Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994 TAG: 9409230045
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's no typo. That's bovine, not Bodine. This story is not that steamy, and Mast always says he is going to quit revealing the financial roots of his racing in Rockbridge Baths, but then he milks the story for all it's worth.
When he was 15, Mast sold a cow for $575, then used the money to buy a wrecked '57 Chevy and a trailer from Lexington driver David Ramsey. Driving to his first race with the cowmobile at Natural Bridge Speedway, he got a speeding ticket. But he finished sixth in the race and made enough money to pay the fine.
The sixth time out with the '57 Chevy, he won - something Mast hasn't managed in 148 Winston Cup races. Among active drivers, only Michael Waltrip, Hut Stricklin and Dick Trickle have driven more races in NASCAR's big league without locating Victory Lane. And although Mast's Winston Cup career hasn't been checkered yet, he isn't having a cow about that.
That's because there's more to stock car racing than going in circles. You want to see frustration, then locate Mast today roving from team to team during his first charity golf tournament at Lexington Golf & Country Club.
``If there's ever one thing in life that whips me, it will be that little white ball,'' Mast said Tuesday.
The Mast tournament will include 160 players who have paid $100 each, unless they were put on the tee by one of the 18-hole corporate sponsors, who are paying $1,000 each. There are 62 businesses who have donated items for an auction. Mast estimates the tournament, after expenses, will present a check for at least $25,000 to the Rockbridge Area Free Clinic, this year's charity recipient.
``The thing about racing is that if there's a good charitable cause, a real good charity, the people in racing will get behind it,'' Mast said. ``This kind of thing is the side of racing that I enjoy most: helping put something together to help people.''
Among NASCAR's good ol' boys, Mast is one of the best. The driver of the No.1 car is having his best season, too. He has raced in Winston Cup since 1988, but this is only his fourth full season. He entered '94 with 11 top-10 finishes, but he has eight this year.
His career-best finishes - a pair of thirds - came at Rockingham in February and at Michigan in August.
Mast, 37, made himself a historical trivia answer in August at the Brickyard 400 when he won the pole for the first Winston Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was only the second pole of his career, and then he got to tell the cow tale again before a whole new audience. His eighth-place finish at the Hanes 500 in April was his best Winston Cup tour of Martinsville's .526-mile oval.
``In competitiveness I'd give us a B-plus, but in the final stats I'd give us an F,'' Mast said candidly. ``We keep having those little problems. The biggest letdown of the year was Indy. Our car that week, nobody was in the same class with us. Nobody. Then, on the second lap, coming off the fourth turn, I lost a cylinder.
``It's things like that. If you throw out the road courses and the two restrictor-plate tracks [Daytona and Talladega], we've had a car that's been right there. I can name about seven races that we had the car set up properly and if some little thing hadn't happened, I'd have at least one of those [as a victory] under my belt. That's the part that really keeps my morale up.
``We've been good enough to win. We just haven't yet.''
With six races remaining this season, Mast has won $528,365, about $60,000 shy of his '93 total. His best finish in the points standings was 21st, in '91 and '93. He's 20th, and if Mast becomes the 30th driver to win at Martinsville in the 78th 500-lap Winston Cup race there since 1956, perhaps he will say it was just bovine intervention.
He probably wouldn't climb out of his Ford and yell, ``Cowabunga!'' but from his black angus to his Skoal black Thunderbird, racing has been a moo-ving experience for Mast.
by CNB