston Cup dates and the future of the speedway ``is still up in the air.''
Bahre said he thinks North Wilkesboro could make a modest profit with a truck race or a Busch race. He said the track, which has 34,000 seats, will ``probably make $900,000 before taxes'' on a Winston Cup race this year.
TIRED OF NOT WINNING MORE: Dale Earnhardt is getting frustrated. He's second in points, neck and neck with Terry Labonte, but he's not winning enough.
The season is more than half over, and Earnhardt has two victories.
``We're trying to win each race, and right now, we're a little disappointed with our performance,'' he said. "I'm not happy with winning just a couple of races. We should win periodically or be a contender to win periodically. We've been there, but we've not been that strong. It's a little defeating to us.''
SLOWLY IMPROVING: At the other end of the spectrum, you have rookie Johnny Benson, whose ninth-place finish was his career best.
``As you can see, it's been a little bit of a struggle,'' Benson said.
Benson said perfecting the new Pontiac Grand Prix has been tougher than expected.
``I think originally everybody had some high hopes of it being better than the [Chevrolet] Monte Carlo,'' Benson said. ``Obviously, it's not that. It's been tough. We need some more downforce on the front. We just need some more time with the car. Maybe for the development the car, it came out just a little bit earlier than it needed. But the car is going to be a good race car.''
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB