A Snowstorm cut short testing last week at Bristol, but Bobby Hillin and the Jasper Engines Ford team were determined to get a test in before Thursday evening's deadline prior to the Food City 500. The team's transporter drove through a nearly blinding snowstorm Wednesday night and Hillin and team manager Mark Harrah drove through snowfall Thursday morning as they approached Bristol. When they arrived, track officials said the track was closed because of snow and ice on the track, Hillin and Harrah asked if they could dry the track themselves and get in an afternoon test, and were told, "If you can do it, go ahead."
SAID BOBBY HILLIN -77- Jasper Engines/Federal Mogul Thunderbird:
"When we got to the race track, there was snow and ice all over the turn three and four banking, I was holding on to the wall with one hand and holding a shovel scraping snow and ice off the banking with the other. Mark Harrah and I shoveled the snow off the track and then we drove around the track in his car (A MUSTANG COBRA) 220 laps to dry it off. We were pretty determined. The two of us had done a lot before any of the team guys got to the track, And then we just got out on the track with Mark's car and one Ford van and dried it off. When we got to the track that morning, we'd driven through all kinds of snow coming over from Charlotte, and the truck driver, who came over Wednesday night said he'd driven through a blizzard to get there. But the forecast was for it to clear Thursday afternoon, and I've seen the weather change pretty quick at the race track and we thought we had a chance to get some laps in. And it cleared, but only for about 30 minutes, The track called Mike Skinner's guys, and they came back over and ran, too, but we both ran through snow flurries all afternoon, One time, I really thought we were done, because it got slick, Mike came over and asked if I thought the track was getting wet again, because his car was slipping, We accomplished some things, but not a lot really, but I'm glad we got the few laps we got because we really needed to look at some things on the Bristol car. But we're asking NASCAR not to count that as a test against us, and I think some other teams that half-tested at Bristol asked for consideration because weather cut short most of the testing there last week."
