
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995                   TAG: 9505030063
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS AND ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RUDD TEAM TO APPEAL FINE FOR VIOLATIONS

Ricky Rudd on Tuesday mailed his request to appeal the $50,000 fine his team received Friday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for violating NASCAR rules by having a clutch-operated hydraulic device designed to make his Ford go faster by lowering the rear end.

``We're appealing it because we're still maintaining the fact that it was inoperable,'' team manager Dale Cagle said. ``The piece that actually made it work was not in it.''

The fine is the largest in NASCAR history. Rudd initially said he doubted he would appeal. But now that he's doing it, his case will be heard by a three-member panel of the NASCAR-controlled National Stock Car Racing Commission.

``We've already contacted NASCAR and told them it was coming,'' Cagle said. ``They'll get back with us and let us know a time and date.''

Rudd was fined $25,000 as a driver and $20,000 as a car owner. Crew chief Bill Ingle was fined $5,000.

DRIVER STILL UNCONSCIOUS: Race car driver Fabrizzio Barbazza of Italy remained unconscious, more than 48 hours after Sunday's accident during the Grand Prix of Road Atlanta in which his car was virtually sheared in half by another car.

Barbazza was in critical but stable condition and was on a ventilator at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. He had a head injury, a fractured right arm and chest bruises, hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Lomas said Tuesday.

The other driver, Jeremy Dale of Canada, remained in the intensive care unit at Georgia Baptist Medical Center in Atlanta following surgery for multiple fractures of his lower legs.

by CNB