FW: Teleconference with Hamilton & Petree - April 16

TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Hamilton & Petree nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
Page 1


Bobby Hamilton, driver of the No. 55 Schneider Electric Chevrolet Monte
Carlo and winner of last year's Talladega 500, and team owner, Andy Petree,
were the guests on today's Winston Cup Teleconference call.  The following
are highlights of the Q&A's with the media.

Comments by Bobby Hamilton, who has four Winston Cup career wins and 65
top-ten finishes:

(On his new crew chief, Charley Pressley)"I don't think it took Charley and
I that long to gel.  It's been a situation where when Jimmy(Elledge)left, we
lost a lot of people.  And, anytime you have to restructure it just gets you
behind. The No. 33 team not being there on a regular basis has hurt us
because we don't have another team to feed off of, and I think that's a must
these days with all the multi-car teams.  Charlie and I worked real good
together when I drove for Larry McClure.  And that's why I wanted him.  I
thought I wouldn't have to go through a big learning curve there, but
actually Andy Petree being the kind of car owner he is, and he's a
championship crew chief in his day with Dale Earnhardt, so you have three
people making decisions at times and we're finally starting to realize what
all three of us want and Andy's gotten pretty comfortable with the situation
and backed off a little bit and let me and Charlie have our way."

(With 49 cars entered in the Talladega 500, what are your thoughts on the
idea that some of the well-known teams could go home?)"Well, the thing is,
the restrictor plate racing is a weird deal.  You can have a car with just a
little bit of drag and a real good motor, you're just not going to qualify
good, but when the flag drops you can race good.  At Talladega and Daytona,
the very first race we have is getting into the race.  There's people like
myself that are far back in the points right now because we got in a big
crash at Daytona and we had a couple of bad races. I think I'm sitting 30th
in points, and owner points is where they take provisionals.  We tested
good, but you could have an ignition box go out on your qualifying lap or
something like that and you have to fall back on a provisional.  It could
get pretty ugly back there with as many cars we have."

(On NASCAR's penalty for Kevin Harvick)"I think what they did right there is
pour the foundation.  So many times in different scenarios NASCAR has told
us not to let them make the judgment calls. Don't make us have to make your
decisions. I think for the big picture it's going to be a lot better deal.
Even though we did have 14 cautions, or whatever it was, at Martinsville, it
was racing, it was not over-aggressive driving, or
TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Bobby Hamilton nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
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people getting ticked at one another. I think it was a good deal. I don't
mean that towards Kevin or anything.  Me and Kevin had a row at Martinsville
last year, and I said he was a great race car driver, the sport needs him,
he'll do us a good job, but I think it will help Kevin in the long run and I
think it will definitely help all of us in the long run."

(Would they have done the same thing if it were Jeff Gordon or Tony
Stewart?) "I don't know that they would have up to this point.  But I think
after they've done what they've done they will do the same thing.  It's hard
to say this, you don't want to tick anybody off, but can you imagine making
Dale Earnhardt sit out for a week. I don't think we want to go do that ever
again.  Dale done a great job in the way he handled things.  The big thing
about Dale was that he wasn't real flashy with the media.  If he had to do
something on the racetrack, he didn't brag about it, he just went and did
it, like a lot of guys do.   I think what they want is people to act on a
professional basis. And they know we're going to have our tempers flare in a
racecar.  They want us to handle it in a proper way, which is after the race
come and talk to them and let them help us get it fixed before the next
race."

