THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511120253
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Every year at the final NASCAR race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, there is always a rush of sponsor announcements.
The press conferences in the media center started at 8 a.m. Saturday and kept going, one after another, through the early afternoon.
The biggest actual news of the day was a new primary sponsor, Remington Arms Co., for Butch Mock and his No. 75 Ford Thunderbird, which will be driven next year by Morgan Shepherd. The team had been sponsored by Factory Stores of America.
Remington entered into a multiyear sponsorship agreement because ``this will be a way for us to reach millions of people we couldn't reach through traditional hunting, shooting and fishing media,'' said the company's media relations manager, Bill Wohl.
In other announcements:
Burger King announced a one-year sponsorship extension with Joe Nemechek and his No. 87 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Ford, through Ford Quality Care and Ford Credit Leasing, formally announced the sponsorship of Robert Yates' new No. 88 Ford Thunderbird and driver Dale Jarrett.
Officials of Healthsource North Carolina, Inc., announced a three-year extension of their sponsorship of the TriStar Motorsports No. 19 Ford Thunderbird, driven by Loy Allen Jr.
Federal-Mogul, an automotive aftermarket parts supplier, announced an associate sponsorship of the Jasper Motorsports No. 77 Ford, which will be driven in today's race by Bobby Hillin Jr.
Ferguson Enterprises, one of the nation's largest distributors of plumbing, heating and air-conditioning equipment, announced an associate sponsorship with Richard Petty's No. 43 Pontiac Grand Prix, driven by Bobby Hamilton.
STEELE WINS ARCA RACE: Tim Steele led the final 32 laps of the General Tire Hoosier 500k ARCA race here Saturday and beat Joe Bessey to the finish line by 0.24 seconds, or several car lengths.
While Steele was taking his third straight ARCA race, Andy Hillenburg was cruising to a fifth-place finish to win his first ARCA series title.
The race was interrupted by 11 caution flags, including one for a five-car crash that sent veteran Jimmy Horton to the hospital.
After hitting a spinning car, Horton's car was flipping down the backstretch when it was hit in mid-roll by another car, which caused Horton's car to flip even more violently in the other direction a couple of times.
It looked grim, but Horton escaped with severe bruises and soreness and a chip fracture of his cervical spine that was reported as not a serious injury. Horton was taken to Georgia Baptist Medical Center in Atlanta for treatment.
Another veteran, Richard Brickhouse, suffered a head injury in another crash and was taken to the same hospital, where he was expected to be kept overnight for observation. That injury also was not considered serious, track officials said.
BRETT AND JUNIOR: It's been a long and apparently difficult negotiation, but Brett Bodine is still talking to Junior Johnson about buying the No. 11 Ford team.
``I think it's pretty much a done deal and I should know Monday,'' Johnson said.
Said Bodine: ``We're a lot closer than we were in the past. It's just not done yet. We're still working on it.''
SECOND-DAY WASHOUT: The second round of time trials was washed out by heavy morning rains.
Provisional starting spots went to Todd Bodine, Kyle Petty, Robert Pressley and Steve Grissom. The only NASCAR regular who failed to make the race was Mike Wallace. by CNB