THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606150452
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA. LENGTH: 53 lines
The grumbling of the past few years about the dirt-track conditions in turn 1 at Pocono International Raceway were non-existent Friday.
In fact, most of the drivers were raving about the new track surface. The 2.5-mile, three-turn speedway was repaved last October.
``It's a pleasure to run on this pavement,'' said Ricky Rudd, who qualified ninth-fastest for Sunday's UAW-GM 500. ``It's like Indy. It's that smooth.''
Said Wally Dallenbach, ``It's awesome. Before, you needed to bring your off-road vehicle to race here. Now, it's nice.''
But the new surface also presented new challenges.
``With this new pavement, it's like a motorcycle on ice,'' Ken Schrader said. ``You've got complete control or you lose control. With the old pavement, you bounced, you slipped, you slid, and you knew when you were going as fast as you could.''
LAWSUIT SETTLED: Engineer Dave Charpentier was back at the track and working with Kyle Petty's team Friday for the first time since early in the year, when a legal order forced him out of the garage.
Charpentier was able to return to the garage after a lawsuit filed by Ricky Rudd against Charpentier and Felix Sabates, Petty's boss, was settled Monday in arbitration.
Rudd sued Charpentier and Sabates, and obtained a restraining order preventing Charpentier from working with the Sabates team, after Charpentier left Rudd to join Sabates. Rudd said in the lawsuit that Charpentier was under contract to work for him in 1996.
Rudd and Charpentier said they could not discuss the terms of the agreement.
NEW CREW CHIEF: Veteran mechanic Gere Kennon, who had been with Ted Musgrave's team, is here this weekend as a Winston Cup crew chief for the first time.
Kennon was hired by car owner Butch Mock earlier this week to replace Troy Selberg as crew chief for Morgan Shepherd's No. 75 Ford Thunderbird. ``I've waited all my life for a chance to step out and have the opportunity to utilize my skills to their full potential,'' Kennon said in a statement released by the team.
Mock said Selberg will have other duties with the team.
JEFF GREEN IN FIELD: In the event Dale Earnhardt finds himself in need of a drafting partner Sunday, he can thank an unlikely but familiar source.
His wife, Teresa, who fields cars for Jeff Green in the Busch Grand National series, has put Green in a Chevrolet for Sunday's race.
``This is a leap toward DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) developing a competitive, full-time Winston Cup team,'' said Don Hawk, president of the company that controls a racing division headed by Earnhardt's wife. ``We are looking toward the future, when Dale decides to stop driving.''
The 45-year-old Earnhardt drives Chevrolets for Richard Childress Racing. by CNB