THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 26, 1995 TAG: 9509260382
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE, VA. LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Ernie Irvan did make it to Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway.
It didn't happen until Monday afternoon. And he went there not as a driver, but as the owner of the NASCAR SuperTruck driven by Joe Ruttman, who cruised to victory in the Goody's 150 past the spinning trucks of Mike Skinner and Geoff Bodine before a crowd estimated at 5,500.
``I wish we'd had enough to outrun them and beat them anyway, but we'll take it any way we can get it,'' Irvan said.
While Irvan did not race at Martinsville - he was unable to make the field for the SuperTruck race when qualifying was washed out Friday and Saturday - he knows that his time is getting near.
Chatting with Ford publicist Wayne Estes on Monday morning, Irvan remembered that on Friday, ``I walked up to talk to Mark Martin and when I was talking to him, it hit me: `Shoot, this is the first time I've talked to Mark with my uniform on.'
``And he said something about it, too. He said, `Man, it's great to see you like this.'
``And I said, `Well, the real thing is going to come next week when I've got my real (Winston Cup) uniform on and . . . talk about when I rubbed the paint off your fenders.'
``He said, `Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.'
``And that is exciting. It would be different if it was a month or a month and a half before the next race, but Wilkesboro is only four days away and we'll be there doing it again.'' Irvan will try to qualify both a SuperTruck and Winston Cup car at North Wilkesboro. Time trials begin Friday.
It would be safe to say Irvan didn't win a lot of friends, especially among the print media, in the past few months. And one of the first things he did last week at the press conference announcing his return was apologize.
``I probably owe an apology to a lot of people,'' he said. ``I kinda like stepped on a few people.''
``About the time we got to Indy, I got real moody about the whole thing,'' Irvan said Monday. ``It's been really hard to stomach. Hopefully, all that's behind us now. I feel a lot better. And I'm going to feel more like a new man when I know that I can do that job like I did before.''
Irvan agreed that his relationship with his replacement driver, Dale Jarrett, had been strained much of the year. But he said it's much better now.
``Dale and I have really started communicating a lot better,'' Irvan said. ``He was in a really touchy situation when he came to this race team. . . . But we're learning how to talk to each other more and more.''
In Monday's truck race, rescheduled after a rainout Saturday, Ruttman, who was running third at the time, took the lead when Bodine and Skinner tangled on turn 4 with one lap to go.
``Basically the seas parted when I got there,'' Ruttman said. ``It was luck. It wasn't any skill. I've lost some like that, so I know how the guys feel.''
The victory enabled Ruttman to pick up 10 points in the SuperTruck standings. He now trails points leader Skinner by 41.
Barry Bodine, the 17-year-old son of Geoff Bodine, finished 30th in his SuperTruck debut. He retired on lap 32 after hitting the outside wall on the front stretch and then knocking Rick Carelli into the inside wall. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ernie Irvan's return has been rescheduled for this weekend, at North
Wilkesboro.
by CNB