March 25 – Today in Jayski’s NASCAR history

March 25, 2003

• • • #49 BAM Racing sponsor at Texas: One of the hottest groups in Texas music will be on the quarterpanels of the #49 BAM Racing Dodge this week in Texas Motor Speedway’s Samsung/Radio Shack 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race. The Derailers, which will appear in conjunction Sony Music Nashville, will be the group on the side of Ken Schrader’s car. The Derailers, formed by Tony Villaneuva and Brian Hofeldt from Oregon in 1993, is known a true “sound of Texas.” It’s 1996 debut album, “Jackpot,” began the band’s post-driving backbeat hammer-ringing Telecaster strum and steam whistle duet harmony – a sound right out of Texas. The feature band on the Sony Music Nashville Dodge, the Derailers will perform pre-race entertainment at the huge Texas Motor Speedway complex.(Williams Company PR)(3-25-2003)
  • • Furr to the #0; Leaves #4? UPDATE: Haas CNC Racing has enlisted the services of former Hendrick Motorsports employee Tony Furr to work with rookie Jack Sprague’s #0 Pontiac. The team is a technical partner of HMS and uses Hendrick engines and chassis. According to Haas CNC Racing G.M. Joe Custer, Furr will join the organization on Tuesday. Furr’s knowledge of Hendrick’s systems and his organizational skills will benefit this team significantly. Furr was performing a number of duties for Mike Skinner’s team.(Sporting News)(3-24-2003)
      UPDATE: Tony Furr has left his daily duties of Competition Director for Morgan-McClure Motorsports. The Abingdon, Va.-based team announced Tuesday that Furr has left the team, although he will be retained for several projects he had begun for team owner Larry McClure. Furr had joined the team at the beginning of 2003 and leaves due to personal reasons regarding the need to be with his family in Concord, NC.
      Larry McClure quotes: “Furr was a positive addition to our team. He leaves us on good terms. We hope him the best in the future.”
      Mike Skinner quotes: “Tony Furr has been a great asset to our team. I will help Larry and the team all I can to find a replacement for Tony. We wish him well. We will miss him, along with his knowledge, tremendously.”(Morgan McClure PR)(3-25-2003)
  • • Skinner Safe? Mike Skinner is rumored to be out in the #4. By the way, owner Larry McClure says Skinner is safe.(CNNSI)(3-25-2003)
  • • Busch vs Spencer: Still ongoing? NASCAR’s marketing department might be trying to put together a “reality TV” show starring its drivers, but it’s safe to say Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer won’t be starring in a remake of the 1980s TV sitcom Bosom Buddies. “You’ve got to be lucky,” Spencer said after Busch won Sunday’s race. “Kurt was lucky last year, and he was lucky again. Richard Petty always said you’d rather be lucky than good, and he was obviously lucky today. I congratulate him for it.” Busch and Spencer had two on-track confrontations last season — one at Bristol and another at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After the Indy wreck, Busch called Spencer a “decrepit old has-been,” and Spencer failed to qualify for the next race. Busch, apparently, is still gloating. “I was real happy when things came to a close at Watkins Glen, when he went home and missed the show,” Busch said Sunday. “Indianapolis was a tough thing. I put myself in position to wreck and he wrecked me, and he missed the show at Watkins Glen, so I put a period on the end of the whole incident there.”(USA Today)(3-25-2003)
  • • Roush ‘Virtual’ Engine? Some rival engine men say they believe that Roush Racing has been using an experimental engine-design program that creates a virtual engine inside a computer. If that is true, then Roush could be on the verge of a major breakthrough. And that would certainly be worth the risk of blowing a few motors. However, those rivals say that the problem at the moment is that those new engine designs need a lot more track time to prove their worthiness.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-25-2003)
  • • TV Renegotiations? UPDATE: The TV package with Fox, NBC and TNT runs out in 20 months, and renegotiations are hotly anticipated. ABC says it too plans to make a bid for the Winston Cup series. It is not clear if any of the three networks has actually turned a profit on NASCAR, and that could make upcoming talks difficult from the NASCAR side. It is also not clear who will be the chief TV negotiator for NASCAR; last time around it was Bray Cary, who drove amazingly hard bargains and then took his percentage and vanished. This time Neil Pilson, the former CBS executive and a long-time NASCAR TV adviser, could get the call to the boardroom.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-24-2003)
      UPDATE: The TV package with FOX, NBC, and TNT does not run out in 20 months. The contract, which was signed in November of 1999, runs from 2001 – 2006 for NBC and TNT. For FOX, the contract is for the same six years, but also includes an option to go two more years. Furthermore, FOX is already billing itself as the TV home of the 2007 Daytona 500, so it sounds like they are counting on the option being exercised through 2008. However, even if the option with FOX was not exercised, the earliest that a new TV partner would be in place would be for 2007. Negotiations probably wouldn’t start until the second half of 2005, at the earliest. Also, there’s no indication this early in the process that ABC or any other network will or won’t make a bid for NASCAR. ABC Sports president Howard Katz resigned about a month ago and the new boss is ESPN honcho George Bodenheimer. It is doubtful that Bodenheimer has even thought that much about ABC making a bid for a 2007 NASCAR TV package. Of course, however, it’s likely that big names like ABC, CBS, and ESPN will all inquire about the NASCAR rights, but no one has made a definitive decision to go after the rights this early in the game.(see full story at MotorsportsTV.com)(3-25-2003)
  • • Man charged with NASCAR [and other] counterfeiting: Authorities seized more than $300,000 in counterfeit merchandise and have charged a Lancaster, SC man after an undercover sting operation by the South Carolina Secretary of State’s office, in cooperation with Fairfield and Lancaster county sheriff’s offices. Adrian Pettit, 51, of 617 Eaton Court turned himself in Friday to officials at the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office after Lancaster and Fairfield county officials confiscated more than $300,000 in counterfeit merchandise in simultaneous raids from two of Pettit’s businesses Thursday morning. Officials seized more than 80,000 counterfeit logos with NASCAR trademarks of drivers Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. They also seized approximately 50,000 collegiate logos, including USC and Clemson trademarks. Pettit manufactured large quantities of bumper stickers and auto decals at a facility in Winnsboro and stored them at a facility in Lancaster, according to a press release from Hammond’s office.(The Herald)(3-25-2003)
    • Monsam fined by NASCAR: NASCAR officials announced today that NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series crew chiefs John D. Monsam and Raymond L. Newman have been fined for infractions during the March 23 Lucas Oil 250 by Glidden at Mesa Marin Raceway. Monsam, crew chief of the #50 Ford, was fined $1,500 for actions detrimental to stock car racing (Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rule Book) and parts and/or equipment used in the event that do not conform to NASCAR rules: unapproved front spring (Section 12-4-Q). In addition, Monsam was suspended from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the next two events and from NASCAR until May 21. Newman, crew chief of the #20 Chevrolet, was fined $250 for actions detrimental to stock car racing (Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rule Book) and parts and/or equipment that do not conform to NASCAR rules: unapproved jacking bolts (Section 12-4-Q).(NASCAR PR)(3-25-2003)

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