THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 22, 2003
SPORTS
7B
NASCAR
Director's reputation eases transition from former job
BY JENNA FRYER ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Robin Pemberton stepped out of the spotlight when he gave up a successful career as a top-level crew chief following the 2001 season.
Six years later, he's a far bigger star than he ever wanted to be.
NASCAR's competition director became the center of attention at Daytona as he led the crackdown on cheating. The sport-coat clad Pemberton paced through the garage investigating corruption, then grimly faced the media on three consecutive days to announce the toughest penalties in NASCAR history.
"We're going to grab this one by the horns," Pemberton said on Day One.
"We've got people's attention now" he declared on Day Two.
"You couldn't stage this stuff, even if you wanted to," he wearily offered on Day Three.
It was trying times for Pemberton, one of the first people in the garage and one of the last to leave each day as he worked with NASCAR's top officials to prevent the Daytona 500 from becoming a joke.
When the race finally began last Sunday, six crew members had been thrown out of the garage. $250,000 in fines had been levied and five drivers had been docked points. Most important, NASCAR had convinced a skeptical racing community the Daytona 500 would be fair.
"I don't think there's any doubt that Robin has helped NASCAR's credibility and confidence among the competitors," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. "He is a nice complement to the NASCAR staff, particularly as it relates to the high
visibility of the competition department."
Pemberton, who led Rusty Wallace to 15 victories, joined the staff almost
and he's still trying to get comfortable in the job.
"The transition from being on one side of the fence to the other, how I manage relationships, how I work the garage area and work
been the longest active driver-crew chief tandem in the Cup series — Pemberton had hoped to scale back a bit and spend some time with his
"I don't think there's any doubt that Robin has helped NASCAR's credibility and confidence among the competitors."
the teams, it's something that takes a while to figure out," said Pemberton, who spent 22 years working side-by-side with the people he now novices
When he left Wallace's team after 230 races — a streak that had
MIKE HELTON NASCAR president
two sons before they left for college.
chief.
But after brief stints with Petty Enterprises and Ford Racing, NASCAR woed him to a position that requires more work and even longer days than he ever put in as a crew
It was everything the 50-year-old Pemberton had been trying to escape after a career in which he missed less than a dozen races since 1979.
'I won't be the first to admit that
plan didn't really go right for me," he said. "Maybe it's because I always worked seven days a week, even before I was in racing. I just gravitate to jobs that take seven days a week."
Because of Pemberton's experience in the garage and the relationships he had built, NASCAR felt he was the perfect fit.
The competitors agree.
"Robin brings a perspective to our sport that, for someone in that job, is much needed," said Jeff Burton. "He is someone who has been there recently, understands how this thing works, understands the mentality of the teams. It used to be that NASCAR never had that. It was their group, and it was our group."
"But Robin has made NASCAR understand some things and made us understand some things. He's very open-minded. He's very fair. He's easy to talk to, and he's not
afraid to disagree with you."
It's important that Pemberton retain all those qualities. He had the unpleasant task of removing Michael Waltrip's competition director from the garage last week after the team was caught using a fuel additive before qualifying.
Pemberton has known Bobby Kennedy for years and did his best to keep the escorted walk out of the garage professional, not a perp walk.
"I've got a really strong relationships with quite a few people in the garage area," he said. "The trick now is maintaining those relationships from being able to go in the back (of the NASCAR truck) to going to have dinner with a friend.
"You look at those cars as dots on the screens, not as drivers or numbers," he said. "I have no problem with that."
Tiger Woods drives on the fifth hole at the World Golf Championship Acement Match Play championship in Marana, Aniz. Antz, Wednesday Woods defended J. Henry 3 and 2 during the open round
>> PGA
Matt York/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Competitors face tight match on tough course
BY DOUG FERGUSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MARANA, Ariz. — Tiger Woods got the first match out of the way Wednesday, although this time he had to work for it.
One year after he set a tournament record with a 9-and-8 victory in the opening round, Woods relied on a big pair save early and a near ace on the 14th hole to put away Ryder Cup teammate JJ. Henry, 3 and 2, in the Accenture Match Play Championship.
