PPI signs plate engine deal with Childress: #32 team owner Cal Wells III said the in-house engine program he had announced several weeks ago for his PPI Motorsports team was still coming together well, he did have one piece of the puzzle in place. “We’re real pleased to have been able to do an agreement with Richard Childress for the restrictor plate engines for next year, starting with the Daytona 500,” Wells said. “We’re going to be able to focus on our higher-powered stuff — all our open motors — without having to worry about the science of restrictor plate racing next year.” PPI will have plenty on its plate, considering they will switch from Fords to Pontiacs next season for driver Ricky Craven. “We’ll look at doing our own restrictor plate engines in the fall of ’03 looking to ’04. We’ve got some personnel lined up and we’re actually going to start at Rockingham,” Wells said. “We’re lining it all up (a chief engine builder), but we’re not there (ready to announce it) yet.” While he said Robert Yates Racing’s engine department would not build GM engines next season, he did not discount the possibility that his program might be similar to the one employed by Petty Enterprises, which this season employed former Yates engine builder Mike Ege to do its Dodge engines.(NASCAR.com)(9-30-2002)
