THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407210658
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Geoff Bodine's dominating victory in the Miller 500 at Pocono International Raceway on Sunday couldn't have come at a more opportune time for the folks at Hoosier Racing Tire Co.
After 16 consecutive races without a points-race victory, Hoosier had lost momentum. The tire war had become a non-story.
The company now has reclaimed its supporting role in the 31-act play known as the Winston Cup series. And Hoosier has served notice that it may well be able to steal the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But Bodine, who is scheduled to be in Indianapolis today for a final Hoosier tire test, says his Pocono victory means nothing at Indy despite some similarities between the tracks.
``No one has the upper hand at Indy,'' Bodine said. ``No one has any history there. All of what Goodyear knows about Indy cars there, you can't use that.
``What's interesting is that . . . the track is finally getting some rubber on it. That track has never had any rubber on it. Indy cars use hard tires and have so much downforce, they just grind the rubber off into powder. We're laying rubber down. So the track has changed every time we've gone there.
``That's why we're going this last time so (Hoosier president Bob Newton) can zero in on what he needs. That's one advantage he has. He can wait until (today) to start making tires.''
Such is not the case for Goodyear.
``Well, about all I can say is we've already made our commitment to the Brickyard tire based on testing, which we're very pleased with,'' Goodyear racing director Leo Mehl said. ``Now, it's just waiting to see what happens.''
As for the loss at Pocono, Mehl said: ``We used the same tire at Pocono last month, which had worked very successfully. We have 16 wins, and this was just one race in a long season. We plan to run different tires every race, and other new things are under way.''
MORE BRICKYARD 400: Michael Waltrip, who had the fastest Pontiac in a three-day General Motors test at Indy last week, said he's confident about Goodyear's tires.
``Goodyear brought us a tire capable of really fast speeds,'' he said in a Tuesday teleconference. ``Man, you can just hammer those corners. They might be equal, but I don't think (Hoosier) can be any better.
``But I would concern myself more with weather and temperature changes. That concerns me more than tires.
``The main problem I see, and I think NASCAR should address this, is that qualifying (at Indy) begins at 3 p.m. and there are going to be 80 cars there. That means there could be a difference between 3 o'clock and 6 o'clock in the time between the first guy going out and the last guy. And that's not fair because the track is just so much faster in the evening.''
TALLADEGA WEEKEND: Before the historic trip to the Brickyard comes another visit to Talladega. This weekend's activities include a Grand National race Saturday - the first Grand National companion race on the Winston Cup circuit since Dover in early June.
Grand National qualifying is at 3:30 p.m. today. Winston Cup qualifying is at 3 p.m. Friday. by CNB