February 2002 CTS Archive

• Chicago Motor Speedway suspends 2002 sched UPDATE: Officials of Chicago Motor Speedway today suspended the track’s 2002 auto racing schedule, which includes the CART and the CTS Series races. Horse racing at Sportsman’s Park is unaffected. Chicago Motor Speedway Chairman Charles Bidwill and President Chip Ganassi determined that the races are not financially feasible at the present time due to business and economic conditions in the motorsports industry today.(CMS Site)(2-5-2002)
  UPDATE: The financial arrangement that will restore CART’s canceled race on June 30 at Chicago Motor Speedway. Unwilling to reduce its sanctioning fee to Speedway promoters, CART will pay a fee to use the track and run the race, sources said Tuesday. That’s a reversal of a Feb. 5 announcement that the race would be canceled because of financial problems.(Chicago Sun Times), NOTE: nothing mentioned about the truck race that was cancelled at CMS.(2-28-2002)
• Pearson, Woods back together: Nearly 23 years after the Wood Brothers and David Pearson parted company following a mixed-up pit stop at Darlington Raceway, two of the sport’s legends will be back together again at the track they dominated in the 1970s. Pearson, 67, will come to the track next month to tutor Jon Wood, the 20-year-old grandson of Glen Wood, one of the founders of the legendary race team. Eddie Wood, who now is a part owner of the Woods racing team, is Glen’s son and Jon’s father. It was his idea to get Pearson to help Jon, who is in his first full season on the Craftsman Truck Series and has never run at Darlington, the track that bills itself as “Too Tough to Tame.” For Pearson, taming Darlington was no problem. He leads all drivers with 12 poles and 10 wins at the track. Six of those wins and nine of the poles came in the Wood’s cars. Even though the Woods and Pearson parted company during the 1979 season, they have remained close friends.(Atlanta Journal Constitution)(2-27-2002)
• Kyle Busch Plans: Kyle Busch, the 16-year-old brother of Winston Cup driver Kurt Busch, will compete in the American Speed Association (ASA) short-track stock-car series this season. Busch’s plans to drive in the CTS this season for Roush Racing were derailed when NASCAR instituted a rule that drivers in all of its touring series be at least 18 years of age. The 20-race ASA season begins March 23 in Lakeland, Fla., and makes a stop at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway April 6-7.(Las Vegas Sun)(2-19-2002)
  UPDATE: Seventeen year-old Kyle Busch is going to run all 20 ASA Racing Series events for [#07 Ford] Noah Yoder Racing, a team that’s competed full-time in ASA for a number of seasons with drivers Todd Forbes and Jack Landis. In 2001, the team utilized a handful of drivers in 14 ASA starts. The team is based in a shop at Noah Yoder Ford in Hicksville, OH.(51 Sports Racing)(2-26-2002)
• Leffler wins sprint race: #2 Team ASE driver Jason Leffler returned to his Midget racing roots winning the North American Auto Racing Series (NAMARS) Florida Winternationals 30-lap main event at Orlando Speedworld, Tuesday. Leffler beat Tracy Hines and Dave Steele to the checkered flag in debuting Keith Kunz’s new pavement Midget Car chassis at the 3/8-mile paved Orlando oval. On Wednesday, Leffler was caught up in an early incident, but still worked his way from the rear of the field to finish sixth.(Motorsports Management Group PR)(2-21-2002)
• Lester on the tube: African-American Bill Lester, driver of the #8 Dodge, will be interviewed by Fred Francis and be spotlighted on an upcoming episode of NBC’s Nightly News.The spot will focus on diversity in sports.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(2-21-2002)
• Trucks on the Dyno: The trucks of #79-Joe Ruttman, #8-Bill Lester, #14-Rick Crawford and #75-David Starr were tested on the chassis dyno following the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona.(Winston Cup Scene – need sub to read)(2-21-2002)
• Toyota to the CTS and then Cup? UPDATE: Toyota has made inquiries about getting into the Craftsman Truck Series in 2003 and is expected to follow Dodge’s path to Winston Cup.(Sporting News)(2-19-2002)
  UPDATE: from an interview on NHRA.com with Toyota’s National Truck and SUV Marketing Manager Mark Amstock: NHRA.com: Aside from NHRA, Toyota is making in-roads in NASCAR, correct? Amstock: Yes. We were thrilled to see Robert Huffman drive his Toyota Celica to a win at the season-opening race of the Goodys Dash Series in Daytona just a few weeks ago. Obviously, that’s one of NASCAR’s junior leagues. We’re learning what it takes to work with NASCAR. The Craftsman Truck Series is next and then we’ll work our way into Winston Cup. We’ll be there sooner than some people think.(2-21-2002)
• Dodson to the #15? UPDATE: hearing Barry Dodson has accepted the job as General/Team manager of the #15 Dickies Ford that his stepson Trent Owens will drive in the CTS for the 2002 season(2-5-2002)
  UPDATE: Barry Dodson was in Daytona for part of Speedweeks serving as a consultant/general manager for the Ballew-Countryman Motorsports entry in the CTS. The team’s driver is Trent Owens, Dodson’s stepson. Owens failed to qualify for the Florida Dodge Dealers 250, but that didn’t completely dampen Dodson’s enthusiasm about his new role. Dodson left the Winston Cup ranks last October, when Eel River Racing shut down. In addition to his role in the truck series, Dodson is a regular on Fox Sports Net’s Sunday morning show “Totally NASCAR.” He’ll go to a number of truck races, as long as they don’t conflict with that job. Dodson wouldn’t mind doing additional TV work, but is content with how things now stand. Dodson has no plans on returning to Winston Cup, but knows you can’t rule anything out. (Winston Cup Scene – need sub to read)(2-21-2002)
• Hornaday at Darlington: Hendrick Motorsports (No. 24 Chevy): Announced Ron Hornaday Jr. would race its truck at Darlington Raceway in March.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(2-17-2002)
• Stewart in a truck? during a TNT interview with #29 driver [and CTS #6 Owner] Kevin Harvick by Matt Yocum, it was bought up that Harvick may have some surprise drivers in a CTS truck sometime this year, one named mentioned during the banter was Tony Stewart.(2-16-2002)
• Pressley win at Daytona: #18-Robert Pressley won in his first career CTS start, winning the race at Daytona. #1-Ted Musgrave, #4-Brian Rose and #79-Joe Ruttman completed the Dodge sweep of the first four positions. See ThatsRacin.com for a column: Pressley scores a Truck race win, and see NASCAR.com for the Unofficial Race Results – Florida Dodge Dealers 250.(2-15-2002)
• Carelli/Harvick: the #6 CTS team, owned by Cup driver Kevin Harvick, plans on running the full 23 CTS race season according to the announcers during the race at Daytona televised on ESPN. Carelli will drive most of the races, Harvick 4-5 races and a ‘surprise guest’ for one or two races. No word on who the sponsor is(2-15-2002)
• Starter at Daytona: Orlando Dodge dealer Bert Smith will be the Grand Marshall and Winter Park Dodge dealer Ralph Mahalak will be the Honorary Starter for Friday’s Truck Series event. Father Lopez junior Katie Christman will sing the national anthem.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(2-14-2002)
• #46 Pit Crew: After being approached by Winston Cup owner Cal Wells, Rick Morgan and David Dollar, the owners of Dennis Setzer’s #46 Chevy truck agreed to let Ricky Craven’s #32 Cup pit crew service the #46 truck in in Friday’s CTS race.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(2-14-2002)
• #16 gets some help: A Bill Davis Busch Series team will pit crew the #16 Chevy entry of Mike Bliss. (Daytona Beach News Journal)(2-14-2002)
• Musgrave wins the pole for Daytona: #1-Ted Musgrave won his third CTS pole of his career and first at Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday with a lap of 187.215mph. His speed is the fastest qualifying lap so far during Speedweeks. #24-Ron Hornaday, who returned to the Truck series after running in Winston Cup last season, will start second. #16-Mike Bliss is third, #4-Brian Rose is fourth and #2-Jason Leffler, who also ran Winston Cup last season, took the fifth spot.(ThatsRacin.com), see NASCAR.com for the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 Race Lineup(2-12-2002)
• Musgrave Fastest at Daytona: in the first practice session with a speed of 185.674mph in the #1 Dodge. See the speeds at the Daytona Beach News Journal(2-12-2002)
• U.S. Navy and the #50? UPDATE: hearing Jon Wood will have the US Navy as the primary sponsor on the #50 Roush Racing Ford truck(2-6-2002)
  UPDATE: The #50 Ford that Jon Wood drives in the CTS will bear a U.S. Navy logo this year. Since government entities can’t sponsor a race car, the Navy is simply using the truck as a mobile billboard by buying space on the truck. (NASCAR.com)(2-8-2002)
• #02 gets a sponsor for Daytona: Roadrunner Motorsports has announced Wunder-Bar Dispensing Systems will sponsor Jim Inglebright and the #02 Chevrolet Silverado for the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event. The one-race deal marks Wunder-Bar’s sixth year with Inglebright and a first in the CTS. Inglebright competed in ten events last year, capping off a career best eighth in the final race of the season at the California Speedway. The Vacaville, CA resident plans to defend his back-to-back wins at Sears Point in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series later this year, however, has no plans set beyond Daytona. Automatic Bar Controls Inc., makers of the world famous Wunder-Bar Dispensing Systems is based in Vacaville, CA. For over thirty years, Wunder-Bar has provided dispensing solutions for the food and beverage industry.(Roadrunner Motorsports PR)(2-8-2002)
• Quest names a sponsor for Daytona: Quest Motor Racing (Derrike Cope/ Warren Johnson) has joined forces with driver Matt Mullins and sponsor “Folgers Jakada” to compete in the CTS race at Daytona. “I am thrilled to be associated with so many capable people and an the exciting new chilled coffee beverage, “Folgers Jakada” for the upcoming Daytona race”, stated driver Matt Mullins. “Derrike Cope knows how to win at Daytona and Mark Smith (Tri-Star Racing Engines) has won the pole at Daytona previously. With their collective knowledge and the team’s determination, I think we will have a good showing for the Folgers Jakada folks.” Folgers Jakada Coffee Latte is a chilled coffee drink made from Mountain Grown Folgers coffee and lowfat milk. Jakada is available in three delicious flavors; Mocha, Vanilla, and French Roast. Morningstar Foods, Inc. will produce, promote and distribute Folgers Jakada. The Folgers Jakada Ford F-150 will carry #37 and be powered by Tri-Star Racing Engines.()(2-8-2002)
• Leffler website: Jason Leffler who drives the #2 Ultra Motorsports Dodge in the CTS has a new official website: www.jasonleffleronline.com(2-8-2002)
• Hooper to drive the #5 at Daytona: hearing that Lance Hooper will drive the #5 Ware Racing Truck at Daytona(2-8-2002)
• Shepherd gets an assoc: Pit Pass Publications has finalized an agreement to be an Associate Sponsor for Shepherd Racing and Morgan Shepherd. This season long sponsorship will be for any race that Morgan runs in Winston Cup, BGN ot the CTS.(Pit Pass Publications)(2-8-2002)
• Ruttman to drive the #79 at Daytona: Joe Ruttman will be driving the #79 Dodge for owner Rodney Smith, the same truck he tested at Daytona in January. Obee’s Soup, Salad, and Subs will be the sponsor of the #79 at Daytona. Obee’s is a growing franchise that specializes in a wide variety of fresh food that is made to order.(Joe Ruttman Site)(2-5-2002)
• Magazine helping Shepherd: pitpassmagazine.com has set up a page and email link for sponsors to help out Morgan Shepherd, from their site: “Thirty year NASCAR veteran Morgan Shepherd is entering the 2002 Nascar Craftsman Truck Series will virtually no financial support. Shepherd, owner the Craftsman Trucks Series Shepherd Racing truck, is one of the last driver/owners in NASCAR. Morgan is attempting to run a full truck series schedule in 2002, but as of yet he has no sponsorship money, and isn’t even sure he will make the opening race at Daytona on February 15.” For more info, see the site pitpassmagazine.com(2-2-2002)