Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 12, 1994 TAG: 9403120108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium
"We're not where we should be," he said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "We've got a better team and a better car and we're not happy where we are. The car is good, but the tires are not right. And that just kind of makes the playing field unlevel for teams like ours."
Waltrip's best finish this year came Sunday in Richmond, Va., where he finished 16th, two laps down.
"I'm getting a lot of pressure from a lot of players [other sponsors] to get it straightened out," he said.
Waltrip said he thought his switch to Hoosiers would yield a couple of quick victories.
"I didn't win any races last year," he said. "And I thought going with Hoosiers would be a quick fix for this race team. But I underestimated Goodyear and overestimated Hoosier. I just made a bad judgment . . . "
But Waltrip is not giving up on Hoosiers. Not yet, at least.
He has agreed to test for the company next week at North Wilkesboro, N.C. And he thinks the Hoosiers will race better in April's short-track events.
"We need to learn about the tire, what it's doing and how to adjust the car" to make it work well on the tires, Waltrip said. "The design of the tire is not anything like Goodyear. And I guess if you look at what [Hoosier] is undertaking, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that they've got to go through a learning curve."
As for his future on Hoosiers, "it's really kind of week to week right now," Waltrip said.
\ TOUGH COMPETITION: When the drivers who are second and sixth in Grand National championship points can't make a race, you know the competition is getting tough in NASCAR racing.
That's what happened to Hermie Sadler and Elton Sawyer here Friday. And after failing to make the 45-car field for today's Busch 300, they began prowling the Grand National garage, looking to beg, borrow or buy a car for the race.
Sadler's saviors were Sterling Marlin and car owner Fred Turner. They agreed to let Sadler drive Marlin's car in today's race.
"We got it all together just in time," Sadler said.
Sadler burned a piston during his qualifying run Thursday and simply wasn't fast enough in the second round Friday. Marlin qualified 32nd.
After posting two top-five finishes in the first three races to rank second in points, Sadler could ill afford to skip an event.
"If you miss a race, the points thing for all intents and purposes would be over for us," Sadler said.
Sawyer, meanwhile, blew motors during both of his qualifying runs. But he was able to find a starting spot when unheralded Mike Laws crashed during practice Friday morning after qualifying 21st for the race. Laws had no backup car, so Sawyer's team managed to negotiate for the spot.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB