THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 31, 1996 TAG: 9608310728
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: 66 lines
It has been almost four weeks since Kyle Petty suffered his four-hit crash at Indianapolis and almost five weeks since Dale Earnhardt was busted up at Talladega, and both can't believe how long it's taking to heal.
``It just stays sore,'' Earnhardt said Friday at Darlington Raceway after qualifying 12th for Sunday's Southern 500. ``I can't get over this soreness.''
Earnhardt, who broke his shoulder and sternum at Talladega, said his shoulder muscles ``just stay sore all the time'' because he uses them so much to try to keep his shoulder from moving.
He said the pain relievers he is using are ineffective after a time, so he has to switch to something else every few days.
``I'm just too dad-gummed slow to healing up,'' he said. ``It's taken longer than I wanted it to. I reckon the problem is I think I know more than the doctors. I feel like I'm zero percent. I just don't feel good.''
Still, that didn't stop Earnhardt from testing his car for two days at Richmond this week. ``Who am I going to have test the car?'' he said. ``You have to test your own car.''
Petty, meanwhile, said he'll try to go all the way Sunday. He was 38th-fastest in qualifying.
``This is like getting hurt every day,'' he said. ``For the first two weeks, every day I woke up, I had a different hurt. A week after the wreck, I felt worse than the day after. My broken leg at Talladega was nothing compared to this. For me, this was a bad wreck.''
``Hopefully I can run the entire race Sunday,'' he said. ``That's what I came here for. I've already sat out a month.''
The team has not lined up a possible relief driver. ``We're going to wait for someone to fall out of the race and put them in the car,'' said car owner Felix Sabates. ``Kyle can't go 500 miles. He'll be lucky to go 100 miles. I told him we'll park the car if we have to.''
MARTIN WINS BUSCH POLE: Mark Martin won the pole for today's Dura Lube 200 Busch Grand National race with a lap of 165.799 miles per hour in his Ford Thunderbird Friday.
Martin will be going for his fourth-straight victory in the fall Busch race here. He also won the race here in March.
``We are pleased to be up front,'' Martin said. ``That's always a big plus at Darlington, but winning the race is more important.''
Terry Labonte was second-fastest in a Chevy at 164.860 mph, followed by Chad Little in a Pontiac at 164.474 mph, Ricky Craven in a Chevy at 164.419 mph and Jeff Green in a Chevy at 164.353 mph. Doug Heveron was the only driver who failed to make the race.
A 43-car field will start today's race at 1 p.m. It will be televised live on ESPN2.
WALTRIP CRASHES IN PRACTICE: Michael Waltrip flattened the right side of his Wood Brothers Ford Thunderbird shortly after noon Friday in a crash during practice in turn four.
``Either I ran over something and cut a right front tire or maybe I got up a little too high and got in the marbles,'' he said. ``I knew I was a little too high in the turn, but it felt like a tire went flat.''
The team rolled out Waltrip's backup car and he qualified 22nd for Sunday's Southern 500.
STOCK-CAR POLITICS: You could tell it was the political season by looking at Robby Faggart's car in the garage Friday. The Chevy was plastered with decals urging voters to vote a Republican ticket. Faggart's car owner, Jim Miles, of Indian Trail, N.C., obtained sponsorship money from the GOP, Faggart said. by CNB