April 4, 2001
- #7 Crew Chief change? UPDATE: hearing Tim Brewer and the #7 Ultra Motorsports team have parted ways and that Jim Long could be the new crew chief
UPDATE: Veteran crew chief Jim Long has been named as the new crew chief for the NationsRent, Ultra Motorsports Racing Team. The team fields the #7 Ford Taurus for driver Mike Wallace. The personnel change is effective immediately. In making the announcement, team owner Jim Smith said: “We needed to make a change with our Winston Cup program at Ultra Motorsports, and we needed it to be an immediate change. It was a mutual decision between our former crew chief, Tim Brewer and myself. This NationsRent, Ultra Motorsports team was not running anywhere near its’ potential. As a team we set some weekly and monthly goals at the beginning of the season, however we have not been attaining our objectives. This decision was a very difficult one for me to make. I’ve known and have been close friends with Tim Brewer for close to 30-years. I will still remain as best of friends with Tim.” Jim Long has functioned in the role of crew chief for five years. Most recently, he was with the Darwin Ordt owned, #75 Ford racing team. Prior to that he spent two years with Bessey Motorsports. Long was also with the defunct Stavola Brothers racing organization. He has two Winston Cup wins to his credit with driver Ricky Rudd.(Ultra Motorsports PR)(4-4-2001)
- Change at the #14? UPDATE: hearing that crew chief Philippe Lopez and the #14 AJ Foyt Racing team have parted ways?(4-3-2001)
UPDATE: Phillipe Lopez, crew chief the past year for A.J. Foyt’s #14, has left the team, and Fred Graves will handle the duties until a permanent replacement is named. Foyt hired Ron Hornaday as driver in December, and Graves, father of Ganassi/SABCO team manager Andy Graves, drafted aboard with Hornaday. Graves and Hornaday had worked together successfully on Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s championship CTS program. Foyt team manager Tommy LaMance said Wednesday that Lopez had quit Monday afternoon, and he said long-term plans were not yet clear. Lopez’s plans are not known(SpeedVision)(4-4-2001)
- Wind Tunnel stuff: hearing the #9 and #19 Dodge teams are testing at the Lockheed wind tunnel in Maretta, GA today and that the #96 McDonald’s Ford was at the wind tunnel in Ottawa, Canada on Monday or Tuesday(4-4-2001)
- Pemberton Back: #2 Crew chief Robin Pemberton was at the shop Monday after missing his first race last weekend since joining Rusty Wallace ‘s team at the end of the 1994 season. Pemberton skipped the race at Texas because of fatigue. He plans to be at Martinsville this weekend(Roanoke Times)(4-4-2001)
- DW to race in England: Darrell Waltrip has agreed to drive in an exhibition race this summer in England. He’ll be driving the vintage 1985 #11 Budweiser Chevrolet in which he won the third of his three Winston Cup championships. Waltrip will race during the July 6-8 Goodwood Festival of Speed on a road course on an estate outside of London.(Tennessean)(4-4-2001)
- Sad News UPDATE 2: On lap 34 of the 40-lap Late Model season opener at Rockford Speedway, (Rockford, IL) Al Papini was involved in a one-car crash. Reports say Papini’s car suddenly turned left, went through the infield area and impacted the outside wall between turns one and two, vaulting out of the speedway. Rescue crews extricated Papini and he was airlifted to Rockford Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival from severe chest injuries.(Speedway Illustrated). Thoughts are with Papini’s family and friends(4-2-2001)
Services for Al Papini III, 41, of Machesney Park, IL will be held Friday, April 6 in Saint Bridget Catholic Church, 600 Clifford Avenue in Loves Park, IL. The Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 11am. with Monsignor John Mitchell officiating. Visitation will be held Thursday, April 5 from 4 to 78 p.m. in Delehanty Funeral home Ltd., 401 River Lane, Loves Park and from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., Friday, April 6, in the church. A celebration of Al’s life will be held at the Forest Hills Lodge, adjacent to Rockford Speedway, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Al Papini Memorial at any Rockford area NorthWest Bank or mail to PO Box 1060, Rockford, Illinois 61105-1060(4-3-2001)
