THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408210231
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Race after race and week after week in the finest season of his still-budding career, Ernie Irvan heard these words: ``Look at the big picture, Ernie. Don't forget the big picture.''
That was the 1994 motto for Irvan and his team, repeated time and again by crew chief Larry McReynolds.
But in a split second Saturday morning, when his Ford Thunderbird slammed into the second-turn wall at Michigan International Speedway, the big picture for Irvan was transformed from a fight for the 1994 Winston Cup championship into a fight for life.
And no one was more shocked than Mark Martin, whose relationship with Irvan had blossomed into a close friendship.
``He's fighting to hang onto everything, I guess,'' Martin said. ``This is just . . . I can't find any words to explain it. It's just tragic. Ernie is just . . . It just don't happen to your best friends that much.''
As a somber, shaken Martin talked outside his race hauler a couple hours after the 8:40 a.m. accident, a cluster of reporters surrounded him. Stock cars continued to practice on the track, and the sounds of their V-8 engines reverberated through the garage.
In many ways, it didn't appear that anything terrible had happened. Public relations representatives were still giving tours of the garage. Crew members were still busy tuning and adjusting their cars. And the fans who had managed to wrangle garage passes were still trolling for autographs.
But as Martin talked about his friend, the skies began to match the mood in the garage. In a few minutes, the rain would start to fall, as if Mother Nature was stepping in to impose its own suspension of the action on the track.
Martin was having a hard time comprehending that the man with whom he had spent a good part of his week was now so suddenly and gravely injured.
``We spent most of the day Tuesday together,'' Martin said. ``We did a Ford appearance in Boston together, and I flew up in his plane.
``My first initial reaction was, `Well, so he wrecked his car. They got another one. It might even be better than this one.' I just didn't have a clue.
``You are just so conditioned to not getting hurt in these things, you know what I mean? You don't think about it.''
Just before the accident, Martin had been racing with Irvan. He thought, in hindsight, that perhaps Irvan had had a tire deflate.
``He was in front of me and I'd catch him a little bit in the corners,'' Martin said. ``And then I pulled off (the track) and two laps later, this happened.
``After I found out the severity of it, I tried to get out on the racetrack. I borrowed a car and tried to go out there, but they wouldn't let me out there. And then I came back in here and wondered where Kim (Ernie's wife) was and went looking for her.
``It's really, really hard to be here with that going on over there (at the hospital) and not knowing. That's just a really tough thing. And there's not a lot anyone can say. . . .
``I know he took a really hard hit. But I've got a good feeling about him. I've got a good feeling that he's going to be OK. He's tough as nails.''
For Martin and for every other driver, the challenge was to get back into a racing frame of mind. Martin had a Grand National race in which to compete on Saturday. And it did take place, although the start was delayed for more than four hours by the rain.
``It's harder for me to get in the mood,'' Martin said.
But then the racing blood that courses through Martin's veins began to pump once again.
``I got a lot to look forward to in this Busch race, though,'' he said. ``The car is really working good. It's working great.''
And while his friend was battling to stay alive, Martin went out and did battle on the track. He dominated, leading 78 of the 100 laps. He was in front with less than seven laps to go. But then his tires lost their grip. He faded to third. And when the race was over, he quickly left the track. by CNB