Daytona Ford tests 95-01-05

FORD TESTING AT DAYTONA -- 1-5-95

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Jarrett Thursday posted the fastest speed by Ford stock car drivers in pre-Daytona 500 NASCAR Winston Cup testing at Daytona International Speedway when he was clocked at 191.123 mph in Robert Yates' Thunderbird.

Other drivers who topped 190 included Ted Musgrave, 190.775; Bill Elliott, 190.476; and Morgan Shepherd, 190.114.

The Ford test concludes on Friday. A section of the Oldfield Grandstand will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with access through the Visitors' Center.

After three consistent days of testing, sophomore Winston Cup driver Loy Allen was in a reflective mood. Allen, of course, made history last Feb. 12 when he won the Busch Pole Award for the Daytona 500.

It marked the first time a NASCAR Winston Cup rookie had won the Daytona 500 pole position. Allen will return to Daytona for Speedweeks '95 with his same sponsor, Hooters Restaurants, but with a new team owner, Junior Johnson.

"I'm real happy to be with Junior Johnson and to have Mike Hill as crew chief," explained Allen during Thursday's test session. "I think I'm being given a great chance to race these cars. I've been given a good chance with good engines and good cars and some good people around me. I'm going to try and take advantage of it and race this year as hard as I can."

Hill, who assisted Jimmy Spencer in winning his first two NASCAR Winston Cup races in 1994 -- including the Pepsi 400 at Daytona -- feels the opportunity of working with a second-year driver is a plus.

"I've worked with Darrell Waltrip, Geoff Bodine, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott and Jimmy Spencer," the veteran crewman, but relative rookie crew chief noted. "I've gained a lot of experience from that. I see this as a chance to help a young driver with that experience. Loy has a lot of ability. He won the pole at Daytona, Atlanta and Michigan.

"Those are probably three of the toughest tracks out there to win the pole at. His ability to do that, to win poles, has brought the enthusiasm level up for this team as we look toward starting the season."

Can Allen take the Busch Pole Award for the '95 Daytona 500, on Saturday, Feb. 11? He thinks so.

"I want to do that again," said the former dirt tracker, who won the pole for the '92 Daytona ARCA 200 in his first attempt at a track longer than 5/8ths of a mile. "There will be a lot of fast cars out there, but we'll be trying hard to repeat our strength from last year."

FORD TEST SPEEDS*, 1-5-95

CAR DRIVER TIME SPEED

 28  DALE JARRETT       47.09 sec.  191.123 mph
 16  TED MUSGRAVE       47.18       190.795
 94  BILL ELLIOTT       47.25       190.476
 21  MORGAN SHEPHERD    47.34       190.114
  9  LAKE SPEED         47.37       189.994
 27  LOY ALLEN          47.59       189.115
 23  JIMMY SPENCER      47.69       188.719
  8  JEFF BURTON        47.80       188.285
  1  RICK MAST          47.86       188.048
 80  JOE RUTTMAN        47.90       187.891
 77  DAVY JONES         47.90       187.891
 11  BRETT BODINE       47.97       187.617
 26  STEVE KINSER       48.00       187.500
 53  RITCHIE PETTY      48.09       187.149
 90  MIKE WALLACE       48.10       187.110
 12  DERRIKE COPE       48.16       186.877
 99  SHAWNA ROBINSON    48.51       185.529
 82  KEN BOUCHARD       49.20       182.926

* = Randomly hand-timed and from various sources.