THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210551
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Todd Parrott's record as a crew chief in the Winston Cup series will never be any better than it is now.
He is 1 for 1 and batting 1.000 in a league where a .150 average would be awesome. He won his first race Sunday, when Dale Jarrett drove a Robert Yates-owned Ford Thunderbird to victory in the season's biggest race, the Daytona 500.
``It's just something I never in my wildest dreams would imagine happening this soon,'' Parrott said Tuesday in the weekly Winston Cup teleconference.
Parrott, 32, son of veteran crew chief Buddy Parrott, has been around since 1984, when he went to work with his father at Petty Enterprises. But this was his first race as the crew chief - the team leader, the quarterback, the play-caller of important pit-stop decisions.
It was Parrott's decision late in the race to give Jarrett four tires for the final laps. Dale Earnhardt, who finished second, took only two tires.
``I made all the calls in the pits,'' Parrott said. ``With Daytona, you gotta have a good-handling car. And with 40 laps to go in the window, I saw no need to put on just two tires when we had good track position. Four tires was definitely the call I was going to make.''
Parrott eloquently described his emotions on the last lap:
``All I could see was when they came through the tri-oval. When I gave him that one-to-go (on the radio), I just couldn't believe we were still out front.
``I saw Earnhardt make a move to the inside going out of the trioval, and I knew then our day was done. Because Dale (Jarrett) had never said how strong he was or if he could hold them off. He was driving too hard.
``I put my head down on pit wall, crossed my fingers and said a little prayer. I couldn't stand it when the fans started going crazy and hollerin'. When he came into sight in the trioval, he was yelling, `We got this one, baby! We got it! We got it!' It was pretty exciting.
``It's the thing everybody dreams of winning. My dreams have been answered awfully early.''
HUMBLE PIE: Jarrett's victory took the wind out of Ford's argument that its cars are running at a disadvantage to the Chevys. That may still be the case at all but the superspeedways, but the 500 is such a big race, Ford's success at Daytona transcends the nuances of the issue.
``It certainly makes the guys that race Fords . . . quit worrying about the lobbying and get to work,'' car owner Robert Yates said. ``We certainly don't want to cry about this, but we do know we've got our work cut out for us. But I think (NASCAR president) Bill France is going to take care of this show.''
NO THREAT: Bruton Smith, the new magnate of NASCAR track ownership, said his ever-expanding empire should not be seen as a threat to NASCAR.
There has been speculation that Smith may eventually wish to break from NASCAR and form his own stock-car racing organization, using his own tracks.
``I'm addressing that every chance I get,'' he said Tuesday. ``That is not my intent and never will be my intent. I am committed to NASCAR, and the better I can make NASCAR Winston Cup and our sport, the better it is for me.''
Smith also said he has hired Sports Marketing Enterprises vice president Jeff Byrd to become general manager of Bristol International Raceway, which he recently purchased.
``There's no idea of ever moving a Winston Cup date from Bristol,'' Smith said. ``I bought Bristol as a going concern. It's a very profitable speedway, makes a lot of money, and that's the key.''
Smith added that he and New Hampshire International Speedway owner Bob Bahre, each half-owners of North Wilkesboro Speedway, met in Daytona.
``We didn't resolve anything,'' he said. ``I think Bob has been very up- front that he purchased 50 percent (of North Wilkesboro) in essence to buy a (race) date. That has been very alarming to a lot of race fans in this particular part of the world.
``There are many things to take in consideration before we do that. He and I will talk again next week.'' by CNB