THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996 TAG: 9603200643
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The cycle from streak to slump in the NASCAR Winston Cup series is perplexing at best, and almost impossible to predict.
Consider Dale Jarrett and Ernie Irvan. When Jarrett took over for the injured Irvan at the beginning of the 1995 season, there was every reason to believe he would excel. He didn't. He struggled terribly for weeks, finally won a single race last summer and eventually finished 13th in points.
Jarrett stayed with car owner Robert Yates, who created a new team for him. A new team is always a shaky proposition, but Jarrett is now the hottest driver in the series, and the leader in Winston Cup points, after winning the Daytona 500.
Meanwhile, after Irvan's impressive performances in several races last fall, there was every reason to believe he'd come out in 1996 with both guns blazing. Instead, the team has struggled again.
``There are times when you just don't hit on things and we just haven't hit on much,'' Irvan told Ford's Wayne Estes. ``At Atlanta, we did.'' And they finished fourth, even though they qualified 36th.
``The guys needed Atlanta,'' Irvan said. ``We all did. You start wondering, `Man, what are we doing wrong?' ''
Said Yates: ``You sort of feel like you're jinxed in this business sometimes, but as long as things don't fall off the car, and as long as things aren't breaking, we're okay.''
``It's been an atrocious start,'' crew chief Larry McReynolds said. ``It's like the monkey wouldn't get off us, and there was nothing we could do about it.''
Now it's on to Darlington Raceway, and Sunday's TranSouth 400. Irvan doesn't know what to expect.
``I haven't run Darlington (since his August 1994 injury) except that one test I did last year,'' he said. ``If we get our stuff right, we'll be competitive. If we're slipping and sliding and trying to figure it out, we'll probably run the back.''
A TOUGH MOVE: Bill Davis, owner of the MBNA No. 22 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Ward Burton, spent the off weekend moving his team from a 12,000-square-foot shop in Thomasville to a new 33,000-square-foot mechanic's palace in High Point.
It was not a piece of cake.
``I haven't moved in years and years and I've never moved a business,'' he said Tuesday from the new shop. ``You can't imagine how much totally useless stuff you can accumulate in 12,000 square feet.''
Davis prepared for the move by sending most of the team to Darlington to test last Tuesday evening. Then he, his wife, Gail, and others began moving Wednesday. They finished Monday.
``There will be stuff we'll never find the rest of our lives,'' he said.
DeWITTS HONORED: The George S. May International Co., one of the world's largest general management consulting firms, has named North Carolina Motor Speedway chairwoman Carrie B. DeWitt and her daughters, Nancy DeWitt Daugherty and Jo DeWitt Wilson, as ``Entrepreneurs of the Year.''
The DeWitts were cited for improving the performance of the family's trucking company and for modernizing the speedway after Carrie DeWitt assumed control following the death of her husband, L.G., in 1990.
Carrie DeWitt appointed Nancy as head of the trucking company and, after the death of longtime general manager Frank Wilson in 1994, named Jo to head the speedway.
The three women are to receive the award at a luncheon at the speedway on March 30. by CNB