NASCAR WCUP: Off Week Filled with Racing for Motorcraft Team

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

June 29, 2001

It may be an off-week for most NASCAR teams and competitors, but the Motorcraft team will be at a race track or at least by a television set the next few days. The team goes to Talladega to test on Thursday and Friday. Then co-owner Eddie Wood heads for Milwaukee to watch son Jon race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Kim Wood Hall, another co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing will be at Lowe's Motor Speedway to watch her brother-in-law race on dirt. The rest of the family will be close to their television sets on Saturday watching Jon's race on ESPN. Driver Elliott Sadler plans to spend his "free" time working with his brother Hermie on his race car.

The test at Talladega was not on the original Wood Brothers Racing test schedule for this year. It was just added recently.

ELLIOTT SADLER - 21 - MOTORCRAFT RACING FORD TAURUS DRIVER:

"We're going to Talladega this week. We need to get a little better on our speedway program. We weren't any good at the beginning of the year at either Daytona or Talladega. So we're going to test there to work on it. We want to have a good showing at the Pepsi 400 to start the second half of the year off right."

EDDIE WOOD - 21 - MOTORCRAFT RACING FORD TAURUS TEAM OWNER:

"We're going to Talladega because we qualified poorly at the last Talladega race and it is a restrictor plate race just like Daytona. So this test is in preparation for the Firecracker race. Our car raced really, really well, but we just couldn't get it to qualify. We changed some stuff on one of the cars and the other car we've got a lot of panels we can play with and move around to make sure we're getting the most out of it. Of course we'll have all the computers and acquisition stuff hooked up so we can monitor what is going on. Another reason for going is the bump stop rule now. The bump stops are not allowed. We will be back like Daytona was in February as far as the spring/shock combination and we wanted to go back through that. We didn't qualify that well at Daytona either. We were running well in the qualifying race and got in a wreck. But the qualifying thing is the biggest issue. Once we open our car up in race trim it comes alive and everything falls into place, but our qualifying package is struggling." WILL THERE BE ANYONE ELSE THERE TO PRACTICE DRAFTING? "Yes, the #4 car and I think the #7.

ONCE YOU ARE DONE TESTING AT TALLADEGA YOU WON'T BE GOING BACK TO STUART TO REST. YOU ARE GOING UP TO MILWAUKEE, RIGHT? "We're going to leave Talladega Friday night and head up to Milwaukee to watch Jon race in the Craftsman Truck. That will be the first time I've gotten to see him race lately. We race, and he races, and I'm never in the same part of the United States as he is. Fortunately I got to see him run in the Winston West race in Kansas. I did get to see that. But this is going to be a big event for me, seeing him in a Roush truck. This is a dream come true for me, as it is for Jon. In fact I've never been to Milwaukee. My dad and uncle had cars up there in the mid-sixties with A.J. Foyt racing them. I think they won races up there. I've never been to Wisconsin, much less Milwaukee so I'm looking forward to that."

KIM WOOD HALL: "Terry (husband Terry Hall) and I are going down to Charlotte to watch his brother Phil race a super late model on the dirt at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend. The guys are going to test at Talladega the end of the week and then Eddie is going to meet (wife) Carol in Atlanta and fly up to Milwaukee to watch Jon race. We'll watch him on television."

Text provided by Marti Rompf

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