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Wheeler thinking safety
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INDIANAPOLIS -- As the debate and concern over NASCAR
safety spilled into the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, one of the sport's most prominent track operators said he intends to have new wall padding at his track before the next race in October.
Lowe's Motor Speedway President H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler said Thursday he
expects to have a new type of padding in place on the inside walls coming off the second and fourth turns in time for the UAW-GM 500 on October 8. Wheeler said it may not be a solution, but he wants to try it.
"I have just seen a new thing I like that is probably as good as anything I've seen," he said during qualifying for the Brickard 400. "It's basically dock building material. It's basically a Styrofoam material with a very thick vinyl cover.
We have a sufficient amount at the speedway right now to do a
test."
Wheeler's news came on the heels of a new NASCAR technical
bulletin issued Tuesday that orders Winston Cup teams to install
a throttle stop in the car designed to prevent the throttle from
sticking. Stuck throttles are suspected as the causes of the
recent fatal crashes of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin at New
Hampshire, although the precise causes have not been determined.
The move by NASCAR earlier this week did little to allay the
concerns of some drivers, including Jeff Burton, who has been
one of the most vocal in calling for so-called soft-wall
technology at some tracks.
Burton said here Tuesday that a stuck throttle "is not the only
reason you hit the wall. We've hit the wall for years and hurt
people for years without throttle hangs. We've got to find a way
to hit the wall that does a better job than concrete. We need
something other than concrete. From a driver's standpoint, I
don't see how it can be a whole lot different than it is now."
Jeff's brother, Ward, said, "How do you come up with something
for the walls that when you hit it, it doesn't make the car
stick to it, and doesn't grab it? It's a tough situation, but
obviously they're thinking about it."
Wheeler, meanwhile, is doing something about it. And the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been working with soft-wall
technology for several years, although the padded inside wall at
the head of the frontstretch is not in place for Saturday's
Brickyard 400.
Wheeler said the vinyl-covered Styrofoam needs to be "thick
enough and hard enough that it won't crack easily." The material
currently being used on boat docks has been used for a number of
years, and it has proven itself in all types of weather and
under the daily beating it takes from ultraviolet rays from the
sun.
"It won't get brittle," he said.
"I think it's going to be really slippery. Whatever you put on
a wall, it has got to be able to make the car slide," he said.
"There is tremendous pressure being put on (NASCAR) right now.
These drivers don't want to talk to the outside world about it,
but there is tremendous amount of pressure right for somebody to
come up with something within the (sport) itself. It's not only
being put on by drivers and their wives, but the crew chiefs,
the owners and track promoters as well."
Wheeler seemed encouraged.
"This stuff has some promise," he said. "It has some real
promise. A lot of work has got to be done. But we've got a way
to join it together. We've got a way to lap it over between
pieces. It looks pretty good. And it will definitely take a lot
of shock absorption."
Jeff Burton concluded, "Anything we do is a positive step. If we
can prevent some things from happening, that's what we need to
do. If we go to New Hampshire without something different, I
believe that to be wrong. If we can put something there, I don't
see how it will hurt anything. And shame on us if we don't do
something before we go back."
-- Sports Ticker
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INDIANAPOLIS -- Led by pole-winner Ricky Rudd, 14 drivers topped Jeff Gordon's previous Brickyard 400 qualifying record on Thursday. Gordon, a two-time race winner, wasn't among them.
The first to surpass the year-old record of 179.612 mph was Bill Elliott at 180.448, but his stay on the pole was short, and by the time qualifying ended, he was only seventh-fastest.
"I wish I could have done some things differently, but when we were going through practice earlier this morning, there was so much cloud cover it's hard to guess what the race track's going to be in the afternoon," Elliott said. "That's the things we have to fight through. I should have made just a few more adjustments."
Elliott's best start at Indianapolis was fourth in 1995, and his
best finish was third in the inaugural Brickyard 400 that Gordon
won in 1994.
"We just hope we can finish the race this weekend, versus what I've been doing the last several weeks," said Elliott, who hasn't completed a race in almost two months and is 19th in the series standings.
