Snow disrupts Winston Cup media tour

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- On the final day of the annual Winston Cup media tour, negotiating icy, snow-packed roads was downright ticklish for both bus drivers and race car drivers.

Thursday’s wind chills froze everything in the Queen City except three busloads of journalists and their Winston Cup hosts, and with nasty weather the common dominator throughout the southeast, no one was immune.

Roush Racing executive Geoff Smith had to plow his way out of his driveway just to attend his teams’ morning media-tour appearance.

One of his drivers, Mark Martin, put in a bit more effort. Martin flew his private plane from his Florida home to North Carolina early Thursday morning.

"I was on time," said Martin proudly. "Was told to be there at 7:30, so I landed at 7:20. It was snowing and the wind was blowing, but they had plowed the runway. It was OK. We didn’t need any hero badges for being here."

Had he shown up, Rick Hendrick might have deserved one. Hendrick Motorsports’ owner had intended to fly home from California to attend his teams’ participation on the media tour. But the regional airport near his shops wouldn’t allow planes to land, so Hendrick remained grounded West Coast-style.

Also grounded was Bobby Labonte. He was snowed in at his Greensboro home. "Couldn’t even make it out of his neighborhood," according to public relations representative Tim Sullivan. And the 2000 Cup champion missed Joe Gibbs Racing’s afternoon appearance at the media-tour hotel.

Teammate Tony Stewart, however, was dashing through the snow. "Love it," Stewart said. "Absolutely love it."

The defending Winston Cup champion did run a bit late. An at-home interview with former NASCAR great and current broadcaster Darrell Waltrip had gone long, and next up was Stewart’s tour appearance. So he hopped into an appropriate vehicle.

"I drove my Suburban here in two-wheel drive instead of four-wheel drive," said Stewart. "Every corner in the neighborhood that was a slow-speed corner that had snow, I was sliding through it."

As surrounding chuckles subsided (perhaps mental images of SUV wheelies), Stewart added, "I’m still 16 years old, and trapped in a 30-year-old body."

And after last season’s rigors and distractions, snow days are a tonic. Stewart has mixed in some playing with his share of offseason testing and marketing, and so far, he appears to be acting on his goal of improved media relations, a promise made during December’s awards week in New York.

He continued the trend Thursday, yakking away while seated on a small dais. Keeping the snow theme, he described snowmobiling several weeks ago during crew chief Greg Zipadelli ’s New England charity ride.

"I ended up in a 10-foot ditch in the first 20 minutes I rode it," said Stewart of his snowmobile, "and I’d only ridden about eight or 10 miles at the time. By the time the day was done, I rode 120 miles all over. I had a lot of fun."

Fun is what he wants to do both at the track this season and away from it. That’s one reason he likes the hiring of Michael "Fatback" McSwain as Labonte’s crew chief. McSwain took over for Jimmy Makar, who assumes the role of JGR’s team manager.

"I think he’s going to fit really well into our program," said Stewart of the lively, off-the-cuff McSwain. "I think it’s probably hardest on Jimmy trying to figure out how to get in a groove again, cause he’s taken a whole different role on. But I mean, Fatback and I, and Fatback and Zippy were good friends before he even came on board. It was a perfect fit, a perfect match for us."

A request for Stewart’s favorite Fatback story yielded a "Hey Fats!" over media-member heads. The accompanying whistle produced McSwain, who corroborated Stewart’s revelation of weekend wrestling matches.

"I took him down on the ground in the garage," said Stewart. "And it’s been the other way around, too. I mean, he’s had his upper hand. We usually fight once a weekend on the playful side. That makes being in the Winston Cup garage a little more fun." But not always.

"The bad thing is, his wife yells at me for the bruises he goes home with," said Stewart. "I just carry my bruises home to nobody, so it doesn’t matter."

McSwain offered the nugget that Stewart, "falls asleep in his car during testing." "He’ll come over and grab me by the helmet," admitted Stewart. "It doesn’t scare me any more. You know there’s a shot that’s going to hurt. It can be somewhat painful."

Denise N. Maloof covers NASCAR for CNNSI.com.

 

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