ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602060012
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRUCE STANTON STAFF WRITER
A RAINY 1995 HASN'T dampened enthusiasm at the Henry County track.
The farmers in Henry County didn't look at the almanac to see when it was going to rain last year. They looked at the Martinsville Speedway schedule.
As Dick Thompson, the speedway's vice president of corporate communications, put it last year, the surest way to end a drought is to schedule a race at Martinsville.
True to Thompson's words, the speedway halted three droughts in four dates last season, with only the March Late Model Stock race managing a dry weekend.
``Nineteen ninety-five wasn't one of our better years weather-wise,'' said Clay Campbell, the speedway president.
Despite the rain, the speedway set attendance records for Winston Cup and Late Model events, and a Saturday record surely would have been set had rain not forced the SuperTruck race to be moved from Saturday to Monday.
This year, the speedway likely will break all records once again because of more additions to the facility. Fans won't see NASCAR's first domed, rain-proof track, but they will see 7,000 new seats in a high-rise tower.
The tower, which is 10 stories high, is the tallest structure in Martinsville, Campbell said.
``In my opinion, they'll be the best seats in the house,'' he said. ``You can see everything from there. It will be one of the best views in racing, period.''
Seats won't be the only thing fans see more of this year. They'll see more laps in the SuperTruck and All Pro races. The Hanes 250 SuperTruck race will have 100 more laps than last season, and the Goody's 200 All Pro race will have an additional 50 laps.
Weather permitting, Campbell is expecting a record crowd for a Saturday when the trucks visit Sept.21.
``We knew it was going to be big and our biggest Saturday ever [last year] because of advance ticket sales,'' he said of the race, which ended up having a sparse crowd because it was held on a Monday morning.
Campbell also predicts the interest in the Late Model events will continue to grow. With a $100,000 purse, $25,000 to the winner and crowds bigger than 20,000, Martinsville is becoming the Daytona of Late Models, Campbell said.
The first Late Model race is March 17, and the second will be Oct.13.
``When we first made the switch from [from a doubleheader with the Busch Grand Nationals] to Late Models, people thought we were crazy,'' Campbell said. ``But [the Late Models] have really been successful. If we get good weather, we'll easily surpass what we did last year.
``What we're doing here is helping the popularity of the division. Anyone who comes out of here with a win would have a good year no matter what else they do.''
In Winston Cup races, Rusty Wallace hopes to continue his run of success at Martinsville. He has won four of the past five events there. While Wallace won the rain-shortened Hanes 500 in April 1995, Dale Earnhardt took the checkered flag at the Goody's 500 in September.
As an added attraction for this year's Hanes 500 weekend in September, the Allison Legacy Cars will run on Busch Pole day. The scaled-down versions of Cup cars will compete to fill the 90 minutes of down time between the last practice session and the start of pole qualifying.
``It's strictly an event for the fans,'' Campbell said.
Other things to watch for this year:
* The speedway is working on 50 additional acres of free parking. If the area isn't open for the April race - harsh winter weather has caused delays - it will be ready in September.
* For the first time, if fans order tickets for both Winston Cup races, they can purchase the permanent rights to seats.
* The big scoreboard between turns 3 and 4 is gone. It is being replaced by a pylon scoreboard in the infield.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. Loy Allen's crew covers up his carby CNBduring a rain delay at the 1995 edition of the Hanes 500 at
Martinsville Speedway. Graphics: Chart: Martinsville Speedway 1996
schedule. color. Map. color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING