THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250456
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
As NASCAR announced plans to conduct joint Ford-Chevy-Pontiac wind tunnel tests next week to compare what's what between the three manufacturers' race cars, Chevrolet launched a public relations offensive Friday at Darlington Raceway to dispel ``myths'' about the new Monte Carlos.
Word of the unprecedented NASCAR three-way tests began to filter through the Darlington garage shortly after a meeting in the NASCAR trailer between NASCAR officials and representatives from Ford and General Motors.
A statement from NASCAR said it will select ``a representative example of each make'' for aerodynamic tests at the Lockheed Wind Tunnel (Ford's primary wind tunnel) in Marietta, Ga., on Tuesday and the General Motors Wind Tunnel in Warren, Mich., on Wednesday.
NASCAR's action came on a day in which the powerful new Chevy Monte Carlos continued to dominate in the Winston Cup series, winning the top three starting spots in qualifying for Sunday's TranSouth 400.
The Monte Carlos have won all four races so far this year. And the Chevys so thoroughly dominated the Fords at Atlanta two weekends ago, many Ford drivers complained that the Chevys had an unfair advantage.
Several sources said NASCAR planned to select cars they deemed to be the fastest during the weekend.
``After the completion of the race, each selected car will be impounded and transported under the supervision of NASCAR officials . . . '' the statement said. ``Results of the testing will remain proprietary to NASCAR and will be used to assist in any future rule modifications.''
While a top Ford official hailed NASCAR's move, his General Motors counterpart was less enthusiastic, but diplomatic.
``I applaud NASCAR,'' Ford's Lee Morse said. ``I think it's a very intelligent, logical step.''
Said GM's Don Taylor: ``We certainly will cooperate with them because it's in the best interest of the sport to understand the elements of close competition.''
But privately, another Chevy leader wondered, ``What have we to gain?''
``Whatever they want to do is fine with me,'' said Richard Childress, who owns Dale Earnhardt's Chevys. ``All I want to do is be on a level playing field and we'll play all day.''
Meanwhile, Chevy issued a two-page press release describing four myths about the Monte Carlos.
The gist of Chevy's message was this: Twelve out of the 14 templates that NASCAR uses to measure dimensions of the Monte Carlo race cars also fit the Monte Carlo production cars. And the only changes NASCAR ordered for the Chevy race cars were a wider rear deck lid to accommodate the NASCAR-mandated 57-inch spoiler and a wider tail light and bumper area to make them the same width as the Fords and Pontiacs.
Chevy denied the ``myths'' that it was allowed to add two inches to the nose, that it was given free reign by NASCAR to modify the shape of the car and that the Monte Carlo was not fast when tested with the same rear end as a production car. The Chevy statement said the rear end was modified before the first Monte Carlo race car was built because it was obvious the 57-inch spoiler wouldn't fit on a production model.
FINE INCREASED: Junior Johnson wasn't satisfied after having his Daytona cheating fine reduced from $45,000 to $35,000 after an appeal hearing conducted by a three-member panel of the National Stock Car Racing Commission.
So he filed another appeal to national commissioner Semon E. Knudsen. But Johnson didn't get the desired results.
Knudsen increased Johnson's fine by $5,000 to $40,000 for using a cheater intake manifold at Daytona.
NO UNSER FOR IROC: There will be no repeat of the duel between Dale Earnhardt and Al Unser Jr. in the second round of the International Race of Champions, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. today.
Unser, the Indianapolis 500 champion, will miss the 60-lap Darlington race for the second year in a row after spraining his ankle at home in Albuquerque, N.M.
Last year, Unser missed the Darlington event after suffering minor injuries in a practice crash in his Indy car at Phoenix.
The race is scheduled to be aired by ABC on June 11 at 5 p.m. by CNB