(Should the drivers save their paybacks for short tracks, and are they being
more obvious about their paybacks?) "There are a handful of drivers out
there like the Labonte brothers (Bobby Labonte and Terry Labonte) that never
say anything or do anything and very seldom to they retaliate on anything.
It's been a long time since I've seen anything like that happen. In our
sport, I'm a firm believer that there's a racing God. What goes around,
comes around. If somebody does something to you intentionally, NASCAR will
take care of it if you let them take care of it. The worst thing you can do
is retaliate on the racetrack at this point for two reasons. It's not good
for the sport anymore.  Some fans like it, but then again, we're fighting a
big safety issue here.  We're working our tails off and we've gotten things
a lot safer and we don't need to go through another year of what we just
went through. And that could very well happen on a high-speed racetrack. At
Martinsville, I got spun out the last two laps of the race. And the first
thing I wanted to know was who wrecked me. And I was trying to get my car
started because I was going to hit him when he came off of turn four. I'll
guarantee you that you'll see a lot milder race (at Talladega) than at the
shorts tracks when we go back to Martinsville and Bristol again."

(If this had been a points race in Cup for Kevin Harvick, do you think he
would have taken the same retaliatory strike?) "I don't really know. Kevin
seems to work off the cuff, and you've got to respect him for that. When he
says he's going to do something, he usually follows through. He don't take
anything. You have to have thick
TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Bobby Hamilton nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
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skin for what we do because a lot of times you're just having a bad week or
a bad few weeks that something happens and the first thing you want to do it
think something's intentional.

"The deal that happened to Kevin in that truck race - I don't know Coy Gibbs
a lot, I've raced with him - but that wasn't the first person he's run over.
I was probably an accident. Sometimes people just get themselves in a
position that they're not experienced enough to get out of.  And Kevin
should have considered the source and figured he was in there truck racing
and having fun or whatever the reason he is that he's truck racing because
our main goals are the Winston Cup teams. That's the bread and butter. When
you put yourself in that position, you have a chance to jeopardize all the
people on your Winston Cup team an that's when we have to watch out for."

(Looking ahead to Talladega and having respect to your fellow competitor, do
you have to forget any retaliation because of the safety issues?) "You need
not carry any grudges whatsoever when you walk through the gate at
Talladega. The best way to handle this is we need to 'park' one thing.  The
hardest I've ever hit anything has been at Martinsville Speedway. That's the
only time I've been knocked out in my whole career. If you've got a problem
with a guy - and NASCAR won't like this - but you need to go out the gate
and go to a store or somewhere, and punch him in the nose or something. We
need to quit wrecking these racecars.  It's other people's money and you can
jeopardize taking our three or four other people's equipment that weren't
even involved in what the chip is on your shoulder.

"But the big thing is going to Talladega.  It's a scary deal. Right now
we're having safe races at these places. Even though we had the big one at
Daytona, it was a pretty safe race. Nobody got hit real hard. We had a
couple of slashed tires and things like that, but the last thing any of us
want to think about is going in there with a chip on our shoulder about
something that happened at Martinsville because I care about all these guys.
I've got some that I like more than others or whatever, but I care about
every one of them. I never would do anything like that at a restrictor plate
race and I don't think anybody we have racing with us would."

(What is the difference between blocking at Talladega and Daytona than other
tracks?) "The issue is restrictor plates and when you have to lift, it bogs
you up real bad and jeopardizes everybody around you. When you get a run on
somebody at Charlotte, you have 800 horsepower, the car recovers good, and
you have a ton of downforce. We have the necessary evils at Talladega and
Daytona. We have no downforce. If somebody
TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Bobby Hamilton nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
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touches you, the car goes around. And we have no power. We really can't
afford to let off the gas because we're going to get hit from behind, nobody
can stop, you can't be touched and you really can't afford to let off the
gas because the thing won't pull back up."

(Will some drivers who haven't been happy with Kevin Harvick's driving style
take advantage of the fact that he has to keep his nose clean for 259 days
or face suspension?) "That's hard to say. I'm not going to treat him any
different. It's up to Kevin. If he want to be in Winston Cup racing, which I
hope he does because he really draws a big fan base and a lot of excitement,
he can still do that without being in trouble. He's just got to put his
priorities in line. We've seen Dale Jr. do that some. These guys can drive
the hell out of a racecar, so I think they can put everything in perspective
and put everything in order and keep their noses clean and go ahead and
race. If someone wants to mess with him, you can sort of put yourself in
that position and you just have to bite your tongue and wait 'til next year,
I guess."

