Feb 2000 CTS Archive

• Cook Story: Cook escapes fiery crash, starts season on right track by Dan Angelo of the Sandusky Register(OH)(2-26-2000)
• Hooper to the #9: former Winston West Champ and BGN and Cup driver, Lance Hooper will be preparing the #9 CTS entry for Homestead at Richard Jackson’s race shop in Asheville, NC before heading off to qualify for the race on Saturday. The truck is owned by Marty Walsh from Naples, FL. Hooper failed to make the Daytona race at Daytona when the engine faded during practice and qualifying. Hooper is looking for a full time ride in the NASCAR Winston Cup series, BGN or CTS(Riachard Jackson Motorsports)(2-21-2000)
• Pole/Win Award: Any driver winning from the pole this season in the Craftsman Truck Series will win an extra $10,000. The Craftsman Award will be handed out at each of the 24 races on the truck schedule, beginning with Friday’s season-opener in Daytona(Infobeat Newsletter)(2-17-2000)
• Lance Hooper at Daytona: Lance Hooper 1996 Winston West champion has been working with Richard Jackson Motorsports for over 2 1/2 years, driving Winston Cup, Busch, and ARCA races. They have been looking for a sponsor in any of these series for Lance to drive. While hanging out at Daytona, the driver of the #9 truck, Tracy Leslie was called home for an emergency and Hooper has asked to qualify and run the Daytona CTS race. Jackson is assisting the team to prepare for qualifying. Hooper was 19th in practice. Hooper is also acting as lead mechanic for the team, working with shocks and chassis set up. Hooper has won the NASCAR southwest tour, and two series championships(2-16-2000)
• Biffle to BGN UPDATE: Roush is planning to bring Craftsman Truck Series runner-up Greg Biffle into the Busch Grand National series in 2001. Roush doesn’t plan to leave the series when Biffle moves up to the Busch cars. Biffle dominated the series this year before a costly penalty for an unapproved part dealt his title hopes a serious blow(Times-Dispatch)(11-7-1999) — UPDATE: During ESPN2’s CUP. BGN and CTS practice coverage, Ray Dunlap mentioned that Greg Biffle will move up to the BGN series in 2001(not 2000) with a Jack Roush team(2-15-2000)
• New Truck Team and eBay: Veteran NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series driver Donnie Neuenberger makes his debut in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in Daytona Beach, Florida during the world-famous Speedweeks this month. Neuenberger and his team are prepared for the Craftsman Truck Series Daytona 250 held at The Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2000. Neuenberger announced today the signing of eBay (www.ebay.com) as our major sponsor stating, “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to represent eBay in a very competitive series.” Go to www.ebay.com and check out Donnie’s charity auction for the benefit of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, located under Fun Stuff, Charity Auctions. eBay is the world’s leading online person-to-person trading community and is now a great destination for the buying and selling of automobiles. On a daily basis, eBay has over 2,000 cars, 10,000 automotive parts, and 7,000 motorcycles listed on the site. Visit the eBay automotive page at http://pages.ebay.com/auto-index.html. eBay joins our sponsors Bay Area Goodyear, Tipton’s Temporary Services, Ledo Pizza, MyBookmarks.com and Stonier Transportation Group. The #84 Ford F150 truck owned by Robert Long and the teams Crew Chief & Engine Builder is Charlie Long both of Apex, North Carolina. With so many people to thank Donnie would like to send out a special thanks to Barry Usher, Sonny Kruhm and John Mayola for supporting his step-up to the Craftsman Truck Series. For more information about Donnie Neuenberger visit their website at www.dgnracing.com. You can listen from the website to our regular Monday morning show appearance on one of the leading radio stations in Baltimore, Maryland, FM 98ROCK via RealAudio(DGN Racing)(2-10-2000)
• Gibbons and CTS: Canadian CASCAR Super Series National Champion Peter Gibbons will be entering the first two races of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona and Homestead. No sponsors announced as of yet but the team plans to run the two races regardless of sponsorship situation. When sponsors are finalized Gibbons will also race at Martinsville and at Portland before he has to return to Canada to run the CASCAR Series. Plans are to run another 6 to 8 races this season, to be announced later. Gibbons will drive the #09 Chevy truck with his CASCAR crew chief, Damon Sharpe(2-9-2000)
• CBS Sportsline: NASCAR’s truck series looking to improve standing by Jeff Owens(2-8-2000)
• Rick Carelli Story: Crushing injuries won’t keep him out of racing by Mark Armijo(Arizona Republic)(2-5-2000)
• #18 Crew Chief: Danny Gill has been promoted to crew chief of the #18 Dana Bobby Hsmilton Racing Dodge team that currently fields Trucks for veteran NASCAR driver Joe Ruttman in the CTS(TNN Motorsports)(2-5-2000)
• New #14 Sponsor: Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp., headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., announced it will be the primary sponsor of the Rick Crawford #14 Ford F-150(Rick Crawford Site)(2-2-2000)
• Evernham Grand Marshal: former #24 NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham will be responsible for starting everyone’s engines for the February 25-26 Florida Dodge Dealers 400, in his role as Grand Marshal for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Evernham is beginning a new career as a NASCAR Winston Cup Series team owner after earning the distinction as one of the most successful crew chiefs in the history of the sport. He will be making his first public appearance for Dodge at the 400-kilometer event on the 1.5-mile Speedway. Before leaving Hendrick Motorsports in September, Evernham helped lead driver Jeff Gordon to 47 victories and three of the past four NASCAR Winston Cup championships. During the first 27 events in 1999, the Gordon-Evernham duo captured five victories, led 22 races, and won seven Bud Poles(Homestead-Miami Speedway Newsletter)(2-1-2000)