Thursday, April 2, 1998 | 10:57 a.m.
By JOE MACENKA
AP Sports Writer
The success and popularity of Bristol Motor Speedway's massive refurbishment project raises the question of why Winston Cup promoters are building new superspeedways instead of short tracks.
All Mark Martin needs to do is point to the infield of Bristol's .533-mile layout. The track is unique on the circuit because there is no infield seating allowed, and even with the ban on spectators, space is still extremely tight.
Corporate hospitality tents are almost nonexistent, and there isn't even enough room to land a helicopter to shuttle the injured to the hospital.
"You've got to have some room to race on, to do your business on and to service the fans," Martin said.
Even though Bristol is the second-shortest track on the circuit, the area around the high-banked oval has been rebuilt in the past two years to fit grandstands that hold almost 130,000 people and 95 luxury suites that hold another 5,000. More seats are planned for the track, which has adopted a lottery system to distribute tickets because of the flood of interest in the northeast Tennessee facility.
"Bristol is the only place like it," Martin said. "Our sport's grown a little bit beyond the half-miles. And that's not knocking Bristol. Bristol is the exception, not the rule."
Recent history supports Martin's theory. Three new tracks - California Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway - have been added to the Winston Cup schedule in the past year, and a fourth - Atlanta Motor Speedway - has a new racing layout.
In all four cases, the new tracks are at least 1 1/2 miles in length.
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PARK'S PERSPECTIVE: A broken thigh bone is recognized as one of the most painful and slow-healing leg injuries anyone can have, and it can be even more frustrating for someone who drives race cars for a living.
But Steve Park, the rookie driver for Dale Earnhardt's new Winston Cup team, doesn't complain about his predicament after a practice crash in Atlanta last month.
"Sitting at home, not being able to do anything, reading some of the support you get from thousands and thousands of race fans has really picked my spirits up," said Park, whose rehabilitation is expected to sideline him until August. "It's given me some more ambition to really go on and get this leg better.
"Reading some of the things that some other people have been through has made this broken leg look like a broken finger. I just feel blessed. It could have been worse. We're just going to pick up the pieces and go on and get back in the race car."
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FORD RETORT: Ford teams have been the target of complaints from their Chevrolet counterparts in recent weeks because of the success of the new Taurus.
Chevrolet teams say the 1998 Taurus, which has accounted for 37 of a possible 50 top-10 finishes in the last five races, has been given too many rules concessions by NASCAR, making it too easy for drivers to succeed.
But Ford officials say it isn't necessarily the cars. Instead, they suggest, it might be that Ford has better teams and better drivers - and more of them.
As proof of their theory, Ford officials noted that in the last five years, only three Chevrolet team owners have won Winston Cup points races compared to seven Ford team owners.
The breakdown: Chevrolet's Rick Hendrick (41 races), Richard Childress (18) and Morgan-McClure (7), and Ford's Robert Yates (22), Jack Roush (19), Roger Penske (16), Ricky Rudd (4), Geoff Bodine (4), Wood Brothers (1) and Cale Yarborough (1).
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STREAKING: Terry Labonte leads all active Winston Cup drivers with 575 consecutive starts. ... Jeff Gordon has finished in the top 20 in nine consecutive races, including a victory in the Food City 500 last weekend at Bristol. ... Earnhardt has been running at the finish of the last 51 races.
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WHO'S HOT: Dale Jarrett has climbed from 34th to ninth in the Winston Cup standings since the season-opening Daytona 500. ... After failing to make the field at Daytona, Johnny Benson has risen from 40th to 13th in the driver standings. ... Jeff Burton has posted four consecutive top-10 finishes, helping him climb from 40th to eighth in the standings. ... Bill Elliott has finished in the top 15 in all six races this season. ... Martin has four top-10 finishes.
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WHO'S NOT: Ernie Irvan has fallen from sixth to 20th in the standings since Daytona. ... Dave Marcis was unable to make the 43-car starting grid at Bristol, marking the fifth consecutive race for which he failed to qualify. ... Gary Bradberry has failed to qualify for five races in 1998, and is last among the 53 drivers listed in the points standings. ... Joe Nemechek, who did not qualify at Bristol, has finished 26th or worse in every race this year.
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THE FINAL WORD: Darrell Waltrip knows there are probably quite a few people who chuckled when they heard he had gone to work as a relief driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Waltrip and Earnhardt could safely be described as having a less-than-rosy relationship in the 1980s, when they were battling for supremacy on stock car racing's top circuit.
But Park's injury meant Earnhardt was without a driver for his fledgling Winston Cup team, and Waltrip was without a ride after selling his team to T.J. Beverley late last month.
And Waltrip and Earnhardt have mended their fences in recent years, at least enough to recognize a convenient business opportunity.
"This ought to be a good lesson to everybody," Waltrip said. "Don't ever say never."
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