THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 3, 1995 TAG: 9508030620
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
The Brickyard 400 is NASCAR's richest event, but most teams have discovered that it's hard to find a lot of extra time to prepare for it.
``It's the same ungodly amount of work,'' said Robin Pemberton, Rusty Wallace's crew chief. ``From one race to another, the preparation is the same.''
There are 30 other events on the Winston Cup schedule, and the 400 is the first of 10 in a row without a weekend off. So, in many respects, it's business as usual.
Most teams, however, came to Indianapolis Motor Speedway in June or July for two or three days of testing. They don't do that for all races. Aside from that, teams simply don't have more time to devote to it.
``This is just part of this 10-week stretch,'' driver Derrike Cope said.
``We don't prepare any different than for any other race,'' said Jimmy Makar, Bobby Labonte's crew chief. ``But this is one of the places that it's worth coming to for testing.''
``I feel like we test at a place either where we're really good or really bad, or it's really important,'' said Howard Comstock, Ted Musgrave's crew chief.
And with its NASCAR-record $4.5 million purse, the Brickyard 400 is really important.
``This is a place where you definitely have to test,'' driver Joe Nemechek added. ``You can't afford to come up here and struggle. But as far as preparations, we prepare for every race the same. We've done all the same things we did last year.''
Some teams, however, didn't test, inadvertently or on purpose.
``We did not test,'' said Ricky Rudd. ``We were scheduled to test after Michigan, but when I got banged up at Michigan, we didn't make the test.''
``We didn't even come here to test,'' said Larry McReynolds, Dale Jarrett's crew chief. ``It's just race No. 18 on the circuit. That's the same approach we took last year.''
Test or no test, many hundreds of hours of work are invested in making a car race-ready for the 400, or any race, after its last race.
``We disassemble the whole car,'' said Pemberton. ``We magnaflux a lot of parts, such as the control arm spindles and the rear-end housings, to check for cracks. And we throw away a bunch of stuff. We threw away tie rods and ball joints and all the hardware such as nuts and bolts.
``We also replace any body panels that need to be replaced. And that doesn't include any of the work we do on the engines and the transmissions.'' Those, too, are disassembled, checked and rebuilt.
``We can turn around a car in four days if we have to,'' Pemberton said. He estimated it takes about 360 man hours among eight or nine mechanics and workers. But normally it takes more than four days, since teams usually work on refurbishing more than one car at a time. ``You try to refine it so you don't have to run the same car two races in a row,'' Pemberton said.
But one team in particular isn't buying any of the talk about the 400 being just another race. And that team should know, since its driver, Jeff Gordon, won the inaugural race last year.
``Everybody, I guess, is going to try to tell you, ``No, it's just another race,' '' said Ray Evernham, Gordon's crew chief. ``But it's not just another race. You can't help it.
``Indy has got a lot of tradition, it's the richest race and you find yourself taking time that you might not normally take.''
Evernham said his team made a special effort this year to prepare its car for the Brickyard. This particular Chevrolet Monte Carlo has already won at Atlanta and Rockingham. And although Gordon and his crew almost won the first Pocono race in June with it, too, they didn't take it back to the second Pocono race. Instead, they kept it at the shop and spent extra time preparing it for the Brickyard 400, even to the point of sandblasting the old paint job and repainting it so it would look its best.
``I think you do steal time away here and there from preparations for other races,'' Evernham said. ``I think if you'll look around, you will see a lot of new stuff here. And you can feel the extra tension. So, no, I don't think it's just another race.'' by CNB