THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140447
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Have a spare Winston Cup engine sitting around? Contact Rick Mast and his team.
After burning pistons in four motors Friday and Saturday, Mast finished 10th in Sunday's Busch Clash and participated in the second round of time trials at Daytona International Speedway on Monday with what amounted to a throwaway engine.
``All we had left was the motor we've used in our pit-stop practice car,'' Mast said.
Mast ran in the second round of qualifying because he had to.
``We had to requalify today in order to try again tomorrow'' in the third round of time trials, Mast said. He was ninth-fastest Monday at a modest 187.161 mph - more than 6 mph slower than Dale Jarrett's pole speed of 193.494.
Mast's team should have at least one engine back from its shop in Denver, N.C., in time for today's third round, which begins at 1 p.m.
Things were going so badly that when a team member was getting set to leave for North Carolina with three broken engines Saturday, Mast told him, ``Wait a minute. Better wait until after pole qualifying.''
Sure enough, Mast burned a piston in qualifying, and the team member departed with four engines.
ALLEN QUICKEST: Loy Allen was the fastest among 15 drivers who participated in Monday's second round of time trials, reaching 190.247 mph. Joe Nemechek was second-fastest at 189.422, followed by Jimmy Spencer at 189.243.
All three were quicker than they were in the first round Saturday.
Meanwhile, Brett Bodine was 10th-fastest at a mediocre 186.792 mph in Junior Johnson's No. 11 Ford. Bodine, of course, was not allowed to qualify in Saturday's first round after inspectors found that Johnson's engine had violated NASCAR rules.
BUSCH PRACTICE: The list of speed leaders after the first day of Busch Grand National practice Monday looked similar to the Winston Cup lineup.
Dale Jarrett was quickest at 187.025 mph. In fact, he was more than a half-second faster around the 2.5-mile track than the next-fastest driver, Michael Waltrip, who reached 184.813. The others in the top five were Derrike Cope at 184.619, Mark Martin at 184.581 and Mike McLaughlin at 184.072.
DALLENBACH'S RETURN: Wally Dallenbach said he hopes to return to the Winston Cup series at Talladega in May in a car owned by Bill Strauser, who owned Mike Chase's Winston West championship car.
Dallenbach said the team is looking for sponsorship, but Strauser is ``committed to do 10 races no matter what.''
IRVAN UPDATE: Ernie Irvan said he expects the double vision in his left eye to disappear by June or July. ``By August, I can probably go racing again,'' Irvan told Ford's Wayne Estes.
Irvan said his first race back would probably be in the SuperTruck series.
``We're looking at that maybe as early as June or July, because I'd like to be back Winston Cup racing in August,'' he said.
He added that if his double vision ``doesn't work out like they think, I'll learn to drive with one eye.'' by CNB