Winston-Salem Journal from Winston-Salem, North Carolina • 41

AUTO RACING WINSTON SALEM JOURNAL Wednesday October 16 1991 PAGE 41 PRIME TIME: The Winston Will Be Held Under Lights By Mike Mulhern JOURNAL REPORTER The Winston RJ Reynolds all star stock car race will be held under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway next May 16 and will receive prime time television coverage officials announced yester day NASCAR gave a tentative OK for the race and Rich ard Petty gave it his stamp of approval The race will be the fastest night time race on the NASCAR tour Lights should be in place by April for testing been reading about this and been thinking it a good idea if they do it right if they can light the tra ck so it looks like a Sunday Petty said a unique anu very DOla step for Winston and Char lotte) remember running some one mile dirt tracks a long time back that were lighted for horses but they were pretty bad we had to wear hats and Richmond wasn't lighted good enough sb we'll all look at this pretty hard Everybody's got a half mile'under lights but no one has ever lighted a I'a mile track I think the drivers will accept it May is hot enough and this race tends to make things even hotter So running at night things should be cooler Plus the drivers and crews will like getting Sunday Bruton Smith who owns Charlotte Motor Speedway called the race to Charlotte Motor Speedway as well as to our region This event has a major economic impact on our state The unique format of the race will focus world wide attention on North Carolina we talked to Reynolds this summer about this race we knew we needed an innovative approach And the next bold step for a superspeedway would be to light the track This also offers the networks the oppor tunity to televise the race live in prime time and Currently negotiating for tv NASCAR officials were shocked when they heard the plans three weeks ago But Dick Beaty said have no doubt in my mind that the speedway will be lighted I like the idea of running this race at he added grinning when something goes Wrong I can go out and hide in the The format for the 1 million weekend package was not announced but it will be similar to last race Ill Smith said he planned to install permanent lights on the roof of the grandstands on the front straight and cover the rest of the track with 12 light poles that are 150 feet tall will cost $15 million for Smith a great deal of money And sure there are some doubters about all this no facility in the world has ever been lighted like this for sports competition But there were doubters when we announced our first turn condo Smith compared the impact on stock car racing to the first baseball game at night in Cincinnati in 1935 we turn on these lights it will be an historic he said Wayne Robertson the head of sports marketing group put a small asterisk beside the night time start this time we plan on running the event under the lights but first we want to be able say we can run this event he said sure the folks at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be able to light the race track to NASCAR specifications And run some tests next year If for some reason we run it Saturday nights run it Saturday afternoon races at Bristol and Richmond have shown us the fans like night racing And our goal is to make this a race for the fans we want this to be something special for the Robertson said that ticket prices would be from $30 to $60 but RJR is offering a $20 discount for anyone presenting proof of purchase of two cartons of Win stons offer" he added with a laugh limited to the first 100000 fans" Humpy Wheeler who manages CMS for Smith was enthusiastic about the project "We have no qualms about this: going to run this race at night However it will be a logistical challenge because we have to light every part of the racing surface to 100 foot candles of light To give some indication how bright that is the average mall parking lot is lighted with 6 foot candles and the average baseball park is lighted to 60 foot candles But television requires 100 foot candles what you seen on Monday Night ootball of the challenge we face is that we have any dark spots in front of or behind the cars either It be easy but it will be done And it will be Ill Petty raised the question of the starting time of the race which will be determined by whichever television network gets the rights is going to be Daylight Savings Time so it'll be light for sometime before the sun he said got to be able to do the lights so that there is a good transition from daylight to the lights We used to run all our races at nights and Bowman Gray Stadium was the only place we raced where the lighting was really good I think lighting a 1 'a mile track like this will be a heckuva job got to do the lighting on pit road so the crews can see That was a problem at Richmond if the brakes hadn't been so red hot the poor pit crew guys have been able to see anything this is going to be one of those races that nobody will want to miss so draw a The race is open only to: Winston Cup drivers