March 17, 1999
- Ingle/DW? Hearing rumors that the #66 team has contacted Bill Ingle, former crew chief of the #10 Tide Ford and Ricky Rudd, about the crew chief job there(3-17-1999)
- More Provisional Info: In part from the Tennessean – “Darrell Waltrip has used up his allotted four past champion’s provisional in the season’s first four races, but because he’s in the top 25 in points (23rd) he is eligible for a provisional this week at Darlington.” Now here is the kicker….”NASCAR public relations director Tim Sullivan yesterday explained that if Waltrip fails to make the race on his qualifying speed he may receive one of six provisional spots. That’s assuming that all six of those available provisionals are not taken by drivers ahead of Waltrip in the standings. That’s an extremely remote chance. Still, not having any more automatic past champion’s provisionals until the April 18 race at Martinsville, Va., keeps the pressure on Waltrip to squeeze out top 25 finishes to earn points. He started 43rd at Atlanta last Sunday and “finessed” his way to a 20th-place finish.” Nice explanation by Larry Woody of the Tennessean. Pretty much sounds like the rules I have on the Provisional Page(3-17-1999)
- Wind Tunnel Results: Well, don’t hold your breath. NASCAR doesn’t release that kind of data anyway so all you will see are guesses and estimates. SPEEDWORDS has been told that the tests are complete and that nothing big was found. Don’t look for major rules changes based on this round of wind tunnel tests. The major use of the data will be to insure the new Monte Carlo comes to the track as evenly matched to existing models as possible. If the new round of wind tunnel data show all available makes, including the Monte Carlo are equal, expect approval of the new body style shortly, perhaps early next week(Speedwords)(3-17-1999)
- Ingle Gone UPDATE 2: Bill Ingle, crew chief, and Ricky Rudd, owner/driver of the #10 Tide Ford, have parted ways. No successor to Ingle has been named(NASCAR Today Radio)(3-15-1999) — RPM2Nite reports that Dan Stillman will handle the crew chief chores at Darlington this weekend(3-16-1999) — For this weekend´s TranSouth 400, Rudd, lead mechanic Dave Anthony, engineer Hoyt Overbaugh, mechanics Doug McGill, and Dan Stillman will jointly guide the Tide Team(www.rickyrudd.com)(3-17-1999)
- BGN and Cope UPDATE: I hear Derrike Cope will not return to the #61 BGN IWX Freight Pontiac. Tony Roper will driver the car at Darlington(per www.derrikecope.com) and for the rest of the season. The initial plan was for Cope to drive 20 races and Roper the rest — The Official Press Release in part: Tony Roper will drive the #61 IWX Motor Freight Pontiac in Saturday’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway. It will mark his first (BGN) start, which originally was scheduled to happen later this season. The team feels he needs to get healthy(banged up) after his two hard wrecks in Atlanta last weekend so he can concentrate on his Winston Cup program. Roper, 33, a native of Fair Grove, Mo., has competed in the last two seasons in the (CTS). In those two seasons, he has had 11 top-10 finishes and his series’ best second-place finish at Indianapolis Raceway Park last season. He has finished in the top-20 in points in both seasons. Roper has been a general mechanic on the Xpress team since the first of the year(IMX PR)(3-17-1999)
- Roush Protest: Concord City (Cabarrus County, NC) residents convinced city leaders to delay approval of county tax-incentive grants of $1.9 million to Roush Racing, for it’s proposed construction to move their racing facilities to Concord. Well over 100 residents are concerned over the potential noise from a test track included in the plans. The planned “test track” is less than 1/2 mile from a large residential area that already can hear single cars at Charlotte Motor Speedway several miles away. After listening to the involved parties the city commissioners voted unanimously to defer action until the rezoning issue is settled. The residents also questioned the validity of granting tax incentives when rezoning of the area has yet to be approved by the city. There was also speculation that the Roush facility would simply move existing employees from their other operations and not create new jobs, something the tax incentive plan includes(Speedwords)(3-17-1999)
- Cope Colors: The revolving Paint Scheme team, #30 Bahari Racing, will have the Bryan colors on their Pontiac for Darlington(RaceWire)(3-17-1999)
- Single Car Teams: Ward Burton is one of the few single-car drivers faring well this season, Burton is 10th in the points. Ernie Irvan, who is eighth, is the highest in the points among single-car drivers(News and Record)(3-17-1999)
- Sad News: A weekend jaunt to a Georgia car race ended in tragedy yesterday when the pilot of a private plane crashed in Dravosburg, killing himself and a passenger and leaving two other passengers seriously injured. The four men had traveled to Georgia to see a NASCAR race, the Cracker Barrel 500, which was held on Sunday at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. See the complete story at 2 killed as plane crashes near county airport, Thoughts and prayers out to the families of the deceased and injured(3-17-1999)
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