
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994                    TAG: 9406090671 
SECTION: SPORTS                     PAGE: C9    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940609                                 LENGTH: GREENSBORO

MUSGRAVE PAID PRICE FOR CAUTION THAT WASN'T

{LEAD} Ted Musgrave, who already had been injured once this season before Sunday's hard crash at Dover Downs International Speedway, fared better this time around, although he received a mild concussion.

The 38-year-old driver of Jack Roush's No. 16 Ford Thunderbird was bruised and sore all over when he awoke Monday, but he did not reinjure the ribs he cracked in his Daytona 500 crash, team spokeswoman Diane Hollingsworth said.

{REST} It was the case of the missing yellow flag on lap 360 at Dover on Sunday when Musgrave came barreling down the frontstretch and slammed into the rear of Dave Marcis' crippled Chevrolet Lumina.

Marcis had blown a tire on the backstretch, nearly hit the wall in turns three and four and limped all the way down the frontstretch, and still NASCAR did not throw the yellow flag.

Well before the crash, Musgrave saw the debris from Marcis' tire.

``Coming down the frontstretch, they still never threw a caution, and I don't know if they were ever going to,'' he said. ``I stayed in the throttle. . . . I was dodging cars. I was trying hard, but with no caution, I just wasn't going to lift.''

The collision with Marcis severed the brake lines and steering on Musgrave's Ford and launched him into the first-turn wall.

The Ford was a total loss.

``It's gone,'' crew chief Howard Comstock said. ``We've got it sitting here in the shop and every time I walk by it, it kind of sends a chill down my spine.''

POST-FIGHT ANALYSIS: Don't look for any harsh disciplinary action from NASCAR in the wake of the brief postrace brawl involving Morgan Shepherd, Brett Bodine and their teams at Dover.

``We're looking into it,'' said NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett.

But what NASCAR invariably gives drivers in these cases is a trip to the woodshed, otherwise known as the NASCAR trailer. Shepherd and Bodine will probably be called there Friday at Pocono for a meeting with Winston Cup director Gary Nelson and his bosses, Mike Helton and Les Richter.

There, the drivers will have to pledge to cease and desist. Stiffer penalties will come only if they continue their on-track feud.

Bodine earned no fans for his blatant move up the track to spin Shepherd, and NASCAR held him in the pits for five laps.

But Bodine was holding a grudge not only from a collision with Shepherd earlier in the race that sent him into the wall, but also from an incident at Martinsville in which Shepherd retaliated on the track and sent Bodine's car into the wall.

Shepherd was knocked out in the Dover crash. He was still unconscious in the infield care center, and there was talk about stopping the race to get him across the track and to a local hospital when he suddenly awoke, pronounced himself OK and soon departed.

He had plenty of energy after the race, when he went after Bodine.

PEMBERTON'S VACATION: Robin Pemberton continues his unplanned vacation after being fired May 30 as Kyle Petty's team manager by team owner Felix Sabates.

``I'll probably decide something in the next week or two,'' Pemberton said. ``I'm looking at a lot of different options. There are some real good opportunities out there, and I just want to make sure I look at everything.'' He said money is not the paramount concern: ``I'm looking for the right place to work.''

Pemberton, 37, a crew chief since 1985, isn't relishing the time off.

``I've been at the house a week now and it's about to bore me to death,'' he said. But he is getting time to be with his two sons, Bray and Briggs, and reports playing ``hours and hours'' of basketball and baseball.

``Bray wants me to go back to work, because I'm getting my basketball shot back and he can't beat me anymore,'' Pemberton said.

EARNHARDT HONOR: Six-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt will be one of five men inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame on Monday in Raleigh.

SPONSOR NEWS: Heilig-Meyers has exercised a contract option and extended its sponsorship agreement with car owner Junie Donlavey, driver Mike Wallace and the No. 90 Ford Thunderbird team through 1995, the company announced Wednesday.

by CNB