Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9408020056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M. J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Then Rumley made short work of the 32-car Late Model Stock field in the first 100-lap race of the WDBJ TV-7 300.
The second Late Model race had not finished by press time. Rumley qualified on the outside pole and ran in first or second for the entire race as he picked up his 29th career win at the track.
On lap 60, Rumley passed pole-sitter Jeff Agnew and moved into the lead for good.
``I was pretty happy for us to be doing some single-file racing to get away from the No.26 car [Michael Ritch],'' said Rumley. ``[Agnew] slipped a little bit and we got together. Once I got past him though, I wasn't going to let him get back in front.''
Rumley had reason to worry about Ritch, who had won four of the previous seven Late Model races. On lap 62, Ritch also moved passed Agnew. But Ritch never mounted a serious change on the lead over the last third of the race.
For Rumley, the victory capped a hectic day of racing. Earlier in the afternoon, the Winston-Salem, N.C., driver qualified for today's Granger Select 500 Busch Grand National race.
He then jumped into an airplane and flew into New River Valley Airport in Dublin.
Rumley arrived at the track just as qualifying was starting. He relieved back-up driver Clay Campbell, the Martinsville Speedway president and former NRVS promoter. And without any practice, Rumley got into his Chevrolet Camaro and recorded the fastest qualifying run to that point.
``Will Pannill, the owner of Taco Bell [one of Rumley's sponsors] flew me up here in his plane,'' said Rumley. ``It was a 30-minute flight.''
The victory makes the Winston-Salem, N.C., driver the only competitor who has won a Late Model race at the track in each of the past six years.
Ritch, of High-Point, N.C. ended up second while Agnew, of Floyd, held on to third. Both drove Chevrolet Luminas.
Mike Porter of Princeton, W.Va., a multiple-winner this season at Lonesome Pine International Raceway in Coeburn, finished fourth in a Pontiac. Roanoke's Tony McGuire rounded out the top five in another Chevrolet.
Pole-sitter Dean St. John took advantage of late-race accidents that took out the leaders to record his second win of the year in the Limited Sportsman race.
``We got a little bit lucky,'' said the Hamptonsville, N.C., driver. ``The car was real loose, and we couldn't rock in the corners. I hated to see them have trouble but we needed a little luck.''
The ``luck'' came on a restart on lap 32, when Rock Harris spun trying to pass Tam Tophan coming out of turn 2. The resulting melee took out Tophan, Harris, points-leader Charlie Miles, Dave Blessing and Tony Howell.
It took almost 10 minutes for the track to be cleared after the wreck.
L.C. Van Dyke and Melvin Smith were involved in the accident but were able to continue.
That accident and three others during the 35-lap race led to heavy attrition. Only 10 of the 22 cars that started were running at the finish.
Rick Cook took second, Bruce Brown third and Robert Fain fourth.
Tommy Allie of Christiansburg continued his domination of the Pure Stock division with his eighth victory in nine starts. In the first eight laps, Allie worked his way from the seventh starting position to the lead.
The race had to be extended to 27 laps because of a late-race caution.
Aaron Deplazes finished second and Ronnie Vaught third.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB