Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 8, 1992 TAG: 9202080081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
CLASH A DASH FOR CASH
The most interesting thing about the 15-car field for today's Busch Clash is not who's in it, but who isn't.Dale Earnhardt, who won last year and in 1988, didn't make the field.
Ken Schrader, who won in 1989 and 1990, also is a spectator.
Darrell Waltrip, the 1981 Clash winner, won't be competing.
You have to go back to 1987 to find a past champion - Bill Elliott - who is competing in today's 50-mile shootout. And 1985 winner Terry Labonte is the only other past winner in the race.
To get in the Clash, of course, a driver has to win a pole position during the previous year. Earnhardt, Schrader and Waltrip failed to do that. (One non-pole winner, Chad Little, was randomly selected to join the field).
Earnhardt was wandering through the garage Friday when he stopped to chat with Ricky Rudd about strategy for today's race.
Rudd, who crashed last year, never has had much luck in the Clash. Earnhardt, on the other hand, passed the entire field in two laps last year to record his second Clash victory.
"What are you going to do?" Earnhardt asked Rudd.
"I don't know," Rudd replied. "I was looking for that black [No.] 3."
"You got to be the black [No.] 3," Earnhardt replied.
The Clash probably won't be much of an indicator of how things will go in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16. For one thing, most drivers use their back-up cars in the Clash. And the race is so short, slower cars can probably keep up with the faster ones.
As Rudd noted, "I think anybody can hang onto a faster car in the draft for 10 laps."
The race is run in two 10-lap sprints. There are several yellow flag laps after the first segment and the field is inverted for the final 10 laps.
Brett Bodine on Thursday got the pole position for the first segment in a random drawing. His older brother, Geoff, starts second. Davey Allison, who has one of the fastest cars, picked the 15th and last starting spot.
The 1 p.m. race will be televised live by CBS.
Meanwhile, the Fords on Friday continued the domination they showed in December and January testing as they had their first chance to practice and draft with the Chevrolets, Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles.
Of the nine cars that exceeded 190 mph Friday, five were Fords, including the top four. Only one was a Chevrolet. And one was Richard Petty.
Allison was the fastest Friday at 191.689 mph, followed by Mark Martin (191.400 mph), Bill Elliott (191.314 mph), and Sterling Marlin (191.200 mph), all in Fords. Kyle Petty was fifth fastest in his Pontiac at 190.799 mph, followed by Phil Parsons' Ford (190.726 mph).
Keywords:
AUTO RACING