THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270491
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Have the folks at NASCAR caught spring fever?
It's nothing of great moment, but the sanctioning body has been making some slightly wacky moves of late.
First was the $250 fine against Bill Ingle, Ricky Rudd's crew chief, for punching Ted Musgrave while Musgrave sat in his car after Sunday's Hanes 500 at Martinsville.
Even if one concluded that Musgrave intentionally spun Rudd, which Musgrave denies, the penalty seemed light. Then again, there were no complaints from Musgrave or his team, and certainly none from Rudd or his team.
Now comes the announcement of rules changes for upcoming races.
Effective for the May 7 road race at Sears Point, NASCAR has ordered all cars to raise the ground clearance of their front air dams from 3.75 inches to 4 inches. And the height of the spoilers must be reduced a half-inch, from 6.25 to 5.75 inches.
Then, for The Winston Select on May 20, the Pontiacs and Fords (but not the Chevies) get to lower their front ground clearance back to 3.75 inches. They also get to add a quarter-inch of height to their spoilers, bringing it back to 6 inches.
Why take Pontiac and Ford through Baghdad to get from New York to London?
NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said the first change was a follow-up to similar changes announced before the Atlanta race in March. The intent is to reduce speeds across the board.
The second change, he said, is ``directly related'' to the NASCAR wind-tunnel tests, which obviously showed that the Fords and Pontiacs needed help.
The changes were for different reasons, Triplett said, which is why they were not combined.
CHEVY, FORD BACKLASH: Whatever the reasoning, the changes don't sit well with either Ford or Chevy.
Chevy driver Dale Earnhardt criticized the moves.
``It seems sort of unfair or one-sided to take something away,'' Earnhardt said. ``It's a little early and I think a little wrongful to penalize teams that come up with a race car that works good. Why work so hard if they're going to take it away from you?''
From Ford, meanwhile, came this statement from racing chief Dan Rivard: ``I think it's a move in the right direction, and we're pleased that NASCAR has begun to address the problem. But I don't think they've gone far enough. Based on the first eight races of the season, there seems to be more than a quarter-inch problem.''
Ford motorsports publicist Wayne Estes: ``At a quarter-inch at a time, it's going to take a while to get to the 6-inch mark, which happens to be how much the Monte Carlo rear bumper was widened before this season started.''
PETTY UP AND ABOUT: Richard Petty, who was released from the Moses H. Cone Regional Cancer Center in Greensboro on Monday after undergoing surgery April 18 for prostate cancer, paid a visit to his shop Tuesday.
``He came over for a little while yesterday just to let us know he was back and OK,'' Martha Jane Bonkemeyer, his personal secretary, said Wednesday. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
NASCAR driver Kyle Petty chats Wednesday with Natalie Goodwin, 6
1/2, before signing her poster at Hall Auto Mall in Virginia Beach.
by CNB