
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993                   TAG: 9309140196
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff and Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

GEOFF BODINE WILL BE DRIVING KULWICKI'S CAR

Geoff Bodine will take over the late Alan Kulwicki's Ford Thunderbird for this weekend's Peak 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway, and Lake Speed gets the ride Bodine vacates in Bud Moore's Ford Thunderbird, Bodine announced Monday.

"I'll be driving the No. 7 car the rest of the year," Bodine said from his Julian, N.C. home. "Ford feels and hopes it will help them see some points for the manufacturer's championship.

"And it really helps me in a lot of situations. We haven't secured a sponsor yet for next year and it will allow us to showcase what we've got with this team. And it gives us a chance to prepare for next season a little earlier than we thought.

"I can tell you one thing: I'm not ready to be just a car owner. I want to be in that car going around."

Bodine and his wife, Kathy, purchased the team and shop in the wake of Kulwicki's death April 1 in a plane crash near Bristol, Tenn. But he had not been racing the car because he had a contract to drive for Moore for the 1993 season. Ridgeway, Va., driver Jimmy Hensley has been in the car since Kulwicki's death.

But Bodine, who has made no secret of his eagerness to begin racing with his new team, said he reached an agreement with Ford and Moore to make the move now instead of at the end of the season.

Ford trails Chevrolet 153-147 in the manufacturer's championship with seven races left. Five points is the most any make can gain on another make in a race.

The odd driver out is Hensley, who said at Richmond last weekend that he's got feelers out for a 1994 ride but no takers.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB