THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 8, 1994 TAG: 9409080629
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Ernie Irvan, continuing his remarkable recovery from the life-threatening head and lung injuries sustained at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 20, has been moved to a private hospital room, is talking with visitors and had his tracheostomy tube removed Wednesday.
``Every doctor who goes in and out of his room says it's phenomenal how far he has come in 2 1/2 weeks,'' said Ford motorsports publicist Wayne Estes, who visited Irvan for three hours Tuesday evening and saw him again Wednesday morning.
``He was transferred out of the intensive-care unit into a private room Tuesday and he had his trach tube removed today,'' Estes said. ``He can speak. He can answer questions. He has his voice, and there's nothing out of the ordinary about his voice.
``For example, when I came in, he told the nurse who I was and where I was from and what I did for a living,'' Estes said. ``But he's still going to have some work to do on his road to recovery.''
Irvan was listed in fair condition Wednesday at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, near Ypsilanti, Mich.
Former Winston Cup champion-turned-broadcaster Benny Parsons was similarly impressed when he visited Irvan on Tuesday with a group that included drivers Rusty and Kenny Wallace.
``I thought he was doing wonderfully,'' Parsons said Wednesday. ``Basically, when I walked in, he said, `Buffet Benny.' Ernie is the guy who gave me that nickname. He knew exactly who we were and who he was.''
Parsons said Irvan talked racing with him and the others during the visit.
``I'm not sure he knows exactly why he's there, but obviously when you get a group of us together, that's what we're going to talk about. . . . And he talked a great deal.
``I went up there strictly as a friend. I did not go as a media type,'' Parsons said. ``And I was very encouraged by what I saw. Anybody who knows anybody who has had a head injury knows exactly what's going on. It's a long road. The progress he's made is absolutely miraculous.
``But there is still some road to go. We just started this race, and there's no way of knowing at what point in the race he is.''
RUDD'S REMARKABLE YEAR: How does team ownership suit Ricky Rudd?
Quite well, thank you.
In the second half of the 1994 season, Rudd has been the most consistent driver and has amassed more Winston Cup championship points than anyone else.
In the eight races since the Slick 50 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, which Rudd won, he has finished no worse than 12th. And he has finished in the top 10 in six of the eight events.
That streak has boosted Rudd into fourth place in the championship hunt, only 395 points behind leader Dale Earnhardt and a mere 168 points behind Rusty Wallace, who is in second place.
``We're right in there,'' Rudd said Wednesday in a telephone interview from his shop, taking a break from opening baby presents with his wife, Linda, and from feeding his 12-day-old son, Landon.
``We're fairly close to second. And we haven't completely written off the championship. I guess it's a matter of how much can you expect or how greedy you can be, but it would be nice, hopefully, to finish in the top five.''
Since New Hampshire, which was the 16th of 31 races this year, Rudd has racked up 1,197 points. He is followed closely by Bill Elliott, who has 1,185 points, with a victory and four other top 10s. Rusty Wallace is third with 1,118 points, followed by Earnhardt with 1,114 and Mark Martin with 1,071.
``At the beginning of the year, I said if we finished in the top 10, we'd be happy,'' Rudd said. ``We're now looking at a realistic shot at second. And the championship is not impossible. If (Earnhardt) has two bad races, we're back in it.
``We figured in the beginning that we would start stepping up our performance in the second half. It has kind of worked out that way, but better than we expected.
``Early on, it was a matter of just getting cars built and learning what to build. The type of chassis we used on some of the first cars was really not the ideal chassis to use. It was a good chassis last year, but with the tires being different this year, it's taken a different chassis setup.''
A major factor has been Bill Ingle, the hard-driving but good-natured crew chief.
``It's Bill's race team - he looks at it that way, like it's his own,'' Rudd said. ``The length of time it takes to develop a good working relationship between a new crew chief and driver can take a long time, but that's come together real quick.''
Another element is the fact that Rudd is a hands-on owner. He's at his shop nearly every day and hangs around the truck long after each race.
Last year, when he was driving for Rick Hendrick, it was sometimes difficult to find Rudd for a post-race interview because he didn't stick around long. This year he usually can be found in his truck 30 minutes after the race, relaxing or analyzing the team's performance with crew members.
Rudd has failed to finish only one race thus far this year. That was the April race in Bristol, where he was wrecked and finished 32nd. And he only has two other finishes below 20th. He was 25th at Talladega in May, where he was involved in a crash and 21st at Pocono, where he lost a cylinder.
CROSS-TRAINING: Bryant Stith, the Virginia Cavaliers' career scoring leader and now a guard-forward for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, plans to take up a second occupation Friday night.
Stith is to be a crew member for Busch Grand National driver Hermie Sadler in the Autolite Platinum 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
``I don't know what he'll do,'' Sadler said. ``Think I'll have him washing the windshield.''
Stith has been a friend of Sadler's since their high school days. The two grew up in neighboring communities in southern Virginia. by CNB