The Martinsville race on April 12 will be the first of two Craftsman Truck Series appearances by Fox TV analyst Darrell Waltrip as a driver. Broadcast partner Larry McReynolds will be Waltrips spotter, and Jeff Hammond, who turned the wrenches during part of Waltrips Cup career, will be the crew chief. Foxs frequent assertion that Hammond was Waltrips crew chief for three championships is incorrect, by the way. In 1981, Tim Brewer was Waltrips crew chief. In 1982, the duties were shared among Brewer, Hammond and Mike Hill. Hammond was the crew chief for Waltrips third title in 1985. You can look it up, as they say.(Gaston Gazette)
UPDATE: Tim Brewer was no longer with the team in 1982 and Jeff Hammond was the crew chief. Also on the truck, Hammond is NOT the Crew Chief, Bobby Kennedy is the Crew Chief, Hammond is the “Interperator”.(4-4-2003)
UPDATE 2: Michael Waltrip will join Rick Allen, Dorsey Schroeder and Barry Dodson in the booth for this weekend’s Craftsman Truck Series event in Martinsville. Waltrip has a vested interest in the race, as older brother Darrell – a three-time Winston Cup champion – will be racing a DEI-powered truck owned by Michael and crewed by Michael’s NASCAR Busch Series crew. SPEED Channel will bring race fans a unique view to DW’s return, as the truck will be equipped with in-car cameras and the racing legend will be wired for sound for the entire race. In addition, fellow FOX broadcasters Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond also will be a part of the SPEED broadcast, with McReynolds acting as Waltrip’s spotter and Hammond observing from the pits.(Speed Channel PR)(4-8-2003)
UPDATE 3: from a DW chat “No, we don’t really have any intentions of doing anything else with the Tide truck. Michael might run it. It’s going to be Tide at Martinsville, and at Indy, it’s going to be Give Kids The World which is a program down in Orlando that Tide is involved in for sick kids. We’re going to run that paint job at Indy. But there is another race back in Martinsville. There are a couple other races that Michael talked about racing, like New Hampshire or somewhere like that. I’d love to go to Phoenix.(FoxSports)(4-11-2003)
