THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9510010190
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
It was half a race for Ernie Irvan Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway, but that was a lot better than no race at all.
While open-wheel ace Mike Bliss won his first NASCAR truck race, Irvan dropped out halfway through the race and finished 30th in the 32-truck field competing in the Lowe's 150. But Irvan led 24 of the first 76 laps and looked as sharp as ever as he battled in tight traffic on this 5/8-mile oval.
``Our day will come another day,'' Irvan said. ``Not really how I wanted to finish, but we were trying to do too much during halftime.''
Irvan's truck had become wildly loose by the end of the first half of the race and he had fallen back to seventh. In an effort to improve the handling, crew chief Larry McReynolds tried to adjust the front sway bar during the five-minute halfway intermission.
Unfortunately, McReynolds couldn't get the sway bar reattached to the chassis and Irvan called it quits after losing a number of laps while McReynolds struggled with the part.
``That's just part of racing,'' Irvan said. ``It was handling pretty bad. It was like I had two flat tires on the rear. Sometimes you can change a sway bar in two minutes and sometimes it takes 50 minutes.''
Bliss, a 30-year-old sprint and midget driver from Oregon, took the lead with 21 laps to go and beat Butch Miller by 1.14 seconds. Bodine was third, followed by Sprague and Ron Hornaday, Jr.
Truck points leader Mike Skinner finished 10th and now has a 25-point lead over Joe Ruttman, who was sixth.
Although Irvan looked like the Irvan of old when he was racing door to door with Geoff Bodine and Jack Sprague around lap 30, he said he's not. The visible difference, of course, is that he's now racing with an eye patch covering his left eye, which is still plagued by double vision some 13 months after the crash that nearly killed him.
``I'd be teasing everybody to say I'm just as good as the day I wrecked in Michigan,'' he said. ``I've got somewhat of a learning curve. It's just going to take a little bit of time, a little patience and more racing.''
For Irvan, the real test comes today in the Holly Farms 400. He'll start seventh and his goal is to finish, preferably in the top 10.
``Our car seems to be pretty good,'' he said after Saturday's final practice. ``I'd be kidding you if I told you I had the best car here. But I think I'll have a real competitive race car.''
NASCAR sought written assurances from Ernie Irvan's doctors before deciding to let him return to racing, NASCAR vice president of competition Mike Helton said.
Among the issues NASCAR considered, Helton said, was Irvan's recovery from his near-fatal head injury, his physical limitations and how they would affect his on-track performance, the level of his healing, his motor skills, his rehabilitation and whether his injury would make him more susceptible to being injured again.
NASCAR did have its own doctors involved in the case, but they did not examine Irvan.
``We really didn't hire any doctors, although we used doctors to interpret some of the medical and technical terminology,'' Helton said. ``It was mostly getting the assurances of his doctors, because they're they ones who know Ernie's situation better than someone wandering in off the street and looking at him.''
Irvan's primary physician in Michigan, Dr. Errol Erlandson, was at North Wilkesboro Saturday to watch Irvan's return to the track.
Erlandson said he believes he played ``a relatively minor role'' in certifying Irvan's return, but he said he told NASCAR he was convinced Irvan had regained the skills to race, that Irvan wouldn't return to the track if he felt he was a risk to himself or others and that ``there's a real passion there and that passion would carry him beyond his limitations to do this.''
Whether Irvan is more susceptible to another head injury now, ``I don't think I can really honestly tell you,'' Erlandson said. ``I don't think anybody can answer that.''
Ted Musgrave, who starts on the pole in today's Holly Farms 400, summed up the sentiments of the Winston Cup set when he was asked whether he was concerned about racing with Irvan.
``Am I nervous? Not a bit,'' he said. ``I gotta believe right now that if Ernie says he's ready to come back, I'll believe him that he's ready. And I'll go wheel to wheel with him. I have absolutely no problem running with Ernie. I wouldn't worry about him a bit.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ernie Irvan gets his eye patch adjusted Saturday. ``Our day will
come another day,'' he said.
by CNB