The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 23

Cthc (Charlotte Observer Thursday April 16 1992 SECTION Hornets end drought with win over Gavs By RICK BONNELL Staff Writer The Charlotte Hornets finally found a team that had less to play for that they did The Cleveland Cavaliers already locked into the second-best record in the Eastern Conference had nothing tangible to gain in beating the Hornets Wednesday night So while the Cavaliers tinkered with their lineup the Hornets played with playoff-like intensity for a 115-107 victory at the Charlotte Coliseum The victory broke a five-game Charlotte losing steak improving the Hor nets to 31-49 The streak was long enough that Hornets coach Allan Bristow had worried his team had come to accept it "One thing I worry about is the cumulative effect of losing getting used to it" said Bristow "For us to get to the next step losing has to bother us every time it But there was another dynamic at work during the 10 days without a win The motivation of chasing a playoff spot had realistically disappeared weeks ago It seemed every team the Hornets played of late Detroit Boston Indiana was fighting for a playoff spot or seeding Wednesday was different The Cavaliers catch the Chicago Bulls for the top seed in the Eastern Conference and fall below the third seed behind Chicago and the Atlantic Division champion Cavaliers coach Lenny Wilkens admitted before the game that he would approach this one differently than he would if something tangible was at stake Wilkens held out starting point guard Mark Price who suffered a strained quadricep muscle Tuesday Price said he could have played had the situation demanded it Wilkens also used newly reactivated Craig Ehlo and played rookie Bobby Phills in a crucial fourth-quarter juncture The effect was that Cleveland played hard but it the best shot absence gave the Hornets their chance When the Hornets double-teamed big men in the past Price punished them by hitting open jump shots "He would have killed us because of Please see Hometspage 4B Hilton Head is now clearly in the swing MARK SLUDERStaff than Ernie Irvan takes a lap in testing under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway Wednesday the first test of the lighting system at the track The test was successful and NASCAR gave its blessing to the track for running The Winston all-star race at night May 16 test is ablaze in glory NASCAR approves of speedway lights By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer The difference between daylight and dark at Charlotte Motor Speedway? Fabulous That was the consensus Wednesday of NASCAR Winston Cup drivers taking their cars on the 15-mile track for the first time after nightfall The occasion was the inaugural full-scale test of a 1 new lighting system at the speedway the largest area ever illuminated for a sporting event in the world That event is The Winston all-star race scheduled to start at about 9 pm on May 16 The race matches the NASCAR most recent winners former Winston Cup champions who remain active as drivers- and top finishers from the preliminary Winston Open Since the "Stars Come Out At Night" plan was announced last November there had been concern about the safety of cars running in tight packs at night The worry was doused when the asphalt I racing surface was illuminated in the glow of 1200 lights fitted with bulbs of 1500 watts each The drivers themselves said so so bright got to wear my shades" said five-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt who originally had been skeptical that the speedway could be lighted sufficiently to prevent potentially dangerous dark spots and tricky shadows "Better than daylight" said Morgan Shepherd the test worn the full-face smoked shield on my helmet that I wear in the said Mark Martin be different than any race any of us ever have seen I miss it This one is going to be very Said Geoff Bodine who had the fastest unofficial lap at 175106 mph in a Ford in front of an estimated crowd of 38000 admitted free to the main grandstand: different and takes a little getting used to plenty bright enough no shadow no glare no dark spots really pretty Just as importantly NASCAR officials were impressed NASCAR held the ultimate decision on night racing at Charlotte a said Winston Cup director Dick Beaty of the accomplishments of Musco the Iowa company that undertook the unprecedented lighting task more excited about this than anything we've ever done at the speedway" said track President Humpy Wheeler whose facility is considered the finest in motorsports fantastic" The teams that wish have an opportunity to practice again today 4-10 pm and fans can watch for free Perhaps Irvan had the best assessment of the action Wednesday night and the "light in store next month at Charlotte Motor Speedway Said Irvan: ought to change the name of this place to World' HILTON HEAD ISLAND SC You drive down Lighthouse Road and there are these two middle-aged women wearing fluorescent tights roller-blading down the sidewalk One of the women is carrying a live parrot on her arm And not advertising anything just out for exercise This is Hilton Head dahling Everyone exercises at Hilton Head including the parrots in more danger of being run over by a bicycle than by even a BMW Go out for the newspaper in the morning and you see so many joggers it looks like a jailbreak Life seems to float here The town council has to deal with such stormy issues as" whether letters on mailboxes should be 3 inches tall or 4 inches whether to allow a fellow to send up a hot air balloon whether to allow a business to put up an awning a hassle going on right now about the cable service adding WGN the Chicago station that carries the Cubs Some woman who is a Cubs nut got 1 1 00 signatures on a petition to show the Cubs on cable Nonsports folk are writing letters to the Hilton Head News saying essentially holy cow And of course golf Into all this tranquillity this week have come the sweet swingers of the PGA Tour hands bleeding from a week at Augusta but smiling to play for $1 million in the MCI Heritage Classic at Harbour Town Golf Links They come for a couple of reasons other than the million the golf course for themselves and the island for their families When the New York Times polled Tour players about a variety of things recently Pebble Beach was voted the best course the Tour plays and Harbour Town was voted second best