THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 21, 1995 TAG: 9510210400
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
The NASCAR Winston Cup series is back at North Carolina Motor Speedway, so that means it must be raining.
The track that seems consistently to have the worst luck with wet weather had no luck again Friday. Rain fell on and off here throughout the day and not a single car made it onto the 1-mile oval.
The revised schedule calls for one round of Winston Cup qualifying for all 38 starting spots at 9:30 a.m. today, followed by the Unocal pit-crew championship at 11 a.m.
The AC Delco 200 Grand National race is set to start at 2 p.m., with a 43-car field determined by the points standings. Points leader Johnny Benson will start on the pole.
MOTOR MAN: One thing Ricky Rudd has never lacked during the past two years is motor power. And folks in the garage have noticed.
Rudd leases his motors from Peter Guild's PME engine-building company, as do the teams of John Andretti and Todd Bodine. Because of his success, Guild has found himself with new customers knocking on the door.
Guild said Friday that he's adding three new employees and will be building engines for Lake Speed and Jimmy Spencer next year. He said he'll also be providing engines to Bud Moore's team for about half of the 1996 races.
With the growing sophistication of the Winston Cup series, teams have found that it is ``better and less expensive, and therefore more cost-effective,'' to lease power plants, Guild said. ``I think that's what we've kind of shown.''
EARNHARDT CREW CHIEF: Richard Childress made it official this week - Veteran crew member David Smith will replace the departing Andy Petree as crew chief for driver Dale Earnhardt and will oversee race track operations, while Bobby Hutchens will act as team manager, overseeing shop operations.
Other updates:
Jimmy Spencer will return in 1996 as driver of the Smokin' Joe's Ford Thunderbird.
Ted Musgrave will drive a Jack Roush-owned SuperTruck on Oct. 28 at Phoenix.
MW Windows, which has been sponsoring Terry Labonte in a limited Grand National schedule, has announced a 15-race Grand National deal in 1996 with Michael Waltrip. by CNB