THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9411120368
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Qualifying for Sunday's Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway Friday became a game of chicken on the repaved, ultrafast track, and lead footed Greg Sacks proved he had the most guts.
Sacks, driving a D.K. Ulrich-owned Chevy with Hoosier tires, went flat out around the 1.522-mile oval. His lap of 185.830 mph was more than five mph faster than the previous record of 180.204 mph set by Loy Allen in March.
Forty-one of the 56 drivers who ran bettered Allen's old record.
``I felt I could run wide open,'' Sacks said. ``And I told (crew chief) Tony Furr and all the guys, and D.K., too: `We're either going to be on the pole or we're going to have to roll another car off the truck, because we're going wide open.''
Sacks had tested here about two weeks ago and discovered he could run flat out through turns three and four, but he had problems in one and two.
Sacks has never lacked the ability to go fast, but he has had trouble finishing. He failed to finish five races this year because of crashes. This was his second career pole. He also has one victory - the 1985 400-miler at Daytona.
The game of chicken enticed many other drivers, who circled the track with their accelerators mashed, or almost mashed, to the floor. John Andretti told Pontiac's Brian Hoagland: ``I had a mind-set, whether it's right or wrong, to try and get around here wide open.'' But Andretti lost the back end of his Richard Petty-owned Pontiac in turn two and had to lift.
But others were none too pleased with the fast speeds.
``We're going way too fast,'' Jeff Gordon said after qualifying sixth at 183.502 mph. ``I've been scared to death all day long. For those one-lap runs at that speed, I think it's crazy. I held my breath on that qualifying lap, but really, I've been holding it all day.''
Kenny Wallace, the last of 56 cars to attempt to qualify, won the outside pole position with 184.746 miles per hour in a Ford. Fords swept the top five starting positions.
At the other end of the qualifying order, at least 14 drivers will fail to make Sunday's 40-car field, and some regulars may be among them.
Drivers who were unable to run in the top 40 included Dick Trickle (41st), Jimmy Hensley (43rd), Bobby Hamilton (44th), Robert Pressley (45th), Michael Waltrip (47th), Dave Marcis (48th), Kyle Petty (49th), Joe Ruttman (50th), and Ted Musgrave, who blew an engine during his run and failed to finish the lap. by CNB