Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991 TAG: 9102230192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
But as the Busch Grand National stock car driver knocked on the young woman's door and waited for an answer last spring, he had a sinking feeling about this first date.
"I know Patty and she's not going to be here," Sawyer, a native of Chesapeake, Va., said he had told his companion. Sawyer knew fellow Grand National driver Patty Moise was not a woman inclined to wait.
Sure enough, the knock went unanswered. And Sawyer headed off to dinner without his date.
It was an inauspicious start to a romance, but nothing that true love couldn't fix.
"I'm sort of an independent cuss," Moise said. "When he was about 15 minutes late, I left. He ended up going to eat at the same place I was at. After dinner, he kind of came over and tried to dig himself out."
After clearing that first small bump in the road, Sawyer, 31, and Moise, 30, quickly developed a close relationship. They were engaged in August and married Nov. 24.
This weekend, the couple had hoped to become the first husband and wife to compete in the same big league NASCAR race - today's Pontiac Excitement 200 Busch Grand National race at Richmond International Speedway.
Alas, today will not be the day. Sawyer made the 36-car field, qualifying fifth. But Moise didn't. In the final moments of qualifying, she was bumped from the field.
She was the 33rd fastest among 32 qualifiers. And although four other slower cars made it into the race in provisional starting spots, Moise was not so fortunate.
Perhaps their first race together will be next weekend at the Goodwrench 200 at Rockingham, N.C. Perhaps not.
But whenever it happens, they will tell you it was not so much for the sake of history, but simply because they are two individual race drivers trying to compete in the same race.
"When we come to the race track, it's business for both of us," Sawyer said. "I want to win races really bad. That's what I've done for 14 or 15 years now. Basically, she grew up doing the same thing. She's a racer.
"We can separate it. When we leave the race track, it's a husband-and-wife situation. I feel that we handle it very well. It's a little awkward for the competitors right now, but they'll get used to it.
"You know, 20 years ago you didn't see women in the pits. We may be the first husband and wife competing against each other, but we won't be the last. It's really a great thing to be in a society where you can do something like this."
This year, Sawyer and Moise are teammates as well as newlyweds.
Sawyer drives the Charlottesville-based A.G. Dillard Motorsports Buick. The team, sponsored by Gwaltney Big 8's Hot Dogs, is the only all-Virginia team in the sport.
Sawyer began his career as a teen-ager at Langley Speedway in Hampton and won three track championships. He also won the NASCAR Mid-Atlantic region championship twice in the course of winning 82 Late Model Stock Car features.
He competed in his first Grand National race in 1983, but struggled as an independent until landing the ride in Dillard's car last year when Rick Mast left to pursue Winston Cup racing. Sawyer is still seeking his first Grand National victory.
Moise, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., also is driving an Alan Dillard car, although she has yet to find a full-time sponsor.
"This is really sort of out of the goodness of Alan's heart," she said. "All I've got is some associate sponsor help. If nothing goes really wrong, we can run fairly decently."
Moise started racing in road races on the IMSA circuit about 10 years ago. She ran her first Grand National race in 1986 and raced full time in the series for the first time last year. In January, 1990, Moise set the women's World Closed-Course speed record at Talladega, driving at more than 217 mph in a specially prepared Buick. She also is seeking her first Grand National victory.
"We'd been racing against each other for about three years [in the Busch Grand National series]," Moise said, "but we hadn't really said more than, `Hi, how are you doing? How is the car running? Bye.' It was that type of a deal until last year."
Things began to change last April, when they ran into each other at car builder Mike Laughlin's shop in South Carolina. From there, they shared a ride to the next race at Lanier Raceway in Georgia.
"We got to talking and we found out we had a lot in common other than racing," Sawyer said.
Said Moise, "We just really hit it off."
Sawyer added, "We had both ended long-lasting relationships. She had been through an eight-year deal and so had I. I guess it took us eight years to find out those weren't the right deals and it took us about six months to find out this was."
"We kept it kind of quiet for awhile," Moise said. "We knew everybody would think that this was more than they could handle. I don't think either of us thought it would end up where it did."
But when Sawyer proposed last August, Moise was not inclined to say no. They talked about marriage a lot. They discussed how it would affect their racing and their lives.
"There were a lot of expensive phone calls," Moise said.
But they both decided they were ready.
These days, the couple is often asked if there is a family in their future. They say they haven't really given it much thought.
"Not at this time," said Moise.
Sawyer said, "Maybe in the future. We really don't have enough time for that. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
"I really want her to keep racing. I know how much it means to her."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB