Valvoline
Rockingham Preview
 The next two
stops on the Nascar Winston Cup Circuit should bring a great
deal of attention and maybe some redemption for Bobby
Burrell, the 31-year-old front tire changer on Johnny
Benson’s #10 Valvoline Pontiac.
Burrell will take part in Saturday’s annual pit stop
competition at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham then
the series returns to Homestead-Miami Speedway the next
weekend where Burrell suffered serious head injuries during
in a pit lane incident last year while working for Ricky
Rudd’s #28 team.
As Burrell bent down to work on Rudd’s car midway through
last year's race another car struck the six-year veteran
knocking him headfirst into the concrete pit wall. He was
airlifted to a Miami hospital then transported to Charlotte
hospital where he remained in serious condition for several
days. Two of Burrell’s teammates and a Nascar official were
also injured in the accident although not as seriously as
Burrell.
Burrell made a remarkable recovery in the off-season and
returned to his tire changing duties this season joining
Benson’s team about a month ago. The accident prompted
NASCAR to mandate teams utilize helmets on pit road for the
2002 season.
Bobby Burrell On Looking Forward To Homestead:
"Yeah, I look forward to Homestead because I know that it is
the place where it all happened last year. I look at it as a
place where I can find a lot of redemption. I won’t have any
apprehension going back there. Sure, I’d like to take a few
minutes to walk down pit road by myself and think about what
happened maybe get a little bit of closure. But, I don’t
want to take away from this race team and Johnny’s focus on
winning. I hope it’s just like a normal weekend. It would be
a pretty cool deal for me if we could win there."
How Has The Year Been Since The Accident?
"This year has had its ups and downs. The whole month of
November and the whole month of December I was in a lot of
pain. It was hard to think straight and walk straight. But
once February rolled around and I went to Daytona things
started going pretty good. I feel as good as I did before I
got hurt."
Did You Ever Think About Quitting?
"No. I always knew I would be back. I had the desire, I knew
I would have the attitude. It was something that I never
doubted. Right after I got hurt and spent time in the
hospital I started working out with Walt and Gary Smith.
They helped me on improving my hand-eye coordination and
that kind of stuff. It was hard work but worth while."
Do You Get Scared Going Over The Wall:
"You can’t be scared. You can’t afford that. If you are
scared you aren’t going to concentrate on your job. That
means you could get yourself hurt, or your teammates hurt,
or somebody else on pit road hurt. When I go over the wall
now my focus is totally on what I need to do to get Johnny
and out of the pits."
Has There Been Any Good To Come With The Accident?
"There has been some good. I mean Nascar has always done a
pretty good job with driver safety but it seemed like they
really started taking steps to improve the safety of the
crews and race officials. The helmets are a great idea.
Giving the guys on pit road a little bit more protection
will help them in the future. I guess you could say that was
the good that came out."
What Do You Remember About The Accident?
"I don’t remember any of it. I remember that whole day up
until it happened but that’s it. That’s probably not a bad
thing. I’ve seen pictures and the video but I don’t remember
it."
Rockingham Pit Stop Competition This Weekend:
"Sure we want to win it. I don’t know if we get more or less
excited about the pit stop competition compared to the race.
The difference is that the competition is a one shot deal.
At least in a race you have about a half dozen chances to
get your car in and out pretty fast. The pit stop
competition is big to us. You never know what can happen.
The worst team could be the best that day and the best pit
crew could be the worst. If you are in it you have a chance
to win. We are going to pull out all of our best tricks.
Plus, I think the purse is about $100,000 so just that
should get you motivated."
Johnny Benson On Pit Safety, Burrell
"Everybody thinks the driver has the most dangerous job but
if you watch our pit stops you see that those guys going
over the wall have to be pretty brave. We do a really good
job in our sport of not getting those guys hurt. I mean if
you think about how often we pit on those tight pit roads
its amazing we do as well as we do. The safety of my crew
guys is the most important thing to me. When we come down
pit road we want to beat the other guy out of the pits but
making sure we don’t slide into the crew or another team’s
crew is more important than all that. Its something as a
driver you have to be aware of at all times or things could
go really bad."
"Bobby has made a heck of a comeback. That accident was
scary. I didn’t know him at the time and remember thinking
he was pretty lucky to get through something like that. Let
me tell you getting hurt isn’t fun but when you can comeback
like Bobby has then it creates a lot of respect. It takes a
lot of courage to do what he and the other over-the-wall
guys do each weekend. We’d love to get him to victory lane
in Miami or anywhere for that matter."
Benson Record At North Carolina Motor Speedway
Date S F
02/24/2002 3 23
11/04/2001 39 3
02/25/2001 8 6
10/22/2000 14 11
02/27/2000 34 14
10/24/1999 21 28
02/21/1999 37 16
11/01/1998 2 41
02/22/1998 8 30
10/27/1997 20 36
02/23/1997 21 27
10/20/1996 38 40
02/25/1996 3 20
Pit Stop Competition
Held annually during the fall race weekend at North Carolina
Speedway since 1967, the object of the World Pit Crew
Competition is for each crew in the top 25 in NASCAR Winston
Cup Series points to empty 14 gallons of gasoline into the
car (two cans holding seven gallons each) and change both
left- and right-side tires in as short a time as possible.
Time penalties are assessed for various infractions
including loose lug nuts, fuel spills and fuel left in the
gas can. The team with the fastest time becomes the new
world champion. This year’s competition takes place Saturday
following the Busch Series race. There is no live
television.
THE RACE: Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400
Winston Cup Race #34 of 36 for the 2002 Winston Cup season
Race: Sunday, November 3, 2002 in Rockingham, NC
TV: TNT - 1:00pm/et
Race re-air: TNT on Tues, Nov 5th at 1:00am/et; Speed
Channel on Wed, Nov 6th, 8:00pm/et; Thurs, Nov 7th,
1:00am/et
Pre-Race Show: TNT - 12:00noon/et - Hosted by Bill Weber
Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally
Dallenbach
Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave
Burns
Purse/Race Awards: $3,868,755 (last year $3,251,124)
2001 Race Winner: Joe Nemechek, 128.941mph, started 13th
Race Record: Jeff Burton, Oct 1999, 131.103mph
Track/Race Length: 1.017 mile oval, 393 laps, 399.68 miles
Pit Road Speed: 45mph
Practice
Practice: Friday, November 1st, 11:20am - 1:20pm/et;
Saturday, November 2nd, 9:30 - 10:15am/et.
Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, November 2nd, 11:15am -
12:00noon/et on TV-TNT at 12:00noon/et tape delay.
Qualifying
Qualifying Draw: Friday, November 1st, 10:20am/et
Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, November 1st
at 3:05pm/et,
TV-TNT and live via MRN Radio No re-air.
Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, Feb 2000, 158.035mph
Event Qualifying Record: Mark Martin, Oct 1999, 157.383mph
Last Year's Pole Sitter: Kenny Wallace, 154.690, finished
2nd.
