This weekend’s unveiling of the SAFER
barrier at the three-quarter mile Richmond International
Raceway might be a prelude to one day having all NASCAR
Winston Cup tracks equipped with the energy-absorbing walls.
Only Indianapolis uses the system now and New Hampshire will
be equipped at the October race.
The SAFER barrier is four steel tubes
welded in about 20-foot sections and bolted to the concrete
walls. Between the steel and the concrete, pads of hard,
pink foam are placed about 10 feet apart, allowing the
surface to bend and thereby reduce force.
Benson wrecked in a Busch Series race
at Richmond in 2002. He suffered a broken rib in his back on
the right side and two cracked ribs on front right side of
his body. He missed three races. Benson’s teammate Jerry
Nadeau was injured at Richmond in May and has yet to return
to racing.
The audio segment
below is Johnny Benson discussing
the
SAFER barrier that will
make its Richmond debut
Click Play to Listen
Benson On SAFER Barrier:
"The SAFER barrier is good news. I know NASCAR has been
working on it pretty hard and I'm glad they are far enough
along to where they think it's time to install it at
Richmond. Obviously, we all hope it works and makes the
sport a little bit safer. Richmond is a great track and if
this barrier works like I think it will everyone in our
sport will benefit. We hit the wall at the short tracks just
as hard as we hit the wall at the bigger tracks. I hope we
have the SAFER barrier at all of our tracks soon."
Benson On Richmond:
“I have always liked going to
Richmond. It’s a great race track. It has two grooves and
you can race all over the place. I’ve said before and I
still say Richmond might be the best show we put on for
everyone all season. The place is a lot of fun for the
drivers, the fans like it because its close short-track
racing where you can pass, and I think most of our crew guys
like the race because they don’t have to fix a lot of
wrecked race cars like we do at Bristol.”
Predictions for Weekend:
“Last Spring we ran OK but not like we wanted to. I hope it
will be better Saturday night. We are getting better and
better of late. We weren’t showing all that we had a
Darlington and got caught up in somebody else’s wreck. I
think we had top-15s in the last three ovals. We’d like to
do better than that on Saturday night.”
Benson’s Crew Chief James Ince, of
Springfield, Mo., is celebrating a championship for his dirt
late model car building company. Justin Wells of Crane Mo.
won the IMCA Dirt Late Model championship last week in a
chassis built by James Ince Motorsports.
Ince On Building the IMCA Dirt Late
Model Champion:
“The company is about four or five years old in Rogersville,
Missouri. Until last year we were just a parts and
components business, but I decided we wanted to design and
build our own dirt late model chassis. Since this was a
startup operation we only sold about eight cars and one of
them was to Justin Wells who was running in the IMCA late
model division. He was a young kid that wasn’t getting a lot
of help and we saw a lot of potential. Turns out he goes out
and wins the championship and I think combined with the
other drivers our cars had about 20 victories. That’s pretty
rewarding. We are pretty excited. This is an all Missouri
operation. The short tracks are what I grew up on and I’m
proud of that background. We have our own dirt team. My
brother drives for me and I’m sure some day when I’m not in
Winston Cup it’s where I plan to go back to and enjoy life.
Racing is what I do and it’s what I love.”
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Benson Richmond Record
Race Year S F
Spring 2003 13 15
Fall 2002 9 35
Spring 2001 DNS
Fall 2001 27 10
Spring 2001 11 6
Fall 2000 8 7
Spring 2000 23 25
Fall 1999 30 22
Spring 1999 26 28
Fall 1998 32 41
Spring 1998 8 18
Fall 1997 37 13
Spring 1997 23 9
Fall 1996 34 10
Spring 1996 33 37
Benson 2003 Record
S F
Daytona 40 19
Rockingham 2 13
Las Vegas 16 12
Atlanta 23 11
Darlington 22 25
Bristol 20 19
Texas 13 32
Talladega 17 41
Martinsville 28 32
California 32 36
Richmond 13 15
Charlotte 10 24
Dover 30 5
Pocono 25 24
Michigan 26 25
Infineon 25 30
Daytona 22 27
Chicago 36 18
Loudon 26 26
Pocono 29 20
Indianapolis 40 13
Watkins Glen 27 27
Michigan 35 10
Bristol 32 14
Darlington 11 40
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THE RACE: Chevy Rock and Roll 400
Race: Saturday, September 6, 2003 in
Richmond, VA
TV: TNT - 7:40pm/et
Pre-Race Show: TNT - 7:00pm/et -
hosted by Bill Weber
Scheduled Race Re-Air: one-hour recap
of the race on Wednesday, September 10th at 7:00pm/et and
again on September 11th at 1:00am/et; a full three-hour race
show will re-air at 3:00pm/et on Thursday, September 11th
Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny
Parsons, Wally Dallenbach
Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum,
Marty Snider, Dave Burns
War Wagon: Bill Weber and many guests
Purse/Race Awards: $3,841,298 in 2002
2002 Race Winner: Matt Kenseth,
94.787mph, started 25th
Event/Track Race Record: Dale Jarrett,
Sept 1997, 109.047mph
Oldest Winner: Harry Gant, 51 years, 7
months, 28 days, Sept 1991
Youngest Winner: Richmond Petty, 23
years, 9 months, 21 days, April 1961
Most Laps Led: Bobby Allison, Sept
1979, 369 laps
Most Cautions: 14 (3 Times), most
recently May 2002
Fewest Cautions: 0, March 1976
Most Caution Laps: 123 (2 times) most
recently Sept 1974
Worst Starting Spot to Win: Richard
Petty, March 1971, started 28th
Track/Race Length: 0.75 mile oval, 400
laps, 300 miles
Pit Road Speed: 35mph
Practice: Friday, September 5th,
11:20am - 1:20pm/et; 4:45 - 5:30pm/et Happy Hour Practice:
Friday, September 5th, 6:10 - 6:55pm/et on TV-TNT tape delay
at 7:00pm/et.
Qualifying Draw: Friday, September
5th, 10:20am/et First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions
1-36, Friday, September 5th at 3:05pm/et, TV-TNT live.
Track Qualifying Record: Ward Burton,
May 2002, 127.389mph
Event Qualifying Record: Jimmie
Johnson, Sept 2002, 126.145mph
Last Year's Pole Sitter: Jimmie
Johnson, 126.145, finished 13th.
Track Specs:
Short Track: 0.75-mile oval, 60-foot
width with 10-foot apron
Banking: turns: 14 degrees;
frontstretch 8 degrees; backstretch 2 degrees
Straights: Backstretch - 860 feet;
Frontstretch - 1290 feet
Seating Capacity: ~105,00
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television
Information
Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown
Owners: Valvoline (Jim Rocco)/MB2
Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers, Read Morton)
Crew Chief/Car Chief: James Ince
Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
Spotter (Race Day) Jay Guy
Spotter (Practice Only) Russell
Hoekwater
Engine Tuner John Kendrach
Over The Wall Pit Crew
Front Tire Changer Rick (Fuzz)
Burgdoff
Front Tire Carrier Shane Cooke
Rear Tire Changer Greg Burkhart
Rear Tire Carrier Steve Genenbacher
Gasman Jimmy Watts
Tire Specialist Skippy Johnson
Catch Can Steve Mann
Jackman Brian Perry
Other Crew Members
Truck Driver: Jerry Hess
Mechanic: David Baum
Shocks: Mike Cluka
Tires: Jeff (Skippy) Johnson
Engineer: Tim Turner
Computers & Gas Runner: John Hayes
Scorer: Terry Lane
Pit Stop Coach: Gary Smith
PR Rep: Drew Brown
