>From NASCAR Public Relations and Ford Motorsports

FORD MOTORSPORT NOTES AND QUOTES 
 Monday, April 29, 1996

SEARS POINT ADVANCES
Weekly Fax Release


IRVAN'S HOMECOMING MARKS SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF LAST VICTORY

Ernie Irvan of Salinas, Calif., returns this weekend to the site of his 
merit recent Winston Cup victory, which was two years ago at Sears 
Point, his home track.  Following are his comments:

ERNIE IRVAN -28- Texaco Havoline Thunderbird -- "I can't believe how 
long it's been since I won that race at Sears Point.  We're excites 
about going back.  I've got the same exact car going back that I 
dominated the race with in 1994.  We have all expectations of going back 
out there and running well again.  It's not a place where you just go 
out and test.  So, nobody's been out to test.  So it should be equal for 
everybody."

FORD HAS QUITE A LINE-UP OF ROAD RACERS: YOU, RICKY, MARK, WALLY ... 
"Rusty.  Yeah, we have a lot of good road racers in Thunderbird.  And 
now we've added Wally.  He's already shown he can really get around all 
the road courses.  And I'm not known as a great road racer, but I always 
seem to run good on the road courses.  Drivers mean so much on the road 
courses.  The down force issue is not as critical.  As long as the down 
force numbers are in the same neighborhood, the driver can make up for a 
small deficiency.  At a track like Talladega, anybody in the field can 
get in a car and go as fast as that car goes.  At Martinsville that 
changes.  The driver has to be able to do a good job.  At Sears Point, 
you multiply that even more.  The driver is more effective on a road 
course than anywhere else."

"I'm from out on the west coast and I always get a lot of attention.  
The last time I was out there, I had to stay focused on the task at 
hand.  I focused on the media part when it was time to do that and I 
focused on the race car when it was time to do that. Jeff Gordon is from 
out there, too.  He hasn't lived there in a long time.  I lived on the 
west coast until '81.  I'm the closest thing they have to someone from 
that area racing in Winston Cup. *******
 






DALLENBACH'S ROOTS MAKE HIM A FAVORITE AT SEARS POINT

Most of Wally Dallenbach's accomplishments in motorsports came on road 
courses.  The 1985 and '86 Trans-Am champion's two best Winston Cup 
career finishes came at Watkins Glen. but he actually prefers Sears 
Point:

WALLY DALLENBACH Jr.-15- Hayes Modems Thunderbird -- "Sears Point is one 
of my favorites.  Experience really makes a difference.  My style of 
driving lends itself to that type of a race track.  I like it.  I always 
liked it when I ran Trans-Am cars out there.  It's different from what 
We're used to and it's a nice break.  I think the way the road racers 
are brought up and their driving style works, it's just more aggressive 
than the guys who were brought up on short track ovals   You just attack 
the race track and it works, and that's our downfall on a lot of the 
ovals.  There's definitely a different way of doing things and when 
you're learning how to drive race cars. What you learn you always want 
to apply it.   When some of these guys go on a road course, they don't 
know exactly what to use or what kind of driving you have to use.  It's 
a different type of driving. You have to attack the race track , but you 
have to save your tires and brakes,  It's a real fine balance that comes 
with a lot of experience. You have to stay on the pavement, because if 
you drop a tire off in the dirt, you're probably going to puncture 
tires.  There would be an advantage to running off in the dirt, because 
there are some things you can do that can help you and not the guy 
behind you, but with Winston Cup cars it's really easy to cut these 
tires."

HOW CRITICAL IS QUALIFYING?  "It's probably more critical at Sears Point 
than any other road course because it's so hard to pass. There are only 
a couple of good places to pass, and you have half the track to set up 
for those places.  That makes it hard to pick off a bunch of race cars.  
And, there's a real good chance of a pile-up on the start.  It amazes me 
how everybody gets through turn one as good as they do.  I so think 
everybody in this series is getting better aria better about getting 
through the opening laps of a11 the races,  It is pretty stupid to do 
something in our races, as long as they are, that's going to take out a 
bunch of cars."

ASSESS THE COMPETITION AT SEARS POINT: "You've got a bunch of Ford guys 
to beat, but Earnhardt won there last year, Terry's always been a good 
road course driver and Jeff's becoming a goes road course driver.  The 
Hendrick cars are going to be fast.  But there are a lot of good road 
race drivers in Fords right now.  A lot has to do with those some of 
guys running at Sebring or Daytona, co-driving for us in the IMSA 
races."

*******
 






DONLAVEY CHOO-CHOOSES ALTERNATE ROUTE TO THE WEST COAST

Junie Donlavey's taking the train to Sears Point.  Mike Wallace's car 
owner, as well as his crew chief Bob Johnson and assistant spotter Billy 
Norton, are running on rails after Talladega en route to California for 
this weekend's Save Mart Supermarkets 300 at Sears Point.  After 
Sunday's Winston Select 500 at Talladega, Donlavey spent Sunday night in 
New Orleans and caught the Amtrak train to the west coast:

JULIE DONLAVEY -90- Hellig-Meyers Thunderbird -- "We're going to catch 
Amtrak from New Orleans to Martinez, Calif. right outside of Vallejo, 
which is right up there where the race track is.  Then when we leave 
Sonoma, we'll catch the train at Martinez and travel through Denver, 
Chicago and all down through there.  It's something that I've really 
wanted to do.  In 1945, I was transferred from Key West, Fla., to San 
Diego to go to Guam.  And I took the train ride. I've always remembered 
it.  That was back in the steam engine days. When we went through the 
mountains we'd get off the train and walk beside it while they were 
trying to get the train up the mountains. Bob and Gussie (JOHNSON) will 
not fly anywhere.  They were going to ride the train.  Billy Norton and 
his wife and I and my wife decided we'd go with them,  Only time I've 
been on a train since then is when we'd get on it at Richmond aria go to 
New York for the banquet.  I enjoyed that.  We leave Monday at noon and 
arrive at Martinez Wednesday evening.  We'll leave Monday at 10:00 and 
get back to Richmond at 4:30 the next evening.  Sleeper car and the 
whole bit." *******
 



Jack Durbin                                   indy500@freenet.tlh.fl.us
Motorsport News International                      jackd@motorsport.com
(Moderators for "rec.autos.sport.info")
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