THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505210176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
When Sterling Marlin smashed one of his yellow Chevrolet Monte Carlos against the fourth-turn wall at Charlotte Motor Speedway during Winston Select practice Saturday afternoon, the logical question was whether the crash was related to the Chevy's new, smaller spoiler.
``I'd say it is,'' Marlin said. ``They took away the downforce. I've got less downforce and with Geoff (Bodine) beside me, he moved up a little bit and it just took the back end out. My car never gave no warning. It just turned around backwards.''
Added car owner Larry McClure, ``With this smaller spoiler, you lose downforce and the nose will raise up and the car has a tendency to push. So you try to do something to loosen it up. We did that. He just turned it around.''
``That's the first one we've torn up all year.''
Under NASCAR rule changes announced last month, the Chevys now have less spoiler than the Fords and Pontiacs. The height of the Chevy spoiler is 5.75 inches; the Ford and Pontiac spoilers are 6 inches tall. The Ford and Pontiac front air dams are also a quarter-inch closer to the ground - 3.75 inches, compared with 4 inches for the Chevys.
Marlin's crash occurred around 2:20 p.m. His team was preparing his backup car even before the damaged vehicle was returned to the garage.
But before the hour passed, there was evidence that perhaps the spoiler wasn't the culprit. Another car smacked the wall coming out of the fourth turn, and this one was the Ford driven by Ted Musgrave.
``Just lost it,'' Musgrave said. He said his car was loose, ``but that's just due to the weather, because we're using the setup for the nighttime show.''
The setup was fine for night racing, he said, but it made the car loose under the afternoon sun.
Aside from the two crashes, the most notable developments during the afternoon practice sessions were blown engines. Dale Earnhardt killed two of them, Jimmy Spencer blew one and Brett Bodine blew one. And Musgrave lost one before his crash.
PETTY RETURNS: Richard Petty, recovering from prostate cancer surgery, was at the track Saturday for the first time in more than a month.
``I'm doin' good,'' he said. ``Hopefully they got it all. They think they got it, but if any of them little bugs is running around in there, they'll have to do some radiation. But the doctor said it won't be any major deal.''
``I just got to keep checking every six months to make sure they got it.''
Petty was wearing bib overalls and his hair was getting long in the back, although it still has a foot or so to grow to reach the length of son Kyle's hair.
``I laid in that hospital and didn't have time to go get a haircut,'' he said.
LIKE STARTING OVER: Brett Bodine said his Junior Johnson-owned Ford team is regrouping after the departure of crew chief Mike Beam.
``Coming here to Charlotte was like going to the first race at Daytona,'' Bodine said. ``Everybody is learning everybody again. We've got people in new positions and different people in charge of different things.
``This is like our first race of the year again. It's going to take some time for everybody to get in synch with each other. But we'll keep plugging away.''
Bodine said he believes he will enjoy becoming more involved in setting up his race cars.
``I was always heavily involved in that earlier in my career, and now it's just a little bit more of my responsibility,'' he said.
Bodine said Johnson ``is at the race shop every day now and really paying attention to running the team from day to day.''
GREEN WINS POLE: David Green won the pole position for today's Meridian Advantage 200 Busch Grand National race (TV: 1 p.m., TNN), touring the 1-mile oval at Nazareth Speedway at 128.265 mph. It was Green's fourth pole of the season and the 14th of his career.
Tim Fedewa was second-fastest at 127.982 mph, followed by Jeff Green (127.592), Hermie Sadler (127.533) and series points leader Johnny Benson Jr. (127.096).
RAMO ROMPS: Ramo Stott, who never won a race in a Winston Cup career that spanned 18 years, overpowered a field of former stock-car stars Friday night to win The Return of The Winston Legends.
Stott, 61, of Keokuk, Iowa, led the final 12 laps of a 35-lap event that featured a field of retired drivers between the ages of 49 and 71.
``I guess you could call this one more feature victory,'' said Stott, who estimates he's won more than 400 races at various tracks around the country in a 40-year driving career.
The 24 drivers competed in downsized, under-powered cars on a quarter-mile oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway as part of the preliminary events for The Winston Select.
The track introduced the drivers to the blare of ``In The Mood'' over the public address system. And when race time came, they were told: ``Legends, start your engines.''
Stott safely kept his car ahead of the field over the late stages of the race, in which several big names were sidelined by wrecks that brought out eight caution flags. Those who weren't around for the end included Richard Childress, Bobby Allison, Hoss Ellington and Elmo Langley. by CNB