THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100621
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
You would think that NASCAR Winston Cup car owner Jack Roush, who's an automotive engineer in every pore of his body, would be on the cutting edge of shock absorber research and development.
In the past few years, teams have devoted ever-increasing attention and money to shocks. Most teams have shock absorber dynamometers in their transporters to test shocks at the track. It is said that Jeff Gordon's success this year is due in part to crew chief Ray Evernham's unparalleled knowledge of shocks.
But Roush's trucks don't have shock dynos. And Roush driver Mark Martin doesn't have a shock dyno. Martin told Ford's Wayne Estes that the shock craze is nothing but a fad.
``I run the same shocks that I ran five years ago,'' Martin said. ``With those, I plan to outrun everybody with their shock gurus and their shock dynos and all that.
``Engineers need to make livings. So they come in here and try to make us believe that they have something that can help us. So you have about 20 engineers in the garage here today making a good living telling the teams that they're helping them.
``We don't have a shock engineer and we're doing just as well. We've done the shock engineer thing and they didn't show me anything. It's something that has become a huge fad in here.
``We had a shock guy for two years and all he was was a pain.'' Crew chief Steve Hmiel told Estes that Martin himself is the team's most reliable shock dyno. ``We're not a bunch of hayseeds who say, `Naw, we don't need that,' '' he said. ``What we have is Mark, and he has a real good feel for what he needs in shocks and springs.''
Martin is the defending race champion at Atlanta, where qualifying for Sunday's NAPA 500 begins at 2 p.m. Friday.
CRAVEN'S TO LOSE: Don't ask how the rookie of the year contest is decided. Trust us, it's all but in the bag for Ricky Craven.
Craven leads Robert Pressley by 12 points going into the final race this weekend at Atlanta. But the rookie contest is different because competitors don't get points for all the races. And there are bonus points, and committee points. It would take a seminar to explain it.
What it boils down to is Pressley needs a top-five finish in Atlanta to even have a chance of pulling close enough to Craven that bonus and committee points might be a factor. And he hasn't had a top five finish yet this year. His best result was 10th at Bristol in April.
$7,500 FINE: NASCAR announced this week that it had fined Kenny Wallace $7,500 for ignoring the black flag at Phoenix on Oct. 29.
During the middle of the race, Wallace's car began smoking badly. NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said he was repeatedly black-flagged, and only obeyed it when NASCAR announced it was going to pull his scorecard.
It was the second time this year Wallace has been fined for ignoring the black flag. He was hit with a $500 fine at Charlotte in May.
Triplett said the fine was $7,500 primarily because NASCAR has instituted an escalating scale for black flag fines (the same as it has for cheating fines) but also because it was Wallace's second offense.
The escalating scale of fines for ignoring the black flag saw Elton Sawyer fined $2,500 at Charlotte in May and Geoff Bodine fined $5,000 at Michigan in June.
BODINE PLANS: Although sponsorship for his own team is still up in the air, Geoff Bodine told reporters at the Grand National race at Homestead last weekend that if his brother, Todd, doesn't have a ride by the 1996 Daytona 500, Geoff's team would field a second car for him. by CNB