UPDATE 2: Late-Model driver Al Papini III died from a heart attack before hitting the wall Sunday at Rockford Speedway, according to a preliminary autopsy report released Tuesday(Rockford Register)(4-4-2001)
- Eagle One: Johnny Benson is flying the black-and-white colors of Eagle One car care products three times in April. The usual blue-and-white #10 Valvoline Pontiac first took on the different look last Sunday in Texas, and that will continue in this Sunday’s (April 8) race at Martinsville, and again April 29 in the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway(Valvoline PR)(4-4-2001)
- New #59 Assoc Sponsor: NASCAR Busch Series driver Rich Bickle and the ST Motorsports have a new agreement with Trail’s Best Meat Snacks to be an associate sponsor of the #59 Kingsford Chevy for the remainder of the 2001 BGN race season. The Kingsford’s Chevy will carry the decals of Trail’s Best Meat Snacks on the deck lid of the #59 car through the remainder of the BGN schedule(ST Motorsports PR)(4-4-2001)
- Ingle leaving the #46? UPDATE 2: Bill Ingle, the former Winston Cup crew chief who most recently was the crew chief for driver Dennis Setzer at the #46 Morgan-Dollar Motorsports team, could be heading to a television career. If that is the case, look for chief mechanic Todd Meyers, who built TKO Motorsports into a CTS contender before the team had to suspend operations earlier this season due to a lack of sponsorship, to fill the role for Setzer. Meyers replaced Ingle — who was absent while attending to personal business — at the most recent CTS race, at Mesa Marin Raceway, where Setzer was running third late in the race before he hit the wall and ended his chances(NASCAR.com Buzz)(3-24-2001)
UPDATE: have heard that Ingle has left the Morgan-Dollar team and the team has closed up it’s North Carolina shop and released the employees there. The team will operate out of it’s main Oklahoma shop(3-26-2001)
UPDATE 2: The Oklahoma-based Morgan/Dollar Motorsports team has announced some changes that have occurred over the past two weeks involving the restructuring of the team and the crew chief status. Former crew chief, Bill Ingle, and the ownership group of David Dollar and Rob Morgan have come to an agreement as to part ways to allow Ingle to fulfill personal obligations outside of his team duties. With Ingle’s absence, Dollar and Morgan decided to close the team’s Mooresville, North Carolina operation. Without the leadership of an active crew chief in place, the move was strictly a business decision aimed at consolidating day-to-day operations to the team’s original Hennessey, Oklahoma facility. The team has offered positions to members of the Mooresville operation in Oklahoma pending a team restructure. Bill Ingle, who served as crew chief for the team since sixth race of the 2000 season, departs the team almost one year to the date that he joined the #46 NCTS organization. Ingle joined the team in April of last year during the truck series race in Martinsville. Ingle missed the team’s third race at Bakersfield this season citing personal constraints. Todd Myer of the inactive TKO Motorsports, filled in during Ingle’s absence. Since TKO Motorsports will not be fielding a race truck in this weekend’s Advance Auto Parts 250, Myers will once again fill in as crew chief for the #46 ACXIOM/Computer Associates Chevrolet at Martinsville on an interim basis. Myers was present this week as Morgan/Dollar Motorsports tested at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, NC.(Morgan/Dollar Motorsports PR)(4-4-2001)
- Boyd in the #7: Stan Boyd, driver of the #89 Chevrolet which plans to run seven CTS races in 2001, will wheel the #7 Chevy Conley Racing truck at Martinsville. This truck is virtually unsponsored and the team is supported by all volunteers under the direction of Owner/Crew chief John Conely of Conely Engines in Brighton, MI(Daytona Beach News Journal)(4-4-2001)
- #55 to sit out: The #55 Powers Motorsports/ TruckSeries.com Craftsman Truck Team has decided to sit out the next race at Martinsville,VA. April 7th. The Dodge Truck owned and driven by Tom Powers was damaged in Mesa Marin and crews have not finished readying the truck for this weeks race. The next race will be Saint Louis.(Truckseries.com)(4-4-2001)
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