Spencer Team Changes: Jimmy Spencer announced that he has restructured his BGN operation, Spencer Motor Ventures, that fields the #5 Schneider National Chevy with driver Dick Trickle and the #12 Zippo Chevy. They also field a CTS Truck along with Winston Cup and Busch Series cars for driver Boris Said and sponsor Federated Auto Parts. The new generation Goodyear tire has Spencer and Busch Series teams challenged. This became even more apparent to Spencer when he reviewed the race day chassis set-up that Dick Trickle and crew chief Bryan Shaffer ran at The Milwaukee Mile. The team could not get the front tires of the Schneider Chevrolet to grip in the middle of the turns during practice, a problem that has plagued Busch Series drivers this season. Bryan Shaffer and most of the crew chiefs ran an unconventional set-up on race day at Milwaukee. The conventional set-ups that have been used successfully in the past at Milwaukee did not allow the cars to turn in the middle during practice. What happened at Milwaukee confirmed Spencer’s suspicion that the chassis set-ups that have been used in the past are no longer applicable with the new generation tire. Therefore, Spencer concluded that his Busch Series operation must develop an in-house Research and Development program to find these new set-ups. Spencer has charged Bryan Shaffer to develop and manage this R&D program, effective immediately. Shaffer has been Dick Trickle’s crew chief since 1996, and has 240 races under his belt as a NASCAR Busch Series crew chief. Shaffer will also the call the shots on Spencer’s #12 Zippo Chevy. Al Cretsinger will replace Shaffer as the crew chief on the #5 Schneider Chevy. Cretsinger was the crew chief on the #12 Zippo Chevy, where he posted four wins with Spencer. Cretsinger was also Dick Trickle’s Busch Series crew chief in 1995(Spencer PR)(7-11-2000)
