NASCAR WCUP: Pennzoil Team's Off Weekend Plans; Road Crew Makes Plans For Firs t Free Weekend In 13 Weeks
26 October 1999
Do you remember what you did on July 18. To most people in NASCAR Winston Cup racing that weekend seems like a distant memory. That was their last off weekend. For the last 13 weeks the #1 Pennzoil team at Dale Earnhardt Inc. has traveled all across America racing. Here is how they plan to spend their free time. Driver Steve Park "My off weekend is going to be spent on a motorcycle. Me and my girlfriend and two other couples are getting on motorcycles Friday afternoon to head up to Hickory and on to Boone, North Carolina. I figure we are probably going to stop at the furniture outlet in Hickory and do some shopping. We are staying in Boone at a real nice resort for the whole weekend. On Saturday morning we are riding over to the Fontana dam on the North Carolina-Tennessee border to look at the scenery and just have fun. We have been racing every weekend for the last couple of months. I just want to relax a little bit. Take a deep breath, then come back and finish out these last few races." Crew Chief Paul Andrews "My kids race so we are going to take them out racing. I end up missing a lot of their racing because I am gone so much so I try to go with them whenever I get an opportunity. That's really all we have planned. I'd like to also get caught up on a few things at home. Tim is 16 years old and drives a Legends car and Troy is 14 and drives a Bandelero car. There is a Bandalero race at Charlotte and we are also going to try to find a Legends car race somewhere for Tim. The kids got involved in racing and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. I want to spend time helping them and I enjoy it so that's what we do." DEI Technical Director Steve Hmiel "It may be an off weekend for the Pennzoil team, but not for me. I say the heck with off weekends. I'm going with (Ron) Hornaday truck racing in California. They are paying me to do something I used to have to pay to do. Life doesn't get any better than this. Everyone talks about burnout in this sport. But I don't believe in burnout. We are some of the luckiest people in the world." Car Chief Kevin Manion "I'm going to Potter County, Pennsylvania to go deer hunting with a friend of mine. If I could bow hunt professionally I would. But that doesn't pay the bills as well as racing. Next to racing it is my favorite sport. Actually, it might be my favorite sport. Racing really screws up a lot of hunting trips." Spotter, Director of Motorsports Ty Norris "I'm going to the truck race. But I'm taking my family. I know we go to 40 races a year, but this race is special because it's the last truck race for Dale Earnhardt Inc., Ron Hornaday, and that #16 Napa team. They've won two championships and are moving to the Busch Series next year. After the race my wife and I and our two little boys are driving from Fontana to Phoenix and going through Sedona and all the places like that. It will kind of be like a vacation or as close to a vacation as you get in this business." Truck Driver Troy Cole "I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know what I have to do. That is fixing some things around the house that have been neglected. Like my favorite chair. It fell apart the other day and my wife has been waiting for the opportunity for it to break so she can throw it away and get a new one. She said "no...no it can't be fixed." But, I'm going to fix it. I probably have to mow the grass one more time. Hope that is the last time. Have to go to a wedding also. I guess I'm going to do all the stuff that a normal person gets to do on a weekend. I leave for Phoenix Monday night in the truck so it's going to be a busy week next week. That is a long drive." Rear Tire Changer Bobby Burrell "I bought a new house in Huntersville two weeks ago and I've only spent three nights in it because we have been on the road so much. I have a bunch of new furniture coming and I have to connect my stereo system. Yeah, it's going to be a lot of work. But that house has been sitting there and I've been anxious to get working on it." Shock Specialist Craig Phillips "I've been pretty lucky. I got the Talladega weekend off so I went hunting. That's probably what I'm going to do this weekend also somewhere up near Asheboro. This job doesn't allow for too much of that so I go whenever I can." Crew Member Ed Nawrocki "I'm going to New Jersey to see my parents and friends. I have plans for Christmas so this was going to be my chance to see them. I haven't been back home since last Christmas so I'm looking forward to it."