and car owners who won tour races in 1991 and through the 1992 Winston 500 at Talladega in early May Previous winners of the race: Dale Earnhardt Terry Labonte Rusty Wallace and Davey Allison Winston Cup champions still competing regular ly including Bill Elliott Darrell Waltrip and Petty The winner of the 1992 Winston Open As many other top finishers from the Open as needed to fill the 20 car field According to those rules the men now eligible for the race are Ernie Irvan Kyle Petty Ken Schrader Ricky Rudd Harry Gant Dale Jarrett Alan Kulwicki Geoff Bodine Earnhardt Labonte Wallace Allison Elliott Waltrip and Morgan Shepherd (because be driving for the Woods next year) Among those not yet eligible are Mark Martin Mi chael Waltrip Sterling Marlin Hut Stricklin and Brett Bodine RICHARD PETTY mH I CONGRATULATIONS WINNERS! accnba fever match David Smith Rural Hall Representing NC State Jill Mchone Pinnacle Representing Duke University or the CLEVELAND CAVALIERS AND THE ORLANDO MAGIC GAME Chad Burchette King Representing UNC Shanna Hopkins Winston Salem Representing WU Honorary Ball Boy Ball Girl Winners Are: Of the Winston Salem Journal Jr ACCNBA Contest A I 4 riday October 18th 7:30 PM vs See ormer ACC greats in terrific new NBA careers Larry Nance Dennis Scott Mark Price Chris Corchiani Chucky Brown Brad Daugherty Danny erry COUSHHM UNJKiaiM UWRBMX JOHKTWAMS AftMftlAL vynatAt ntixrir TICKETS: $16 50 12 50 S850 and Limited Number of VIP Seats Available at the LVM Coliseum Box Office At Tracks and Record Bar TO CHARGE BY PHONE 919 725 5635 or 919 834 4000 IllZ JSgS 1 resented by Winston Salem Journal sSwxil WA COLLEGE OOTBALLH List of Injured Players Mounts for Tar Heels By Michael Zuccarello JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU CHAPEL HILL The doctor rang the doorbell twice yesterday at North Carolina and he brought nothing but more bad news Mack Brown the Tar head football coach announced that BJ Runyon a second string fullback has been told by doctors that his football career is over also announced that James Demetrakis who was sched uled to start this week at left guard will miss the rest of the season after tearing ligaments in his knee Mon day in practice Demetrakis a sophomore from Winston Salem tore both the ante rior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee during a practice drill Monday Rickie Shaw a 6 5 290 pound left tackle tripped and fell onto knee Demetrakis was an all state de fensive lineman at Parkland High in 1988 He was red shirted at North Carolina in 1989 and played in six games in 1990 A 6 foot 273 pound sophomore Demetrakis will undergo surgery Thursday Runyon suffered a neck injury when he was tackled last week in practice He was hospitalized for tests and doctors discovered that Runyon has a spinal condition that puts him at risk of suffering perma nent injury to his spinal cord been advised not to play football for the rest of his Brown said Runyon is a 6 4 245 pound jun ior from Vienna Va He had 36 yards on nine carries in four games this season and he gained 69 yards in nine games as a sophomore The rest of the injury report: Andy Dinkin a senior whose hyper extended elbow Saturday made Demetrakis the starter at left guard is doubtful for this game at Virginia Scott alise a sophomore right guard will move to the left side and will start Tommy Thigpen the Tar standout linebacker has not recovered from a stretched nerve in his shoulder and remains doubtful Mike Thomas a freshman quarterback will miss this game with a ligament tear in his thumb and will probably miss the rest of the season Chuckie Burnette the starting quarterback has recovered from a jammed middle finger on his throw ing hand and will start at Virginia Bowden Taking A Different Approach THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TALLAHASSEE la Middle Tennessee State replaced Auburn on the schedule of No 1 ranked lorida State but that is where the similarity ends Coach Bobby Bowden of lorida State said yesterday Bowden said he is not going to try to fool his players into believing that the Division I AA Blue Raiders are something they are not before homecoming game "I tell them got Middle Tennessee jerseys on but as good as not Bowden said got to be realistic about Instead Bowden said that this week will give lorida State a chance to work on mistakes and problems instead of focusing too much its opponent we play somebody like Middle Tennessee State where be heavily favored 1 dwell too much on Bowden said think you can play an Auburn or a Michigan or a lorida every week I think you can sur Middle Tennessee State (4 1 is a powerhouse in Division I AA but figure to have the size speed or depth to match up with lorida State (6 0) I'M Cellular One Is Giving Away One Cellular Service ee ree lb New Customers £4 (We I lope This Offer Excites You As Much As It Did Our Lawyers) Now Cellular One makes breaking up even harder to do Because when you sign up now receive your first access charge absolutely free That means you can enjoy 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