Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991 TAG: 9103050124
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
"Trophies are what I do this for," Nelson said. "You can spend the money and you can sell whatever else you have, but the trophies are what it's for. They're not worth anything to anyone but me, but that's what I'm looking for."
The incentive program that Sabates created for the race did not stop with Nelson's motorcycle. The Petty pit crew will receive a large motor boat worth about $75,000 because of Petty's victory. And Nelson's wife, Barbara, gets a living room full of furniture.
"Gary owns a Harley-Davidson now," Petty said after the race. "He's a Hell's Angel. Just joined up a minute ago. The rest of the crew has joined the `Cousteau Society.' They just got a new Donzi boat. They'll be out on Lake Norman [near Charlotte] scuba diving and snorkling, maybe not in the water, but they'll be out there. So it meant a lot to us."
"It makes it a lot of fun," Petty said. "I think Felix realizes this is a team sport and this is a team. He tries to keep us a team."
Last year, Sabates gave Kyle a new Rolls Royce after his victory here. "Kyle got the incentives last year," Sabates said. "Gary got them this race. The next race we win this year, the incentives are going to go to [engine builder] John Wilson."
The victory also put Petty back in The Winston, a non-points event for race winners this May in Charlotte. And because he won the pole position this weekend, Petty will back in the Busch Clash next February in Daytona.
"There's a lot of good things that happened for us this week at Rockingham," Petty said. "It's going to pay off for us the rest of the year."
Petty said that after he found himself behind Ken Schrader late in the race because of the timing of yellow flags, "I have to admit, my heart sank. My heart didn't come back in the right place until the last caution came out.
"But in racing, you never know what's going to happen until they drop the checkered flag. You can have perfect days and still come away second or third. That's the way it looked like it was going to go for us until that last caution came out."
Kyle's father, Richard was asked after the race how he felt about his son winning.
"If I can't win, they ought to call the race off," King Richard quipped.
Noting the heavy rains that fell here Sunday morning, the elder Petty then said, "Can you believe they ran that race? We had to swim to get in here."
As it was, the race was delayed only about 30 minutes because of the weather.
Dale Earnhardt retained the lead in the Winston Cup points championship after Sunday's race, but he was never a factor in the event, finishing three laps down in eighth place.
"It was just one of those Rockingham days," Earnhardt said. "We scraped the wall early and I'm not sure if that hurt the car or not. At least we kept the points lead."
Car owner Richard Childress said the team "just hasn't got a good setup for Rockingham. We haven't run good here since they went to the radials [from the bia-ply tires]. We built a brand-new [Chevrolet] Lumina for this race, and we've got a lot of new stuff. We still just didn't get the right combination."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB