THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 24, 1995 TAG: 9507240133
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Even before Ken Schrader's wild flip in Sunday's DieHard 500 capped a wreck-filled weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR officials were busy trying to figure out why 3,500-pound stock cars suddenly were flying again.
After 18 months without a flip wreck in NASCAR's two major series, the sanctioning body had three in two days.
In Saturday's Grand National race, Randy LaJoie proved late in the race that a driver doesn't need to spin to get upside down. LaJoie used another car as a launching pad to begin his rolling crash.
But the one that concerned NASCAR officials more was Ward Burton's flip earlier in that race. He spun, and his roof flaps popped up on schedule to prevent a flip. But the car flipped on its roof anyway, triggering a melee that involved a dozen other cars.
Long after the checkered flag fell Saturday, Winston Cup director Gary Nelson, several other NASCAR inspectors and Hendrick Motorsports engineer Gary Eaker, an aerodynamics expert, spent more than an hour on the track trying to learn more about why Burton flipped.
``The crash was a worst-case scenario'' for the roof flaps, NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said.
Nelson and the others examined the path of the accident foot by foot.
``My opinion is that because the front of the car was on the apron and the back of it was on the banking, that contributed largely to the accident,'' Nelson said. ``I'd like to think of it as a freak thing under unusual circumstances.''
A Grand National car normally has 3.5 inches of ground clearance. But Nelson said the investigation showed that there was 7 inches of clearance under the middle of Burton's car when it straddled the banking and the apron.
NASCAR president Bill France pointed out Sunday that ``we had about five more spins during the day and all the flaps deployed as scheduled.''
Nonetheless, everyone is still concerned about the flips. Nelson said he's already examined some suggested improvements and is willing to look at any new suggestions.
GORDON REPENTANT: If Ken Schrader's crash was a worst-case scenario for NASCAR's roof flaps, it was also a worst-case scenario for Jeff Gordon's psyche.
``I know it was an accident, but, man, I feel awful,'' he told his team on the radio during the ensuing caution period.
Gordon finished eighth and said afterward, ``I can't apologize enough to Kenny. You know I'd never do that to my teammate. He means a lot to me. Somebody got on the outside of me and I got loose and got into him a little bit.
Other drivers involved in the ensuing crash were Ricky Craven, Lake Speed, Rusty Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield, Terry Labonte, Elton Sawyer, John Andretti, Chuck Bown, Todd Bodine, Robert Pressley and Bobby Labonte, who crawled out of his wrecked car, sat on the roof for a moment and then shook his finger at Gordon when Gordon slowly passed the scene on the next lap.
SAWYER FINISHES 14TH: Even though Elton Sawyer spun around and around in the big crash, the Chesapeake native didn't hit anything and went on to finish 14th, one lap down. He'd already lost the lap before the crash.
``I've got to learn to start out these races with a tighter setup on the car,'' he said. ``We were loose and that's how we lost the lap. Once we adjusted, the car was great.'' by CNB