Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410050076
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. Dougherty
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
The Plum Creek driver sold the 1970 Dodge Challenger he had driven to five victories on the way to winning the points title.
"I had that [consistency]," said Phillips, who was already wearing a specially designed T-shirt commemorating his track championship. "But I had some bad luck, too. I got wrecked several times. But this old Dodge was hard to beat."
Phillips sold his car to Randy Custer of Christiansburg, who finished back in the field Saturday night and didn't race Sunday.
Phillips already is searching for the right car to defend his Pure Stock title. The right Chrysler product, that is.
"I was glad to see the Dodge win it," said Phillips, who has raced the Challenger for the past three years. "I would line up against 20 Chevrolets every night. I was the old ball of the field."
MUSICAL CHAIRS: Phillips wasn't the only driver in a strange place on the last weekend of the regular season.
Aaron Deplazes of Newport both sold and bought a car in September. He sold his Chevrolet Camaro to Rick Sutphin of Floyd.
"I really didn't want to sell the car until the end of the year," said Deplazes. "But he had put a price on it and he came along with the money."
Sutphin has shown some promise, with a good qualifying run (third) his first time out and a top-10 finish in the season finale Sunday.
Then, after missing one race, Deplazes bought the Chevy Monte Carlo that had been driven by Fairlawn's Mike "Monk" Marion to finish the season.
Deplazes won his first race with the Monte Carlo on Saturday, though official results weren't in by press time. But mechanical problems doomed him to a 13th-place finish - next-to-last - on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Marion worked on the pit crew for a pair of drivers from Radford: Scott Hill in the Late Models and Joey Lyons in the Pure Stock.
"I'm doing something a little different," said Marion. "It'll give me a chance to learn something."
CHAMPIONSHIP SALUTE: The three track championships that were still up for grabs were decided this weekend with the leader staying in front. That meant titles for Floyd's Jeff Agnew in Late Model, Christiansburg's Charlie Miles in Limited Sportsman and Radford's Gene Duncan in Mini Stock.
It was Agnew's third NRVS Late Model title in four years at New River and his fifth overall during the period.
"It's a credit to the crew," he said. "We've put a good consistent car out there. And that's what it takes."
Miles, the 1992 Pure Stock champ, became the second straight Limited driver to improve on his runner-up finish of the year before.
"After finishing second last year, I just wanted to come back and win it this year," he told the crowd after winning the title.
Duncan all but wrapped up his first title after Saturday night. But that didn't mean he wasn't worried entering Sunday's season finale.
"I only slept about two hours last night, and all I've had to eat today is an apple," Duncan said after winning Sunday's race to clinch his championship.
Phillips and Tony Howell in Modified Mini Stock had previously wrapped up their titles.
NORTH WILKESBORO REPORT: Ronnie Thomas and Tink Reedy both posted top 10 finishes in the Lowes 150 Saturday at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway.
Thomas, of Christiansburg, finished seventh. He passed Roanoke's Reedy late in the race. Reedy hung on to finish eighth.
Both had started far back in the 36-car field - Thomas 22nd and Reedy 28th.
The other two NRVS regulars weren't as fortunate. Dicky Wilson of Salem finished 17th, two laps down.
Oakwood's Randy Ratliff dropped out when a rear-end arm broke and ended up 22nd. Ratliff had the best qualifying run of any New River driver, starting sixth.
After the race, Ratliff and Thomas got on Interstate 77 and made it back to NRVS in time for qualifying. And since they finished 1-2 in the Late Model race, the quick trip north was worth it.
"We were always coming here, no matter what," said Ratliff.
Also making the trip from North Wilkesboro was Abingdon's Darrell Holman. Holman, who raced at NRVS the first half of the season, finished 15th at North Wilkesboro, two laps down. He came in 12th at NRVS.
Mike Dillon started from the pole and ran away to an easy victory. The Clemmons, N.C., driver was the 1992 NRVS Rookie of the Year and a regular at the track for the first half of the season.
Other familiar names in the field included Mike Porter of Princeton, W.Va. (14th, one lap down), Johnny Rumley of Winston-Salem, N.C. (26th), and Chris Diamond of Hickory, N.C., (27th).
The race is scheduled to be shown at 7:30 Friday night on ESPN.
SOUTH BOSTON REPORT: Stacy Compton of Hurt didn't win the 200-lap Late Model race there Saturday night.
But his second-place finish to Chesterfield's Wayne Patterson gave Compton a much greater prize, the track points championship.
Compton, who races at NRVS when he isn't at South Boston, entered the track's final race leading Richard Landreth of Pine Hall, N.C.
Landreth, who had led the points at South Boston for most of the season, finished third.
COMING UP: New River Valley Speedway is off until the Southwest Virginia Chevrolet Shootout on Oct. 22. The 250-lap Late Model race will pay $10,000 to the winner.
M.J. Dougherty covers community sports and racing for the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB