Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 15, 1993 TAG: 9311150074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium
There were 11 yellow flags, tying a speedway record that had stood for 25 years, as the slick asphalt in the turns took its toll. (Both races here in 1968 also had 11 cautions.)
All 11 caution periods were for spins or crashes. Fifteen cars were involved, and most of the trouble occurred when a car simply lost contact with the 1.522-mile track in one of the turns.
And of all the casualties the track claimed during the weekend, the Bodine clan and Ken Schrader were hit hardest. All three Bodine brothers tore up cars and the youngest, Todd, knocked himself silly in the process.
Brett Bodine had the first crash of the day (as he did here last year) when he spun in front of Bobby Hillin and Rusty Wallace in the third turn, taking himself and Hillin out of the race.
"I don't know if we touched or not, but it definitely did enough for Brett to spin out," Hillin said.
Geoff Bodine had a mild crash during the final practice session Saturday, but he managed to repair the car for the race, only to crash with Jimmy Spencer, Schrader and Jimmy Horton on the front stretch on lap 29.
"I just tried to go through the wreck and I picked the wrong way," Bodine said.
"Jimmy just got loose," Schrader said. "There were no holes. I just got it."
Todd Bodine was released from an area hospital shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday after an overnight stay because of a concussion suffered in a crash Saturday during the NASCAR Grand National race. Phil Parsons drove Bodine's Winston Cup car to a ninth-place finish.
Schrader's weekend also was miserable. He crashed his Grand National car during practice, wrecked his primary Winston Cup car while qualifying and then crashed the backup car in the race.
"I wrecked everything else this weekend, so it seemed fitting to wreck this car today," Schrader said.
Schrader's teammate, Jeff Gordon, also wrecked his primary car in practice and his backup during the race.
Other crash victims Sunday included Ernie Irvan, Wally Dallenbach Jr., Harry Gant, Kenny Wallace and Derrike Cope.
\ WILD RIDE: Billy Hodges, a pit crewman for Darrell Waltrip, took a wild ride more than 100 feet down pit road around lap 87 when he tried to get a ratchet out of the back of Waltrip's car after Waltrip pulled out of his pit.
Hodges, hanging onto the tool, rode with the car the distance of four pit stalls before falling and tumbling down pit road.
When crew chief Barry Dodson told Waltrip he had to come back in to get the ratchet out, Waltrip was unaware of what had happened to Hodges.
\ TRAFFIC REPORT: Congestion in and around the track continued to be a problem for the third consecutive day.
Morning fog prevented Sunday-only pit crew members for Ken Schrader, Darrell Waltrip and a number of other teams from flying directly into Tara Airport. So they had to land at the main Atlanta airport and fight traffic, which was horrendous, reportedly stretching 22 miles on the main highway to the track.
Several teams were scrambling before the race to round up substitute crewmen in case they were needed. Key team members for Waltrip and Schrader did not arrive on pit road until around lap 15 or 20, which was just in time for the first pit stops on lap 23 after the first yellow flag.
\ CHANGES: Bobby Labonte and his car owner, Bill Davis, announced Sunday they will leave Ford and field Pontiac Grand Prixs for 1994.
\ TRIBUTE: The prerace ceremonies included a moving tribute to Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison. As country singer Sammy Kershaw sang James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," the cars of the two late drivers each made a lap around the track, with Kulwicki's car taking its lap backward, of course. Allison's car was driven by crew chief Larry McReynolds; Kulwicki's was driven by Hooters official Len Goff.
\ MAST'S FINALE: The end of Rick Mast's race was a fitting finish to his season.
Mast had started third and was running third on lap 105 when his Ford Thunderbird darted out of the groove and ran up against the wall in the third and fourth turns.
"We're done for the day," the driver from Rockbridge Baths told his crew on the radio. He said he thought the engine broke.
"I've never been so glad to get a season over in all my life," Mast said. "We've had problems from one end of the car to the other. Freak things have been happening week after week after week."
Mast finished 37th.
\ HENSLEY FINISHES 25TH: Jimmy Hensley, driving Larry McClure's Chevrolet Lumina, was slowed by engine problems and finished 25th, 20 laps down. "We had an oil leak and had to change the valve covers," the Ridgeway driver said. "The car was running pretty good before that.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB