#7 Team Crew Changes UPDATE: NASCAR.com Buzz is reporting that several key Ultra Motorsports #7 team members left the team after the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Travis Block, front tire changer and a key mechanic in research and development is going to Chip Ganassi Racing. Eric Wakeland, a fabricator and rear tire carrier, moved on to Ray Evernhams #19 Dodge team and Tommy Smith, a fabricator, tire specialist and front tire carrier, left in favor of the #36 Pontiac team(NASCAR.com)(3-12-2001) UPDATE: From Team Owners Jim Smith – “There apparently have been some reports on the Internet this week stating Ultra Motorsports and the #7 NationsRent team had lost three crew members within in the past week. The Internet being what it is, we normally just go on with our lives knowing what the truth is. Since this particular rumor has begun to pick up some steam, I wanted to go ahead and cut it off. We did have one crew member who found another job this week. People move around in this business and no one found it particularly unusual. Actually, there have been a total of three people, including this one gentleman, who have moved to other jobs since the first of the year. That, too, is certainly not unusual. In fact, I believe you would find Ultra Motorsports has some of the lowest employee turnover in NASCAR Winston Cup racing. We are in this to be competitive and we.re in this to win. Because we are a company of a few hundred employees, there is going to be change every once in a while. One person find another job doesn’t change that desire and it doesn’t change our goals. These kind of Internet rumors are not true but they are not going to distract us from our goal to win races.”(Williams Company)(3-17-2001)
