The announcement finally: “Geoff Bodine announced his new partners in a press conference Saturday. Businessmen Jim Mattei and John Porter have become the majority owners of the No. 7 QVC Ford driven by Bodine. Under the terms of the agreement, Bodine, still part owner, will continue to drive the car for at least the next three years. Mattei, who is a private investor from Dallas, founded the Checkers Drive-thru restaurant chain and Porter, who is also a private investor serves as Director of WORLDCOM, Inc., the parent company of UUNet industries. Both were introduced to racing by Felix Sabates. Bodine also announced the addition of championship crew chief Tim Brewer as Team Manager for the QVC Racing team. Brewer and Bodine were teamed together in 1990 as driver and crew chief with Junior Johnson”(NASCAR Online), the team will be known as Mattei Motorsports, Mattei said he is now negotiating with QVC, a TV home-shopping network, to renew its sponsorship for 1998(JournalNow) (the announcement story is now on all the major auto racing sites now)(8-17-97)