And this year in best-ever condition Just as he invented golf Arnold Palmer invented this tournament When it looked like he was done he won the inaugural Heritage in 1969 and that was big news Arnie finished and Hilton Head basked in the reflected glow People found out where and what it was The Heritage has had some financial problems and for awhile there the condition of the course was starting to keep players away But now healthy from the grass to the bank account So healthy that tournament officials have had to limit the number of spectators As many as 40000 have shown up fora single round in the past couple of years This year there are no single day tickets just 25000 series badges and they will be sold out Like The Masters And like The Masters this patrons get first crack at the tickets next year Quite an island As much as the golf the venue is the attraction Harbour Town rambles for 15 holes through moss-draped trees and along ponds where sea birds patrol and turtles sun themselves and the occasional gator floats And then the course bursts out onto Cali-bogue Sound where there is such splendor it fills your heart That island you see over there beyond the 1 7th green and the 18th fairway is Daufuskie where novelist Pat Conroy taught school which became the basis for And farther down there is Bloody Point where settlers once killed several dozen Indians who had raided Hilton Head and taken their loot back across the water Now Bloody Point is a golf course On on Calibogue sailboats lean with the wind in the sparkling waters Birds whirl overhead in the fresh breeze Down behind the 18th green a red-and-white lighthouse stands overlooking all of this and a £ozy yacht basin filled with elegant craft a lovely place to sit with a glass in hand and watch sunset Oh yes the golf A tournament official just posted the weather for the week designer weather with lots of sunshine and moderate sea breezes The report concludes moon tonight" Well of course Halfmoons do at Hilton Head my dear Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith climbed to the flagstand above the startfinish line Wednesday and at 7 pm pulled the lever on a mock switchbox The gesture was symbolic the real switch was elsewhere But it would be Smith who for the first time brought night racing to a superspeedway Unfortunately the ball of fire that burst out of the box into the air and onto head was real Smith quickly knocked the fireball a piece of sulphur that was supposed to sparkle instead of bum off his head Smith has thinning hair Sometimes thinning hair is good This was one of those times It would have been a good public relations stunt if it had worked Aside from the president of Charlotte Motor head catching on fire Wednesday was a blazing success for the speedway On May 16 the speedway will sponsor its first night race No track size 15 miles has ever done this The tracks at Bristol and Richmond have but Bristol is a half-mile and Richmond three-quarters of a mile Only the 1-mile Raleigh Fairgrounds track back in the 1950s has ever come close MARK SLUDERStaff A hot time: Charlotte Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith inspects the damage to his hair burned when sulfur ignited in a speedway-engineered stunt as he pulled a ceremonial switch to ignite the lighting system effect initially was a shock although not nearly as shocking as the fireball that attacked Smith Although their cars lacked headlights drivers drove as if this was business as usual shadows reflecting off the side of the track as they sped by Please see Sorensennext page Wednesday was practice for The Winston The lights have been turned on twice before but Wednesday was the first time drivers had a chance to practice beneath them and fans had a chance to watch Admission was free and about 38000 race fans showed up Winston Cup drivers drove from 7 pm until 10 pm When darkness came the Sizzling start Sanders creating problems as one-sport star in Atlanta Tarkanian becomes rebel with new job Associated Press SAN ANTONIO It took former Nevada-Las Vegas coach Jerry Tarkanian only a month to return to the bench This time taking his run-and-gun style to the NBA coach the San Antonio Spurs his first job in the pros after 32 years at the college level The Spurs named Tarkanian as coach Wednesday ending weeks of speculation over who would fill the job created by the firing of Larry Brown Spurs owner Red McCombs said Tarkanian would take over after this season Tarkanian will take the job held on an interim basis by Bob Bass the vice president of basketball operations Tarkanian announced last June he would resign after a final season coaching UNLV He later claimed he was rescinding the resignation contending university officials plotted to get him out Tarkanian is the winningest coach by percentage with a 624-122 record (836) Sanders Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said wish Deion Sanders would go back to playing football" said Reds pitcher Tim Belcher who gave up a single double and two triples to him Monday night turned himself into a pretty good hitter for a part-time baseball After going two for four Tuesday night in a 5-4 loss to the Reds Sanders said he wants to spend the whole season with the Braves No more flying between football practice and baseball games late in the season He has one year left on his deal with the Falcons which took precedence last year comfortable with the he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution a full-time baseball player This is what is best for Deion" Thinking about just one sport is agreeable to his batting average Sanders hit 191 in 54 Please see Sanderspage 6B By JOE KAY Associated Press CINCINNATI How hot is Deion Sanders? So hot pitchers wait for football season So hot Sanders says that may not matter this year The Atlanta brash comerback has become the National leading hitter He is batting 447 and has a league-high 17 hits including one home run and five triples In his first at-bat Wednesday Sanders lined his first homer over the right-field wall He went two for four in a 3-1 loss adding an eighth-inning triple Going deep was the only thing he accomplished in his sizzling start He's hit for average stretched doubles into triples stolen bases and dazzled everyone "The exciting to watch he?" Atlanta's Deion Sanders hat had a hot start this season with the Braves How Sanders ranks among leaders in the National League:.