Winston Cup Drivers Shrug Off Talk of Talladega Boycott

All the Winston Cup drivers plan to show up for the Talladega 500 on April 22.

Since the season-opening Daytona 500, which included a scary 19-car crash and an accident that claimed the life of racing icon Dale Earnhardt, there have been rumors of a driver boycott at Talladega Superspeedway.

The talk really heated up when Bobby Labonte, the defending series champion, suggested that some sponsors “would be OK with it” if some drivers chose not to drive in Talladega. Labonte later said he never considered skipping the race.

The big tracks in Daytona and Talladega--the longest and fastest in NASCAR--have become more dangerous since the late 1980s when the stock car sanctioning body began to require carburetor restrictor plates to slow the cars down in the interest of driver and fan safety.

That kept the cars closely bunched throughout much of the race and virtually assured at least one major crash in every event.

A series of rule changes--aimed at horsepower and aerodynamics--eventually made passing on the big tracks so difficult that last year’s Daytona 500 nearly put the fans to sleep. That promoted more rule changes that turned the race last fall at Talladega and this year’s Daytona opener into particularly wild events that had the fans standing most of the time and the drivers holding their breath most of the race.

“One mistake can be costly for 15, 20 cars,” said two-time series champion Terry Labonte, Bobby’s older brother. “I’m not a big fan of these rules. But I’ll be in Talladega because that’s my job.”

Dale Jarrett, the 1999 series champ and this year’s points leader through the first seven events, said, “Nobody is going to skip these races. It’s not that type of a situation. The fans love the racing and, if the fans love it and it’s good TV, then we better find a way of getting used to it because that’s what we’re going to be doing.

“We’ll just have to adjust to it,” Jarrett added.

*

SEASON SURPRISE: Elliott Sadler appears to be the real deal.

Heading into Sunday’s Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the surprise winner of last month’s race in Bristol, Tenn., is eighth in the standings and has been running consistently at or near the front of the pack all season.

It’s by far his best start in the three seasons he’s been driving for the Wood Brothers’ team.

The key to the burgeoning success for Sadler, who will turn 26 on April 30, has been the patience of team owners Eddie and Len Wood.

“I hear drivers fussing all the time about car owners, that they’re not doing this right or that right,” Sadler said. “But not once have we had any problems. They have given me more than my share on a lot of things.

“I’ve argued with them going, ‘No, I don’t want that. Y’all keep it. Y’all need it.’ It’s just great being able to race for car owners like that.”

*

MORE SADLER: The Wood Brothers’ driver holds a non-racing record that still brings a grin to his face when reminded.

In 1992 at South Boston (Va.) Speedway, Sadler ate 16 bologna burgers -- fried slices of bologna on a bun--during a six-hour span.

“They were all with onion and mustard and stuff like that,” he said with a laugh. “I was a crew member for my brother (Hermie), but I guess I wasn’t doing much work on the car because I was eating bologna burgers.”

Sadler planned to spend Saturday night at the South Boston track watching his cousin, Owen Miller, race.

“I’ll definitely have me a bologna burger or two or three,” he said. “I’ll just have a few to get the old taste back, but that’s all.”

*

NO LOVE LOST: Tony Stewart came from 37th place to finish sixth last spring in Martinsville, then won the fall race on the .526-mile, paperclip-shaped oval in the fall. Still, he’s no fan of the circuit’s shortest track.

“I still wish that they’d just fill it up with water and put bass in there,” Stewart said. “I would be the first person to try my Nitro 911 bass boat up there and I’d be the first entry in the inaugural Martinsville bass fishing tournament.”

Actually, he isn’t quite that vehement any more.

“I definitely don’t dislike it as much as I used to,” Stewart said. “Winning did help that. It’s just a tough place. If I can get through that whole day without getting a scratch on my car, it’ll be a miracle.”

*

STAT OF THE WEEK: There have been seven different winners in the last seven Winston Cup races in Martinsville.

*

STAT OF THE WEEK II: There were only three Pontiac victories in Martinsville in NASCAR’s modern era since 1972, but two of them have come in the last four races (John Andretti in spring 1999 and Stewart in October). Morgan Shepherd also won in a Pontiac in spring 1981.