Ernie Irvan has converted part of a storage shed on his 160-acre farm near Mooresville, N.C., into a garage bay and is helping Kevin Conway prepare a Chevy that Conway plans to run in an ARCA race on March 9. Irvan, 43, tried to work with Conway, 23, to find sponsorship for a foray into the BGN or CTS last year. The difficult economy made it tough to find somebody willing to put up $2 million or more needed for that, though. At the same time, Irvan was rebuilding his familys home that was severely damaged by a fire in March 2000. The Irvans moved back into the house just before Christmas. With that behind him, Irvan decided that he and Conway needed to get on the track to try to show people the young drivers talent. The Atlanta ARCA race is the only one they know for sure theyll go to, but if a sponsor materializes they have plans to run at Kentucky Speedway and at Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte later in the year. Theyll use a Chevy they got from Innovative Motorsports in which Shane Hmiel finished second in an ARCA race at Atlanta last fall. Crew members from various Winston Cup and Grand National teams are coming by Irvans farm after work in the evenings to help get the car ready, and Irvan said he will enlist Winston Cup crewmen to help pit the car in Atlanta in March. Its the safest thing I can do in racing and still be married, joked Irvan, who retired from driving in 1999 only after coming all the way back from his near-fatal crash at Michigan in 1994 to win three more Cup races. Conway is from Lynchburg, VA, but moved to the Charlotte area in 1991 to pursue a racing career. Hes raced Legends cars and competed in the ASA until his sponsorship there dried up. Hes an instructor at the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Atlanta track and at Lowes Motor Speedway. He has a degree in marketing from UNCC. Irvan ran only one ARCA race in his career. It was at Atlanta and Irvan won it driving a #18 car [a green Pontiac – image]. So thats the number Conway plans to use in the March 9 event.(ThatsRacin.com)(1-30-2002)
MORE: Ernie Irvan made only one start in an ARCA race, the 1989 Atlanta Journal 500K at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which he won. It’s no coincidence, then, that Irvan will also start his career as an owner in the ARCA race at Atlanta. Irvan announced Wednesday that he will field a car for Kevin Conway, a former Legends champion and ASA driver, in the March 9 Pork The Other White Meat 400 ARCA race at Atlanta. Conway is a three-time national champion in the Legends car series. He moved into late models in the ASA series and has worked as an instructor for Richard Petty Driving Experience for three years. “This is a great opportunity for me, teaming with Ernie to make my debut at Atlanta,” Conway said. “It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been beating our heads against the wall looking for sponsorship, but finally some doors are opening up.” Conway and Irvan still haven’t lined up a sponsor and aren’t sure they will run more than the Atlanta ARCA race. Irvan is fronting the money to run, figuring they won’t get sponsorship without getting Conway on track to display his talent. “This is one sport where talent alone can’t get you to the top,” Irvan said. “In other sports, if you have the talent, the success will most likely come if you stay with it. In racing, you have to have the opportunity to show what you can do.” Irvan has teamed up with Innovative Motorsports to field a car for Conway, a native of Lynchburg, Va. It will be the same race car Shane Hmiel raced to a second-place finish in November’s running of the Pork The Other White Meat 400. The team made up of crew members from several Busch and Winston Cup teams is working in a converted horse barn on Irvan’s property in Mooresville, NC. “It’s a really great shop, but it looks like a horse barn & we’re literally running out of Ernie Irvan’s stables,” Conwaysaid. “We’re really a non-cookie cutter race team. We do things differently.”(AMS PR)(1-31-2002)
