Notes: Craven recuperating from both knee surgery and post-concussion syndrome

Thursday, April 16, 1998 | 5:34 a.m.

By MIKE HARRIS

AP Motorsports Writer

Now, Ricky Craven is recovering from surgery on his right knee for a damaged anterior cruciate ligament that had bothered him for several years.

"I had been having a lot of discomfort with my knees after races," Craven said. "It affected a lot of things that I liked to do away from the track, too, like playing racquetball and basketball.

"Since I'm sort of strapped down doing therapy for my other problem anyway, I thought I would go ahead and get the knee taken care of."

The other problem the Winston Cup was referring to is post-concussion syndrome. It will sideline him for at least two months.

"I had some torn ligaments in the knee, and I just hadn't had time to take care of it," he said. "I couldn't do it after the season was over because it would interfere with testing.

"It's going to take an eight-week recovery period. That coincides with the other timetable I'm on, so I thought it would be a great time to get it taken care of."

Craven drove the first four races of this season, and was diagnosed with the post-concussion syndrome following the race in Las Vegas in March. He has been undergoing physical therapy since.

Craven is impatient, but trying to be sensible about the recovery period.

"The exercises (for the post-concussion syndrome) are very meticulous, but so far, so good," he said. "The doctors (at the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill) say I'm making progress. I'll go back in for evaluation in a couple of weeks, and we'll see how it's progressing."

Meanwhile, he's adding the therapy for his knee to the other work he has been doing.

"This is all just an effort to be 100-percent when I get back into a race car," Craven explained. "I want to correct everything that's bothering me and get rid of all my aches and pains."

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SUB GROUP: A quintet of substitute drivers will be trying to crack the lineup Sunday for the Goody's 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Jeff Green, on hiatus from his full-time ride with Diamond Ridge Motorsports, will fill in for Derrike Cope in the Bahari Racing Pontiac while Cope rests two broken ribs. Cope was injured in a crash at Atlanta on March 9 and aggravated it in a crash two weeks ago during qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway.

Morgan Shepherd will be at the wheel for Mike Skinner, who fractured his shoulder blade in a crash at Texas. Rich Bickle also will replace Greg Sacks, also hurt in the crashfest at Texas.

Others filling in for injured drivers this week are three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip, subbing for rookie Steve Park, who sustained multiple injuries in a crash last month at Atlanta; and two-time defending Busch Grand National champion Randy LaJoie, filling in for Craven.

LaJoie, who never has driven a Winston Cup race on Martinsville's flat half-mile oval, will be running his fourth race as Craven's sub.

"I'm getting more comfortable every week," LaJoie said. "It hasn't shown up yet, but I've learned a lot in the Cup car that's helped me in the Busch car. Any time you can drive the Cup cars and go back to the Busch cars, it makes you a better Busch driver."

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TIMES CHANGE: Darrell Waltrip, who leads all active Winston Cup drivers with 11 wins and eight poles at Martinsville, says the way teams approach the short-track races have changed over the years.

"Martinsville used to be a race where you had to pace yourself," he said. "You had to have a game plan.

"We used to have a stopwatch speed that you wanted to run. You said, if I ran this speed, then the brakes would last, the motor would last and all of your equipment would last."

But times have changed.

"You run as hard as you can go for as long as you can go," he said. "We have much better brakes now, and the cars can take a lot more abuse than they used to."

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AFTER DARK: With the Pepsi 400 on July 4 already scheduled under the lights, Daytona International Speedway officials have rescheduled pole qualifying for after dark.

Qualifying now is set for 8:15 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 2. The session was originally set for the afternoon of July 3.

"Fans asked for night racing at Daytona, and July 2 they will get their first look at the world's largest outdoor lighting project," said track president John Graham.

The revamped schedule has the Winston Cup cars taking to the track for a three-hour practice on July 2, beginning at 3 p.m. The first 25 positions for the 400-mile race will be determined that night in qualifying.

On July 3, the schedule includes practice from 3-5:30 p.m., with second-round qualifying, determining positions 26-43, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The final practice session under the lights will run from 7:30-9 p.m.

The Saturday night race will begin at 8 p.m., with CBS Sports making it the first live prime time network television broadcast of a motorsports event.

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STAT OF THE WEEK: Martinsville Speedway is one of four tracks on the NASCAR Winston Cup schedule with pits on both the front and backstretch. Only 21 of the 43 starters will pit on the front straight, and no driver has won from the backstretch since Lee Petty in 1959.