(On the IRL taking the lead in softwall technology and the possibility of
seeing it at the NASCAR race in Indianapolis) "I knew it was coming. I'm
just surprised that it's coming this quick. I guess there's still not a
timeframe.  But I've been very pleased with the approach that everyone is
taking on the safety issues. What I like about what our sport is doing is
that we don't make any changes until we know that it's going to help 100
percent. If we can get those things up at a place like Indy, where they have
90-degree turns - at least that's what it looks like in a racecar - I would
be a great place to start."

(Have softwalls come up in any meetings?) "They've come up a little bit, and
I know that they've been testing some walls. Andy Petree gave them (NASCAR)
a car that I finished 8th with at Bristol last year to test the walls with.
I don't know they've been doing a lot of testing with it during the past
year."

(Can you explain side-drafting and how it works?) "I never heard of it, but
I think I know what you're talking about. When you have a lot of air stirred
in, you can be too far away from a car, or you can be too close to a car.
But then you can get door-to-door with a car and you can get x-amount of
help behind you, or from two or three cars in front of you, you can sort of
pull the vacuum off the car and it frees the car up for a minute and you can
make a little time. I don't know really how to explain it. It takes very
minute changes to make the car inch it's way forward and you have to really
concentrate and work with it. And then you've got to have a good partner. I
got lucky at the end of the race (last year's Talladega 500) because I had
Joe Nemechek behind me and I had Dale
TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Bobby Hamilton nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
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Jr. behind him, which are our RAD program cars. So I think it was just a
perfect situation for me.

"And then we went back for the second race (fall '01), and than I got hooked
up with Dale Jr. and we swapped the lead a lot in what you're calling the
'side-drafting'. But I didn't have the help to really get on by. But you can
run side-by-side. It takes a certain car to do that. Some cars like being
close to another car, and some cars actually bog down, so it just really
depends on your racecar."

Comments by Andy Petree - Note:  Petree has been a team owner for six years
and has two wins.

(Is the No. 33 team going to Talladega this weekend?) "Yeah, we've got Preen
Lawn Care products as a sponsor at Talladega.  We're real happy about that.
We're going to have Mike Wallace behind the wheel. That should help us by
having another car in there to help Bobby (Hamilton) and for Bobby to help.
Having some teammates out there is pretty good at Talladega."

(Are you more of a hands-on type of owner than some of the others)"Yeah, I
think so. I like having a lot to do with what's going on and I've always
been that way. Even when I was a crew chief, I was probably more of a
hands-on crew chief than most. So that really hadn't changed since I became
a team owner."

(As a team owner, do you think the fact that RCR is off to a slow start this
year is just a product of the turbulent year they had last season?) "This
sport is about peaks and valleys. Nobody really has the key to the thing.
There will be times when you don't perform well or have everything lined up
just right.  And right now, that's going on with Richard (Childress) and
that's going on with me too.  The good thing about Winston Cup racing is
that if you don't like what's going on right now, just wait. It's going to
change. But that's also the bad thing about it. If you like what's going on
right now, hang on because it's going to change. So that's the way the sport
is. Richard Childress is a very smart car owner and he will work out his
problems. He may not do it overnight. I guess (Kevin) Harvick is not helping
him much right now, but I'm sure they'll get that deal worked out."

(How are things progressing with Jerry Jones?) "Things are progressing some.
We did have a little bit of a meeting down there when we were in Texas for
the race. We've been talking since last October about doing something
together. We still haven't finalized
TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Bobby Hamilton nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
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anything about what we're going to do or how we're going to do it, but we
are talking - really daily. I talk to somebody with the (Dallas) Cowboys
everyday. But we still haven't finalized our whole deal yet. If we're going
to do something, we probably need to go ahead and get something done in the
next 30 to 45 days."

