THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508130768
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
It rains every year during the Bud at the Glen weekend at Watkins Glen International, so NASCAR is looking at a novel way to solve the problem: rain tires.
At NASCAR's request, Goodyear arrived here with hand-grooved rain tires. They were tested on the track after a Saturday morning shower by Dale Earnhardt, who made eight laps, and Mark Martin, who did 10 laps on the same four tires.
Earnhardt said the test went well, but his car created a huge roostertail. ``I looked in the mirror today and I would have hated to be behind me,'' he said.
NASCAR is also looking at incorporating windshield wipers, defrosters and other devices in an effort to be able to run in the rain. Winston Cup director Gary Nelson said the first objective would be to run the road races in the rain, then explore the possibility of doing it at the smaller, flatter ovals.
``Just from the 18 laps Mark and Dale ran with the tires, we learned a tremendous amount and came up with quite a few more ideas,'' said Goodyear engineer Tony Freund, who helped develop the tires.
POPPING THE LID: NASCAR officials confiscated the rear deck lid from Bill Elliott's Ford on Saturday.
Inspectors became suspicious after they put a magnet on the deck lid and the magnet didn't stick. The part reportedly was made of carbon fiber instead of metal.
NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said no further action was taken Saturday because Winston Cup Director Gary Nelson was too busy with on-track activities.
IRVAN UPDATE: Sources close to Ernie Irvan said Saturday that he was headed to The Glen Saturday directly from San Francisco, where doctors have given him clearance to race again.
ROUND 2: Butch Leitzinger, who spun the No. 40 Pontiac in pole qualifying Friday, led the second round of time trials Saturday, earning the 21st starting spot with a lap of 118.738 mph.
A 40-car field (36 qualifiers and four provisional starters) was set for today's race. Mike Wallace was the only regular driver who failed to make the field.
In other action on the track Saturday, Joe Bessey won the 150-mile Grand National North race and Ron Fellows won the Trans-Am race. The Grand National North race was marred by a pit fire that left three crewmen with minor burns and an end-of-the-race crash in which Vic Sifton's car hit the pit wall and flipped just short of the start-finish line. Sifton was taken to a local hospital for evaluation but apparently was not serious hurt. by CNB