The Buzz: November 11, 2001
November 11, 2001
7:41 PM EST (0041 GMT)
In the seven years since the siren mounted atop the legendary Dawsonville Pool Hall has wailed in honor of a NASCAR Winston Cup victory by the North Georgia town’s favorite son, Bill Elliott, the billiard room’s proprietor, Gordon Pirkle, has worried it wouldn't still function. Recently he had it serviced to ensure it would.
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Bill Elliott
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“It was nothing a little WD40 wouldn’t fix,” he said.
Sunday, Pirkle reported some 70 patrons, including Elliott’s daughter Starr, visited his establishment to view “Awesome Bill’s” 41st career victory. Pirkle said the klaxon howled for “30 minutes straight” and that he fielded a call from a California woman who “just wanted to hear the thing going off.”
AIN'T SPECULATING
Despite continued rumblings that Homestead’s winning team owner Ray Evernham would be hiring unemployed veteran Jeremy Mayfield and possibly farming young Casey Atwood out, possibly to another Dodge team; nothing was confirmed Sunday.
In fact, Atwood said it wasn’t so and second-place finisher Michael Waltrip, who passed the 21-year-old on the last lap to take the spot, said the talk all but made him sick.
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Casey Atwood
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“There really isn’t a whole lot to talk about right now,” Atwood said, reiterating a theme he began Friday after he and teammate Bill Elliott qualified second and first. “I think everybody has been doing a great job and Ray is just trying to make his team a better team.
“I’m going to be with Evernham Motorsports. I don’t know in which way or which car I’ll be driving right now. That will be discussed later, but I’ll be driving for him, and I plan on being with him for a long time.”
“Ray Evernham is obviously a smart man when it comes to race cars,” Waltrip said. “But I question his decision making when it comes to his drivers because this cat beside me (Atwood) is going to be a superstar.
“Why he’s having to go through this right now just flips me out.”
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