THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 29, 1995 TAG: 9509290633
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
How long would it take a crew of non-professionals to change two tires on a Winston Cup car?
More than twice as long as the fellows who do it for a living, it seems.
North Carolina Motor Speedway held a media pit-stop contest Tuesday and the winning time by a team of six neophytes and one experienced crewman (serving as jack man) was 26.28 seconds.
Earlier, Jeff Gordon's crew had taken 11.2 seconds. And that was despite a stuck lug nut.
The slowest of the five media teams took 46.56 seconds to change two tires.
Each media team was given five minutes of practice and had one of Gordon's crewmen as its coach and jack man.
Gordon's team is the defending champion of the annual Unocal pit-crew contest at the Rock, which will be held this year on Oct. 21.
Unocal announced Tuesday that it was increasing the winning team's purse from $7,600 to $10,000 and had upped the overall purse to $27,600.
WILKESBORO SPECTACLE: This weekend, North Wilkesboro Speedway is bound to have its most interesting Saturday in years.
Not only is Ernie Irvan slated to make his comeback in the SuperTruck race, NASCAR also may see its first Japanese driver compete.
Irvan should have no trouble making the field; he was one of the fastest drivers in practice at Martinsville Speedway last weekend before rain and the rules conspired to keep him out of the truck race.
But Kenji Momota, who doubles as a motorsports journalist, may not have such an easy time of it.
The track has received 45 entries and there are only 32 starting spots for Saturday's SuperTruck race. Jerry Glanville, however, called to withdraw from the event because of a commitment to a football telecast, track publicist Hank Schoolfield said. That should eliminate at least one or two yellow flags.
The purse for Sunday's Winston Cup race has been increased to $922,963. Combined with the SuperTruck purse of $156,705, the track - NASCAR's oldest - will have its first $1 million weekend.
SLIM JIM MOVES: Slim Jim, sponsor of the No. 44 Chevrolet Monte Carlos driven by David Green and owned by Bobby Labonte, is moving.
The Grand National team sponsor has signed a three-year agreement with driver Jason Keller.
Labonte is scaling back and plans to take over as driver of his own cars but only run a limited Busch schedule next year. Slim Jim wanted to run the full schedule.
Green, meanwhile, is considering several Winston Cup opportunities and is said to be a candidate for Bud Moore's No. 15 Ford Thunderbird. by CNB