May 2, 1998
- Whoops! Something I missed and didn’t see today. Mike Skinner jumped in the #31 Lowes Chevy and qualified the car in second round qualifying and put it in the California. Plans are for Skinner to start the car and for Mike Dillon to take over.(NASCAR Online)(5-2-98)
- Team TABASCO has announced that Wally Dallenbach will take over for the injured Todd Bodine in this weekends California 500 presented by NAPA. Dallenbach, who was just given his walking papers by Team SABCO, will fill in for Bodine who crashed during the Friday morning’s practice session. The crash that Bodine was involved in, a single car incident, knocked the TABASCO pilot out for several minutes. He was transported to a local hospital and was later released. Team Tabasco, worried about their driver, felt it was batter to have him sit out this event rather than push it and make his injuries worse. Bodine is basically “fine” but is very sore today.(www.goracing.com)(5-2-98)
- Darrell Waltrip won’t be wearing his chrome helmet in Sunday’s race that he has
sported since 1995. Instead, the driver of the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet will switch
to a Pennzoil helmet, with a yellow and black color scheme. Waltrip said he suspects his chrome helmet is the cause for radio interference that he and his Dale Earnhardt Inc., crew have suffered through in recent weeks.(NASCAR Online)(5-2-98) - There were reports NASCAR had schedule a test, either at Daytona or Talladega (or both) to test ideas for breaking up the lethal packs. But NASCAR spokesman Jeff Motley said he had not heard of any such test, and none of the teams questioned had heard anything about what might be tested.(SpeedNet – Ben Blake)(5-2-98)
- John Andretti indicated he had had some offers to try the Indianapolis 500-Coca-Cola 600 double he pulled off in 1994, but he says he is dedicated to his Richard Petty-owned stock car ride, and that he can’t do justice either to stock cars or Indy by scattering his forces.(SpeedNet)(5-2-98)
- One driver definitely in play is 24-year-old Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has been approached about Winston Cup jobs by Andy Petree (owner of Ken Schrader’s No. 33 and seeking to start a second team) and even Richard Childress, owner of dad Dale Earnhardt’s famous No. 3(Childress may have an opening in his companion No. 31, at least short-term).(SpeedNet)(5-2-98)
- Chevrolet’s revised Monte Carlo, due out next year, apparently was due for a test at Daytona or Talladega next week, but the test has been called off for various reasons. The car, currently going under the “Intimidator” label hatched at the Detroit Auto Show in January, appears to be a purpose-built NASCAR race car designed to one-up Ford’s purpose-built “Taurus” NASCAR model. Stock? It’s no-holds-barred now, apparently.(SpeedNet)(5-2-98)
- The rumor recurs that NASCAR might mandate a NASCAR-issued fiberglass body, so as to sidestep constant rules revisions and to bring the back-side teams up to par with the high-dollar boys. Teams would pick up their bodies (which would cost about one-eighth of what the present steel body costs) before races and would not be allowed to alter them. Could this be true? Garage sources say safety concerns (crushed metal absorbs crash forces and leaves less debris on the track than does fiberglass) and economic ones (think of how many body men would be put out of work) make this idea unlikely.(SpeedNet)(5-2-98)
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