(After running a Chevy Silverado in the Truck Series at Martinsville, do you
have any future plans as a driver?) "I had a really good time driving the
truck. It's something I like doing every now and then. I've got so much on
my plate right now that it doesn't really fit with what we're doing to do
much more.  We may go to Richmond or IRP or someplace like that with the
truck again. But right now, it's kind of on the back burner and we're
focusing on some other things. But it was a good morale boost (qualified
3rd, finished 31st) for the team as much as it was for me. They did a great
job. They really prepared a good vehicle for that race. I couldn't believe
how good it was. It surprised me that we qualified so well. And, my lack of
experience probably hurt me some in the race. We got knocked out by a lapped
truck. Again, if I had more experience, I might be a little more careful
about those guys. But we had a good time. It didn't turn out like we wanted,
but we had a pretty good time."

(What does the loss of a guy like Buck Baker do to this sport?) "I didn't
know Buck very well. I did know of him. This is somewhat of a surprise. I
saw that this morning. I guess he was 83, but I thought he was in great
shape. I didn't watch him race, I was too young. I saw Buddy Baker race a
lot and I knew him pretty well. A lot of the history of this sport is in
these older guys. I'm one of these guys that who to hear all those old
stories. It's good for these younger guys to talk to them and try to carry
this on."

(Regarding sponsorship, what has been the general response to NASCAR by
companies in terms of value -- $10 million for 36 races?) "In recent times,
it has been a great value.  If you can go out there and buy a $100,000 car
for $50,000, it's of great value to you. But if you don't have $50,000, you
can't take advantage of it. That's one of the problems we're faced with. A
lot of sponsors recognize the value of the sport, but they really don't have
the dollars to take advantage of it. That's what I've been running up
against. I get a lot of interest in the sport from sponsors.  But when it
really comes down to spending $8 to $10 million a year to do it, it's been
hard to get them to make that decision. The economy drives most of those
decisions right now. In good times, some people have a lot of money and it
makes it an even better value for them to take advantage of."


TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Bobby Hamilton nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
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(And if you added ownership to the team, in what ways would that help you?)
"As the only stockholder of our company, I don't have the depth as far as
the marketing skills and wherewithal to raise the money to do this thing. I
feel like I'm a good businessman and I've run this thing as a successful
business. We've been successful on the track. We've won races. I've got a
lot of the things it takes to be a successful owner, but right now we don't
have a sponsorship to do it. I've got to find somebody out there that can
bring that or that has the wherewithal to do that. That's why right I'm
looking at basically taking on a partner. Otherwise, I'd rather do it
myself."

(If you were in Richard Childress's shoes right now, how would you handle
the Harvick situation?) "He's going to get Kevin's attention. I don't know
about NASCAR and about the "benching". That's part of their strategy is to
get Richard to help them keep Kevin under control. I think Kevin is a great
talent and he's really good for the sport. The things that are going on in
racing are creating a lot of interest.  Sometimes it's negative. But Kevin
is a big part of what's going on right now and I think Richard realizes that
he's a big part of RCR right now too. Richard is going to figure that whole
deal out and Kevin is going to be okay.  But here's one of the problems
that's going on right now with Kevin. There's a lot of guys out there that
are going to take advantage of him. A lot of things are going to aggravate
him on the racetrack that are going to create more challenges for Richard
and for Kevin. These guys might rub on him a little bit and try to aggravate
him a little bit knowing he can't do anything about it."

(On comparing Kevin Harvick to Tony Stewart) "I think you'll see a more
restrained Kevin Harvick. You're not going to see him reacting in his
natural and that's almost not good. His competitiveness and spirit are good
for the sport. It rubs some people the wrong way. You can't go out there and
wreck people. They're going to get his attention on that and I think he'll
realize that's not the right thing to do.  To get in a shoving match with
Coy Gibbs in a truck race and jeopardize a great career is kind of foolish.
I think he'll realize that. His spirit and Tony's too are good for the
sport. I don't think it's all bad."

(On going from a two car-team to a one-car team) "We can't employ as many
people as we did last year. That has entailed some layoffs. That's the hard
part. It's fairly easy not to spend money in other ways. You don't buy
tires. You don't buy parts. You've got to run it like a one-car team and
make it work as a company. It hurts you at the racetrack in that you don't
have that other team to bounce things off of (on set-ups). I think that's
hurting us a lot. I've had to make business decisions to make it work as a
one-car team.
TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Bobby Hamilton nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
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It's sometimes hard to do once you create a two-car team. You still have to
feed the monster. I've got a pretty big facility (100,000 square-foot) and
we're geared up to run two or more teams. We really need another sponsor and
another team."

(Can you win another race?) "I think we can. I think we're going to have a
good shot this week. It makes it more difficult. I think having two cars at
Talladega is going to help us."

(On donating a car to use in testing of the softwall technology) "I've never
seen a car like that destroyed in my whole life. I'll tell you what, if that
was a softwall I'd hate to see it with a hard one. They were actually
testing the wall. They took our car and the put it at a speed and an angle
that you really can't achieve on any racetrack we run on. You can't believe
how that car was destroyed. It was at a higher-impact speed than we could
ever achieve."

(As a car owner, are you ready for this safety improvement?) "I want to see
the sport safer for these guys.  The car we gave NASCAR was a car we raced
last year. Anything I can do to help, I well."

(On transferring driver punishment from another series to the Winston Cup
Series) "The power of NASCAR is not just within one series.  It's over the
whole thing. If you're going to call yourself a NASCAR driver, you're going
to have to subject yourself to their rules and regulations. What happened at
Martinsville is unique but not unprecedented. I've seen the same thing
before. Jack Ingram was leading the points in the Busch Series and ran a
Late Model race in Ashville. He and another guy got into a wreck and he got
mad and rammed the guy after the accident - rammed him coming into the pits.
The NASCAR people suspended Jack for four or five races, which cost him the
Busch Grand National Championship.  So this has happened before. It just
hasn't happened in Winston Cup. It just gives NASCAR a little more power and
control over what goes on at the racetrack.

"Dennis Setzer and I got into it one time at Hickory. I was just a mechanic
working the sport. We got into a little shoving match and we both got
temporarily suspended.  Well, I wasn't going to be able to work.  I wasn't
even going to be able to go to the race the next week and work in the
Winston Cup garage.  I still had a job. It made me think about it before I
ever did it again at another NASCAR race."


TEAM MONTE CARLO Contact: Nancy Wager
Talladega 500 Advance - Bobby Hamilton nmwager@aol.com
NASCAR Winston Cup Teleconference GM Racing Communications
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 (727) 784-8465
Page 9


(Is the current response from potential sponsors just a cycle-thing right
now?) "I do think it is a cycle because I've seen it where we had more
sponsors than we've had teams and team owners really came out of the
woodwork. NASCAR had to add cars to the field to take care of the many
teams.  I think it's kind of a correction that's going on - just like in the
economy. It is a cycle that we'll get through here shortly.  Hopefully in
time to help me."

(On figuring out a more cost-effective way than $15 million sponsorships
that can keep things realistic) "That's been my challenge all along. I run a
pretty tight ship. We don't spend anything that we don't need to, but we
don't let the cars want for anything. We won races with both cars last year
on way less sponsorship (than $15 million). I'm talking in the $6 million
range. I'm able to run my team a whole lot more efficiently than some other
teams. My challenge is to do that - to be able to be competitive on the
least amount of money possible."

(Is that a personal philosophy?) "It's a necessity. I've never had the big
sponsors. I've had to make it work, and make it work and win. I've been
successful doing this. I don't need $15 million to win a division. We proved
that last year. I'm trying to sell sponsorships in the $8 million range and
I know we can be very competitive with that."

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