THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 29, 1996 TAG: 9605290549
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 65 lines
Owning two NASCAR Winston Cup cars can be a juggling act, and veteran car owner Robert Yates is discovering the mixed bag of pleasure and heartache as one of his teams excels and the other doesn't.
While Ernie Irvan has been struggling without tremendous success to get back to top form in the Yates No. 28 Ford Thunderbird, Dale Jarrett is flying in the new No. 88 Ford, with two major victories in 1996.
Irvan's troubles - and he's not doing all that badly - prompted a wave of rumors at Charlotte that he and Yates might be parting ways.
``We plan to be together for four years, which includes next season,'' Yates said Tuesday during the weekly Winston Cup teleconference. ``I think it's going to be a matter of keeping the question from being asked, which is tied to performance.''
Yates said Irvan was on the verge of breaking through at Charlotte until he hit some debris from the Johnny Benson-Ricky Craven crash and hurt his car.
``We had a really good shot at it,'' he said.
And when Irvan does break through, which Yates thinks can happen as early as this weekend at Dover, ``everybody will sit back down in their seats and stop asking what Ernie is going to do. Maybe sometime we're going to prove those cars can run one-two, and then everybody will sit back down.''
Just a year ago, Jarrett was struggling with the No. 28 car, even more than Irvan is now.
``It was difficult,'' Jarrett said Tuesday. ``To say I wasn't a little bit on the downside, I would be telling a story. But you have to keep focused and understand there's going to be difficult times not only in the sport, but in life. I never gave up.''
Some drivers' images are shinier than the reality, but Jarrett is one of NASCAR's genuinely decent fellows, and he proved it again last weekend by soliciting donations in the Winston Cup garage for the education trust fund set up for Carly Brayton, the daughter of the late Scott Brayton, who was killed at Indy earlier this month.
``All we did was try to help to contribute,'' Jarrett said. ``Last I heard, we were a little over $10,000.''
MORE TESTING: NASCAR conducted more horsepower tests on a portable dynamometer after the Coca-Cola 600 last weekend and Yates said he's heard that Ward Burton's Pontiac Grand Prix had the most power.
Yates, calling the NASCAR dyno a device ``to invade our privacy,'' said, ``My stopwatch told me the 22 car (Burton's) actually out-accelerated the 3 car (Dale Earnhardt's Chevy) and the 88 car (Jarrett's Ford).
Yates said of the tests, ``I think it's an effort to see who's got the power, but I don't know how they could ever make a decision'' on that because of the variables involved in making horsepower.
SABATES UNDECIDED: Car owner Felix Sabates, still chafing over Sunday's race and the seven-lap penalty against driver Kyle Petty, said Tuesday he's still unsure whether he'll come to another race again this year.
``I don't know yet,'' he said. ``I haven't decided. I handed my credential to (Winston Cup director) Gary Nelson and I said, `Gary, I don't plan to be around for awhile.' ''
Sabates said NASCAR ``wouldn't even review the film with me,'' regarding the circumstances that led to the penalties. Petty was penalized five laps for rough driving after getting into Ted Musgrave on a restart and triggering a 13-car accident.
The team was penalized two more laps for Sabates' language after he learned about the five-lap penalty.
``I just think whole thing was unfair because Kyle didn't wreck anybody on purpose,'' Sabates said. ``Jimmy Spencer, he hits everything but my bus in the garage every week and nobody says anything to him.'' by CNB