THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406040370
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940604 LENGTH: DOVER, DEL.
Driving for the Delaware-based DuPont corporation, Craven won the top starting spot for today's Goodwrench 200 at Dover Downs International Speedway on Friday with a speed of 146.425 mph in his Chevrolet Lumina. It was his sixth career Grand National pole, but his first of 1994.
{REST} ``Being on the pole and being so close to the home of your sponsor is something special,'' Craven said. ``To be able to sit on the pole here is probably as important as any race we run.''
``But I kinda almost blew it. I tried real hard to blow it. I overdrove turn one. Got into it way, way too hard. But the car was good enough that I knew when I came out of turn four, it was a good lap.''
Rodney Combs, driving a Richard Petty-owned Pontiac Grand Prix, was second-fastest at 146.377 mph, followed by Derrike Cope (filling in for the injured Chad Little) at 146.252 mph in a Ford and Bobby Dotter in a Chevy at 146.139.
Also in the top 10 were Larry Pearson, Steve Grissom, Tim Fedewa, Phil Parsons and Chesapeake's Elton Sawyer. Sawyer's wife, Patty Moise, will start 34th.
Little, meanwhile, will start today's race (TV: 1 p.m., TNN) but will turn his car over to Cope at the first yellow flag. Little is still recovering from the broken leg, broken shoulder and concussion he received in a hard crash last week.
Little said the concussion left him with no memory of the crash.
ATTITUDE CHECK: Kyle Petty said Friday that car owner Felix Sabates' dismissals earlier this week of team manager Robin Pemberton and his two brothers, crew members Ryan and Roman Pemberton, have led to a more serious attitude among the rest of the team.
``Yeah, I have to admit it, it's like a wake-up call,'' he said. ``It's like when the No. 1 quarterback has a bad day and they snatch him out and put in the No. 2 guy and the whole team picks up the slack and plays better.
``Any time you start changing team members, it disrupts the team for a little while. But I think in racing, it's real funny, but you can look back over the years where guys have left race teams and the team runs better for three or four races.''
Petty said problems had been brewing for some time.
``This is something that's been coming along for six months to a year,'' he said. ``I think everybody knew it was going to (happen) at some point in time, but it was just unexpected for it to come now. But if we're . . . going to go through this year and get ready for next year and the year after that, we've got to make some changes and do some things.
``I hate it for Robin and I hate it for Roman and Ryan, but, hopefully, everybody will be better for it.''
DOVER TO REPAVE: Dover Downs has announced plans to repave the 1-mile, high-banked track after the fall race on Sept. 18.
There are dozens of large cracks in the pavement, not only through the turns but also on the straightaways. And when the cracks are filled with sealer, as they have been just about every year, the surface becomes much slicker and cars are much more likely to crash until the sealer gets worked in.
Ernie Irvan, however, doesn't see a big problem with the track as it is now.
``Nobody complains about Michigan, but it's just about as rough as this is,'' he said. ``I know a lot of places that need resurfacing more than this track does. I won't mention (North) Wilkesboro, but that's one of them.'' by CNB