Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 18, 1994 TAG: 9406180021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
But none of that bothered rookie Loy Allen, Jr., whose racing helmet must be equipped with blinders. He wheeled his Ford Thunderbird onto the 2-mile oval, ignored the heat and the marbles, and blew everyone else away, winning his third pole position of 1994 with a record speed of 180.641 mph. The previous record of 176.258 mph was set by Davey Allison in June 1992.
Allen's speed was almost a mile an hour quicker than Geoff Bodine, who took the outside pole in another Ford with a speed of 179.650 mph, giving Hoosier tires both cars on the front row for Sunday's Miller 400.
"It's either feast or famine," said the 28-year-old Raleigh, N.C., native.
Never has a cliche been more appropriate.
Consider this record: After winning the Daytona 500 pole, Allen needed a provisional to make the Rockingham race. He failed to qualify at Richmond, came back with a track record to win the pole at Atlanta and then failed to qualify for the next four races. At Talladega, he won the outside pole. But at Sears Point, he failed to qualify for his sixth race of the season.
Before winning the pole here Friday, he started 37th, 39th and 31st in the previous three events.
"We're either there or we're not," Allen said.
Bill Elliott was third fastest at 179.609 mph in a Ford, followed by Terry Labonte in the fastest Chevrolet Lumina at 179.596 mph and Rusty Wallace in a Ford at 179.574 mph.
Also in the top 10 were Ricky Rudd in a Ford at 179.109 mph, Jeff Gordon in a Chevy at 179.011 mph, Mark Martin in a Ford at 178.851 mph, Greg Sacks in a Ford at 178.302 mph and Brett Bodine in a Ford at 178.183 mph.
The second 10 included four other rookies - Jeff Purvis (13th), Ward Burton (15th), Joe Nemechek (17th) and Jeremy Mayfield (18th) - while some of the sport's biggest names were visiting unfamiliar territory at the bottom of the pack.
Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt was 41st fastest after nearly losing control in turn two. Points leader Ernie Irvan was 38th. Kyle Petty was 39th.
"It's pretty slippery out there," Irvan said. "I slid all the way through turn three."
The condition of turn three, where 780 feet was repaved over the winter, was the issue of the day among the drivers.
During practice, horror stories about the conditions quickly spread through the garage. And those stories were borne out by crashes. Four drivers - Dave Marcis, Robby Gordon, Dick Trickle and Hut Stricklin - hit the wall. Marcis was unable to attempt to qualify. Stricklin was 37th fastest in his backup car. Trickle and Gordon were 33rd and 35th in their damaged cars.
"It's like running off the side of the road with all that gravel flying up there," said Sterling Marlin, who qualified 20th.
Martin said he was "scared to death something was going to go wrong" for him in turn three. He said his relatively quick speed may have been caused by his caution going into the turn.
But while the reports of trouble were making the rounds, Allen was semi-oblivious. He had heard of the trouble, but he generally avoided the talk. And his car owner, George Bradshaw, said, "We tried to keep all that stuff away" to help Allen concentrate on the task at hand.
"I was really surprised," Allen said. "The track felt really good to us. I really didn't see anything as far as [the track] coming up. There was still some of that Sta-Dri [oil absorbent] out of the groove, so you kinda had to run in the groove through the turn."
Gene Haskett, the track's general manager, said there was some marbling in the repaved section of turn three because the track temperature of 130 degrees was causing some of the top layer of the asphalt to come loose.
But the track was not breaking up in chunks, he said. "We're watering it now to cool it. Tonight we'll put some lime on it, broom it off in the morning and go," Haskett said.
With 52 cars vying for 42 starting spots, the horror story today, at least for some drivers, will be second-round qualifying at 11 a.m.
The list of the endangered starts with Mike Wallace, who was 40th fastest, followed by Rick Carelli in 42nd, Ted Musgrave, Jimmy Spencer, Bobby Hamilton, Wally Dallenbach, Brad Teague, Jimmy Horton, Bob Brevak, Marcis, Billy Standridge and H.B. Bailey.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB