THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508270193
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
When the guy with the scuba tank showed up on Bristol International Raceway's pit road Friday night during the Food City 250 Grand National race, it didn't take long for Winston Cup director Gary Nelson to react.
It was the first - and last - time a tire was changed on a NASCAR stock car using an air wrench with a portable air supply.
``Last night, we had a team change a tire with a scuba diving tank as the air supply,'' Nelson said during the Winston Cup driver's meeting Saturday. ``As soon as I saw it, I made a note for next year's rule book.
``But it's already in the rule book - at least the one I carry,'' Nelson said. He told teams they shouldn't even bother with experimenting with it because it won't be allowed.
The tank was used by a crew member on Jason Keller's team. It was actually a high-pressure, high-capacity tank developed for military aviation. The team put out a news release on the system, but did not issue it until 8 p.m. Friday - after the race started - for fear that NASCAR would get wind of it and ban it before they had a chance to use it.
KYLE GOES HOME: Kyle Petty failed to qualify for Saturday night's race,missing an event for the first time since he missed 11 races in 1991 after breaking his arm.
Elton Sawyer, Kenny Wallace, Todd Bodine, Joe Ruttman, Jimmy Hensley and Bobby Hillin also failed to make the race.
Petty was 31st fastest after Friday's pole qualifying, but went down in flames when he elected to stand on his time and skip the second round. Greg Sacks and Dave Marcis beat Petty's time and earned their way into the 36-car field.
Sacks was 21st fastest; Marcis was 32nd fastest. Neither had a provisional starting spot available.
For Petty, there was no hesistation on whether to requalify or stand on his Friday speed.
``It wasn't a question for us,'' he said. ``We couldn't run any faster. That's the same speed we run yesterday all during practice. That the same speed we run when we qualified. So when we tried this morning to run faster, we didn't. We got caught with our pants down when Sacks and Marcis ran faster.''
Petty still had a provisional starting spot to use, but the provisionals went to Brett Bodine, Lake Speed, Dick Trickle and John Andretti, whose car owners had more points than Petty's.
``I'm going home,'' Petty said. ``Although this is a good race to watch,it's a better race to watch on TV,'' he said.
ENGINE MEETING: During a Saturday morning meeting with engine builders, NASCAR announced changes in engine specifications for next year's Daytona and Talladega races.
The engines for the 1996 Daytona and Talladega races will be built to a 14:1 compression ratio, NASCAR announced, and the carburetor restrictor plates for those power plants may be a different size.
Also, an insert in the intake manifold will be eliminated and teams willnot be allowed to use more than one oil pump for engine. The size of the pump also will be restricted to oil pump use will the oil pump will be limited in size to 9.5 inches long.
The moves are designed to bring speeds at NASCAR's fastest tracks back under 190 miles per hour and to reduce costs.
This year, the restrictor plate engines were being operated on the edge of detonation, with compression ratios reaching 17.5:1, car owner Richard Childress said.
``I think they're just trying to tighten the competition up and in the long run save money,'' said Childress, who had no complaints about the changes.
Car owner Jack Roush isn't so sure. He is concerned that the eliminationof the insert in the intake manifold may hurt Fords more than the other makes. ``Before we put them in, Ford was clearly at a disadvantage to Chevy'' in enginepower, he said.
And he was not in favor of regulating compression ratios. ``It should beone of the elements of competition,'' Roush said. ``It's a risk versus opportunity situation.'' By increasing the compression ratio, he said, engine builders find more power, but take a greater risk damaging or blowing the engine. by CNB