ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
IT'S BEEN AWHILE since a Pontiac has been grand at Daytona International Speedway.
Overshadowed by the no-passing controversy and the traditional Ford-Chevy feud, the Pontiac Grand Prix teams continue to struggle in the throes of a chronic slump at Daytona International Speedway.
Derrike Cope was the fastest of the eight Pontiac drivers here in qualifying. He was 18th.
That's about par for the course for Pontiacs at Daytona in the 1990s. In this decade, the best finish for a Pontiac has been sixth by Kyle Petty in 1992 and Michael Waltrip in 1995. Even more telling is the fact that in five of the past seven races, the highest-finishing Pontiac has been either a lap down or the last car on the lead lap.
You have to go all the way back to Richard Petty's third-place finish in the 1987 Daytona 500 to find a Pontiac in the top three. And the last victory for a Pontiac was in 1983, when Cale Yarborough put a slingshot move on Buddy Baker on the last lap to win the race.
Nothing has happened this year to suggest that the Pontiac will do any better this Sunday than it has in the recent past. The drivers and crew chiefs don't really know. But they remain upbeat.
``I think we're still evaluating the Pontiac because obviously we haven't had a lot of time with the car to find out its tendencies,'' said Cope, who is with the new No.36 Skittles Pontiac team. ``I feel guardedly optimistic going into the Twin 125s Thursday.''
Cope drove a Ford last year and he said the Pontiac is ``a little more pitch sensitive in the front-to-rear pitch than the Ford. Our car was really sensitive to keeping the attitude right. We had to be careful to not get too greedy with our changes. If we really tried to get drastic with it, it seemed to act adversely to the changes.''
Bobby Labonte, meanwhile, went backwards to 13th place in the Busch Clash after starting on the pole for the final 10-lap segment.
Crew chief Jimmy Makar said that was not an indication of car problems. ``Our motor wouldn't run,'' he said. ``It was because of the way we set some things up and the carburetor we ran. And we really haven't had much of a look at it except for qualifying. But as far as how we're going to race, I haven't seen anybody pulling out and passing, so I don't know.''
``As far as our Pontiac is concerned,'' said Labonte, ``we're real excited about it, and we probably just need to work on it in the draft for Sunday's race.''
The first challenge, of course, will be getting into the race in Thursday's Twin 125 qualifiers. And it will be a significant hurdle for most of the Pontiac teams.
Generally, if you're among the top 20 fastest, you will make it on speed if not in the 125s. But Cope, at 18th fastest, has no safety net beyond his speed. His new team doesn't have any provisional starting spots.
``It's obvious that we don't have any points coming in here, and that's always a concern, so we're trying not to make any mistakes and have a consistent race car,'' said Cope.
Labonte, in 21st, shouldn't have a problem. But Kyle Petty, in 30th, also has a new team and no provisionals. He needs to make the race in his Thursday qualifier, as does Chad Little, who was 33rd fastest with another new team.
``We didn't qualify all that well, so we can't rely so much on our speed,'' said Little. ``I don't think we're as comfortable as Derrike or Bobby are. If we do have to rely on our speed, I hope there's not any mishaps in the 125s that require the guys in front of us to use their speeds.''
Bobby Hamilton, in 38th, has provisionals and is high on the provisional list, so he should be OK. But Johnny Benson in 42nd and Morgan Shepherd in 46th also need to perform well Thursday.
``It's still too early to tell how good the Pontiacs are going to be here,'' said Little. ``I guess we'll just have to wait and see.''
But if recent history is any indicator, don't hold your breath for stellar results.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Cope. color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB