THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 13, 1995 TAG: 9503130116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
While Jeff Gordon and the Chevrolet drivers were whipping the Fords in the Purolator 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the combatants in last year's tire war were fighting their own peculiar problems.
Jeff Burton, who dropped out after 191 laps with a broken engine, said he and other former Hoosier drivers have been having trouble finding the right chassis setups for Goodyear tires.
As he and his team tried to figure out how to make their ill-handling Ford work better, Jeff told them, ``Y'all can't fix the car because I can't feel what it's doing.''
After dropping out, Burton said, ``Most of the guys who were on Hoosiers are having trouble. It's a totally different feel.''
He finished 33rd.
Geoff Bodine had trouble with a vibration before his engine failed.
``We made a bunch of pit stops, but the crew couldn't find the problem,'' Bodine told Ford's Wayne Estes. ``Finally, we brought the car behind the wall and changed numerous suspension components, but it still didn't help.''
A BAD CRASH: Michael Waltrip and Jeremy Mayfield escaped injury in the hardest crash of the afternoon. Mayfield lost control coming out of turn two on lap 149, smacked the outside wall and slowly rolled to a stop in the middle of the track on the backstretch.
``It just broke out from under us,'' Mayfield said.
Behind Mayfield, Waltrip and Jeff Purvis were racing together. Purvis checked up, but neither Waltrip nor his spotter saw Mayfield's disabled car. Waltrip plowed into Mayfield's car and then slammed the inside wall. Purvis also was involved.
``Are you all right, Michael?'' a team member asked on the radio moments after the wreck.
``Well, yeah, I'm all right,'' Waltrip replied wearily. ``I just had a real bad hit. I just clobbered him.''
``I didn't know Jeremy had wrecked,'' Waltrip said later. ``The car in front of me checked up. I didn't know why. I pulled out. I cleaned (Mayfield's) clock. I hit him hard. It was just a terrible weekend.''
ROUGH START: Mike Wallace's race effectively ended before it began.
As the 42-car field came down the front straight toward the green flag that honorary starter Ernie Irvan was waving, Burton got into Wallace's rear bumper and sent him spinning into the inside wall.
``It was a stupid move that cost us a great run,'' an angry Wallace said. ``The car behind us run into the back of us. We hadn't even got to the start/finish line yet. I don't know if we'll get back in the race or not.''
He did, but only went around the track 33 times before his engine failed. Wallace finished 40th in the 42-car field.
6-CAR PILE-UP: The race was only 10 laps old when Brett Bodine tapped Steve Kinser in turn one and sent Kinser into the wall. A chain-reaction crash ensued and collected Phil Parsons, Jimmy Spencer, Billy Standridge, Dave Marcis and Randy LaJoie.
``Me and Brett just got together going into (turn) one there and got me spun around,'' Kinser said. ``It happens once in a while, but I would like to have had a chance to race a little bit today.
Kinser took a moment to thank his team for sticking with them. ``If they stay with me, I'm going to make 'em a good race driver. It's just going to take a little time for me to make the adjustment.'' by CNB