“We’ve talked on occasion,” Childress told the Indianapolis Star at Watkins Glen over the weekend about Paul Tracy. “He’d definitely be my kind of driver if he’d like to try Winston Cup racing.” With CART’s future in doubt, Tracy has been checking out his options. And Childress could have an opening next year. Kevin Harvick and Robby Gordon will be back in RCR’s #29 and #31 cars, but Steve Park has no such security in the #30 car. Park is a candidate for that ride, as is Ward Burton, who has asked out of his contract with Bill Davis Racing. The next step would be a stock car test, possibly at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, near Tracy’s Nevada home. Tracy, who got his sixth win of the season Sunday at Mid-Ohio, told reporters he’s interested. Though Tracy has a year left on his contract with Players/Forsythe Racing, he has had run-ins with CART’s hierarchy, including CEO Chris Pook. He could be looking for a way out.( Tampa Tribune )(8-13-2003) UPDATE: HIGHLIGHTS OF Q&A’s WITH CHILDRESS AND THE MEDIA: HAVE YOU TALKED TO PAUL TRACY ABOUT JOINING RCR? “A lot of people have asked me about that when the word came out about the IRL and wanted to know if Paul Tracy would be my driver since he’s in CART now and might be looking to move to IRL some day. I don’t know what his plans are.. I haven’t talked to him in two years. Two or three years ago we talked about it. He said some day he wanted to go Winston Cup racing and whenever he did, he was going to talk to us. So I haven’t talked to him. But he’s my kind of driver. He’s got a little flair to him. I’d rather have the drivers that you have to sit down and talk to or the driver that wants to win every week. They’ve got to have a little fire in their guts. I was with one of the best for 20 years so that’s set the standards for what we’ve got to have for RCR.”(GM PR)(8-17-2003)
