DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709280249

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER,STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE                      LENGTH:   79 lines

TRACK, WEATHER MAY TEST PATIENCE OF MARTINSVILLE FIELD AS IF TIGHT TURNS AREN'T ENOUGH, TODAY'S FORECAST CALLS FOR HEAVY RAINS.

The Hanes 500 at Martinsville Speedway, which is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. today, is a test of endurance for the cars and patience for the drivers.

But today's race, on the 50th anniversary of NASCAR stock car racing in this small southern Virginia town, is likely to be almost exclusively a test of patience - for competitors and fans alike.

The area weather forecast Saturday afternoon called for almost a 100 percent chance of precipitation, with rain heavy at times. And the temperature is expected to reach only about 60 degrees.

If we get past this obstacle, then perhaps fans will get to see some action on what undoubtedly will be a cool, green track. And then the usual Martinsville traits will come into play - brakes, endurance, strong gears, track position, cool nerves and patience, patience, patience.

``You've got probably a worst-case scenario here at Martinsville,'' said Hut Stricklin, who put his No. 8 Circuit City Ford on the outside of the second row in qualifying Friday. ``You don't run enough miles per hour in speed to circulate the air properly and cool your car right.''

At the same time, a driver must drive the car hard in order for it to work at its peak, Stricklin said.

``When you drive a car at Martinsville, you really have to take everything it will give you,'' Stricklin said. ``If you can drive a car hard enough, it will handle good. If you don't drive it hard enough, it will get tight and push in the corners.

``And what's hard is when you get behind somebody. You have to drive their line and their style and it can really mess you up.''

The G-forces in the tight, hairpin-like turns at Martinsville also affect performance. Basically, everything pushes to the right, including the fluids in the car.

John Andretti's team apparently tried to counteract that effect, and improve the efficiency of their engine, by installing an oil pan that was offset about a quarter of an inch from the authorized position. NASCAR officials confiscated the pan before qualifying Friday.

NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said NASCAR will keep the oil pan, but he doubts the infraction will lead to a fine.

Ward Burton, who failed to qualify for both Martinsville races last year, won the pole Friday with a speed of 93.410 miles per hour in his No. 22 MBNA Pontiac Grand Prix.

``I think we'll be okay in the race,'' car owner Bill Davis said. ``We've raced really well the last three or four weeks, although we don't have a lot to show for it. We also race well on flat race tracks. I think we can be a surprise.''

Rusty Wallace, who won five of eight races here from 1993 through 1996, is something of an underdog now that Jeff Gordon has won the last two races.

``I haven't seen anybody outrun me all day today,'' Wallace said Saturday. ``The thing is running super, so I feel perfect, just perfect.'' Wallace was eighth fastest in the final practice Saturday. He starts seventh.

Much of the focus, of course, will be on the championship battle between Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Gordon, who starts 11th, leads by 105 points over Martin, who starts second.

``I never seem to qualify well at Martinsville,'' said Gordon. ``We usually race well, and I'm looking forward to that. It's been a good track for us in the past, and it should be again on Sunday.''

``We're running well,'' Martin said. ``It's running as well as it did last time. (He finished third in April despite a backstretch pit). Last time, we didn't have any idea how we were going to run. We changed everything Sunday morning and it happened to work accidentally.

``Now we're running the car just like we did then, and it's working again, so I'm relieved.''

Perhaps that's the key - simplicity in setups.

``Once you get a place figured out, very seldom do you lose that combination,'' said Darrell Waltrip, who has won at Martinsville 11 times. ``I run the same thing at Martinsville that I've run here for years.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

The Virginian-Pilot

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

TODAY'S RACE: HANES 500

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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