Sterling Marlin’s Dodge Tidbits

When Chip Ganassi bought out 80% of Felix Sabates’ race
teams this year, most understood changes were inevitable. As far as the fans of
Sterling Marlin, driver of the #40 Coors Light Chevy and Ted Musgrave, driver of
the #01 BellSouth Chevy, the changes cannot come soon enough. Both drivers have
struggled through much of the 2000 season due mainly to a less than stellar
engine program. Hope is high with the new Dodge deal and Ernie Elliott as the
primary engine builder; the Ganassi drivers will be visiting Victory Lane in
Dodge’s long awaited debut! The teams will change over from the Chevrolet to
the new Dodge Intrepid in hopes of giving themselves and their fans something to
cheer about once again.

Marlin, excited about the resurrection of the Dodge into
Winston Cup, recently inked out a one-year deal with Ganassi to be behind the
wheel of the Silver Bullet Coors Light beauty! Marlin said, "The Dodge’s
are going to be good cars. I signed a one-year only deal with Ganassi and on
July 4, 2001 we’ve agreed to either sign another contract or go and do
something else. If I don’t have a good year up to that point, well, I don’t
know, but I anticipate having a great year especially with the time and effort
the Dodge folks are putting into the motor program."

Coors Light has been the main sponsor for the #40 car for
many years and is not about to depart from the team on the brink of possibly it’s
best year ever starting at Daytona International Speedway! Marlin said,
"Coors has stuck with us and supported us always and we appreciate it very
much. We want to give them a good showing in Daytona, no doubt. Target is still
considering coming aboard as well, another great sponsor. I really don’t know
if the Target deal is a done deal yet, but I can say the talking is still going
on."

Obviously, when a new owner takes over the helm of any team,
it’s a guarantee that big changes are on the horizon. These changes usually
trickle down from the driver, the crew chief, and to the crew members. While it’s
certain that Sterling Marlin will be back as the driver of the #40 car, the #01
car is yet to have a permanent driver named. Ted Musgrave, who currently
occupies the seat of the #01 after the tragic death of Kenny Irwin earlier this
season, has performed adequately considering the waning motor program at SABCO
in 2000. Several names, including Jimmy Vassar, Jeremy Mayfield, and most
recently, Rick Mast, have all been rumored connected with the #01 car, with Mast
likely getting the nod. Marlin stated, "I know Vassar tested the car
recently in Lakeland, Florida and ran pretty well from what I’ve heard. I know
he and Ganassi were talking about him coming over to Cup, but I don’t really
see that happening. You know, I like Ted Musgrave and think he’s done a good
job taking over for Kenny, but it’s not up to me to make the decision who gets
the car next season. I also like Rick Mast and know he’s an excellent driver,
but he hasn’t had the best equipment nor luck with him to be as competitive as
he can be either. There will be an announcement soon and put all this rumor
stuff to rest."

Marlin added, "On the crew chief situation, I know that
Scott Eggleston, who was with me at the Dodge test in Homestead, is leaving and
going over to Dale Earnhardt’s operation. I can also say that Tony Glover is
going to be the crew chief on the #01 car for the 2001 season as far as I know.
Andy Graves, my current crew chief, who attended the Dodge test sessions with me
in Talladega and Daytona, is probable as my crew chief in 2001, although others
are being talked to as well. We also have other people committed to the Ganassi
operation, but I can’t really discuss it until after the season ends in
Atlanta in a couple of weeks."

"As far as any rumor you’ve heard about me going over
to Earnhardt’s team, right now I can say that I’m not going over there,
there is nothing to that rumor, nothing," grinned Marlin.

Naturally the Dodge teams, headed up by Ray Evernham, will
have many glitches and uncertainties to work out. Considering it’s only three
short months until the Daytona 500, it leaves little time to correct as many of
those problems as possible. The continuing test sessions are crucial in order to
field as near a perfect racecar as humanly possible. Marlin said, "It’s
true, there’s been some problems so far getting everything straight on the new
Intrepid, which is natural considering you’re building a car from the ground
up. Ray Evernham and Casey Atwood were testing up in Kentucky and had two
cracked blocks. But, they also ran over 1,400 miles, a lot of RPM’s, and just
had a batch of bad blocks. That problem has since been addressed and they were
actually pushing the motor to its limit to see what would break and why. It’s
all part of the learning process."

For several years, Ford and General Motors have been accused
of "playing favorites", while leaving other teams feeling, well, less
important. Dodge is attempting to remedy the situation by stressing the word…..TEAMWORK.
In theory, the idea sounds refreshing, in reality, let’s hope it happens! Time
will tell.