For the second straight year, Stephen Ames had the shortest day.
He was on the losing end of that record rent by Woods at La Costa, but experienced the flip side of this fickle tournament by making seven birds in 11 holes to bury Robert Karlsson of Sweden, 8 and 7.
Fourth-seeded Phil Mickelson got a minor scare, trailing fellow lefty Richard Green of Australia and not taking the lead until the 14th hole. Mickelson won, 1-up when Green missed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.
Jim Furky, the No. 2 seed, also trailed at the turn until making three straight birdies and beating Brett Quigley, 2 and 1.
Shaun Micheel, who ended Woods' worldwide winning streak last September by beating him in the first round of the World Play Championship, was up to his old tricks. He knocked out one of the top seeds — Adam Scott at No. 3 — in 21
holes. Scott made a birdie on the 18th to force extra holes, then three putted on No.3, missing a 5-foot parut.
Woods said only the score made it look like an easy day.
"It was actually a pretty tight match," Woods said. "J.I. hit a lot of beautiful putts in the middle part of the round and on even on the back nine, and those putts just didn't go in. Had they gone in it might have been a different story."
Woods advanced to face Tim Clark of South Africa, a 3-and-2 winner over Robert Allenby.
Some feel this might be the toughest hurdle in Woods' unlikely quest to win 11 straight PGA Tour events, the record by Nelson set over five months in 1945. But on a warm day of swirling winds in the high desert
— and on The Gallery course with tight pins — he did himself a favor by not getting behind.
But there was one close call.
Woods pulled his tee shot into the desert on the second hole and was lucky to have a play. He hit the ball short of the green, and his pitch stayed on the front of the green some 20 feet from the hole. Henry, meanwhile, had a 12-foot birdie putt and was poised to go 1-up.
But the holed was halved when Woods made the putt and Henry missed his. Two holes later, Woods won with a par and never trailed.
"Hitting the ball in the desert like this, it's pot luck," Woods said. "I had a shot. More than likely, I should have been in a bush or some kind
of unplayable (lie), and j. J. should have won the hole with a 4. But I got lucky, got a break and was able to make a putt".
He was 2-up until the 14th, when his 8-iron spun back to within a foot of the cup for birdie.
Ames, who grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and now lives in Calgary, didn't even realize he had won the match after chipping in for birdie on the 11th and final hole.
Mickelson, coming off a victory at Pebble Beach and a playoff loss at Riviera, was surprised to see the pins tucked on the corners, especially on smooth greens that dropped off at the edges.
"I thought they were ridiculous," Mickelson said. "But everyone had to play them, so it was fair. You couldn't play aggressively. You had to play defensively away from the flags."
That worked out for him when he holed a 35-foot birdie on the 13th hole to square the match, then won the 14th and 16th with pars and hung on for the victory.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JUPITER, Fla. — The last time Adam Wainwright was on the mound he was closing out the World Series clinching victory for the St. Louis Cardinals. The next time the right-hander pitches a meaningful game, it likely will be as a starter in the team's rebuilt rotation.
But Wainwright isn't assuming anything.
"I'm competing to start," Wainwright, 25, said Wednesday. "Saying to myself I'm starting right now is selling short a couple of big names and big arms in this clubhouse and I am not going to do that."
MLB
Still, Wainwright is expected to open the season as part of the rotation, as long as closer Jason Isringhausen doesn't suffer a setback in his rehabilitation from hip surgery. It was Isringhausen's injury that thrust Wainwright into the closer's role last October, one the rookie handled with poise.
Wainwright's ability to command four pitches made him a top prospect as a starter in the Braves and Cardinals organizations, where he was 49-40 with a 3.76 ERA in 135 minor league starts.
Then, for the first time in his career, he found himself pitching out of the bullpen. Working mostly as the setup reliever until taking over the closer role for lrishinghausen, Wainwright had a 3.12 ERA in 75 innings during the regular season and four saves in the postseason.
"I feel like I could help this team either way but I grew up starting." Wainwright said. "I always wanted to start in the big leagues so that is another thing I get to say I have done if I get to do it but at the same time there's nothing like getting those last three outs."
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