Star-Gazette from Elmira, New York • 47

SPORTS Star-Gazette, Sunday, August 8, 1993 3CC 1993 BUD AT THE GLEN Spencer, Todd Bodine to start 32nd, 34th By CHARLIE COON Star-Gazette WATKINS GLEN Jimmy Spencer was disappointed Saturday, even though he led second-day aualifiers for today's Bud at the Glen at Watkins Glen International. For Chemung native Todd Bodine, however, the emotions of starting his first race as a Winston Cup regular haven't struck him just yet. Spencer, driving the No. 12 Meineke Mufflers Ford Thun-derbird, sped around the 2.45- Oma Kimbrough (109.030) and Jeff Davis (94.386). Marcis, the 52-year-old owner-driver from Avery's Creek, N.C., was the only one of the four who could have earned, via car-owner points, a provisional starting spot at the back of the field.

He opted to load his car and equipment into his tractor-trailer and head for next week's race at Michigan International Speedway instead. "The engine just would NOT run," Marcis said. "The car's driving good, going around the corners good, DUt I just don't have a good engine to get down the straightaways." vr jay owner, Butch Mock, had accumulated enough owner's points to earn that rignt. But Bodine, who spun out in Turn 1 during Friday's first round of pole qualifying, successfully completed a qualifying lap Saturday at 114.309 mph. He will start 34th today.

"It was a lot better lap today I got through the first cornerl" Bodine said. And so the 29-year-old Bodine, whose only other Winston Cup start was at last year's Bud at the Glen, embarks today on his career as a full-time driver on NAS- CAR's premier series. "It still hasn't sunk in," Bodine said. "I Just feels like I'm at Wat-kins Glen again. Next week at Michigan it will sink in." Only eight drivers attempted Saturday to post a time good enough to make today's starting field.

Four will be on the starting grid: Spencer, Bodine, Ted Mus-grave (1 14 139 mph, 38th) and Scott Gaylord (113.845, 40th), in only his third Winston Cup start. Four couldn't cut the mustard: Dave Marcis (113.644), Auburn resident Jerry O'Neil (110.747), Davy Jones' team Road-course drivers steering to NASCAR Racers see 'more opportunity' in series 41 iS t-l cause I took a conservative lap," the Berwick, Pa. native said. "I had a real, real good lap yesterday. "To know the lap I ran there, I would have been in the top 15 cars very easily.

I feel real bad about it for my guys. Now I got a real good race car, but I got a long way to go." Bodine, who replaced Dick Trickle Monday as driver of the No. 75 Factory Stores Thun-derbird, would nave had a provisional starting spot in today's race even if his time Saturday hadn't been in the top 38. His car pulls out i Jones drove the Stroppe-pre-pared Ford to victory at Riverside, Calif. A Stroppe press release states that "we are looking forward to another four races with Davy Michigan, Charlotte, Phoenix and Atlanta." As for next Sunday's Winston Cup race at Michigan International Speedway, Jones said that "(the Stroppe team) will be there but I may not." Jones has raced or practiced six different types of race cars after Tom Walkinshaw Racing, which operated his No.

Bud Light Jaguar Camel GT car, withdrew from the series earlier this year. Jones said he interested in racing in the United States. He said the two premier series in the United States are IndyCar and Winston Cup and that he wants to join a top team in either series. But after his aborted Winston Cup debut this weekend, a frustrated Jones started sounding like an IndyCar man. "Dick (Simon) would like to see me in the (IndyCar) next year," Jones said.

"We'll feel it out." 7 "1 1 ksr I VI SIMON BACK IN THE BOX: Crew members tuck Davy Jones' Winston Cup car back in the trailer Saturday morning after the team withdrew from the Bud at the Glen race. Driver returning to IndyCar, uncertain of NASCAR future SIMON WHEELERStar-Goittt RUNNING WITH THE BIG BOYS: Driver Tom Kendall is a road-course specialist driving Winston Cup for Geoff Bodine's Family Ford. SPENCER T. BODINE mile Glen circuit at an average speed of 114.638 mph. He will start 32nd today in the 38-car field.

"I'm sort-of upset again, be "You think (the Stroppe team) would have been here pronto to take advantage of the time," Jones said. "I guess the truck got caught in Missouri in the rain. I was clueless until someone from the team got here at 10:30 (Friday morning)" Jones, who said he was here this weekend to see what NAS-CAR's all about, said Saturday that he has reached an agreement with IndyCar owner Dick Simon to drive for Simon in two upcoming races at Elkhart Lake, on Aug. 22 and at the Mid-Ohio circuit in Lexington, Ohio, on Sept. 12.

