DATE: Friday, May 16, 1997                  TAG: 9705160909

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   45 lines

LANGLEY DRIVER RUNS ON WYATT'S PRAYER

Langley Speedway promoter Wayne Wyatt frequently provides advice to struggling young drivers, but he admits what he did before last Saturday's races was out of the ordinary.

Wyatt saw Mike Conner and his crew unloading a race car that had brought them nothing but frustration and repair bills.

``They already were on their knees working on the car, so I walked over and said, `Boys, I think we need to to have a prayer,' '' Wyatt recalled.

Conner, who had crashed in his first three events, agreed.

``I got down on my knees with them,'' Wyatt said, ``and asked the Lord if he could be with this team and let it get a good race in.''

``I guess it worked,'' said Conner, who also got his usual pre-race prayer from his father, David, who helps to maintain his son's Late Model Stock car.

In one of the most violent races of the year, Conner safely drove through 13 caution-causing wrecks to finish sixth in the 100-lapper.

Conner has been competing at Langley for several years and was a top-10 finisher in the Late Model points the last three seasons. But Conner never made it to the starting line for the season-opener. He crashed in practice.

The next week, he slammed into the wall on lap 62, badly damaging the car again and suffering a cracked sternum.

``We missed the next week,'' he said. ``The wrecks had taken a little out of us.''

Conner, who lives in Gloucester and works in Norfolk, returned the following week and was involved in a multicar pile up before the official start of the race.

``I crawled out of the car and was about a foot from the starting line,'' he said. ``I had crashed again and hadn't even crossed the starting line.''

For the third time in three races Conner had to replace the front-end clip of his race car.

As expensive as it was, Conner says he never thought about parking the car.

Meanwhile, considering the number of other wrecks last Saturday, Wyatt may be called upon for more prayer sessions this week.

``I'll be there if anyone asks,'' Wyatt promised. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Mike Conner, after crashing three times in a row, prayed with team

and Wayne Wyatt, then drove safely in a wreck-filled race last week.

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