ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 24, 1995                   TAG: 9506260071
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BRUCE STANTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN.                                LENGTH: Medium

RUTTMAN CAPTURES 1ST TRUCKS WIN

First, the rain dominated the NASCAR SuperTrucks Pizza Plus 150 on Friday night.

Then Jimmy Hensley reigned in the inaugural truck race at Bristol International Raceway.

But after the rain ended and Hensley's engine quit, Joe Ruttman assumed the lead with eight laps remaining for his first victory in the ninth event of the series.

Ruttman, who has started 217 career Winston Cup races, made a winner of car owner Ernie Irvan and gave Ford its first victory in the series. Chevrolet had won the first eight races.

Ruttman held off several charges by Geoff Bodine to win in front of an announced crowd of 23,400. The two had passed leader Butch Miller on lap 142 and battled to the finish. Sammy Swindell was fourth, giving Ford the top four spots.

Early on, Hensley, a Horsepasture resident, was running away from the field. Hensley, in his first truck race, led the first 45 laps before engine trouble forced him out.

TAILGATE TIDBITS: Mike Skinner continued his domination of SuperTruck qualifying. His pole at Bristol was his sixth in the series' nine races this season. But Skinner did not start out front. He and seven other drivers missed a mandatory meeting before the race, and they were sent to the back of the pack in order of qualifying. In another incident, Skinner was sent to the back of the field by order of the race director for rough driving ... Bristol bills itself as the fastest half-mile track in the world. That is if you're not driving a jet-dryer truck. The machine that blows the rain off the track surface was clocked at 2.49 mph, rounding the .533-mile oval in 12 minutes, 49.6 seconds during the pre-race rain delay. ... Hensley qualified fourth at 118.349 mph for his first SuperTruck race. But it could have been better. ``We had the fastest truck in practice,'' he said. ... Rain delayed the start of the race for 1 hour, 6 minutes, and the middle of the race was halted by a six-minute delay.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING 


 by CNB