Simon's three-car team is racing in New Hampshire today. The Stroppe team has a rich history in off-road and endurance racing, which Jones acknowledged. "This team seems to have a lot of knowledge and experience," Jones said Friday. "From what I understand, they prepare good equipment." The last time a Stroppe team ran a Winston Cup car was in 1968 (when the series was called Grand National). Parnelli back out on the track for the last part of the practice.

It seems to run fine." Media pick Rusty to win today Rusty Wallace has been named the overwhelming choice in a nationwide poll of motorsports media as the favorite to win today's Bud at the Glen Winston Cup race. In a poll conducted by the Unocal 76 racing panel, Wallace received more than twice as many votes (14) as his nearest competitor, Ernie Irvan (6). Other drivers receiving votes were: Ricky Rudd (5), Bill Elliott (2), and Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin with one vote each. Glen puts stress on engines Today's Bud at the Glen is one of the hardest races of the season on engines in the Winston Cup cars. "Short tracks like the half-mile oval at Martinsville, are much tougher on motors than the superspeedways," said Keith Simmons, engine builder for the No.

22 car driven by Bobby Labonte. "But the road courses we run are even tougher," Simmons said. "That's why we run only 187 miles at Sears Point (in Sonoma, Calif.) and 220 here, compared to 500 miles or more on a superspeedway." Simmons said the road courses are especially tough on the trans- vX in 2 is By CHARLIE COON Star-Gazette WATKINS GLEN P.T. Jones is here. So is Tom Kendall.

Until Saturday, Davy Jones was itching to try out the Watkins Glen International track today. It sounds like it's time for the annual Camel Continental race for those exotic 200 mph prototype cars, but it's not. Instead, these prominent road-course racers are jumping on the NASCAR bandwagon, just like road-racer Wally Dallenbach Jr. did last year. "There's just more opportunity here (in NASCAR)," P.J.

Jones said. "Plus, it's a very, very good show." "I think everybody realizes NASCAR is the strongest series," road-racing driver Dorsey Sen-roeder said. "I'd like to get a full-time ride if I could." For years, there was just one way for a driver to make it to NASCAR's premier Winston Cup series or to make it to the IndyCar circuit, for that matter. That was to work your way up through the ranks. But the possible influx of outsiders to NASCAR doesn't seem to bother veteran Winston Cup drivers who have worked their way through the minor leagues of stock-car racing.

Take Winston Cup driver Terry Labonte, for instance. He doesn't resent any newcomers. "I don't feel that way," Labonte said. "I don't know about anybody else." Rookie Jeff Gordon acknowledges that some drivers might see their turf being invaded. "I don't know.

Possibly. Yeah," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Winston Cup car and leader in this year's rookie-of-the-year points race. Gordon, who turned 22 on Wednesday, blistered his way through NASCAR's version of Triple-A baseball, the Busch Grand National Series, to earn his place at the Winston Cup table. "For a young guy who's been running Busch Grand National, a (Winston Cup) ride might come open and then he might expect to get it," Gordon said.

"We've been concentrating on getting the car ready for this race," Martin said. "We're just getting back in the swing of things. We'll take a look at the rest of the season." Payton 21st in Trans-Am Former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last week, finished 21st in Saturday's Trans-Am race. "I was able to make some adjustments in the car and it worked real good Payton said. "The late yellow flag helped me it ffJA til your profession, you go with where your experience and ability is," Davy Jones said.

I'd like to be involved with a top team. "NASCAR has become more than just a Southern series. It's become more of a national attraction," said Davy Jones, a rookie NASCAR driver who pulled out of today's race because his car arrived late at the track and he didn't get enough practice time in it. "When you're a professional driver, it's like a tree that branches off. You like to go with the strongest branch." And Davy Jones identifies those strongest branches as Winston Cup and IndyCar.

"IMSA and the World Sports Car, they're gone, so you can eliminate those series," he said. "I'd like to take my experience and ability and apply them to a Winston Cup team." hart. He does not usually travel with the team but is at the Bud at the Glen. Rick's brother, Dean, is a fabricator and tire changer for owner Richard Petty's car, driven by Rick Wilson. He is a 1984 graduate.

