ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 1, 1996 TAG: 9604020023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: FOOD CITY 500 NOTES
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
Imagine a $1 million match race between Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, with Earnhardt driving a Ford and Martin driving a Chevrolet.
Richard Childress, Earnhardt's car owner, proposed it Sunday before the Food City 500 at Bristol International Raceway, and Jack Roush, Martin's car owner, said he just might take Childress up on it.
Childress floated the suggestion when he was asked to comment about Roush's plan to build a Chevy and compare it with his Ford during a test session on a race track.
``The only fair way to do that is we build ours, they do theirs and after the last race in Atlanta in November, we'll stay over on Monday and each of us will put up $500,000,'' Childress said. ``Then, we'll go out and race and the winner takes all. And whoever wins, the others will have to wear their T-shirts.''
To which Roush responded: ``I am not going to start a debate with Richard Childress as to whether a Ford or a Chevy is best or worst, but I grew up on street racing. I've raced on a lot of back roads in Ohio, and I've won a lot of money match racing.''
Roush said he did not want to race at Atlanta - one of Earnhardt's strongest tracks. Maybe Charlotte or Michigan, he said, where any aerodynamic disparity is most evident.
``Pick it,'' Childress said. ``I'm a big boy. I feel we can take a Ford and be just as competitive as a Monte Carlo. And Dale says he'll do it, too.''
But NASCAR probably won't.
``That's out of our realm of business,'' said Mike Helton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. ``They can do whatever they want on their own. But I relate that to the deal where [car owner] Felix Sabates made that $1 million challenge to Rusty Wallace.''
Ford official Preston Miller said Ford was not interested in such a venture.
``Sounds like a couple of rich sportsmen looking for something to do besides hunting and fishing,'' Miller said.
Roush decided to build a Chevy for comparative testing when NASCAR did nothing to help the Fords after the latest round of wind-tunnel tests.
``NASCAR right now, and I think they're speaking on behalf of General Motors' PR, is saying that they don't think the [aerodynamic] numbers that came off the wind tunnel reflect how the cars are racing on the race track,'' Roush said. ``So I'm going to build a Chevy, take it to the race track and demonstrate that.''
MARLIN FLOUNDERS: Sterling Marlin had a bad day at Bristol.
Marlin, who appeared to have one of the strongest cars in the field, got hit in the rear, lost two laps because of a loose lug nuts, then had a one-lap penalty assessed and rescinded by NASCAR before finally finishing two laps behind winner Jeff Gordon in 18th place in the rain-shortened Food City 500.
``We were pretty good at the start of the race,'' the two-time Daytona 500 winner said. ``Darrell [Waltrip] ran into the back of us from 10 car-lengths back when they started wrecking, but that didn't hurt it too bad.
``We got back up to second, pitted and a bolt came off and got the wheel vibrating,'' he added. ``We came back in and lost two laps. Then NASCAR tried to beat us out of a lap.
``We had the fastest car here. No one passed us all day. I wish we could have started back up. Who knows, we might have been able to make up two laps. We'll just never know now.''
The one-lap penalty was assessed against Marlin for stopping outside his pit box.
``We pitted on the line because there was gas and water in the pits,'' crew chief Tony Glover said. ``By the rule, if you've got both right tires on the pit box line, it says one lap penalty or go back out and come back around.
``We went out and come back around and stopped. Then they held us for a lap. ... After 30 minutes of discussion and thinking, they decided they needed to rectify the problem they created.''
RELIEF FOR MAST: Rick Mast, who battled a stomach ailment throughout the weekend, let Grand National driver David Green take over, but not until the first red flag on lap 321.
``The car was working good and you just can't take a chance to come in when you're going to lose a lap or two doing it,'' said Mast, from Rockbridge Baths, Va. ``I'm just glad David was available to drive.''
The two combined for a 12th-place finish, two laps down. That is Mast's best finish since he was 10th at Rockingham on Feb. 25.
THE SECOND TIME AROUND: Sunday's race was only the second in the 36-year history of Bristol to be shortened by rain. The first was the August race in 1983, which was shortened to 419 laps. The start of Sunday's race was delayed 42 minutes, and the three red flags stopped the event for a total of 2 hours, 7 minutes.
PLAYFUL INJURY: Jeff Torence, a crew member on Terry Labonte's team, cut his head while horsing around with another team member on pit road during one of the red-flag periods. Torence, 34, received six stitches at the infield medical center and was released.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Jeff Gordon (24) takes the low groove to passby CNBMichael Waltrip on Sunday on his way to victory in the
rain-shortened Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) International
Raceway. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING