Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 2, 1993 TAG: 9307020042
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
"Not long ago, people were not wanting me to come to Daytona and Talladega, so it means a lot to come down here and run awful good," Irvan said Thursday after winning the pole for Saturday's Pepsi 400 with a speed of 190.327 mph.
Irvan, driving a Chevrolet Lumina, was about a tenth of a second quicker than Kyle Petty on the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway track. Petty joined Irvan on the front row with a speed of 190.030 mph in a Pontiac Grand Prix.
While Irvan was happy to get out from behind the eight ball, Ken Schrader and his Chevy owner, Joe Hendrick, found themselves behind it Thursday afternoon. They were suspended for four races, beginning with the July 11 event in Loudon, N.H., after NASCAR inspectors determined that their team had altered a carburetor to circumvent the restrictor plate.
Another big surprise on a 90-degree afternoon was that the top three qualifying speeds all were faster than Petty's Daytona 500 pole-winning speed of 189.426 mph.
"It did surprise me that we could come down here and run as fast as we did in February," Irvan said. "But we took the car to the wind tunnel two weeks ago and we learned a lot. The team figured out a lot of things they could do to this race car to make it faster.
"What happens is the longer we run these spoilers with the same angle and the longer we run the same restrictor plate and the same bodies and they don't change the rules of them, the faster we'll get. It's just a matter of homework, and the longer you do homework, the faster your car will get."
Davey Allison took the third starting spot in a Ford Thunderbird with a speed of 189.873 mph, followed by Derrike Cope in another Ford at 189.215 mph. Dale Earnhardt was fifth, driving his Chevy 188.869 mph.
Also in the top 10 were three veterans who have struggled in 1993. Bill Elliott was sixth in a Ford at 188.853 mph, while Harry Gant took seventh in a Chevy (188.652) and Darrell Waltrip was eighth in a Chevy (188.616). Rick Wilson qualified ninth in his Pontiac (188.580) and Ricky Rudd was 10th in a Chevy (188.513).
For Irvan, 1993 has been an up-and-down year. This was his second pole (Dover was the other), and he is 11th in points, with one victory and six other top 10 finishes. Still, 1993 has been a lot smoother for Irvan than 1991. That year, even though he won the Daytona 500, Irvan was labeled a reckless driver. The big wrecks he triggered at Darlington in 1990 and Talladega and Pocono in 1991 led to a rare apology to his fellow drivers.
Since then, he has been more successful than any other driver at Daytona and Talladega, where carburetor restrictor plates are required. He is the reigning Pepsi 400 champion, and he also won at Talladega in July 1992 and again in the Winston 500 in May.
"Any time you put the name `King' up there, you think of Richard Petty and Elvis Presley, so that will be a tough name to live up to," Irvan said. "We've won three out of four, but it may be a long time before we win another one."
A second round of qualifying is set for 1 p.m. today. Among those who may want to try again are Geoff Bodine (22nd), Sterling Marlin (23rd), Jeff Gordon (28th) and Terry Labonte (32nd).
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB