THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604270497
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
The word coming into the Winston Select 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was that the two Ford Thunderbirds owned by Robert Yates would be the cars to beat.
And that certainly was borne out in qualifying, as Ernie Irvan and Dale Jarrett took the top two starting spots and put Yates' cars on the front row for Sunday's race.
Irvan reached 192.855 miles per hour, while Jarrett's hit 192.560 mph. No one else reached 192 mph.
``Our two-car team all pitched in together to make our cars real fast,'' Irvan said. ``If we hadn't had Dale down here testing last week, we never would have had both cars on the front row.''
``I'm real excited about Sunday. I haven't thought a lot about it, but I think it could be me and Dale in contention to win the race.''
By the end of the day, however, Irvan's smile had disappeared, as NASCAR took his car for a special horsepower test and in the process Winston Cup director Gary Nelson possibly damaged the engine that Irvan planned to use in the race. More on that in a minute.
Jeremy Mayfield took the third starting spot with a speed of 191.862 mph. Sterling Marlin was fourth in the quickest Chevy at 191.623, followed by Ted Musgrave in another Ford at 191.184 mph.
Mike Skinner was sixth fastest in a Richard Childress Chevy at 191.168 mph, followed by Jeff Purvis in a Chevy at 191.100, Robert Pressley in a Chevy at 191.077, Jeff Burton in a Ford at 191.042 and Johnny Benson in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix at 190.943 mph.
Ricky Rudd made the field, 18th fastest at 189.981; Elton Sawyer fell three places short, 28th at 189.425.
Forty-six cars made qualifying runs, which means another tough Saturday for some of the drivers at the bottom of the lineup. Those outside of the top 38, in order, were Bobby Hamilton, Lake Speed, Kyle Petty, Brett Bodine, Darrell Waltrip, Geoff Bodine and Bobby Hillin. The second round of time trials will be at noon today.
The strength of the Fords in qualifying here Friday, coupled with the aerodynamic rule change ordered by NASCAR last weekend to help the Fords, had the Chevy teams fuming for a change.
``They're giving the Fords all they want,'' said Dale Earnhardt, who qualified 16th, slower than part-time teammate Skinner. ``We'll see what happens when we get to Charlotte (when the rule change goes into effect) and (the Fords) get the rest of it. We were even with 'em at Daytona, and now we're uneven.''
Irvan has now won the pole for the Talladega spring race in four of his last five tries. But soon after his run Friday, he and his team were boiling mad at NASCAR's Nelson.
Toward the end of qualifying, officials began setting up a large portable trailer, with rolling drums to let a car's wheels spin free with the engine on and clutch engaged.
NASCAR's aim was to test the horsepower of the Ford versus the Chevrolet to go along with its previous wind tunnel tests.
Irvan's car was designated to be tested. Nelson, behind the wheel, slipped the clutch during his first run through the gears. Yates said he could see and feel sparks and carbon coming out of the exhaust.
There were no problems on the second try, but then the NASCAR computer failed and all of the information from the test was lost.
``We decided to scrap the test for now because of the computer problem,'' Nelson said somewhat sheepishly during an impromptu press conference.``The intention was to gather information for future use.''
``I'm not happy with what happened here,'' said Yates. ``We just wiped the clutch out. It about half-snapped the crankshaft in two. It threw a lot of sparks out of the exhaust. We wanted to race this motor, but now it's questionable.''
Nelson said the test was set up after requests from other car owners, whom he didn't identify.
But did his test damage Yates' engine? ``I'm hoping it didn't,'' Nelson said. ``I know the clutch is going to have to be replaced.''
Although the pre-test conversations between Nelson, Yates and crew chief Larry McReynolds was animated at times, Nelson said later that Yates ``did have the option to say no.''
The whole affair seemed to take on a circus atmosphere, especially as the test came apart at the seams.
Said Yates: ``I don't want (Charlotte Motor Speedway president) Humpy Wheeler to see this, or we'll have it at Charlotte for the next race.''
``We warned them about (possibly damaging the engine) before they started,'' Irvan said. ``Obviously, they didn't listen.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Ernie Irvan was happy with a 4th spring Talldega pole in 5 tries,
but NASCAR's Gary Nelson slipped the 28-car's clutch afterward.
Sparks and carbon shot from the exhaust.
by CNB