THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502110225
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: NASCAR '95: Season Preview
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 137 lines
As the NASCAR drivers get set for the green flag to drop on the 1995 season, perhaps they could use a pep talk, one that might go something like this:
OK, fellas, here's the deal. It's halftime in the decade, Dale Earnhardt has won four out of the five Winston Cup championships, and you're sitting there looking like burnt pistons.
You're getting creamed. Shellacked. Bulldozed. Flattened.
Where's your pride? You're supposed to be the finest race drivers in the country. You gonna let him beat you like you're a bunch of pansies? Buck up! Get out there and fight!
Your mission, men, if you think you're up to it, is to unseat Dale Earnhardt, to make sure he doesn't win a third consecutive championship in 1995.
If you've got to lay a fender to him, lay it to him. If he's hogging the groove, root him out of there. And guard that low groove in turns three and four at Daytona and Charlotte. He drives through there like a tornado in a trailer park.
Just the other day he was talking to the press. You know what he said? This is what he said about 1995:
``Rating it, it's a championship season. We've got to finish races, sure, but we've got to win more races.''
The man wants more. He's already ground you guys into dust, and he wants more.
Now we all know that stock-car racing is mushrooming in popularity. The Brickyard 400 is sold out again.
Bruton Smith, the owner of the Charlotte and Atlanta speedways, is planning to sell stock to expand his empire.
And we'll be returning to Southern California in 1996 if Roger Penske finishes his speedway out there.
So it's a perfect time to start spreading around the trophies. I'm telling you guys, you'd have more fun that way. The fans would have more fun. The sponsors would have more fun. Everybody wins.
Heck, Earnhardt's already headed for the Hall of Fame. He doesn't have to win another race. He's got enough money for 10 lifetimes. Do you really want him to whip up on NASCAR's ultimate good guy, Richard Petty, by winning that eighth championship?
No!
So get out there and beat him!
OK, OK, it's not that easy. We're lacking a little consistency here.
Rusty Wallace, you've had some turnover. Buddy Parrott is gone as crew chief. Robin Pemberton has replaced him. Can you beat Earnhardt?
``The performance is there. The cars are fast enough. The pit stops are good enough. The handling has been good. But we broke a couple of times at the wrong time. We're working real hard right now at rebuilding all of our cars and studying the problems we had last year.''
Good, Rusty, good.
Steve Hmiel, you and Mark Martin and the rest of your bunch always come on at the end, but you start out slow. How about it?
``There's no way they can win three in a row. They are the guys, but you just have to bet they can't win three in a row. We feel we've finally positioned ourselves where we can make a bunch of points in the first half and the second half will take care of itself like it always does.''
OK, Steve. Mark may be our best hope this year.
Now we sympathize with you guys with Robert Yates and the No. 28 Ford Thunderbird. Nobody should have to go through what you've gone through in the past three years. To go through Davey Allison's year of turmoil in 1992 and then to lose him in 1993 and almost lose Ernie Irvan last year at Michigan - that's too much.
Ernie, are you going to be able to race again?
``That's the hundred-dollar question. I'd like to be lined up for the Daytona 500, but my eye's still got to heal really good. We don't know how long it will take.''
Dale Jarrett, can you cover for him?
``I know my purpose here and my job is to win races and try to win the championship. I've put myself in a situation with a winning race car. That's all I've ever asked. This is my shot in one of the very top two rides in the business. We hope it will only be for a year, so I've got to make the most of it.''
Just be safe, Dale.
Now, you Chevy drivers have the new Monte Carlo. Word is that the Monte Carlo has more downforce than the Lumina of 1994. They say it's more stable.
Jeff Gordon, you've got the new Monte Carlo just like Earnhardt. How do you stand?
``We know what's kept us from being higher up in points. It's just not that easy to fix it. We've got the consistency of the cars running better, but we've got to get the consistency running on track.''
You can do it, Jeff.
Ricky Rudd? Heck of a first year as a car owner, Ricky. How about 1995?
``I guess the public expects a championship season. If we come out of the box and we're competitive and we're consistent week in and week out, then I'd say we've got a real good shot at the championship. I'll be pleased if we can finish in the top three.''
Yeah, but somebody's got to beat this guy. Who's ready to take him on? Wait a minute! Where's Jimmy Spencer?
Mr. Excitement, are you going to take this?
``I have been known to bump people in the past and I'll still do it. Usually they start it and I finish it.'' Earnhardt was chatting the other day, and he's actually working out now to stay in shape. He said:
``I feel better this year physically than I ever have in the past. I got a trainer, started working out. I could tell at the end of the season it was working. I felt as good when I got out of car as when I got in. These young ones coming up, they're pretty rambunctious. I guess I'm an old guy now.''
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