As I suspected might happen, BHR partner Arrington Manufacturing part owner Stacy Compton will be driving the number 4 truck for the Craftsman Truck Series Race Team this season. As had previously been reported during SPEED race coverage last season, Dennis Setzer will continue driving the number 18 for the team.
"Stacy Compton will drive the #4 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge in the Craftsman Truck Series this season, team spokesman Amanda Jones confirmed Thursday. Compton, a co-owner of BHR partner Arrington Manufacturing, and Dennis Setzer will drive for the organization in 2008.
During an interview by Dave Moody on Sirius Radio, Compton said that Dodge will be heavily involved with the team and sponsorship will be provided by Dodge Dealers on the #4 Dodge."
Compton is practicing both trucks today in Daytona. There has been no word to date on who will sponsor the #18 truck. Fastenal will not be back with BHR in 2008 and has announced they will sponsor the #40 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates entry in the Sprint Cup series and driver Dario Franchitti.
Ken Schrader drove the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge Ram to a top-five finish in the rain-delayed Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park, Indianapolis, Ind., last Friday night, July 27. Next up in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racing: a 200-mile race at Nashville Superspeedway, in Lebanon, Tenn., on Saturday, August 11, 2007.
Schrader did it in style too. He started 18th and moved up steadily through the field all night on a track where the winner has always started in the top five. Not bad for an old man. He ended the night picking up two spots on the last lap. There was also this tidbit.
TruckSeries.com Report
Fifth-finishing Ken Schrader drove the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge to its first lead lap posting since May’s race in Mansfield where he took third – the veteran’s best of the season.
When Bobby Hamilton Sr. began the search to fill his own seat of the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge three months before his passing he called upon a select number of drivers he knew could get the job done. The announcement was made at the end of last season that Hamilton Sr. tagged Ken Schrader as his replacement. However, Schrader’s Nextel Cup schedule does not permit him to compete full time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series leaving the BHR stable to find a co-driver. Referring to Hamilton Sr.’s list of drivers he had previously spoke with and the record books for all time winners in the NCTS, the management team at BHR, along with input from Fastenal and Dodge Motorsports, are proud to announce Joe Ruttman as the co-driver of the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge.
Ruttman, who is tied for seventh on the all-time NCTS race winners list, is no stranger to BHR. The Tennessee native piloted the No. 18 Dodge for the late Hamilton Sr.’s organization in 2000 and 2001. Coincidently, he gave the company its first victory at Phoenix International Raceway in 2000, the same venue Hamilton won his first Nextel Cup win in 1996. Ruttman has a total of 13 NCTS victories, including five of which came with BHR, 17 poles, 68 top five’s and 111 top-10 finishes in 168 starts.
“I can’t wait to climb into the Fastenal Dodge,” Ruttman said. “Bobby Hamilton and I had a great friendship. I am not here to fill Bobby Sr.’s seat; I don’t think anyone can do that justice as he did. But to have this opportunity to come back home to work with his organization and Dodge again is a real dream come true. All of the core people who were here the first time I raced with them are still there. I believe in the organization, the structure and the future of BHR. They have proven themselves as champions and one of the most competitive teams in the series in the past and will continue to do so. I have been using Fastenal products for years and look forward to promoting them.”
Veteran Ken Schrader will be making his second career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at Atlanta Motor Speedway tonight. The American Commercial Lines 200 will mark Schrader's 71st NCTS start. In 2004 he competed in the inaugural NCTS event at AMS. He qualified 10th and finished 10th behind winner Bobby Hamilton Sr. Atlanta Motor Speedway is familiar ground to Schrader, who has 45 Nextel Cup starts at the facility including one victory in 1991.
Schrader related this story about his new truck racing team. "One of the biggest challenges about a new team is learning all of your crew guys. A lot of times you learn there personality first and then come up with a nickname to remember them by and most of the time it is no where near their real name. The first time I had the chance to interact with my Fastenal crew guys at the track was during Daytona testing. I was not real sure how they would be because of the recent passing of Bobby (Hamilton Sr.).
I didn't know if I should try to make them laugh or not. I soon realized they are very laid back and funny. They constantly make fun of each other and it does not seem to bother them.
I was standing around waiting for them to get everything set up to go on the track. We had one minor problem with the window net and I could tell the crew member was getting frustrated about the situation. I think he thought I was going to get mad at him or something.
I looked at him and jokingly asked him if Bobby Sr. hired him. He looked a little dazed, but replied yes. Then I told him Bobby must have been desperate for workers at the time.
He looked shocked at first and then he realized I was just joking. I know Bobby Sr. was one of those guys who joked around all the time because he played a lot of jokes on me. It was a great way to break the ice and let them know I was no different."
I (Matt Stone) was one of the first to write off any sort of GM-Chrysler merger/purchase/joint-venture off as a bad idea. If not a bad idea, then, at least an unnecessary one. Both companies are struggling, so how could two wrongs make a right? I've since learned some inside info, or rumors, and I'm not yet convinced that a joining of forces would do either party any real long term good.
The first notion is that by combining the purchasing power of these two industrial giants, there would be massive economies of scale, and big savings with suppliers. I still dismiss this. Suppliers are already asked to operate on incredibly thin margins. How much more can they cut their costs, and still remain in business? And would the resulting company become so big that it would trip over its own largess?
Another problem is dealerships. Both companies already have too many. Now they’d really have too many. It would take years to get the dealer bodies aligned and sorted; which sell what brands, etc. And that kind of reconciliation is expensive. Just ask GM how much it spent to close down all the Oldsmobile franchises.
Mark your calendars: April 4 is the date of the DaimlerChrysler shareholders' meeting in Stuttgart, Germany. One item on the agenda is to change the name back to Daimler-Benz AG. Interested buyers are Cerberus Capital Management, Blackstone Group, Centerbridge Partners and Magna International.
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