THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9502020462
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
As soon as Richmond shrugged off the snowstorm that dumped 4 inches on the city Monday, Winston Cup teams got busy practicing at Richmond International Raceway.
Three teams tested Tuesday afternoon, when the track finally dried, and four more arrived Wednesday, including Rusty Wallace, who has won twice there in the past three years.
``This is the first time we've had a Monte Carlo anywhere except Daytona,'' said car owner Leo Jackson, who was at the 3/4-mile track with his new driver, Robert Pressley.
``I think it should be better. I think the downforce is better,'' Jackson said, adding that he thinks the car won't necessarily be any faster but should handle better.
BOWN ON TRACK: Chuck Bown, who like Ernie Irvan is trying to recover from a head injury that caused eye damage, tested Mike Chase's No. 32 Monte Carlo at Richmond on Wednesday.
Bown suffered nerve damage in his right eye after a crash at Pocono last June. Unlike Irvan, who was nearly killed by a head injury at Michigan in August, Bown walked away from his crash.
But Bown, like Irvan, has double vision. And the vision in the right eye wobbles as well. Neither driver at this point knows if he will fully recover, but both are itching to return to the track.
Bown will be working on TNN and Motor Racing Network broadcasts, ``but I'd a lot rather be driving,'' he said.
After emerging from Chase's car Wednesday, Bown said his race vision was better.
``It felt better than the last time,'' Bown told Sean Sawyer of the track's public relations department. ``I didn't have any double vision, but the image was jumping around a little bit from the vibration in the car.''
RULES CHANGES: NASCAR this week announced two new rules.
One prohibits the interchanging of pit crewmen over the wall during pit stops. From now on, seven, and only seven, men can go over the wall.
``Teams were using an interchanging system and sometimes as many as nine or 10 guys were working on the car during a stop,'' NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said. ``There is a NASCAR inspector every two pit stalls and it's tough for one guy every two stalls to make sure there are only seven guys over the wall. So this will definitely make it easier for us to police the situation. And it's for safety.''
The second change will replace the last two qualifying positions in each race with provisional starting positions. So instead of having, say, a 40-car field with two provisionals (plus a possible champion's provisional), a race will have a 38-car field of qualifiers with four (or five) provisional starting spots.
``This will give owners who have been with us a long time, posting consistent finishes, another opportunity to make the field,'' Triplett said. By the same token, it will make it that much harder for part-timers to make races.
A BUSY RACER: Derrike Cope certainly is filling his racing platter this year.
Besides driving Bobby Allison's No. 12 Ford Thunderbird, Cope said he will drive Allison's Busch Grand National car in 18 or 19 races. And he's forming his own Grand National team, with Tim Bender as driver, to compete in about 10 events.
``We're also going to build a truck,'' Cope said. ``We'll probably run it once or twice, like at Bristol or something. We're doing that to have fun with it more than anything.''
BRIGHTER TRACK: Among the many improvements track president Paul Sawyer has planned in the coming months are ground-level lights around the inside of the Richmond raceway.
``After the March race, we're going to tear down all the steel retaining walls and replace them with 30-inch concrete walls,'' Sawyer said. ``By September, we'll have the new ground-level lights instead of portable ones.''
HESS LANDS RIDE: Journeyman driver Ben Hess has been named to drive the No. 55 RaDiUs Motorsports Ford Thunderbird. An announcement on sponsorship is expected next week.
Hess's last venture in Winston Cup ended against the wall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, when he wrecked in practice for the inaugural Brickyard 400 and suffered a concussion. by CNB