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Hitching sponsor to Starr's wagon; Busch push
Starr-ing role
Matthew from New Milford, Conn.: Jeff, as an avid fan of the Craftsman Truck Series, David Starr drove a good season for Red Horse Racing with a win a Martinsville and a top-five points finish. Why release a winning driver in favor of a rookie named Aaron Fike?
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Jeff Hammond: Let me clarify what happened. Red Horse Racing did not release David Starr to replace him with a rookie. Fike brought sponsorship to run our second truck. The problem we're running into right now is very simple arithmetic. It's all about dollars and cents.
We've not been able to come up with sponsorship to field the No. 11 truck with David Starr as the driver. Starr has done nothing wrong. He has been the perfect driver from top to bottom. He hasn't torn up a lot of equipment. He's finished consistently and won races. He's a gentleman both in and out of the truck. He's great with sponsors, and we've been friends for a long time so it kills me to have to put him on notice if we can't find funding to be able to put him back in that truck for next year. We feel like we have gone to the ends of the Earth looking for sponsorship so if someone reading this column is willing to put some money into the No. 11 Red Horse team, please contact me. We don't want to lose David, but we cannot afford to run this team out of our pockets.
If we can get him back in our truck, we can win the championship. Between now and then, I'm still hopeful that we can do that, but we had to let him explore opportunities out there because I don't want him to be unemployed next year. If he can't drive for us, he needs to be driving for somebody. He's too good a driver.
Busch push comes to shove
| Speed Mail Jeff Hammond |
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Jeff Hammond: NASCAR can do whatever it wants to do. In years past, they've had some rules in place that have slowed the onslaught of veteran drivers. In recent years, they've been very reluctant to mess with this right-to-work scenario. These guys are independent contractors. They have the right to run and make a living the best way they can, and the drivers make a valid point. But NASCAR also has to realize that a group of young men and women would like to make their way up to the Nextel Cup Series. Busch is an obvious steppingstone, and it's one of the final pieces of the puzzle for a driver before he reaches NASCAR's premier division. Sooner or later, you've got to draw the line when better than 50 or 60 percent of the field — week in and week out — are made up of Nextel Cup drivers. It really makes it difficult for a young racer to learn how to drive and qualify for a race.
FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.
For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.
For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.
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