hearing that SABCO may use the #01 (which was used on a 3rd team part time in 1999) in place of the #42 out of respect to Kenny Irwin Jr, their driver who passed away at NHIS last Friday. Not sure if it will be for Pocono only or for the rest of the 2000 season. Also hear that they may change the paint scheme of the BellSouth Chevy for the same reasons. Some drivers under consideration to run the car at Pocono are Ricky Craven, Rich Bickle and Hut Stricklin UPDATE #01: New team(SABCO/Gannassi) manager Andy Graves said Tuesday his squad, which skipped Sunday’s New England(Thatlook.com 300) 300 at New Hampshire after Irwin was killed in a practice crash at the track, will return to action for the July 23 race at Pocono. Graves said the Chevrolet Monte Carlo will carry the same BellSouth sponsorship but is going with #01(instead of #42) because they think that’s best. Graves made the decision in consultation with his boss, Chip Ganassi, who last week completed his purchase of the two-car team from Felix Sabates. Ganassi, who attended Tuesday’s test at Indy, said he was prepared to keep Irwin and teammate Sterling Marlin in his cars for the next two years. He signed contract extensions with both drivers last week. Ganassi said he was looking at “three or four guys” to replace Irwin, although he declined to name them Tuesday. (Derrike Cope and Hut Stricklin are mentioned). Graves said it was a short list of candidates by necessity. Most of the league’s better drivers were locked into contracts for the rest of the season, and he didn’t feel comfortable raiding another team’s program and that any driver hired this week would probably be on board only for the short term(in part from a story at SpeedNet)(7-12-2000) UPDATE 2: hearing Ted Musgrave and Todd Bodine are being considered also, but Bodine will be racing BGN at Pikes Peak on Saturday UPDATE 3: The #01 team plans to run the #01 from now on, no more #42. Also the team plans to get a veteran driver for the next two races (Pocono and Indy) then hire the best available road racer for Watkins Glen(SpeedVision)(7-13-2000) UPDATE 4: hearing Ted Musgrave will drive the #01 at Pocono(7-14-2000) UPDATE 5: Team SABCO will conduct a two-day test at Gateway International Raceway with Ted Musgrave on Monday and Tuesday of next week to see if he fits the mold for the #01 BellSouth team. If all goes well, Musgrave will probably drive the #01 at Pocono next weekend(RacingOne/Lee Spencer)(7-15-2000) UPDATE 6: Musgrave will be testing at the Kentucky Speedway on Monday and Tuesday driving the #01 car for Team Sabco/Ganassi. The team wants to get to know Musgrave and see if the chemistry is there as far as working together, so this is kind of a trial run for everyone involved(Musgave Site)(7-16-2000)
