Only Three Weeks Until the Big Show
Hey everyone! This Saturday marks three weeks until the big season opener for the 2009 ARCA Re/Max Series at Daytona International Speedway, that means there is a lot happening. The team that I drive for, Andy Belmont Racing, is preparing for a day of testing at Talladega Superspeedway this Saturday. In addition to bringing the car that we raced last year and tested at Daytona in December, the team has been working really hard on a brand new racecar that we are going to bring to this weekends test, I can't wait to drive it! The new car is supposed to have all the lastest and greatest "brain children" from my Crew Chief's noggin, he is an expert on restrictor plate racing. Restrictor plate racing includes two tracks, Daytona and Talladega, the series we race in restricts the amount of power that the cars are able to have at those race tracks, therefore it is called restrictor plate racing. The test should be great and I will give an update about the test next week, hopefully no deer run onto the track...that could be bad.
My team and I have been very busy, but the news coming out of the Charlotte area, and NASCAR world has been catching my ear. Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman leaving their teams to go to the newly formed Stewart-Hass Racing is a big deal. Will the new team succeed or will they find themselves second guessing?. From what I hear, a large portion of DEI staff members are moving over to Stewart-Hass, and with the driving talent that stable is going to have I expect them to find victory lane by the end of the year. I'm sure that a lot of you have heard about all of the "mega team" mergers that have been going on, Ganasi and DEI, Yates and HOF, but non of these equal Petty and GER. Althought the famous number 43 that has been on the side of Petty owned NASCAR racecars for over 60 year may still be used by another team, the sport is seeing one of the few remaining original heros of the sport being pushed out. Without King Richard Petty's teams in the garage area the sport will lose a part of what made NASCAR what it is today. It is a shame that the times have past Petty Enterprises by, but that is just a sign of the times i suppose.
It is hard to find sponsors today, both for smaller teams like ABR and even for larger teams such as Hendrick. Just as much of the off season is spent preparing racecars as it is trying to raise the proper funding that is neaded to be a competitve team in this era of stock car racing. I have only three weeks left in my off season, but the sponsor part is what I am focused on.
Go Eagles!
Tom
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