ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 16, 1997 TAG: 9703180029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip say it may be difficult to pass at Texas Motor Speedway.
Texas Motor Speedway looks tight in some places, and some of the drivers who tested there this past week confirm that it is.
``There's only room for one car off [turns] 2 and 4,'' said Jeff Gordon, the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup champion. ``There's barely room for one car. It's nice, but I think we're going to have a little trouble passing on it.''
``Coming off [turn] 4 is real tight,'' said Winston Cup veteran Darrell Waltrip.
The track may look like Charlotte Motor Speedway, but both drivers said it has its own character.
``It's not Charlotte,'' Waltrip said. ``It has some similarities to Charlotte, but it's Texas.''
Said Gordon, ``It's like Charlotte, but it's not. I was talking to Brett Bodine, and he kind of thought it was like a big Rockingham. I can see that, too. It's similar in shape to Charlotte, but it's totally different the way you drive it. Turn 1 is a lot sharper and a lot flatter. The front straightaway is a lot narrower and tighter. Turn 4 is much tighter.''
Twenty-two Winston Cup teams practiced at the 1.5-mile oval in Roanoke, Texas, on Thursday after being rained out Wednesday. The session concluded Friday.
Lake Speed had the fastest unofficial lap, at 185.120 mph Friday in a Ford, followed by Ricky Rudd in a Ford at 184.740 mph. Rusty Wallace and Michael Waltrip, also driving Fords, reached 184.300 mph Thursday.
Derrike Cope was at 184.170 mph Friday in a Pontiac Grand Prix, followed by Jeff Gordon in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo at 183.610 mph.
There were no incidents Friday, but Johnny Benson tagged the turn 2 wall and Robby Gordon hit the turn 1 wall on Thursday. Benson damaged the back of his Pontiac, while Gordon's Chevy had damage to the left front bumper and the left rear fender.
Steve Grissom was one of the drivers at Texas this week, back in action after a horrific crash March 9 at Atlanta that destroyed his car and broke a concrete wall, but left him almost totally unhurt.
``I've got some swelling in my left ankle and the arch in my right foot is black and blue and has a little swelling,'' Grissom told Cooper. ``I've wrecked before and not torn up the car near this bad and hurt a whole lot worse.''
Grissom, for the first time, described the crash in detail: ``Some of the guys were having some of those high-speed wobbles. It looked like everybody just about had it under control. ...I thought I could go to the inside. I went by Jimmy Spencer, and the next thing I know, boom around it went.
``I knew if I hit it was going to hurt. I pulled my elbows in and pushed back in the seat. I was holding on. I felt a lick and another lick. When it came to rest, the first thing I did was unhook the window net and push it away. That's the first time I knew I was on my roof.
``I got on the radio. I told [crew chief] Charley [Pressley] that I was all right. They were trying to talk to me and I was trying to talk to them, but the radio wasn't working. I could smell gas. When I thought it was gas, I probably panicked for just a second.''
Grissom said the roughest part of the experience was being on the stretcher.
``They put me on the backboard and put a collar around my neck,'' he said. ``I thought they were about to drop me. I was hanging off the backboard. They put me in the ambulance, and somebody slammed the back door and it hit the bottom of my foot and I almost jumped off the board. It really hurt.''
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS Jeff Gordon, talking with his crew atby CNBTexas Motor Speedway, says the track is ``like Charlotte, but it's
not. I was talking to Brett Bodine, and he kind of thought it was
like a big Rockingham. I can see that, too.'' KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING