Hard Road For Andy Petree

Hard to believe, but it wasn’t two years ago that Andy Petree’s race team was
among the best in the sport. Today is is preparing for 2003, but with a lot of
uncertainty. Ken Schrader is scheduled to drive for Petree, but the team needs
sponsorship, and there have been layoffs.

It was a very rough 2002 for Petree and his team, so rough that for awhile it
appeared Petree would not even be the team’s owner; negotiations proceeded with
Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, but a deal to sell to Jones collapsed, and
Petree is back to square one. And amid all the uncertainty, primary sponsor
Square D cut back its commitment for 2003.

It all means that 2003 may not see Andy Petree Racing at every race, which
would make for the first time in some twenty years that Petree racecars were not
on a Winston Cup track. 2002 was a possible harbinger, as Petree had to shut
down his #33 race team early in the year.

Such is the situation for a team owner whose love affair with racing began at
age eleven when his uncle, a local Chevy dealer, took him to Hickory Speedway,
only seven miles from his home in the Newton-Conover NC area. "It got to me
just like vise grips," Petree wrote in 1992.^*
Local racer John Settlemyre worked at the Petrees’ Chevy store, and agreed to
let young Andy work for him as a volunteer. "I’d ask question after
question," Petree wrote, "I was just so hungry to learn everything
about racecars."

By the age of sixteen Petree, who worked on the side for his father’s
gasoline distributorship, had earned enough to split, with friend Jimmy Newsmon,
the cost to build a racecar. Petree was to be the driver and he constantly
sought advice from John Settlemyre and from Hickory champ Tommy Houston.

But the team ran out of money before it could get an engine for the car. At
this juncture they met Dale Jarrett, a friend of theirs who wanted to get into
racing. "I’ll buy you a motor if you let me drive the car," Jarrett
told Petree and Newsom. Petree had wanted to drive, but settled into a role as a
crew chief. But initially he wasn’t sure about young Dale Jarrett’s dedication.

"As it turned out," Petree wrote, "Dale Jarrett was VERY
dedicated." Jarrett began learning about the racecars and partnered with
Petree when Jimmy Newsom wanted to sell his interest in the team due to the
alarming rise in costs. They ran Class C on asphalt at Hickory Speedway, and
while they never won a race they were competitive. But it cost so much that when
Petree graduated high school, "we sold the car and basically got out of
debt."

About this time Petree was persuaded by his mother to attend Nashville Auto
and Diesel College. Six months in, though, Petree found that it was not what he
wanted to do, so he returned home and renewed acquaintances with Jimmy Newsom,
who put him to work in his tire store. "I worked part-time on a couple of
racecars, including Dale Jarrett’s," Petree wrote. "In the past it had
cost me money to work on the racecar, now I was getting to do it for free."

But in mid-1981 Petree found himself needing a job. "I told Dale
(Jarrett), ‘Your dad has a lot of connections in Winston Cup racing. I need a
job right now, and that’s what I want to do. See if he can help me.’"
Petree didn’t think anything would happen, but Junior Johnson needed a tire
changer and decided to try Petree. His first race with Johnson was the Texas 400
at College Station. "I was so nervous, I rode on the truck out to Texas,
and all the way out I couldn’t sleep or eat."

Darrell Waltrip was driver, and blew up early at Texas, but the next race, at
Riverside, Petree got his first taste of changing tires. "During the day
Darrell made four or five stops and somehow I didn’t trip over myself."
Waltrip won the Riverside race in a hot duel with Dale Earnhardt and Richard
Petty.

Petree, though, was employed only as a tire changer, not a mechanic. "I
didn’t feel like I was contributing, because I didn’t have that much experience
and because he wouldn’t let me learn and work on the cars." Petree decided
to be Junior’s tire changer on a part-time basis, but was demoted to loosening
left-side lug nuts. While at Junior’s he saw eight victories, but didn’t feel he
was really contributing to them.

By Speedweeks 1982 Petree was looking for something else, though he was still
working at Junior Johnson’s team. He met Johnny Hayes, then head of US Tobacco’s
motorsports marketing division. Hayes had a Sportsman Pontiac Ventura with Phil
Parsons as driver, and asked Petree to be his tire changer. "I got to know
Johnny and Phil Parsons, and I told them, ‘I’d like to get in with you two and
work on this car.’" With that he left Junior Johnson’s team and
"worked on the (Sportsman) car for nothing, like I had with Dale
Jarrett."

In August 1982 Hayes hired Benny Parsons to drive a Winston Cup car,
"and just like that I went from Busch to Winston Cup, but only part
time." Using Buicks purchased from Hal Needham’s Skoal-backed #33 team,
Parsons ran most of the final third of 1982 and finished well several times, and
for 1983 Hayes decided to expand the team with a new shop, new Chevrolet
racecars, and a 15-race schedule with US Tobacco’s Copenhagen as sponsorship.
Leo Jackson, an engine builder, was hired, and Cliff Champion was hired as crew
chief. Petree was now building tailpipes, suspension pieces, rear ends, and
doing other mechanical work. "There were only four of us, so we had to
share the responsibilities and build the cars."

Cliff Champion proved to be Petree’s best teacher. "The bulk of what I
learned about Winston Cup cars I learned from Cliff. I learned the basics, how
to grind the frame without hurting it" and the other little things that
prove to be very important.

Champion, though, clashed with Benny Parsons. "From Day One, Benny never
cared for me," Champion wrote in 1992. "I don’t know why."
Despite this, the Hayes team was competitive in its limited outings in 1983 and
in the 1984 Atlanta Benny Parsons beat Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough for
his 21st and final Winston Cup win. Parsons and the team would win one other
race, the non-points Atlanta Invitational, in 1986.

Hayes didn’t just run Benny; he also fielded a second car for Phil Parsons
beginning in 1983. In his second race, Phil banged wheels with Darrell Waltrip
at the Winston 500 at Talladega, punched the first turn wall, and tumbled onto
Ricky Rudd’s trunk, a wreck that caused a hysterical Benny to plead for a relief
driver before word came back that Phil was okay; Phil even told track doctors,
"Don’t cut my uniform off, I need it next week."

The Parsons brothers continued as teammates for two years, an arrangement
that also involved Leo Jackson’s brother Richard, with Petree evolving into a
crew chief role. For 1987 the plan called for the team to run the full schedule,
but with two cars for both Parsons essentially splitting the chore. But when Tim
Richmond fell ill with double-pneumonia (which would prove just one of two grave
illnesses for Richmond) Benny was hired by Hendrick Motorsports, while the
Jackson brothers bought out Johnny Hayes and fielded the #55 still with US
Tobacco sponsorship and Phil Parsons as driver.

"In 1988 Leo Jackson and me and the guys who worked on Benny’s car
prepared for the fifteen superspeedway races, and Richard Jackson and the guys
who had prepared Phil’s car got those cars ready for the short track races. It
was one team, but it was like two teams. It’s never happened before, and it
probably will never happen again." The #55 was among teams running Hoosier
tires in the tire maker’s first entry into Winston Cup. Parsons won at Talladega
and finished seventh in 1988 points, but the Jackson brothers decided to go
their separate ways as far as the team went. Leo Jackson went to US Tobacco and
managed to get both Skoal sponsorship and Harry Gant as driver. Leo also moved
his cars from Denver, NC to Asheville, with Petree the only crewman willing to
also make the move. "I saw an opportunity, and so I moved. I felt, ‘we can
build a car he can win in.’"

With some backing from Oldsmobile, the new Leo Jackson Skoal #33 promptly won
the 1989 Rebel 500. "We were very inexperienced, but the guys in the motor
room had an excellent motor, and Harry gets around Darlington better than any of
them….that was a good driver’s win." It got the team off to a great
start, and Gant finished seventh in 1989 points.

1990, though, was very difficult on Petree and Gant. Gant’s father died
before the Southeastern 500 at Bristol and Phil Parsons filled in that weekend.
The team struggled quite often, failed to finish a number of races, but managed
a come-from-behind win at Pocono – a win in which Gant was nearly gassed out of
the car after a mid-race spin let fumes into the cockpit.

Petree’s heart wasn’t in racing – "My wife left, and I was destroyed. I
can’t tell you how bad it was." At the end of 1990 his wife returned, and
"my life basically straightened out…..I’m thankful that Leo and the guys
stuck with me. They were my family and that helped me through that part, and I
made some great friends through that."

Before 1991 GM started giving the team some real backing, including access to
the wind tunnel. Petree met with GM engineer Terry Satchel, and "I learned
a tremendous amount from him." The 1991 season got off to a good start, and
at the Winston 500 Gant escaped a huge 23-car melee and out gassed Darrell
Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt – but a last-lap push from Rick Mast, now driving the
Richard Jackson Olds, caused controversy. The team then hit a lull in mid-year –
ball joints were found to be bent; rear trailing arms bent; at Pocono a strut
rod on the front suspension snapped; the engine blew up at Talladega; at
Michigan in August Petree made a bad call on choice of tires and it cost the
team.

At this time the sport was well along in phasing out bias-ply tires and
phasing in radial tires. Many teams were struggling with radials, but during
1991 Petree made a pivotal discovery on cambering, applied it, and in September
everything clicked like crazy. Gant won the Southern 500, and Petree decided to
take the exact same car, rebuilt the same engine, and went to Richmond.
"Even Harry didn’t agree with that," Petree wrote, but Gant won at
Richmond. The team ran the same car and engine at Dover, and after a massive
crash thinned the field, Gant lapped the remainder of the field for yet another
win. The team took the same car and engine to Martinsville, and Gant got slammed
into the wall by Rusty Wallace, but rallied through the field for the win, his
fourth in a row.

"Now we were afraid to lose," Petree wrote. They used the same car
and engine at North Wilkesboro, won the pole (Gant’s first since 1988), and so
dominated the race that they almost lapped the field. But Gant didn’t want to
push the car too hard so he didn’t try to put Dale Earnhardt a lap down. This
proved fatal; during the race an O-ring in the brake system broke and trickled
out brake fluid all day; i the final laps Gant thus his brakes, and Earnhardt
wound up winning with Gant second – what would have been a win if Gant had put
Earnhardt a lap down.

"It KILLED us," Petree wrote. There was no finger-pointing
afterward, and the team continued to run strong race after race. But GM was
making a pivotal change in its approach to racing. Buick’s program was
disbanded, and Oldsmobile cut to just two cars – the Jackson brothers’
Cutlasses, with disbandment of the program to occur after 1992. Gant and Petree
won twice in 1992, both on fuel mileage, and were in the thick of the closest
point battle ever entering the final race. Gant wound up fourth in points, his
final win coming at the Yankee 400 at Michigan.

After 1992 wrapped up Petree received the offer of a lifetime – restore a
faltering RCR Enterprises team to greatness. Petree took the offer and brought
his radial setup knowledge to Dale Earnhardt’s efforts. His impact was
immediate, as Earnhardt rocked through Speedweeks, only to lose the Daytona 500
to Dale Jarrett. Earnhardt led 100 laps at Rockingham and finished second again.
His first win came at the Rebel 500 at Darlington, but by the Winston 500 at
Talladega Earnhardt was behind in Winston Cup points. From there, though,
Earnhardt went on a tear, winning the World 600 and Mason-Dixon 500, the
Firecracker 400, Summer 500 at Pocono, and Die Hard 500 at Talladega. He
squandered most of his 200-plus point lead but still finished some 80 points
ahead of Rusty Wallace, who had himself rallied after his bad Talladega tumble
in May.

For 1994 the RCR team was the one to beat, but quite a few challengers rose
to the occasion. Speedweeks produced more Daytona 500 futility while Sterling
Marlin broke through for his first win. Earnhardt dominated but still needed a
wreck by Rusty Wallace to win Darlington. At Bristol Geoff Bodine took control
but when he and other leaders pitted under green a caution trapped them a lap
down and put Earnhardt, driving a car he admitted later wasn’t up to snuff, into
the lead and the win. It took everything Earnhardt had to outfight 14 cars at
the Winston 500 at Talladega.

After Talladega Earnhardt and Petree could not find victory lane again
despite consistent finishes, and looked out of the point race with Ernie Irvan
in front late in the Brickyard 400. Irvan’s flat tire with five to go cost him
the point lead, then Irvan’s near-fatal injury at Michigan changed the entire
dynamic of the point race. Consistent top finishes by Earnhardt gave him a huge
lead over Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin, and late-season engine failures by
Wallace iced the title before Earnhardt returned to victory, at the American 500
at Rockingham.

Petree now had two championships, while Leo Jackson’s team was struggling.
Robert Pressley replaced Harry Gant after 1994 and could never get untracked,
and during 1995 Jackson made Petree an offer even sweeter than staying with RCR
– phased-in team ownership. Petree wrenched Earnhardt to five wins in 1995 – and
along the way got involved in a bizarre incident of NASCAR Meeting Instant
Replay; at the American 400 at Rockingham Earnhardt was black flagged for a
loose lug nut; when he pitted Petree used an instant camera to photograph the
disputed wheel; when the photo came out he had it taken to the NASCAR control
tower, and late in the race NASCAR threw a caution to let Earnhardt get back on
the lead lap.

The title was out of reach, though, and Petree returned to Jackson’s #33
Chevrolet for 1996, with team ownership to phase toward Petree by year’s end.
Pressley’s efforts improved noticeably with Petree as crew chief, but as 1996
wore on his efforts faltered, and Pressley was released from the car before
year’s end.

For 1997 Ken Schrader took over the Skoal #33 and won poles at both New
Hampshire races, and a pile of top-15 finishes kept him competitive in points.
At the (now-)Autumn 500 at Talladega Schrader roared into the lead with ten to
go, but could not hold off Terry Labonte’s two-to-go charge for the win. 1997
nonetheless was a good season.

1998, though, was tougher. Schrader got hooked at Daytona by David Green and
punched the first turn wall head-on, breaking several ribs; he nonetheless
soldiered home 4th in the 500. He won the pole at Talladega and finished 12th in
points, but for 1999 only a handful of top-tens resulted, and Schrader left,
replaced by Joe Nemechek.

By now Petree had expanded to two teams, the #33 and the renewed #55, with
Kenny Wallace as driver. Wallace finished second at New Hampshire and fifth at
Talladega, but his lack of aggression meant no wins, and late in 2000 he
announced an ill-advised move to Jack Birmingham’s stillborn #27 Pontiac – this
despite finishing a stunning second at Talladega. Replacing Wallace in the #55
was Bobby Hamilton.

Joe Nemechek, meanwhile, had won at NHIS in 1999 and finished second there in
the Petree #33, amassing ten top ten finishes in all. For 2001 the
Nemechek-Hamilton tandem ran strong, aided by aero engineer Richard Buck, a
Roger Penske graduate from CART champ cars. During a Dover test Nemechek smashed
the wall and broke his shoulder, missing several races; before that, though, he
drafted with teammate Hamilton and pushed him to win Talladega, Petree’s first
win since 1995 and first ever as a car owner.

But the seeds of the team’s dissolution were already planted when sponsor
Oakwood Homes left after 2001. The team spent most of 2001 racing while looking
for a sponsor for the #33; when Nemechek slaughtered the field to win at
Rockingham, it appeared that would ice a deal, but none came. Another blow came
when aero-engineer Richard Buck left for Petty Enterprises.

It all added up to a dismal 2002 season. Petree, though, isn’t giving up. Ken
Schrader will drive for him again and his long time short track and Craftsman
Truck sponsor Federated Auto Parts will help with some sponsorship. It remains
to be seen if it will jump-start the team again. Petree certainly hopes it will,
for a team he’s justly proud of.

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* – unless otherwise noted, all Petree and related quotes are
from American Zoom, by Peter Golenbock (MacMillan, 1993)