Loyalty: A Tale of Two Truckers

What do Michael Waltrip and
Mike Skinner have in common? Neither has won a points paying race since their
respective entries into the Winston Cup stock car wars. And…that’s about
where it stops, the similarities. Yet it was Waltrip that got the nod to take
over the plum ride in the third car that will run out of the shops of Dale
Earnhardt Incorporated in 2001. With the departure of Larry McReynolds to the
broadcasting seat, the future looks bleak for Skinner at Childress Racing and
his seat in the 31 car. I suspect we will see “Hollywood Handsome” Kevin
Harvick in that car flying the ACDelco colors as that team, like the 99 NCTS
team with Kurt Busch, moves into the top series way too soon. Heck of a way to
treat your former champion Mr. Childress. No, that hasn’t happened yet, and I
admit my assessment of that situation may be a might premature. We’ll get back
to Skinny later.

Back over at DEI, we have to wonder what
it was that Ron Hornaday did to raise the boss’s ire. He brought a fat
sponsor, NAPA, to the DEI stable when fat sponsors save for Goodwrench weren’t
paying attention to the Truck series. That isn’t the problem. Maybe it’s
those two NCTS championships he brought home to DEI. Nah, that ain’t it. Could
it be those wins in the Busch Series in the NAPA Chevy? Nope. Maybe it was the
burnout, (yea, Dale Jr. never did that!), following his first BGN win? Yeah!
That must be it! That MUST be why Dale Earnhardt hired a racing legacy over a
two time champion and loyal employee to drive his third Cup car. It makes
perfect sense. Cast adrift a guy who brought you a sponsor, program development,
and championship hardware in favor of a guy who is real good at mugging for the
camera. Waltrip couldn’t win with the Wood Brothers, he couldn’t win with
Mattei, a team whose roots were built by Alan Kulwicki, so what makes Ironhead
think he’ll start winning in a DEI car? Hornaday has won. Repeated times. And
he’s looking for a job. Makes perfect sense.

The current buzz has Hornaday landing in
the #4 Kodak Cup car vacated by Bobby Hamilton, or in the #2 Ultra Motorsports
truck Mike Wallace has run well with. No doubt, the OTHER two time NCTS champion
Jack Sprague wants to see Ron get the job in the #4 so he doesn’t have to go
through that hell again-playing second fiddle to the man who wrote the NCTS
record book at his expense. The bottom line is that Hornaday is far too talented
not to land on his wheels.

Now what of Mike Skinner, the first NCTS
graduate to leap frog BGN straight to Cup? He has done well running largely with
team #3 re-skins. Not that he gets bad cars, or used up cars, just cars that
are, for the most part, not built for him. A subtle but critical difference, and
without Larry Mac setting those cars, team #31 looks to a rebuilding year in
2001. Financial pressures dictate that Childress just elevate a Busch team
rather than start from scratch with the #31. And that can only mean a driver
change.

Much like Johnny Benson rising from the
ashes of his debacle at Roush Racing, there is a bright spot for both Skinner
and Hornaday, but, like Benson and Aaron’s Rents, it’s going to take some
insightful sponsorship help. The NAPA sponsorship was taken by DEI fair and
square, and Skinner’s Lowe’s sponsorship may be tenuous as well. Lots of
high profile teams looking for paint on the panels in the heat of the Silly
Season Shuffle. No doubt Lowe’s will land on a car they hope will be dueling
door to door with that orange #20 car. What are established, yet aging talents
like Horny and Skinny to do?

Join forces! Is there nobody with dollars
and racing sense to see the incredible opportunity here? Team Trucking invades
Winston Cup. Yellow Freight has been dipping its toes into racing over the last
couple of years, and they have sponsored the BGN efforts of both Mike and Jamie
Skinner. There’s a natural connection. Much as everybody loves Dick Trickle,
it’s time for Schneider National to realize that their car just isn’t going
to get to the front any time soon. Throw those colors to a Hornaday piloted
ride.

We have the sponsors in place, so now we
need somebody to build the cars for these two “old guys.” Who knows better
how to make an old guy win better than Bobby Hamilton? He has put new life into
the Ruttman effort in the NCTS. He also has the BGN efforts of his son. Nothing
to write home about there, but it is people and equipment in place to build race
cars. And what of Jimmy Spencer’s BGN effort with the previously mentioned
Dick Trickle? Again, people, equipment, and experience in place to go racing,
and maybe a little help from Travis Carter to boot. Hmmm. All that talent and
experience would make one think that Hamilton, Spencer, and Carter could join
forces with Skinner and Hornaday and have a Victory Tour that actually has
victories.

We can wish Michael Waltrip nothing but
the best as he plays third fiddle to Little E and Steve Park at DEI. When
Ironhead gets Cup title #8 and goes out on top unlike Petty and DW, the RCR cars
belong to Harvick and Mike Dillon, and we wish then well as well. Though in
their forties, Skinny and Horny are far from used up. What they need is
opportunities that are focused on them exclusively. That’s what’s worked so
well for Greg Biffle and the Grainger team in the NCTS. They don’t have that
now, so perhaps, no matter how unceremoniously they are dismissed from their
current rides, these are blessings in disguise. These guys are tested and ready
proven champions. Who, in the Winston Cup Racing Hierarchy, will come forward
and give Team Trucking a chance? Perhaps no one? Admittedly, two former NCTS
champions in the same racing stable IS a scary thought to most of the current
Cup drivers. You see, those truckers know what those bumpers are for…Lead,
follow, or be moved outta they way! The way Cup racing used to be, and can be
again in the stables of Team Trucking.