The littlest race fan The Merritt family might boast the youngest camper at Watkins Glen International this weekend. Joe Merritt, a member of the fire department in Buffalo, is camping at the Glen for the fourth time, accompanied by his wife, two daughters and son. The newest member of the family is only 6 months old. Dale Jarrett 3rd at Tioga Speedway Dale Jarrett, currently second in the Winston Cup points race, raced to a third-place finish in the Late Model Invitational at Tioga Speedway in Owego Saturday night. Jarrett, who will start from the 14th position in the Bud at the Glen today, was beaten by Eric Bodine, wno won the race, and Rob Laman Jr.

of Endicott, who was second. Bodine is a cousin of Geoff, Brett and Todd Bodine, who are racing at Watkins Glen today. About 3,200 fans watched Jar rett race, said track promoter Andrew Harpell. "The autograph line lasted for at least an hour and a half, closer to two hours," Harpell said. a' I tnnCtlp I By CHARLIE COON and RON LEVANDUSKI Star-Gazette WATKINS GLEN This weekend was supposed to mark Davy Jones' Winston Cup debut.

Instead, the Cortland native's career in NASCAR might be over before he even runs a single practice lap in one of the stock cars. Jones, a longtime star on the Camel GT circuit, was scheduled today to drive the No. 61 Execulog-sponsored Ford Thun-derbird for Bill Stroppe Motorsports. JONES But the team, based in Long Beach, didn't arrive at the track until Friday morning and withdrew from the race Saturday, saying it didn't have enough time to prepare for Saturday's final qualifying session. NOTEBOOK Win would mean bonus for Martin The Unocal 76 Challenge, awarded to any driver in the Winston Cup series who can win a race from the pole, is up to $98,800 for pole-sitter Mark Martin in today's Bud at the Glen.

The Unocal bonus, which starts with $7,600, increases $7,600 each race the winner is not the pole-sitter. Last year, winner Kyle Petty pocketed $50,895 for the win without the pole. In the 10 NASCAR Winston Cup races held at Watkins Glen, only three drivers have won from the pole: the late Tim Richmond (1986), Billy Wade (1964) and Buck Baker (1957). No Unocal 76 Challenge bonus has ever been won on a road-racing circuit such as Watkins Glen. Not as bad as it looks Brett Bodine's No.

26 Quaker State Ford Thunderbird won't be the prettiest car out on the track for today's Bud at the Glen but mechanically, it's sound. Bodine lost it in Turn 10 during NASCAR's second practice and backed into the wall. The wreck crunched the left rear of the car, but it's ready to roll. "It's Just cosmetic damage," said Donnie Richeson, the crew chief for the No. 26 car.

"We pulled out the left rear and got it "And you can't blame them," P.J. Jones added. "(BGN) has definitely been a steppingstone to Winston Cup, just like Indy Lights was a steppingstone to IndyCar," Gordon said. "Now, just because somebody is driving Busch Grand National, there's no guarantee you're going to run in Winston Cup." There's no guarantee because the popularity of NASCAR racing is catching the eye of all kinds of talented drivers. "The Busch series is a really good series," Dallenbach said.

"A lot of guys are coming out from there. But for guys like myself who were not brought up in the South, they shouldn't exclude us from driving in Winston Cup." "When (driving race cars) is because I was able to close up on the cars in front of me who had gotten away earlier." After the race, Payton hurdled the five-foot pit wall like he used to leap over defensive lineman. Payton was returning to his car after checking on the condition of teammate Jerry Clinton, who had crashed near the finish line. "You've still got it Walter," one fan shouted in a voice that was clearly heard by everyone in the area. Cornell student crosses line 5th Cornell Junior Mike Borkowski held on to his points lead in the Oldsmobile Pro Series, despite a fifth-place finish.

Driving a backup car after crashing nis primary car last week at Pocono, Borkwoski ran as as high as third, but couldn't stay with the leaders for long. "At the start they weren't pulling away, but after they got going there wasn't any chance to catch them," Borkowski said. Borkowski holds an 11 -point lead over Bob Thomas, who finished second Saturday, after getting a point for winning the pole position. Southside grads return for race Two brothers, both graduates of Elmira Southside High School, work for Winston Cup teams. Rick Shaut, a 1982 grad, is a cylinder head porter for Dale Earn- i ''V 'L' SIMON WHEELERStof-GaiM SOUTHSIDE GRAD AT WORK: Elmira Southslde High School graduate Rick Shaut, right, works with David Smith on the engine for Dale Earnhardt's car Saturday morning at Watkins Glen International.

mission. "Most fans think of road racing as a real test of driving ability, which it is," Simmons said, "but a road course also is the supreme test for engine builders." Bath resident finishes 13th Bath resident James Martin, owner of race sponsor W.W. Bab-cock Ladders, placed 13th Saturday In the Oldsmobile Pro Series race at Watkins Glen Inetrnatio-nal. It was the first race in more than two years for Martin, who started 15th..