THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 27, 1995 TAG: 9502270161
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
In the garage at North Carolina Motor Speedway on Sunday, the look of dejection took many forms.
It was the most beautiful February race day at the Rock in years, but the way some drivers were feeling, it might as well have rained.
There was Ken Schrader, leaning against a post midway through the race, his back turned to his wrecked Chevrolet as his crew frantically tried to piece together something that would run on the racetrack. They never succeeded. Schrader finished 39th.
There was Todd Bodine, sitting in his car a few feet from Schrader after taking both of their cars out, leaning his helmeted head against his gloved hand in obvious displeasure. You couldn't see his face, but you didn't have to. He finished 31st.
There was Rick Mast, victim of someone else's mess, sitting on the cold cement floor of the garage, rubbing his sore neck while his team performed semi-successful mechanical surgery on his Ford. Mast finished 35th.
And these men didn't even have the worst of it Sunday in the wreck-strewn first half of the Goodwrench 500. There were eight crashes in the first 244 laps but only two in the final 248.
The worst of it went to Greg Sacks, who left the front end of his Pontiac scattered on the pavement after plastering Jimmy Hensley on the front straight during a four-car crash. The impact launched the back end of Hensley's car about 8 feet into the air.
I was coming through (turns) three and four, and saw Hensley's smoke,'' Sacks told Pontiac's Brian Hoagland. ``I chose a line, went through the smoke, came out and dodged (Dick) Trickle, and Hensley came off the wall. There was nowhere to go.''
Said Hensley: ``I tried to keep it up against the outside wall, but I couldn't do it.''
Other crash victims included Jimmy Spencer, Davy Jones and Lake Speed.
NOT A SPRINT-CAR RACE: For someone who didn't tear up his car, no one had a tougher day at the Rock than Steve Kinser.
The veteran sprint-car driver, competing in his first event at Rockingham, struggled at about three-fourths the speed of everyone else. He probably was passed more times Sunday than in his entire sprint-car career.
By the 47th circuit, he was five laps down. Later in the race, he had battery problems. When it was over, Kinser was in 27th place, 56 laps behind Gordon. But he finished. And he brought the car home in one piece.
A HAPPY EX-COACH: Joe Gibbs was one unhappy ex-NFL coach last fall when Dale Jarrett jumped ship to the Robert Yates-owned Ford.
But he wore a broad smile Sunday after his new driver, Bobby Labonte, finished second. Labonte also had a strong Daytona 500 until he crashed late in the race.
``I told Bobby last week at Daytona that I was the most happy disappointed guy that ever hit the planet,'' Gibbs said. ``We were a threat there and we were a threat here. To be a factor in the first two races is really exciting.''
Jarrett, meanwhile, never led a lap but still chalked up his second straight fifth-place finish.
``We hung in there,'' he said. ``We had to work pretty hard all day. We had to adjust the car and we just couldn't get exactly what we were looking for.''
WALLACE'S DEAD ENGINE: Although he never led a lap, defending champion Rusty Wallace was in the top 10 all afternoon until his engine began to die. He dropped out after 451 laps and finished 24th.
``What happened is the same thing that was happening late last year,'' he said. ``We had an overheating problem. All of a sudden (the engine) started shooting water out. We've got to find this problem before we go to Richmond, because it's the same problem that haunted me at the end of last year and helped me lose the championship.'' by CNB