THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996 TAG: 9602260127
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: NASCAR NOTES
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Loy Allen Jr. apparently received nothing worse than a concussion and a broken right shoulder blade in a hard crash Sunday at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
But had he been badly cut or stopped breathing, it could have been far worse.
Entering turn 1 on lap 172, Allen apparently blew a tire and went straight into the outside wall at full speed. As Bobby Labonte crashed behind him, Allen's car shot back down off the track and smashed hard into the infield fence.
Within about a minute, crewman Jeffrey Baker was at Allen's car. A fire truck also arrived, but no ambulance.
About two minutes after the crash, as the field slowly made its way around the one-mile track on the second caution lap, Baker shouted into his radio: ``Somebody tell a NASCAR official we need an ambulance down here right now!''
Baker later told Gerald Martin of the Raleigh News and Observer that when he approached an official and pleaded for an ambulance, the official told him, ``The ambulance is at the other car.''
Labonte was unhurt, but NASCAR stopped the race for almost 10 minutes so workers could peel back the roof and roll bar of Allen's car to remove him.
Allen was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where he was reported alert and awake. He was expected to be kept there overnight and perhaps through Tuesday.
GORDON'S WOES: A year ago, Jeff Gordon left The Rock with the first of his seven 1995 victories.
This year, the reigning Winston Cup champion left in 43rd place in the points chase after failing to finish his second straight race.
Gordon's 40th-place finish in the Goodwrench 400, coupled with his 42nd-place finish in the Daytona 500, left him trailing even Elton Sawyer, who failed to qualify for Sunday's race.
Gordon has 80 points and is 275 points behind Dale Jarrett and Dale Earnhardt, who are tied for the lead with 355 points.
``It's hard to smile,'' Gordon told reporters. ``We're being humbled right now. We realize how well things went for us last year. This is frustrating, but we're going to bounce back.''
IRVAN WEAK: While his teammate, Jarrett, was motoring to a second-place finish Sunday to complement his Daytona 500 victory, Ernie Irvan was struggling. Irvan never even smelled the lead on his way to a 14th-place finish, three laps down.
``We were just too tight all day,'' Irvan said. ``If we loosened it up, it would slide the rear end.'' On top of that, Irvan was blamed by Ward Burton for causing Burton's crash on lap 97.
``He might have been under me, but (not) enough for him to take the position,'' Burton said. ``We have to all use our heads, and I don't think Ernie Irvan did that right there.''
His Hendrick Motorsports teammates didn't fare much better, at least in the long run. Terry Labonte led 198 laps before an engine problem relegated him to 34th place. Burned wheel bearings put Ken Schrader behind the wall for extensive repairs. He finished 29th, 91 laps down.
CRAVEN'S BEST FINISH: Ricky Craven's third-place finish was the best of his young Winston Cup career.
``Our brakes were gone toward the end of the race,'' he said. ``We got them fixed, we finished third and that's our best finish ever.''
CAR KILLERS: Engine problems killed the chances of a number of top drivers, including pole winner Terry Labonte, who led 198 of the first 235 laps.
``We cracked a cylinder head or something and it started running hot,'' Labonte said. ``We couldn't put any water in it. It started coming out the tailpipe.''
Other engine victims included Gordon, Mark Martin, John Andretti, Geoff Bodine, Morgan Shepherd and Jimmy Spencer.
WRONG SETUP: It's still a learning curve on the new Pontiac Grand Prix for Rick Mast and his team.
Mast finished 10th, two laps down, but the team would have liked another shot at the chassis setup.
``We wanted a top-10 finish and we got us a top-10 finish,'' Mast said. ``But we tried to stay with the same setup as we had with the Ford last year, and it just wasn't going to work.
``On to Richmond.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Loy Allen Jr. suffered a fractured shoulder blade when his car
struck the outside wall after apparently blowing a tire on lap 172.
The race was red-flagged as he was removed from the car.
by CNB