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Traveling circus Media tour invades NASCAR's biggest and bestPosted: Monday January 20, 2003 8:26 PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's the biggest traveling circus in motor sports -- three busloads of folks dropping in on NASCAR's biggest and best, at home near Charlotte, for four consecutive days. Officially, it's the "UAW-GM Motorsports Media Tour hosted by Lowe's Motor Speedway." Unofficially, it's the preseason blitz of tape recorders, television cameras and blather for those who cover stock car racing. "I know that's a mouthful," said Jerry Gappens, vice president of promotions and public relations for Lowe's Motor Speedway. Apparently there would be no media tour without UAW's and GM's past five years of combined corporate sponsorship, although this is the 20th annual such tour and Humpy Wheeler's staff at Lowe's Motor Speedway are no strangers to promotion. The first group of media two decades ago numbered approximately 30, according to Gappens. The 2003 edition boasts 265 journalists from 23 states and three foreign countries (the Netherlands, Canada and Germany). "Japan's here, too," Gappens said. "Japanese television. Make that four." Gentle kidding aside, just about any NASCAR-body who matters will be on audio and video parade during the next four days. And first up on Monday: Evernham Motorsports. Sharing equal billing at a noon luncheon, John Fernandez, the new president of Dodge's racing program, and team owner Ray Evernham made it clear they're not satisfied with the brand's early successes. "Not enough top fives, not enough top 10s," Fernandez said. "Too many DNFs, actually." Seemingly ungrateful words in light of Dodge's 11 wins and 12 poles in its first two seasons back in NASCAR, but Fernandez, a career automotive guy who occasionally races sports cars and who helped develop the latest-generation Viper, doesn't sound impressed. "The wins and the poles are nice," he said. "But we're really buckling down this year for the championship." That could put the onus on Evernham. As Dodge's flagship operation, he coped with Ganassi Racing's domination of the 2002 points race (Sterling Marlin led for the first two-thirds of the season before a fractured vertebra sidelined him for the last month). Bill Elliott did win two races, but the No. 9 team faded down the stretch, and the No. 19, with first-year Evernham driver Jeremy Mayfield, never put it all together. Add Penske Racing's switch to Dodge (Rusty Wallace and rookie of the year Ryan Newman) and Ganassi's enriched program (youngsters Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears join Marlin), and perhaps Evernham does feel a sense of urgency. "It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good enough," he said of 2002. He twisted a Rubik's Cube as he talked, illustrating the difficulty of building a Winston Cup organization -- a good one -- from scratch. Despite the two wins (back-to-back at Pocono and Indianapolis), Elliott didn't meet his preseason goal of a top 10 finish; he finished 13th, the best by a Dodge driver. Mayfield's team was still shuffling personnel last week, using the open-wheel model that calls for engineer Kenny Francis to serve as team director, Mike Shiplett to become the lead mechanic and Josh Browne tabbed as race engineer. With a year of the Evernham-and-Dodge way under his belt, Mayfield sounded almost bubbly. "I'm as excited right now as I've ever been in my racing career," he said. An expansion of Evernham Motorsports' engine operation -- Evernham said workers were painting the floor of a 12,000-square-foot edition as he spoke -- plus a decision to let the team's technical director, Dr. Eric Warren, oversee more competition and construction issues this season, signify other, crucial growing pains. "Everything you need to win is right here," said Evernham, holding up the Rubik's toy. "The cube is challenging you to make all the right decisions to get the colors to match up." At Robert Yates Racing's new complex, some of those decisions have already been made. Both teams are now under the same sprawling, massive roof -- Dale Jarrett's No. 88 and Elliott Sadler's No. 38. The next generation, Doug Yates, has assumed general manager duties for his father's operation. And brown-truck commercials aren't going away any time soon. Monday's announcement that UPS has extended its sponsorship with RYR through 2006 -- a two-year extension -- may or may not have been a relief for Jarrett. "It's made my life chaotic," he said, tongue-in-cheek, adding that he wished his contract had been amended, too. "I still don't get a dollar for every time I get asked if I'm driving the truck." Sadler's addition is the most visible RYR change. He was part of last season's biggest silly-season soap opera, eventually replacing Rudd in Yates' longtime No. 28; the number remains in limbo, while the sponsor, Havoline, departed to Gannasi (it will adorn McMurray's cars). "It doesn't even seem like the same team I signed with six months ago," said Sadler, who will be sponsored by M&Ms and likely will drive more special paint schemes than anyone in the Cup garage. "Right now, it's M&Ms; it's chocolate, and we're going to stick with that for right now," said Sadler, who also knows pressure. Whispers of underachievement have dogged him the past couple of seasons with the Wood Brothers, and he said Monday that he intends to battle for the Winston Cup championship. "I'm not on a three- or four-year plan," said Sadler, who has Raymond Fox III as his crew chief. "I want to do it this year." Family ties run through the two teams' hierarchy. Fox's father grew up with Robert Yates. Jarrett's new crew chief, Brad Parrott, is the younger brother of his former crew chief, Todd Parrott, who is now RYR's director of competition. Doug Yates, the Parrott brothers and Fox all grew up together, and Jarrett, himself a NASCAR family legacy, couldn't be happier with his team's rejuvenation. "Everything's probably better than any time it's ever been in my career," said the 1999 Winston Cup champion. The elder Yates says he'll help out where needed in 2003. He'd also like to do some summer boating in the Bahamas. "They're going to squeeze me out at the top or the bottom," he said of RYR's youth movement, "and I'm trying to go out on top."
Denise N. Maloof covers NASCAR for CNNSI.com.
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