THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 9, 1995 TAG: 9506090676
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Goodyear got lucky last weekend at Dover Downs International Speedway.
That point was underscored this week when Goodyear's racing chief, Leo Mehl, acknowledged that the replacement tires that worked so well in Sunday's Miller 500 were chosen because they were all Goodyear had.
Those same tires had been used in testing the new concrete surface on the 1-mile track and ``they wore out to the cords after 18 laps,'' Mehl said. But as Goodyear made plans to add 1/32nd of an inch of extra tread to the Dover tire, track officials smoothed the rough spots that were wearing out the tires. The thicker tire proved to be too thick; it overheated and blistered.
``In Saturday's (Grand National) race, we must have blistered 250 or 300 tires,'' Mehl said. ``When we realized we couldn't run that tire, it was a matter of finding out what we had around that we could run.''
Goodyear had plenty of left-side tires - 700 - but just enough right-side tires. Mehl said that Goodyear had 493 right-side tires that were returned after Darlington, and that the teams scrounged up another 34 from their shops.
``As it turned out, we just had enough to give everybody six sets'' before the race started, he said.
This type of tire crisis has happened to Goodyear several times, Mehl said, ``but it usually happens with Indy cars and we have plenty of tires left over in our warehouse. This was scary because there was not a great overabundance of tires.''
A BOOST FOR PONTIAC: The Dover race was won by an unlikely contender, Kyle Petty, who started 37th. What's more, Petty's victory was the first for a Pontiac Grand Prix since the final race of 1993 - a span of 42 races.
The victory gave a boost to a manufacturer that already was working busily behind the scenes to be more competitive in 1996.
Pontiac is coming out with a new Grand Prix next year, and Michael Waltrip's team already has one. Pontiac is trying to strengthen its stable as well, and is actively trying to recruit drivers, among them Rick Mast and Ricky Rudd.
``I think everybody is looking forward to the '96 Pontiac,'' Petty said. ``As far as Pontiac adding drivers, it's going to be a plus.''
Waltrip said he drove the new Pontiac at Atlanta after the March race there.
``We had to see if it was going to go around the track, and that's basically all we did,'' he said. ``It was drivable. It was slower than the car we had there the day before.
``We let (the engineers) know we were going in a direction that was OK. We also let them know we've got a lot of work to do to make it a race car.''
NO CHEATING: Even before he was asked a question about Petty's victory, crew chief Barry Dodson said during a teleconference: `No, we did not cheat. We hit on a little something.'' Naturally, he did not say what that was.
RICHMOND TRUCK TEST: Seven NASCAR SuperTruck teams tested at Richmond International Raceway on Monday to begin preparing for the Sept. 9 Miller 400.
Ernie Irvan was there, on the comeback trail from his near-fatal head injuries suffered last year.
``We're doing pretty good,'' he said Monday afternoon. ``Haven't hit anything yet.''
Irvan said he would like to be back in the driver's seat for the Richmond truck race and, ``hopefully, we will race before then.''
POCONO ON TAP: The Winston Cup series heads for Long Pond, Pa., for Sunday's UAW-GM Teamwork 500. Qualifying begins at 3 p.m. today. The race starts at 1 p.m. Sunday. by CNB