#11-Brett Bodine, among the last drivers who own their cars, is working on a partnership with Bob Brooks of Hooters Restaurants. Bodine, 44, says the move should give him a better outlook. “We just haven’t been able to get ahead of things,” Bodine says. “The last few years, we were going backward.”( Sporting News )(1-13-2003) UPDATE: actually hearing that Brooks is not interested in Bodine’s team, not sure what this means in terms of the Hooter’s sponsorship.(1-14-2003) UPDATE 2: Winston Cup car owner/driver Brett Bodine said Wednesday he has secured sponsorship from Hooters for the 2003 season, but plans to have the restaurant chain’s owner, Bob Brooks, buy into the team have been put on hold. “Mr. Brooks and Hooters were very involved in purchasing Pace Airlines and then spinning off Hooters Air, so that’s taken up a lot of their time,” he said. “How we come out of this test was going to determine some decisions down the road. We’ve got to take everything we’ve got as far as information and try to make the best decisions for the race team.” Bodine said his team is behind in preparation for the new season and it brought just one new car to this week’s test. “We don’t have very many cars built and it’s going to be very taxing for us to be prepared for the start of the season,” he said. “We’ve got another car in the works, but I don’t know how or when it’s going to get done as far as testing at Talladega is concerned.”( ThatsRacin.com )(1-15-2003)
