THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090555
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
It was a frozen free-for-all in qualifying Friday for today's Busch 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and wily veteran Dick Trickle, came out on top.
Trickle won the pole with a lap of 177.544 mph in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Dennis Shoemaker, who last week released Bobby Dotter as the driver.
``I've been there (on the pole) before, but I'm kind of happy with myself,'' Trickle said.
Before taking his two qualifying laps on a day in which temperatures hovered in the 30s, Trickle told his crewmen that if they put new tires on the car, he could circle the track without lifting off the gas.
``I didn't want to go back on my word, so I held it wide open,'' he said.
David Green was second-fastest in a Chevy at 177.389 mph, followed by Mark Martin in a Ford at 177.309, Chad Little in a Pontiac at 177.137 and Dale Fischlein in a Chevy at 177.114.
The free-for-all came at the other end of the lineup. Sixty-one cars made qualifying runs, and 19 went home after failing to qualify. Those failing to make the field included Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip, Robert Pressley, Jeff Fuller, Chuck Bown, Dennis Setzer, Jim Bown, Doug Heveron, Stevie Reeves and Buckshot Jones.
MAN OF STEEL: Tim Steele was in agony with kidney stones Friday, so he made quick work of the ARCA APCO EasyCare 300 field, leading 110 of 122 laps to win by 3.1 seconds over Bob Hill.
``I wanted to get it over with and I figured this was the best way - set a fast pace and go,'' said Steele, who who entered Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Feb. 29 and was released Tuesday.
``They say kidney stones are the size of sesame seeds, but it feels like a Mack truck,'' Steele said.
EARNHARDT'S TRUCK: Dale Earnhardt has signed a three-year contract with NAPA, an auto-parts firm, to sponsor his SuperTruck, driven by Ron Hornaday.
``This year, we're hoping for the championship and we don't see any reason why we can't do that,'' Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt said Hornaday also will try to qualify for at least one race in the single Winston Cup car Earnhardt now owns.
``We are going to run in several races - at least two and as much as five,'' he said. ``And probably a bigger schedule next year, and we'll have another car, too.
``Our plan is to get more involved in the years to come, and Hornaday is going to be part of it.''
MORE ON ALLEN RESCUE: Loy Allen Jr.'s rescuers did not use a backboard to lift him from his wrecked car at Rockingham two weeks ago because they felt it would increase the hazard to him by trying to wedge it between his back and the seat, the rescue supervisor said this week.
Montgomery County (N.C.) EMS director Greg White, who supervised rescue operations at Rockingham, said proper emergency procedures were followed.
Members of Allen's crew had criticized the rescue effort, saying that it was too slow, that a backboard was not used, that a team member had to put a cervical collar on Allen, and that Allen was lifted from the car by the shoulder section of his uniform.
White said the arrival of an ambulance was delayed because ``they were checking the car that had wrecked in front of Allen'' and the driver of that car, Bobby Labonte, had declined to ride to the infield care center in the ambulance - time-consuming complications.
White said rescuers ruled out the use of a backboard because of the way the seat is molded to wrap around a driver's body.
``They made sure they kept everything in line,'' White said. ``Spinal mobility was maintained. Everything was maintained. And they lifted him straight up. I don't feel like he was jerked out of the car.''
White confirmed that one of Allen's team members helped put the cervical collar on Allen, but he said that was because the team member was already inside the car.
Allen is still recovering from a broken shoulder blade, a concussion and torn neck ligaments, and will be out six or eight more weeks. Trickle is subbing for him and qualified 17th Friday for Sunday's Purolator 500.
NEW RULE: In the wake of the low-height controversy after the Richmond race last week, NASCAR changed its rule book to read that all cars must be aired to Goodyear-recommended tire pressures before prerace and postrace inspections.
NASCAR, searching for banned bleeder valves in the Richmond postrace inspection, did not let the teams reinflate their tires before going through the height check, although the tires on several cars appeared low. NASCAR normally allows reinflation.
Three cars, including race winner Jeff Gordon's, were less than an eighth of an inch low, but NASCAR assessed no penalties. by CNB