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NASCAR Goody's Dash Series at Myrtle Beach: Report

13 August 1997


                      SOCKWELL TOPS AT MYRTLE BEACH


MYRTLE BEACH, SC - Brian  Sockwell, of Brown Summit,  NC took the lead
at the start  of  the 100 lap  NASCAR Goody's  Dash Series feature  at
Myrtle Beach Speedway Saturday night and went on to win his third Dash
event of  the 1997   season just edging  out  Mike  Swaim Jr.  at  the
finish. "This   thing was   fast   right out   of  the hauler."   said
Sockwell.  "We  changed a few  things  during practice but the changes
slowed us  down so we went back  to the set up we  put under it at the
shop and left it alone." The box setup apparently, was perfect for the
cool conditions at the Grand Strand oval, as Sockwell first, broke his
own track  record during the  qualification  runs and then  went on to
lead every lap of the main event.

It was a much different situation for many of the other competitors in
this race. No less than eight entries were forced to retire early as a
result of accidents and many of the cars running at the finish were
showing some signs of the extremely close racing. Charlotte winner,
Christian Elder was one driver who found himself watching the finish
of this one from the infield following an incident in turn four of lap
68 which involved practically everyone from third place, back. The
incident was triggered when Robert Huffman, running fourth at the
time, made contact with the rear of Charles Powell III's car sending
Powell spinning and setting off a chain reaction pile up as the
tightly packed field tried to scatter to avoid the accident. The
incident brought out a brief red flag period to clear the track and
earned the 1990 Series Champion, Robert Huffman, a two lap stay on pit
road for rough driving. Although most of the cars involved were able
to recover and continue racing, along with Elder, Junior Miller and
Ernie Yarborough were eliminated from competition. Huffman was later
involved in another incident with the leader, Sockwell, this time
making heavy contact with the inside retaining wall on the back
stretch. Huffman ended up finishing 13th, three laps down to the
leader.

Will Hobgood, winner of the Spring race here, was another one of those
drivers who found the going much tougher this time around as he and
Monk Gulledge tangled in turn four sending both cars to the outside
retaining wall and eliminating both from further competition in this
event.

Amidst all the problems for many of the drivers, a few roses did
manage to bloom. This race saw the return of B.J. Mackey to the field
after missing most of the season because of lack of
sponsorship. Mackey started 13th on the grid and had worked his way to
6th prior to being caught up in the incident that brought out the red
flag on lap 69. Despite having to restart at the back of the field,
the young Rock Hill, SC native worked his way back to the front to
finish fourth. Charles Powell III of Goose Creek, SC also recovered
from his incident to finish third. Powell also received Rookie of the
Race honors for being the highest finishing rookie. Jake Hobgood was
another driver who recovered from that lap 68 incident. He was able to
fight his way back through the field to finish fifth.

Rounding out the top ten in Saturday's race were veterans, Ned Combs
and Mickey York, Rookie of the Year candidate Greg Dodgens picked up
his best finish of the season and two newcomers to the NASCAR Goody's
Dash Series, Jimmy Gross and Rusty Wise each picked a top ten finish.

The next event for the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series is the Cooks Moving
Service 100 at the historic Langley Raceway in Hampton, VA August
16. Please note the new starting time for this race is 6:30
sharp. This race will be taped by ESPN 2 and will be aired Wednesday
evening at 10:30 pm eastern time.

By NASCAR Public Relations