THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510250576
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
The phone lines to South Boston, Va., were burning Monday as racing well-wishers jammed Ward Burton's telephone with messages of congratulations for his first career victory Sunday at Rockingham.
``I would be on a radio show, hang up the phone, check the messages and the mailbox would be full,'' Burton said Tuesday. ``Finally, about 2 or 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, I really lost focus with what was going on. I went out on the farm, worked around and planted some clover.
``I definitely needed a breather.''
One of the genuine and uplifting characteristics of NASCAR racers and fans is the flood of good wishes that pour down on the winner of a particularly heartwarming victory such as Burton's.
So many teams are trying so hard. And it so rarely happens. Usually it's Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace or Jeff Gordon painting another coat of greatness on their careers, while good and dedicated racers further down the garage look once more toward next week.
If Rick Mast, who led 139 laps, had not seen his car die yet again in the AC Delco 400 - his 183rd try without a victory in the Winston Cup series, he would have received the same outpouring of congratulations.
And Mast would be the first to tell you that it was good the victory did go to a deserving driver (and fellow Virginian) and team.
Perhaps most deserving are car owner Bill Davis and his wife, Gail, who already have been kicked around by fate a good bit even though this is only their third year in the Winston Cup series.
Davis grew up in Batesville, Ark., and hung around with Mark Martin before Martin was a slightly chubby 15-year-old in bell bottoms racing a six-cylinder Chevy on a dirt track.
Davis devoted his life to racing, too, and as a car owner was all set to move into Winston Cup racing with a young phenom named Jeff Gordon when Gordon was enticed away by mega-owner Rick Hendrick. So Davis signed Bobby Labonte, who stayed two years, then left - and started winning.
Now it's Davis' turn to win. And while deserving, he can legitimately feel lucky about it, too. It was only his seventh race with Burton behind the wheel.
``Pretty wonderful,'' Davis said Tuesday from his shop in Thomasville, N.C. ``Unbelievable. Flowers and balloons and food. It's just been amazing. It's been a really cool day and a half.
``The people in that garage, plus the good, hard-core fan, realize just how huge it is to win one of these races.''
And then there's crew chief Chris Hussey - dedicated, good-natured and a graduate of the Steve Hmiel college of NASCAR racing at Jack Roush's shops in Liberty, N.C. On Tuesday, Hussey was asked what his lowest moment was, since we already know the highest moment.
``The low point of the year would have to be the first Martinsville race, which we didn't make (with driver Randy LaJoie),'' he said. ``I don't guess I'd ever been at the race track with a team that didn't make the race. It's a tough thing to swallow - almost like a death in the family.
``It's just absolutely devastating. You go home and you don't watch the race the next day on television. You just want to go and sit in a dark room, shut your eyes and hope it goes away.''
The saving grace is that victory is that much sweeter.
``It's pretty hard to comprehend right now,'' he said. ``Something that should have happened three years down the road has happened in a very short time. The rest of us around here are just in awe of the whole situation.''
On a day when good wishes were at full flow, Burton took a moment to express some of his own toward the most successful car owner in the garage - Richard Childress.
``When I approached him, he treated me like one of his sons, even when he was really busy,'' Burton said. ``He would tell me, `You've got what it takes, you've just got to hang in there, do the best you can and live up to your commitments.'
``He would bring me up in his trailer; he gave me his home phone number. Having a proven car owner like Richard Childress to really spend some time with me meant a lot. He has to stand out in my mind more than anybody.'' by CNB