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iRACE Sparky Plug97-08-28

Everybody's Talkin' About Silly Season (Aug. 27, 1997) -- Our pal Brian Hoagland, in his weekly iRACE column, speculates today about several Winston Cup deals that are taking shape. His info pretty much jives with what Sparky has been hearing.

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

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Everybody's Talkin' About Silly Season

(Aug. 27, 1997) -- Our pal Brian Hoagland, in his weekly iRACE column, speculates today about several Winston Cup deals that are taking shape. His info pretty much jives with what Sparky has been hearing. We'll touch on a few items of note before we proceed with the letters.

Brian reports that Swervin' Irvan is ready to sign a deal with the Skittles/MB2 Motorsports team. Sparky understands that it's already a done deal, with the announcement to be forthcoming -- perhaps this weekend at Darlington?

We also hear that restrictor-plate motor-builder extraordinaire Sheldon "Runt" Pittman will go with ol' Sterling from Morgan-McClure Motorsports to Team Sabco, where both will be reunited with crew chief Tony Glover. Kind of leaves the Kodak/Morgan-McClure team pretty much depleted from the days when it was winning the Daytona 500 on an almost regular basis (once with Irvan, twice in a row with Sterling).

We hear that Derrike Cope, presently the Skittles driver, is talking to The Doctor (Julius Erving of Washington-Erving Motorsports) and The King (Richard Petty, not Elvis, thankyouverymuch) about a ride for '98, and that Bobby Hamilton (presently driving for The King) is considering the Kodak team and a potential ride with Andy Petree, as a teammate to Ken Schrader.

We still think the Budweiser sponsorship is going to Schrader, and we understand Quaker State is figuring to upgrade its current arrangement with Hendrick Motorsports -- taking the Craftsman Truck Series primary sponsorship and the associate deal with all three Hendrick Cup cars, and rolling it over into primary sponsorship of the third Hendrick car (presently sponsored by Bud). The compelling question: Will the Big Q takes its Truck Series driver, Jack Sprague, into the Cup car, replacing Ricky Craven? We think it's possible...

We also hear rumblings that the likely rookie-of-the-year, Mike Skinner, is testing the waters about a new ride. Apparently, Skinner has not re-upped with Richard Childress; something about slumping Dale Earnhardt not being pleased with the RCR two-car team. But then, we have to wonder, how much longer is the Intimidator going to be driving for Childress -- or how much longer is he going to be driving, period? Sparky has always felt Earnhardt would step aside soon after he stopped winning, rather than hang around and hang around and hang around like some other legendary drivers we know of.

Oh, well, the neat thing about Silly Season is there's never a shortage of things to discuss. And if you don't like something you hear today, well, just wait 'til tomorrow, and you're sure to hear something different! Like Don Meredith told Howard Cosell one time on Monday Night Football, "Attaboy, Howard. Tell it like it is. Even if it ain't like that."

* * *

Visit the Sparky Plug page at http://www.irace.com/newsview/1997/sparky/sparkyindex.htm

-- Chris Poterala - potsie@irace.com Community Developer/Computer Guy voice: (313) 997-0500, ext. 17 fax: (313) 997-7030

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