THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 13, 1995 TAG: 9507130509
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
At Jack Roush's Winston Cup shops in Liberty, N.C., they're shaking their heads at what fate has dealt them in the 1995 Winston Cup season.
This has been a banner year for Roush, who has been in NASCAR for 7 1/2 years, and his two Ford teams. Mark Martin is fourth in points and Ted Musgrave fifth, trailing his teammate by only two points.
But Roush is convinced that neither has a prayer of winning the 1995 championship.
``It's a real bittersweet year,'' Roush said this week. ``We don't have the prospect at all of improving on the three GM cars in front of us (the Chevrolet Monte Carlos of Jeff Gordon, Sterling Marlin and Dale Earnhardt).''
Yet, Roush said, ``We've been our absolute best of the eight years I've been involved in Winston Cup racing. There's no question that every decision, every preparational aspect, every execution of things that are done on the racetrack . . . is at its absolute best for us.''
Roush said he keeps a list of things to work on in the fall, ``and I've got a real short list of things to even consider to make our program better.''
Martin, too, sees the operation reaching a peak.
``We've had a great season,'' he said. ``The reason I say we've had a great season is that we've had a lot of glitches in races that normally would've set us back to 15th-, 18th-, 20th-place finishes, and most all of those races, we've managed to come back to a top-10 finish.''
Roush said the only hope is concessions from NASCAR that would bring the Fords closer to the Chevys, which have won 13 of the 16 races this year. But he sees little hope in that.
``It's real obvious Chevy's going to have its day,'' he said.
Roush said he believes that there are too many Ford teams, and he thinks NASCAR does, too.
``In a dark moment, the view I take of it is that the Monte Carlo has been enough better that nobody in their right mind would go from racing a Monte Carlo to a Ford. In fact, some of the good Ford teams are looking at running a Monte Carlo next year, and that would make NASCAR very happy, I think.''
Roush said his early reports from the ``GM underground'' are that the new Pontiac Grand Prix, which will be introduced next year, is going to be better than the Monte Carlo.
``It's going to be a long period of time before Ford's going to have a chance to be on an equal playing field - not only with the Monte Carlo, but also with the Pontiac we're going to have to face next year,'' he said.
Martin, meanwhile, was asked if he has any concerns about Ernie Irvan returning to the track.
``None whatsoever,'' he said. ``I look forward to Ernie getting back with us. He's already demonstrated that he hasn't lost any speed, even driving with one eye.'' by CNB