ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 10, 1996 TAG: 9608120019
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Racing
CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADF0RD
Perhaps in no sport is the term "crunch time" more appropriate than in auto racing.
With just six races for points remaining on the New River Valley Speedway calendar, drivers entertaining dreams of a points title are hoping for two things - to stumble upon the all too elusive competitive edge and to avoid the melee of spins and wrecks that have plagued division front runners in the last month and a half.
In the Late Model Division, four-time track champion Jeff Agnew leads the way with six victories and 810 points. Agnew is hanging on to a 70-point lead over Tony McGuire and a 76-point advantage on Chad Harris, figures that have been shrinking over the past seven races.
Agnew held an 80-point lead over McGuire following his victory in the June 22 Dick Price/Skyline Ford 100. A series of mishaps have barred Agnew from victory lane since that victory, enabling McGuire to make up a modest 10 points, while Harris has chipped 40 points off the frontrunner's lead.
"No lead is really safe out there," Limited Sportsman points leader Tam Topham said. "I'm trying to keep my focus on winning some more races and not worry as much about the points. You can get wrecked one time and finish at the back of the field ... that could cost you about 30 to 40 points in one race."
Topham knows what he's talking about. At one point this season, the Wytheville driver held a 68-point lead over Jay McCray before a three-week stretch of bad luck left him with just a 16-point advantage. He has since increased his lead over McCray to 32, but still remains wary.
"We just need to win ... the rest will take care of itself," Topham said.
QUALITY TELEVISION: It's been two weeks since the last car crossed the finish line in the Kroger/WDBJ-7 250 televised race, but those involved are still receiving feedback from the broadcast.
"We've been getting a lot of calls from people that said they really enjoyed the race, particularly [McGuire's] in-car camera," WDBJ-7 sports director Mike Stevens said. "A lot of people have told us that they went to the race and set their VCRs so they could watch it when they got home."
Stevens added that he would like to see the station's involvement with local racing continue next season.
"It's not my call, but I think it's great," Stevens said. "One of our big priorities is to do a good production without hurting the track attendance. Anyone who was at the track could see it was a great crowd."
Public response around the track last week was positive on the whole. The major complaint seemed to be that cameras focused mainly on the leaders and didn't show many shots of action farther back in the 34-car field.
NEW FACE: Speedway officials have indicated that Lonesome Pine Speedway regular Mike Porter will be competing at the NRV Speedway the remainder of the '96 season. Porter was running a close second in the Coeburn track's Late Model points standings to Randy Ratliffe until a disqualification for an off-set fuel cell in last week's race removed him from title contention.
"He called us and said that he was coming this week for practice and would be racing here from now on," speedway co-owner and promoter Ronnie Snoddy said. "He sounded like he was upset and disagreed with the disqualification. He's a really good driver. He's never won a race here, but he's had some top-five finishes."
Porter ranks 11th in this week's Blue Ridge region standings, tops among drivers not leading points races at one of the region's 10 member tracks. In 32 starts this season, Porter has taken the checkered flag 17 times - the most victories in the region. Porter also has 27 top-5 and 31 top-10 finishes.
AROUND THE TRACK: Tommy Allie will be shooting for his 13th victory in a row in today's Pure Stock race ... Allie leads the Pure Stock division by 112 points over Dean Sutphin ... Ray Sowers is the owner of the track's second longest winning streak (four races) and holds a 108-point lead over Kevin Snyder in the Mini Stock division ... Today is the final running of the Legends class, with a $500 purse going to the race winner ... Snoddy said Thursday that the October race will go on as scheduled with a purse of at least $10,000 going to the winner. The race will be a 250-lap affair and will be regulated in a manner similar to the Kroger/WDBJ-7 250 ... Rudy Hedge and Anthony Haynes are tied atop the Enduro points list with one race remaining on Aug. 31.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. Tam Topham slides sideways in theby CNBJuly 27 Kroger/WDBJ-7 250 as Rick Sigmon (32), Michael Ritch (54)
and Johnny Rumley (98) slip by in turn three. color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING