In the latest development in the increasingly odd saga of NASCAR Craftsman Trucks series team owner Alex Meshkin, driver Jimmy Spencer says he has given Meshkin a month to fulfill an agreement to buy Spencer’s race shop in Mooresville, NC. Spencer says he and Meshkin signed a lease/purchase agreement last year allowing Meshkin to run his new Bang Racing team out of a building Spencer once used to house his race cars. Though Spencer says Meshkin has been making his lease payments on time, he now insists that Meshkin must complete the agreement to buy his shop before an October deadline. If Meshkin doesn’t meet the deadline, Spencer says, “I’ll lock the (expletive deleted) place up.”
Meshkin, however, doesn’t believe he is required to adhere to Spencer’s deadline. Meshkin says he has a signed contract allowing him to wait until Dec. 31 to purchase the shop. He dismisses Spencer’s comment as “just Jimmy Spencer trying to stir the pot.” Spencer compares Meshkin to a “spoiled kid” who came into NASCAR overconfident that he would be able to revolutionize the sport with an Internet-style business plan not realizing, Spencer says, that NASCAR doesn’t work like other businesses. Plus, Spencer says, “His ego’s bigger than the state of North Carolina.” Although there is growing skepticism in the garage area of Meshkin’s financial backing and motives, Spencer says he believes Meshkin is genuinely serious about racing but squandered a “golden” opportunity by mistreating people who worked for him. Meshkin insists Spencer and others in the garage who have been critical of him are only doing so because they are “afraid of our approach and the possibility of our success.” Spencer says that if Toyota, as expected, ends up completely pulling its support of Meshkin after this season, Meshkin will struggle to get support from another manufacturer. And without extensive factory support, it’s nearly impossible to field a competitive team in NASCAR. “He had the golden egg from the goose, and he’s lost that,” Spencer says. “Can he get it back? No.” Meshkin insists he won’t have any problem finding a new manufacturer to partner with next season, when he plans to take Kvapil to the Busch Series. He also says partnering with an American manufacturer in the future might help him obtain sponsorship from corporations who were hesitant to sponsor a team that races Japanese trucks. The mess with Meshkin has reflected poorly on Toyota, but Spencer who drew criticism earlier this year when be brought up the Pearl Harbor attack in response to a question about Toyota’s involvement in NASCAR still expects them to succeed. “I think Toyota has made some rookie mistakes,” Spencer says. “They will prevail. They will contend for the (trucks series) championship. And they will be in Nextel Cup.”(in part from the USA Today)(9-13-2004)