"I was hoping to get a little more out of it, but there's so much that goes on at this place," Elliott said. "You've got real long straightaways, four distinct short corners, and you've just got to give it your best shot."
Gordon qualified at 178.745 mph, 27th among the 48 who posted qualifying speeds. Only the top 25 spots were locked in place, however, giving Gordon a choice of letting his speed stand -- which he almost certainly will -- or trying to re-qualify at a faster speed on Friday.
Forty-three cars will start the race.
"It's not the end of the world," Gordon said of his qualifying spot. "Track position is critical. We'll have to work on our pit strategy.
"The car was good. We would have liked to gone out earlier in the day, but we're in."
Limping Labonte will start, won't finish
Terry Labonte, still recovering from a broken right shinbone, will start his Winston Cup-record 656th straight race on Saturday but is expected to yield early to relief driver Todd Bodine.
Labonte practiced Thursday morning, but his leg was aching and swollen when he got out of the car, and Bodine qualified the No. 5 Chevrolet for him at 178.770 mph. Under NASCAR rules, Labonte will get the Winston Cup points as long as he starts the race.
He broke the bone at Daytona last month and aggravated the injury three weeks ago at Loudon, N.H. Rich Bickle relieved him after 26 laps a week later at Pocono.
"The car is definitely better than the driver," Bodine said after he qualified for Labonte. "He just didn't feel right. He just didn't feel up to it. He's going to start the race, though."
True Grit Award goes to Dodson
arry Dodson, crew chief and part owner of rookie driver Mike Bliss' Pfizer/Viagra Pontiac, received the C&R Racing True Grit Award Thursday for his comeback in the Winston Cup series.
Dodson's two teen-age children were killed in a 1994 automobile crash and he was out of racing for about a year. He slowly worked his way back into the sport, then returned to NASCAR's top series last year at the Brickyard 400.
The award, which carries a $10,000 prize, is presented each year to a mechanic or crew chief at the Brickyard 400 and the Indianapolis 500 for outstanding achievement or for overcoming adversity.
Previous winners at the Brickyard were the Wood Brothers in 1998
and Buddy Parrott in 1999.
A panel of motor sports journalists on Thursday picked Dodson
over Ray Evernham, former crew chief for Jeff Gordon who has formed
his own team and is leading the development of a new Dodge racing
program; Robin Pemberton, the crew chief for Rusty Wallace; and
Steve Hmiel, a consultant for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Dodson was the crew chief for Wallace when he won the Winston
Cup series championship in 1989.
Bliss qualified Thursday at 178.426 mph, 32nd-fastest.
Absent owner
Mark Melling, the youngest car owner in the Winston Cup series, will not be at Indianapolis on Saturday for the Brickyard 400. He has a good reason, though.
He's getting married.
"There are many, many races, but I'm only getting married
once," said Melling, who owns the No. 9 Ford driven by rookie
Stacy Compton. "So missing a race isn't a big deal, but don't
think for a minute I won't be pulling for Stacy and the guys on
Saturday."
Melling, 30, is marrying LeAnne Smith at his family's TreeTops
Resort in Northern Michigan. It will be the first time he has
missed the Brickyard 400.
Compton, whose best finish was 22nd in the Pontiac Excitement
400 at Richmond, Va., in May, is 34th in the Winston Cup standings
and fourth among rookies. He qualified at 177.729 mph on Thursday,
39th-fastest.
Chip takes over at Sabco Racing
CART team owner Chip Ganassi has bought 80 percent of the Sabco Racing team from Felix Sabates and was in the pits to call the shots for the qualifying runs of drivers Sterling Marlin and Ted Musgrave.
Marlin qualified 20th at 179.283 mph and Musgrave was 35th at
178.366. Musgrave joined the team in place of Kenny Irwin Jr., who
was killed July 7 at Loudon, N.H.
The official announcement of Ganassi's taking control of the
team was not expected to be made until Friday, but Sabates said
Thursday, "He's the boss now."
Ganassi Racing has won a record four straight CART championships
and the Indianapolis 500 in May with Juan Montoya.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Bill Elliott felt the change in track conditions throughout the day made it a tough qualifier.
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