Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300087
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Green will be at Bristol anyway to drive Labonte's Grand National car in the Goody's 250 on Saturday.
There was no immediate decision about how much Green would drive the car, but it appeared likely that Labonte would still try to start Sunday's race, but turn over the car to Green at the first yellow flag or earlier.
Labonte, who drives Joe Gibbs' Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the Winston Cup series, suffered a cracked left shoulder bone in the most serious of the record 15 crashes during the TranSouth 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway last Sunday.
``He's in a lot of pain,'' a team spokesman said Wednesday. ``But there's nothing you can really do for an injury like that except let it heal.''
Labonte's pain was compounded early in the week by double pneumonia. He had not been feeling well since the Grand National event two weeks ago in Nashville. But he has been seeing a physical therapist and reportedly went with Green Wednesday to Gibbs' shop outside Charlotte, N.C., so Green's seat could be installed in the car.
Although Green doesn't have much experience in Winston Cup racing, he has tested Gibbs' car at Daytona and has good rapport with his boss and the Gibbs team. In half of the Grand National races he has run at Bristol, Green has finished in the top three.
WIND TUNNEL TESTS: There was no immediate word Wednesday on what NASCAR might have learned in wind tunnel tests that compared the Fords, Chevys and Pontiacs.
The first day of testing was completed Tuesday at the Lockheed wind tunnel, which is used by Ford Motor Co., in Marietta, Ga. But the second day of testing, at the General Motors wind tunnel in Warren, Mich., was not scheduled to begin until late Wednesday.
NASCAR ordered the tests to obtain information about the aerodynamics of the three makes. It plans to use the information to make sure no car has an unfair advantage.
Immediately after last Sunday's crash-filled 400 at Darlington, NASCAR impounded three undamaged specimens - the Bobby Allison-owned Ford of Derrike Cope, the Morgan-McClure Chevy driven by race winner Sterling Marlin and the Richard Petty-owned Pontiac of Bobby Hamilton - and hauled them to Georgia. Gary Nelson, Winston Cup director, reportedly rode on the truck during the trip from Georgia to Michigan.
But a quick survey of several crew chiefs and car owners Wednesday afternoon indicated that NASCAR and the manufacturers were keeping a tight lid on Tuesday's results.
NASCAR plans to issue a statement Friday.
``We're going to make a statement at Bristol to everybody, but we're not going to release any kind of data or information or anything like that,'' NASCAR spokesman Andy Hall said.
``We've said from the very beginning that the information is going to be proprietary that we may use down the road. So no one should be surprised when we don't tell them what we found.''
by CNB