THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140494
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 59 lines
Dale Earnhardt plans to return to his usual bucket seat and run the entire GM 400 at Michigan International Speedway this weekend.
``My concern is my endurance, not the pain or taking the risk of another injury,'' Earnhardt said Tuesday. ``It's a situation where if I do have a lot of pain there, hopefully some of the guys who dropped out earlier in the race can get in the car.''
Earnhardt, who suffered a broken sternum and clavicle at Talladega July 28, ran the entire road race at Watkins Glen last Sunday, finishing sixth after winning the pole.
``I was just as sore in the hips and the back from the seat I was using,'' Earnhardt said. He was using designated relief driver David Green's upright seat instead of his low-back bucket seat. ``Still, I think the seat was a plus with the support for my shoulder. But I'm going to use our seat at Michigan.''
Earnhardt said he ``faltered a little bit physically'' at the end of the Watkins Glen race. There was a dull ache in his broken shoulder throughout the race and ``a burning pain in my chest from the muscles and the tension on it. If you endure that for an hour or two, the third hour you're wearing down.''
Earnhardt said his stubborn resolve to drive his way back to health is not a macho display.
``I'm not trying to be an iron man, or to outdo anybody or to set a precedent or impress anyone,'' he said. ``It's just that I'm trying to do my job. I do my job the best I can.''
That's why he was so upset when he had to get out of his car at Indy.
``That was a tough one,'' he said. ``I got pretty emotional when I got out. I thought about it a lot before the race and it really felt odd to be even thinking of that or considering it. I'm not used to doing that. My desire to drive that race car is so great, it overcomes a lot.''
REALITY SETS IN: Once a race winner steps out of the spotlight in victory lane, it doesn't take long for life to return to normal, as Bud at the Glen winner Geoff Bodine found out Sunday.
``We stopped at McDonald's and got a burger before we got on the airplane,'' Bodine said. ``We called that the dinner flight home.''
But there was bad weather enroute and ``a couple of team members got sick. That was really cute,'' Bodine said. There is, however, a victory party for the entire team tonight.
NOT THE ONLY PROBLEM: Bodine's crew chief, Paul Andrews, said the breakup of Bodine's marriage was not the only cause of his winless streak, which lasted almost two years.
``To go through the (1994-95) winter alone without the family he was used to was really hard on him,'' Andrews said. ``But for the 1995 race season, everything changed. When Hoosier dropped out, the tires were different and that was hard to adapt to. And the cars, in 1995 especially, weren't very good cars. And that made it more frustrating for him. But we just worked harder and tried to pull together.''
ADD-ONS: Mike Wallace will be driving the No. 19 Ford Thunderbird at Michigan, and Ron Hornaday Jr. will be in Earnhardt's No. 14 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Dale Earnhardt suffered a broken sternum and clavicle at Talladega
July 28. by CNB