ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: AUTO RACING NOTES
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
WANTED: Race car driver to drive Winston Cup car at Michigan International Speedway. Empty seat available immediately.
With the thousands of racers around the country striving to break into the NASCAR Winston Cup series, it's hard to imagine a Cup team having trouble finding someone to drive its car.
But that's exactly what happened here Friday after Kyle Petty, whose injuries suffered in the Brickyard 400 are more serious than originally thought, took his doctor's advice and decided to sit out the next two races.
For a time, the team had no one to practice in Petty's car. So Petty got back in the car and took a couple of laps. But it was not a pleasant experience for him. Finally, the team asked Jim Sauter, its fifth choice, to take over driving duties.
Sauter, who came here simply to help set up IROC cars, quickly found himself with a full weekend schedule. He qualified 26th for today's Busch race, replacing Chuck Bown, who broke a wrist in practice Thursday. And Sauter was 27th fastest in Cup pole qualifying driving Petty's car.
``That was the third lap I've run today [in Petty's car], so that's not too bad,'' Sauter said in describing his qualifying run. ``It's quite a bit different from what I've been driving all week.''
Meanwhile, Petty said his doctors ``told me it would be best, and in my best interest, not to get in a race car for two or three weeks. I didn't want to get into a situation where I'd go out there and wreck and rupture my spleen, split my pancreas or my liver or something.''
It first was thought Petty escaped his savage crash at Indianapolis on Aug.3 with only severe bruises. But the pain wasn't lessening this week, so he paid another visit to his doctor Wednesday.
There, Petty learned he had four broken ribs on his right side, one cracked rib on his left side, a bruised right shoulder blade, right lung problems and bruising throughout his abdominal area.
``It's hurt for a couple of weeks, but it's kind of leveled off to where it's just there all the time,'' he said. ``It hurts when you laugh. It hurts when you sneeze. It makes you short of breath a little bit. It's tough to sleep.
``I'm not going to get back in the car this week, and I probably won't get back in the car next week,'' Petty said. ``The only reason I got in the car today - and there were no plans for me to drive this car - was that we didn't have anybody to go in the car.
``I just flew in this morning. I didn't get out here to the race track until after 12. I ran a couple of laps, and it hurt pretty bad. My neck hurt and my ribs hurt, so I changed the seat around and went out and ran again, and it still hurt pretty bad.''
Before Sauter was chosen to drive Petty's car, the team tried several other candidates. But Grand National regulars Randy LaJoie and David Green couldn't help because their car owners were against it. Steve Grissom couldn't do it because it would break his contract with car owner Gary Bechtel. Jeff Purvis was unavailable. And the team did not extend an offer to Todd Bodine, who relieved Petty on Sunday at Watkins Glen.
EXTENDED CONTRACT: Square D Company, an electrical manufacturer, has announced that it will become the primary sponsor of the Filmar Racing Ford Thunderbird driven by Kenny Wallace, and that its agreement extends through the year 2000.
BUSCH GN RACE: Pole-winner Ricky Craven will lead a 42-car field to the green flag at noon today in the Detroit Gasket 200 for Busch Grand National cars.
Provisional starting spots went to Mike Dillon, Jeff Fuller, Glenn Allen and Bobby Dotter, while Randy Porter and Ron Barfield failed to make the race.
Meanwhile, Bown suffered a broken right wrist and multiple bruises in a crash in turn three during practice Thursday, it was announced Friday.
Sauter, taking over the backup car, led the second round of Busch qualifying with a lap of 173.666 mph in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
IROC RACE: The fourth and final IROC race of the 1996 season follows the final Winston Cup practice here this afternoon, with Indy-car driver Robby Gordon leading Al Unser Jr., by four points (42-38) for the title.
Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd practiced in IROC cars here Friday as potential replacement drivers for the injured Dale Earnhardt, who doubts he'll run the race, and Steve Kinser, who is racing his sprint car in Knoxville, Iowa, and may not be able to make it here in time.
NEW SON: After a positively miserable weekend at Watkins Glen, where he finished 36th, Craven went home to Charlotte, N.C., for the birth of his second child.
Craven's wife, Cathleen, delivered their first son, Richard Everett, at 12:42 p.m. on Aug.12 at University Hospital in Charlotte. The baby weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces and was 21 inches long. The Cravens' daughter, Riley Diane, is four.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Bobby Labonte was second fastest in qualifyingby CNBFriday for the GM Goodwrench 400 in Brooklyn, Mich.