THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502110235
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: NASCAR '95: Season Preview
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
The days of the buzzing bees are over.
No longer will we hear the buzz of the V-6 engine in the Busch Grand National series. The 1995 Busch cars will be powered by V-8 engines with a 9:1 compression ratio.
Hey David Green, you're the Busch champ. What's it going to sound like?
``It's exactly like a Winston Cup car,'' he said. ``You couldn't tell if it was a Cup car or a Busch car. I don't think they sound as good.''
If that isn't enough for a Grand National identity crisis, consider these facts:
Two of the top four Busch series drivers in 1994, Ricky Craven and Kenny Wallace, are graduating to Winston Cup.
Martinsville Speedway has given up the Busch series altogether in favor of Late Model Stock cars.
The series has one fewer race than 1994.
Dale Earnhardt has ``retired'' as a Busch driver.
The SuperTruck series.
It's not just that the NASCAR's biggest stars are flocking to the SuperTruck series like buzzards to road kill. It's not even the fact that the SuperTruck series seems as likely a proving ground for the future 9:1 Winston Cup engine as the Busch series.
It's stuff like the television lineup. The SuperTrucks are on network TV three times in 1995. The Busch series? Once. When they meet for the first time in Milwaukee this July, you can catch the support race - the SuperTrucks - on CBS. The featured event? Well, the Grand National guys and girls will be dusting it up on TNN.
And how about that official NASCAR 1995 press guide? The Busch series is covered in 11 pages, black and white. The SuperTrucks got 12 pages, in full color, and a starburst on the front cover.
``The Busch series may or may not be in trouble,'' said Stan Creekmore, who covers the series for National Speed Sport News. ``It's in a state of great flux and looking to find its place. Where is the sole identifying factor that sets it apart?
``The cars are almost identical to the Cup cars now. The weights are almost identical (3,400 pounds to 3,300 pounds) And where's the heart of the Busch series? It was and has been in that V-6 engine.''
Ah, but let us not ignore the good things about NASCAR's Triple-A league. Some of us never liked the sound of the buzzing bees anyway.
As of now, the Grand National division is still the steppingstone series to Winston Cup. The SuperTrucks don't race on the big tracks; the Busch series does Daytona and Talladega.
And, there's a great new race to cap off the Grand National season: the Miami 300 at Ralph Sanchez's new track in Homestead, Fla., on Nov. 5. And this is the race on network TV - CBS.
``What's great about the Busch series is you get to watch a driver grow and progress like in no other series,'' Creekmore said. ``What's good is there are no drivers the fans can't reach out to. And they reach out to the fans. These drivers are still doing what they have to do to get to the top.''
On the track, the question in 1995 will be: Can anybody beat David Green?
He won his first title last year, and - surprise, surprise - he's actually staying around for another year. That spells trouble for guys like Hermie Sadler, Bobby Dotter, Chad Little and a host of others planning to challenge for the title.
``To be honest, I think we ought to be as good or better than last year,'' Green said. ``Now I know we can reach the championship, and that does release a little pressure. Now I can go out and be a little more aggressive.
``The bad thing about coming back to defend the title is that other than winning again, the only thing you can do is go down. I'm braced for that. But I think the extra year of experience will pay off.'' by CNB