Track Specs: North Carolina Speedway, know as 'The Rock':
Degree of Banking: Turns 1-2: 22 degrees; Turns 3-4: 25
degrees;
Straight-aways: 8 degrees
Width: Turns 55 feet wide; Straight-aways: 50 feet wide
Number of Pits: 45 on front straight (1,436 ft. long) pit
road
Pit Stalls: 30 feet long; 16 feet wide
Length of Front Straight: 1,300 feet
Length of Back Straight: 1,367 feet
Length of Turns 1 & 2: 1,256 feet
Length of Turns 3 & 4: 1,437 feet
Grandstand Seating: 60,113
#10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television Information
Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown
Owner: Valvoline/MB2 Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers,
Read Morton)
Crew Chief/Car Chief: James Ince
Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
Spotter (Race Day) Brian Dantinne
Spotter (Practice Only) Russell Hoekwater
Engine Tuner: Devin Barbee
Over The Wall Pit Crew
Gas Man: Jimmy Watts
Front Tire Changer: Bobby Burrell
Front Tire Carrier: David Smith Tilley
Catch Can: Steve Mann
Jackman: Rob Jones
Rear Tire Changer: Greg Burkhart
Rear Tire Carrier: Shane Cooke
Other Crew Members
Truck Driver: Gale (Bandit) Wilson
Mechanic: Jerry Hess
Mechanic: David Baum
Shocks: Mike Cluka
Tires: Jeff Johnson
Engineer: Tim Turner
Computers & Gas Runner: John Hayes
Scorer: Terry Lane
Pit Stop Coach: Gary Smith
PR Rep: Drew Brown
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2008
Craftsman Truck Schedule
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02/15 |
Daytona |
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02/23 |
California |
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03/07 |
Atlanta |
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03/29 |
Martinsville |
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04/26 |
Kansas |
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05/16 |
Lowes |
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05/24 |
Mansfield |
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05/30 |
Dover |
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06/06 |
Texas |
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06/14 |
MIS |
|
06/20 |
Milwaukee |
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06/28 |
Memphis |
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07/19 |
Kentucky |
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07/25 |
Indy |
|
08/09 |
Nashville |
|
08/20 |
Bristol |
|
09/06 |
Gateway |
|
09/13 |
Loudon |
|
09/20 |
Las Vegas |
|
10/04 |
Talladega |
|
10/18 |
Martinsville |
|
10/25 |
Atlanta |
|
10/31 |
Texas |
|
11/07 |
Phoenix |
|
11/14 |
Homestead |
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2008
Nationwide
Schedule |
|
02/16 |
Daytona |
|
02/23 |
California |
|
03/01 |
Las Vegas |
|
03/08 |
Atlanta |
|
03/15 |
Bristol |
|
03/22 |
Nashville |
|
04/05 |
Texas |
|
04/11 |
Phoenix |
|
04/20 |
Mexico |
|
04/26 |
Talladega |
|
05/02 |
Richmond |
|
05/09 |
Darlington |
|
05/24 |
Lowes |
|
05/31 |
Dover |
|
06/07 |
Nashville |
|
06/14 |
Kentucky |
|
06/21 |
Milwaukee |
|
06/28 |
New Hampshire |
|
07/04 |
Daytona |
|
07/11 |
Chicago |
|
07/19 |
Gateway |
|
07/26 |
Indy |
|
08/02 |
Montreal |
|
08/09 |
Watkins Glen |
|
08/16 |
Michigan |
|
08/22 |
Bristol |
|
08/30 |
California |
|
09/05 |
Richmond |
|
09/20 |
Dover |
|
09/27 |
Kansas |
|
10/10 |
Lowes |
|
10/25 |
Memphis |
|
11/01 |
Texas |
|
11/08 |
Phoenix |
|
11/15 |
Miami |
|
|
2008
Sprint Cup
Schedule |
|
02/17 |
Daytona |
|
02/24 |
California |
|
03/02 |
Las Vegas |
|
03/09 |
Atlanta |
|
03/16 |
Bristol |
|
03/30 |
Martinsville |
|
04/06 |
Texas |
|
04/12 |
Phoenix |
|
04/27 |
Talladega |
|
05/03 |
Richmond |
|
05/10 |
Darlington |
|
05/25 |
Lowes |
|
06/01 |
Dover |
|
06/08 |
Pocono |
|
06/15 |
MIS |
|
06/22 |
Sonoma |
|
06/29 |
New Hampshire |
|
07/05 |
Daytona |
|
07/12 |
Chicago |
|
07/27 |
Indy |
|
08/03 |
Pocono |
|
08/10 |
Watkins Glen |
|
08/17 |
MIS |
|
08/23 |
Bristol |
|
08/31 |
California |
|
09/06 |
Richmond |
|
09/14 |
Loudon |
|
09/21 |
Lowes |
|
09/28 |
Kansas |
|
10/05 |
Talladega |
|
10/11 |
Lowes |
|
10/19 |
Martinsville |
|
10/26 |
Atlanta |
|
11/02 |
Texas |
|
11/09 |
Phoenix |
|
11/16 |
Miami |
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2008
JB's Berlin
Schedule |
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August 2nd |
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September 27th |
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