1995 Past News & Sources
November
November 2
Shepherd replaces Bodine at Mock
Sun Journal - New Bern
Todd Bodine will be released from his Winston Cup racing duties at Butch Mock Motorsports, which also announced Wednesday it will replace Bodine with Morgan Shepherd for the 1996 season.
Bodine, who won The Winston Select Open in May at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will drive his last race for Mock at the NAPA 500 series season finale in Atlanta Nov. 12.
Shepherd, who previously drove for Mock in 1989, has reached an agreement with Mock to drive the Factory Stores of America Ford Thunderbird beginning at Daytona in February. Shepherd, 54, has driven for the Wood Brothers for the past four seasons, winning one race and finishing in the top five in 18 other races.
“I am pleased to re-establish my relationship with Morgan,” Mock said.
November 3
Moroso’s Last Race
Tom Higgins - Charlotte Observer
Dick Moroso’s last entry in the (Busch) series before disbanding the team, which won the 1989 championship with his late son, Rob, driving.
November 9
Dallenbach to Dillard?
Danville Register
Dillard, should he land the Remington sponsorship, will hire Wally Dallenbach to handle the driving chores.
Dallenbach, rideless for the past 15 months, is also listed high on the list of potential drivers for the Bud Moore Winston Cup ride and a leading candidate to drive the Dodge truck that Richard Petty will enter the SuperTruck Series in 1996.
If the deal does not go through, Dillard may consider shutting down his Charlottesville team.
November 10
Goodbye Kenny
Knoxville News-Sentinal
Kenny Bernstein concludes a 10-year run as owner of a Cup team Sunday. Hut Stricklin, Bernstein’s seventh driver, will be with the Stavola Brothers next season. Brett Bodine gave Bernstein his only victory in 1990 at North Wilkesboro, N.C. (Not True, they won two races together with Ricky Rudd in the late 80’s)
Bernstein’s King Racing team will be auctioned off next week. He elected to sell in order to concentrate on his efforts as a top fuel drag racer.
November 11
Yabba dabba do! Cartoons to go racin’
Greenville News
Fred Flintstone, the Jetsons and other animated members of the gang are coming to NASCAR.
Hanna-Barbera, which is responsible for some of television’s most famous cartoon characters, will sponsor the Diamond Ridge Racing team of driver Steve Grissom next season, a deal that will result in one of motorsports’ strangest paint schemes.
Grissom’s No. 29 Chevrolets will be painted bright yellow and will carry sketches of Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble and other Hanna-Barbera characters. Grissom’s uniform will be decorated along the same lines. The suit’s back is covered with a drawing of a scowling Fred Flintstone.
The Diamond Ridge team will be known as the Cartoon Network Wacky Racing team. Grissom will be making appearances with Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, and the racing team will be worked into cartoon merchandising.
“We view this deal ... as an opportunity to establish a solid kids’ presence in NASCAR through our Cartoon Network consumer brand,” said Fred Seibert, Hanna-Barbera president. “In NASCAR we found a great kids’ business. I was astounded by their information, statistics and demographics regarding kids.”
November 12
Hammond, Allison, Joins Tri-Star, Healthsource Inc. to sponsor
Mike Mulhern - Winston-Salem Journal
Jeff Hammond, once one of the top crew chiefs on the circuit during his days with Johnson, won the 1982 stock car championship with Darrell Waltrip. But the last three years Hammond has struggled, first with car owner Felix Sabates, then with rookie car owner Dick Brooks. Now Hammond has moved on, joining Loy Allen and the Mark Smith team.
Healthsource Inc. will sponsor Loy Allen for the full 1996 Winston Cup season. TriStar Motorsports has hired Jeff Hammond to be crew chief and Donnie Allison as a consultant.
Atlanta Race Could Be Junior Johnson’s finale?
Mike Mulhern - Winston-Salem Journal
Is this the last race of Junior Johnson’s legendary career? Is the man Tom Wolfe once called “the last American hero” finally quitting, after more than 40 years as car owner and driver on the NASCAR trail?
Johnson, perhaps frustrated by this season’s litany of problems, has been considering selling his Wilkes County stock car team to driver Brett Bodine, if Bodine can come up with the approximately $5.085 million price tag reportedly put on the package, which includes the Ingle Hollow complex. The day of reckoning for the two men and their team will apparently be Monday.
Yesterday, after several weeks of sweating out the financing, Bodine was finally smiling and predicting the buyout would indeed go down Monday. “I’m mortgaged up to here,” Bodine said, putting his hand to his chin, “but it’s going to happen. We’ve just got a couple more things to sign.” But Johnson preferred to withhold comment until Monday.
