Motor Racing : Familiar Faces Missing From Daytona Field

One of the most intriguing Daytona 500s since Bill France moved the show up from the beach in 1959 looms Sunday when NASCAR presents its premier stock car race at Daytona International Speedway.

The defending 500 champion, Bobby Allison, is not here. The defending champion has missed returning the next season only once before. Allison is in Lehigh Valley Hospital Center in Allentown, Pa., recuperating from surgery to repair a leg damaged in an accident last June 19 at Pocono, Pa.

Allison had driven in 24 straight 500s, winning in 1978, 1982 and 1988.

The defending Winston Cup champion, Bill Elliott, is not expected to drive beyond the first yellow caution light. Elliott, twice a winner of the Daytona 500, broke his left wrist last Friday during practice and will probably turn the Ford Thunderbird over to fellow Georgian Jody Ridley.

Under the rules of NASCAR, whoever is in the car when it takes the green flag gets all the points for its finishing position--even if he doesn’t drive it more than 10 feet. Lee Roy Yarbrough once won the World 600 at Charlotte, but his name doesn’t appear in record books because Donnie Allison started the car.

Elliott appreciates the importance of every point. Last year, after 29 races, he beat out Rusty Wallace for the $400,000 champion’s bonus by 24 points, 4,488 to 4,464.

Three of the most familiar drivers in NASCAR--Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker and Benny Parsons--will not be in the race. All picked this year to retire, Yarborough and Baker to become car owners and Parsons to become a TV commentator.

Yarborough appeared in 25 straight 500s, winning four of them. Parsons had a streak of 20 with one win. Baker missed the 1974 race but was in 23 of the last 24, with one win.

The second phase of Speed Weeks leading to the 500 will be run today, a pair of 125-mile qualifying races that will help establish the starting order for Sunday’s 42-car field.

The first phase occurred last Saturday when Ken Schrader and Darrell Waltrip, driving a pair of Rick Hendrick’s Chevrolet Monte Carlos, won front-row positions for the 500. Schrader, who also won the pole last year, earned the No. 1 position with a speed of 196.996 m.p.h., far below the record 210.364 set in 1987 by Elliott.

In what insiders call NASCAR’s “rules of convenience,” Ridley will drive Elliott’s car today, starting in the front row alongside Schrader in the first heat. Where he finishes will determine where Elliott will start Sunday.

Ridley, an old friend of the Elliotts from Chatsworth, Ga., has not driven in a Winston Cup race since the 1986 Firecracker 400 here. He has previously driven short-track cars for George Elliott, Bill’s father, and once was in the pits at Atlanta waiting to replace Elliott, who had a broken foot--but Elliott got out in front, stayed there and won the race without relief.

“I’ve been here three days now and been in the car every day,” Ridley said after familiarizing himself with the Thunderbird. “I’m not thinking of returning to Winston Cup racing, but I want to try to help Bill get a good finish and get him off to a good start in the Winston Cup points race.

“Sure, I want to drive hard, but I also want to make sure we’ll be there at the end. I’m not going to take any unnecessary chances. I’ll go with the flow. If the car feels good, we’ll go for it. If it’s loose, we’ll ease up. That’s what I want to do, and that’s what the team wants me to do.”

Ridley has driven in six previous Daytona 500s and never finished lower than 12th. His best was a seventh in 1981. In the last two years, he has won 14 races while driving on the All-Pro Super Series for late model cars.

Guaranteed spots in the 500 are Schrader and Waltrip, plus the first 14 finishers in each of today’s races. The last 12 positions will be determined by qualifying speeds. So, if Ridley fails to place 14th or better today, or if the car doesn’t finish, Elliott will still start 31st Sunday because he was the third-fastest qualifier last Saturday.

Not so fortunate might be Richard Petty. The King, a seven-time winner who has appeared in every 500 since 1966, is in a precarious position unless he can move from 20th to finish at least 14th in his heat. Petty’s speed of 186.185 m.p.h. is far too slow to qualify. He is the 45th qualifier among the 61 cars here.

“We’re not so good so far, but at least we’re not getting further behind,” Petty said. “We’ll just have to run for it tomorrow. If we get good breaks, we’ll be all right. If not, we’re in trouble.”

The tire war--Goodyear vs. Hoosier--that erupted last year seems to be going all in favor of the family-owned Hoosier company from tiny Lakeville, Ind.

Goodyear arrived with a load of radial tires which it hoped to introduce to Winston Cup racing as it has done with Indy cars and Formula Ones. But when tires apparently triggered accidents to superstar drivers Elliott and Dale Earnhardt last Friday, Goodyear withdrew its radials and brought in last year’s bias-ply models, which have been substantially slower than the Hoosiers.

Drivers must start the 500 with the tires on which they qualified, but once the race starts they can switch. Waltrip qualified on Goodyears, but found their compounds no match for the Hoosiers during last Sunday’s Busch Clash. Waltrip, who led in the early stages, dropped back to eighth when his tires lost their grip.

“The 125 is important for us because we want to learn more about the tire situation,” Waltrip said. “We have to start on Goodyears, but the way it looks now we’ll switch to Hoosiers on the first caution period. We get a break by being in the second race so we can watch the first race and see if anyone has tire problems.”

MORE SPEED WEEKS--P.J. Jones, son of Parnelli Jones, will start fifth in Friday’s Charlotte-Daytona Dash after qualifying at 156.342 m.p.h. in a Pontiac. . . . Brad Noffsinger, former California Racing Assn. sprint car champion, will start 22nd in today’s second 125-mile qualifying heat. . . . Bill Elliott says he will drive Friday in the International Race of Champions to test how well he can operate the car with a broken wrist. He drove all 20 laps in the Busch Clash last Sunday but said he was in extreme pain. . . . Indy 500 champion Rick Mears drew the pole position for the IROC race.

SPRINT CARS--Two former United States Auto Club Silver Crown champions, Rick Hood of Evansville, Ind., and Jack Hewitt of Troy, Ohio, have entered the Midwinter Outlaw Nationals, Feb. 24-25 at Ascot Park. Hood is also a former USAC sprint car champion. The World of Outlaws season for winged sprint cars will open this weekend at Firebird Raceway, near Phoenix, before heading for Ascot. Noffsinger, who won his CRA titles in wingless cars, will also drive in the Ascot races.