AUTO RACING : Earnhardt: Drivers Get False Sense of Security

Whenever there is a death or serious injury in racing, questions arise about how a driver can strap himself into a race car knowing the possible consequences.

That certainly was on a lot of minds last week after fatal crashes in practice for the Daytona 500 took the lives of Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr. Bonnett was a veteran with 18 Winston Cup victories, and Orr was a rookie trying to make the jump to the big time of stock car racing.

Dale Earnhardt, a six-time Winston Cup champion and one of Bonnett’s closest friends, said, “I think you can always lull yourself into a false sense of security, whether you’re a race driver or driving down the highway.

“It happens to us when you’re in a race car and you’ve got all the rollbars around you and you’re strapped in. But the impact that can happen and did happen (to Bonnett), there’s nothing in the world that would have saved you.”

Not only is Earnhardt a racer, but all three of his children from a previous marriage are racing on short tracks in North Carolina. That includes his sons, 23-year-old Kerry and 21-year-old Dale Jr., and 19-year-old daughter Kelly.

“Yes, I’m concerned about them. But I’m more concerned if they were out being subjected to drugs and violence, shootings, anything like that. I’m more comfortable them doing their hobby right now, driving a race car. They’re going to race and I’m going to race.”

HOOSIER WILL TRY again this weekend at Rockingham, N.C., to gets its new radial racing tires up to speed.

The Daytona 500 was a publicity disaster for the small Lakeville, Ind., company that manufactures only racing tires and is taking on tire-making giant Goodyear in the Winston Cup series.

Their superspeedway tire was labeled too slow and not stable enough and, after a great deal of controversy, complaint and sniping, Bob Newton, president of Hoosier, gave his contract drivers permission to switch to Goodyears for the season-opening race.

“We knew there would be good days and bad days,” said three-time Winston cup champion Darrell Waltrip, one of only a handful of series regulars to sign for the season with Hoosier.

“You’re going to go to a race somewhere down the road and the guys on Goodyears are saying that the Hoosiers have us covered this week. We knew that. It’s too bad it happened in the first race. We would have liked to get off to an equal start so we didn’t have this controversy early one.

“But it’s going to be this way all year,” Waltrip added. “Tires will be the story everywhere you go. It’s David vs. Goliath, and it’s going to take a while for things to work out.”

TRAVELING WEEK AFTER week is tough on the body, and Will Lind, a longtime member of Richard Childress Racing, which fields cars for Dale Earnhardt, has decided to stay home.

Lind, a veteran mechanic and all-star tire changer, told Childress recently that the Daytona 500 would be his last race with the pit crew. He plans to continue working for Childress at the team’s shop in Welcome, N.C.

“I just thought it was time to re-evaluate things and come off the road,” Lind said. “There is a lot of pressure in this business, and there’s a lot on us because of the success we’ve had.

“We put a lot (of pressure) on ourselves to remain successful, but a lot of things have happened over the past two years to make me think,” he said, citing the deaths last year of Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki, the resignation of former crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine, and even the retirement of basketball superstar Michael Jordan. Then there was the death of Neil Bonnett during practice for Daytona.

“It all makes you think,” Lind said. “I wouldn’t trade the last 10 years for anything. I still want to win. In fact, if someone gets sick, I’ll be back at the track to help. I still have the desire, that’s not it. I guess I just want to step aside before I lose that desire.”

RICKY RUDD WAS about as proud of his eighth-place finish in the Daytona 500 as he’s every been of a racing performance.

It was the racing debut of his new Rudd Performance Motorsports team, which was little more than a dream when he announced its formation in August at Michigan International Speedway.

“This was a big learning experience,” he said. “This car never went to the wind tunnel and we missed the balance on the car. Throughout the race, we pretty much got that figured out, then we didn’t quite have the right front springs on the car. All in all, though, it was a good day.

“We have a learning curve ahead of us. Already, I think we’re ahead of the game, at least from where some folks thought we would be. We finished the race, the guys did a professional job getting and keeping the car together, and the motor ran good.”

JUST LIKE LAST year, when Dale Jarrett beat Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500, there is a tie for the Winston Cup point lead following the opening event.

Just as Earnhardt tied Jarrett by getting a five-point bonus for leading the most laps, 1994 runner-up Ernie Irvan did the same against winner Sterling Marlin. Those two go into Sunday’s race at Rockingham, N.C., tied with 180 points.

Irvan hopes the comparisons continue, since Earnhardt went on to win the season championship.