THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 1, 1996 TAG: 9604010165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Imagine a $1 million match race between Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, with Earnhardt driving a Ford and Martin driving a Chevrolet.
Richard Childress, Earnhardt's car owner, proposed it Sunday before the Food City 500 at Bristol International Raceway, and Jack Roush, Martin's car owner, said he might just take him up on it.
Childress floated the suggestion when he was asked to comment about Roush's plan to build a Chevy and compare it to his Ford during a test session on a racetrack.
``The only fair way to do that is we build ours, they do theirs, and after the last race in Atlanta in November, we'll stay over on Monday, and each of us will put up $500,000,'' Childress said. ``Then we'll go out and race, and the winner takes all. And whoever wins,the others will have to wear their T-shirts.''
To which Roush responded: ``I am not going to start a debate with Richard Childress as to whether a Ford or a Chevy is best or worse, but I grew up on street racing, I've raced on a lot of back roads in Ohio and I've won a lot of money match racing.''
Roush said he did not want to race at Atlanta - one of Earnhardt's strongest tracks. Maybe Charlotte or Michigan, he said, where any aerodynamic disparity would be most evident.
``Pick it,'' said Childress. ``I'm a big boy. I feel we can take a Ford and be just as competitive as a Monte Carlo. And Dale says he'll do it, too.''
But NASCAR probably won't.
``That's out of our realm of business,'' said Mike Helton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. ``They can do whatever they want on their own.''
Ford official Preston Miller said the automaker was not interested in such a venture.
``Sounds like a couple of rich sportsmen looking for something to besides hunting and fishing,'' Miller said.
Roush decided to build a Chevy for comparative testing after NASCAR did nothing to help the Fords after the latest wind tunnel tests.
``NASCAR right now, and I think they're speaking on behalf of General Motors PR, is saying that they don't think the (aerodynamic) numbers that came off the wind tunnel reflect how the cars are racing on the racetrack,'' Roush said. ``So I'm going to build a Chevy, take it to the racetrack and demonstrate that.''
PLAYFUL INJURY: Jeff Torence, a crew member on Terry Labonte's team, cut his head open while horsing around with another team member on pit road during one of Sunday's red-flag periods. Torence, 34, received six stitches at the infield medical center.
ONLY THE SECOND TIME: Sunday's race was only the second Winston Cup race in Bristol's 36-year history to be shortened by rain. The first was in August 1983, which was shortened to 419 laps.
The start of Sunday's race was delayed 42 minutes, and then the red flags stopped things for a total of two hours and seven minutes.
RELIEF FOR MAST: Rick Mast, who had a stomach illness, let Grand National driver David Green take over, but not until the first red flag came out on lap 321.
``The car was working good and you just can't take a chance to come in when you're going to lose a lap or two doing it,'' Mast said. ``I'm just glad David was available to drive.''
The two combined for a 12th-place finish, two laps down. That is Mast's best finish since he came in 10th at Rockingham. by CNB