THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 5, 1995 TAG: 9508050446
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
With 10 victories in the Indianapolis 500, businessman and car owner Roger Penske is one of the best-known and successful competitors at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But he has been absent more than present here in 1995. His Indy cars, driven by Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi, failed to make this year's Memorial Day classic. And he will be absent for the Brickyard 400 as well.
``He won't be here this week,'' said Rusty Wallace, whose team is primarily owned by Penske. ``He's with his wife in Sweden celebrating a big anniversary. It doesn't have anything to do with the race (Indy 500) or him and (speedway president) Tony George being mad at each other over the IRL (Indy Racing League). He just couldn't make it.''
As one of the leaders of the IndyCar organization, Penske has been butting heads with George since George announced he was creating a rival IRL.
``One thing Roger has said to me, if he's said it 10 times, is `I'd be so happy if you won at Indianapolis for me.' I'd like to be able to carry the banner for the team.''
That's the main reason Wallace was so disgusted with his qualifying run Thursday, which gave him the 24th starting spot. Wallace wouldn't talk about it Thursday, but he gave his typical frank assessment Friday.
``The thing that upset me about yesterday is that I ran real well all through practice. But I'm either always overaggressive in qualifying or underaggressive. Yesterday, I was underaggressive in a couple of parts of the track and overaggressive in a couple of parts. It was real disgusting to qualify the way I did.
``I talk to Roger every single day and I tell you, he knows every nut and bolt in the car. He saw how well we were doing, and then he reads in the paper that we're 24th. It was like, `What happened?' And I ask myself that question. He tells me to just treat it like any other race.''
A BODINE IN THE STANDS: There was plenty of downtime Friday, so Brett Bodine took the opportunity to wade into the grandstands along pit road for an impromptu autograph session with the spectators.
``We went out there for about a half an hour,'' Bodine said. ``Those people were out there standing in the rain all day, and they deserved something for their efforts. So this was just a way to say thanks for coming out.
``I was a race fan long before I was a race driver,'' he said. ``I was the kid who used to hang on the fence outside the garage at Daytona. I know what it's like to travel 1,200 miles just to see a race.''
SCHRADER ON GORDON: Ken Schrader, who still has a black eye and some slight swelling almost two weeks after his wild ride at Talladega, was asked about his rapport with teammate Jeff Gordon, who triggered the crash.
``Jeff is kind of like my little daughter,'' Schrader said. ``She'd rather not speak about it when she gets caught doing something.''
WARD LOOKING: Ward Burton says his car owner, A.G. Dillard, has given him permission to look for another ride next year.
``I'm not set for next year,'' the South Boston, Va., driver said Friday. ``If something better comes up, I'm free to look elsewhere.''
Burton said he knows of ``a couple of opportunities,'' but added that ``there's a chance'' he'll stay with Dillard.
``We know there's got to be pretty big changes in many areas for us to be able to compete at this level,'' he said.
Younger brother Jeff, meanwhile, said he expects to return to the Stavola Brothers team, but sponsorship is still up in the air. Raybestos is not planning to return as a primary sponsor.
``I'm fully expecting to stay with the Stavolas,'' Jeff Burton said. ``I've worked real hard to get this program straightened out, and I don't want to give that up. But our major sponsor is not set.'' by CNB