Ingle Hollow holds a lot of memories for Johnson, memories and legends he, at 64, seems about ready to plow under. But Johnson’s love of racing has been on the wane for some time. “Ever since Billy France kicked him and Tim Brewer out those four weeks (in 1992), Junior hasn’t been the same. You could see it in his eyes,” said Pete Wright, a loyal Johnson crewman for years, now working for Darrell Waltrip.
Jimmy Spencer, who won twice last season in Johnson’s Ford, says he still doesn’t know what Johnson might do. “Junior is a unique person, and I have the utmost respect for him, because Junior is a real racer,” he said. “He does this because he wants to do it. “He is just a down-to-earth country boy. But he’s a very hard man to read. He’s a very mysterious person in some ways. He hates to lose. But he never lets you know if you’ve beat him, he never shows that. I admire that, that stone face of his, though some people say he doesn’t show any emotion. . . .
“It’d be nice to see Junior winning another championship before he quits. . . . but this isn’t Hollywood. “People say Junior is going out on a sad note. Well, let me tell you, buddy, he won six championships and he should have won nine or 10. He was one of the guys who brought this sport to this level.”
Decided, Jarrett to the 88, Irvan Stays in the 28
News and Advance - Lynchburg
Dale Jarrett, who filled in for injured Ernie Irvan in the No. 28 Robert Yates Racing Texaco-Havoline Ford in 1995, will switch rides with the come-backing Irvan for next season.
Texaco-Havoline will stick with the No. 28 and Irvan, who was in the car until his nearly fatal crash on Aug. 20, 1994. Ford Quality Care moves to the Yates team from Bud Moore Engineering and will be joined on the No. 88 car — to be driven by Jarrett — by Ford Credit.
The announcement was made Saturday in Atlanta by Edsel B. Ford II, president of Ford Motor Credit Co. and Dr. Ron Goldsberry, vice president of the Ford Customer Service Division.
Remington gives NASCAR a shot
News and Advance - Lynchburg
The final pieces of the 1996 Winston Cup puzzle began falling into place Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with several driver and sponsorship announcements.
Among them, Remington Arms Co. announced its entry into the stock car sport, signing a multi-year agreement to become primary sponsor for Butch Mock’s No. 75 Ford Thunderbirds with Morgan Shepherd as the driver. Shepherd, 54, has driven the past four seasons for the Wood Brothers team, winning one race. He previously drove for Mock, when he was co-owner of the Rahmoc team with Bob Rahilly in 1989, and replaces Todd Bodine, who was released.
“I can see it now,” Shepherd said with a grin, “all those hunters sitting out in the woods with their little TVs, seeing where the Remington car is. “It’s really great to get a company like this involved in the sport,” the driver added. “There’s a lot of people out there who hunt and fish, and this will draw interest. That’s what our sport is all about.”
November 24
Junior Johnson Sells Team, Out of NASCAR
AP
NASCAR racing legend Junior Johnson is out of the business after nearly half a century as a driver and car owner.
The Charlotte Observer reported today that Johnson, 64, sold both his race teams Wednesday. His No. 11 Ford team was sold to Brett Bodine for a price somewhere between $3 million and $5 million, a source told the newspaper. “The deal has been rumored for a long time, but it didn’t go through until today because today’s the day they closed on the real estate,” the source told the newspaper. The deal includes Johnson’s Ingles Hollow shop in Wilkes County, but Bodine plans to base the operation at his own shop in Mooresville.
The other team was sold to Bob Brooks, owner of the Hooters Restaurant chain, who then sold it to an Arkansas lawyer named David Blair.
Johnson, a Wilkes County native, is a hall of fame driver and among the most successful car owners ever. As a driver, he won 50 races and 47 poles, tied for eighth-best on the all-time Winston Cup list. He began fielding his own cars in 1955. Since then, his cars have won 139 more races, 128 poles and six points championships, the last in 1985.
November 30
Long to Melling, Speed Team
Danville Register
Melling Racing announced last week the hiring of veteran crew member Jim Long as the new crew chief of the Melling-owned Ford Thunderbirds of driver Lake Speed.
Hammer to Crew Chief Schrader in ‘96
Danville Register
Team-owner Rick Hendrick has named Phil Hammer, who worked with the Jeff Gordon No. 24 DuPont championship team this year, as the new Ken Schrader crew chief next year, replacing Ken Howes, who has been reassigned to Hendrick’s R&D department.
It’s speculated that Schrader will turn over his Busch Series duties in 1996 to ARCA champion Andy Hillenburg, who will drive the Schrader-owned Chevrolet in search of the Busch Series championship.