THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994 TAG: 9406230504
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940623 LENGTH: GREENSBORO
``He's been out about 15 or 20 laps,'' a track spokesman said Wednesday afternoon. ``He was on the track two or three times for a few laps each time.''
{REST} There has been no indication whether Foyt plans to come out of retirement to try to qualify for the historic inaugural stock-car race at Indy on Aug. 6, but Wallace is proving this week how badly he wants to win it.
Today he will concludes a two-day test at the 2.5-mile track during which he is testing four cars.
``People think we're crazy because we're taking four cars, the entire team and 10 engines,'' Wallace said after winning the Miller 400 at Michigan International Speedway last weekend. ``We're going to have a test at Indy like no team has ever encountered.
``We're going to pick the two fastest cars in the fleet and we're going to take them to Indy (to race). I think that's going to be an important race, and I want to win the thing.''
The last place Wallace tested so intensively was Michigan, where he took three cars in May.
That test certainly paid off; Wallace won Sunday despite restarting the race in 11th position with only 19 laps to go.
The immediate challenge is the Pepsi 400 on July 2 at Daytona International Speedway, where Wallace will be going for his fourth consecutive victory, which would tie a modern-day record.
Six drivers have won four in a row since NASCAR adopted its current format in 1972: Cale Yarborough (1976), Darrell Waltrip (1981), Dale Earnhardt (1987), Harry Gant (1991), Bill Elliott (1992) and Mark Martin (1993).
But Wallace has fared so poorly at Daytona, where he has never finished better than seventh, that he can't be considered one of the favorites.
``We've had a lot of problems at Daytona,'' he said. `I've just got to go down there with a different approach.''
``All I can say is I've been in this position before; I've won three in a row,'' he said. ``It's not that you've got something trick. Our engines are not blowing up and they're making just incredible horsepower. And one thing that's real important is that we're doing a lot of chassis development, trying to get our cars to really work good on radial tires.''
GANT SUFFERS: Harry Gant won his four consecutive races less than three years ago, but it might as well have been three decades ago considering the way he's been running in his farewell season. Thirty-one drivers have led at least one lap this year, but Gant is not one of them.
Gant currently is mired in 29th place in Winston Cup points, which is the highest he's been all year. He has only four top-10 finishes, compared with seven finishes of 30th or lower. His best finish was seventh, in the Coca-Cola 600. His worst was at Martinsville, where he failed to qualify.
START YOUR ENGINES, MATES: PGA Tour star Greg Norman, whose best friend in auto racing is former Formula One and IndyCar champion Nigel Mansell, will be the grand marshal at the Pepsi 400 and will give the command to start engines as the race gets under way at 11 a.m. on July 2. by CNB