Busch North Transitions: Shaw Leaving, Leighton Next?
SpeedReading
By DAVE MOODY
Already struggling to make ends meet in the car count department, the
Busch North Series, NASCAR Touring division sustained a pair of major blows last
weekend. A disastrous outing on the road course at Watkins Glen saw as many as
five teams return home with totally destroyed racecars, while two of the
series’ top names confirmed that they are considering retirement at the end of
the season. Former series champion Dale Shaw announced that 2002 will be his
final season on the Busch North Tour, while two-time titlist Brad Leighton said
he is strongly considering a similar move.
Published
reports last week said Leighton -- the 1999 and 2000 Busch North champion -- has
informed car owner Steve Griswold that he will not return next season. The
Leighton
said he has not yet ready to announce a final decision on his future, but
admitted that he has accomplished virtually everything he can on the Busch North
Series.
“We
won back-to-back championships in 1999 and 2000, and we’re right in the thick
of the hunt again this year,” he said. “We’ve won three races in a row at
NHIS, and short of winning here at Watkins Glen, I feel like I have done
everything there is to do in Busch North racing.”
Leighton,
who recently sold his successful business in
“I’ve
talked to Steve Griswold about this, and he tells me that no matter how much
money you have in the bank, you still need something to do. If I quit racing at
the end of the season, I don’t want to get a year or two down the road and
miss it. I would hate to be one of those people wandering around with nothing to
occupy my time. But at the same time, I’m not sure I want to have to go
to the racetrack every weekend. Part of me feels like it’s time to take some
time for myself.”
After
testing the waters down south a few years ago, Leighton said he has no interest
in pulling up roots to further his racing career. “I’ve got the greatest
deal in the world right here,” he said. “Karl (Osha), Brian (Latuch) and the
boys do all the work on the cars, I don’t even go to the shop. All I do is
show up at the track with my helmet in my hand and drive. Where else am I going
to get a deal like that? And even if I could, this business is awfully tough on
a family. Being away every weekend means less time with my kids, and they’re
getting to an age where they’re not going to want to hang out with their old
man much longer.”
Sources
close to the team say a public announcement on Leighton’s plans may come in
two weeks at his home track,
While Leighton has still not
finalized his plans for next year, Shaw has announced that this will be his
final season on the Busch North Tour.
“This is definitely my last year, and I’d like to go out on top,”
said Shaw, who won the 1994 Busch North championship at the wheel of Quint
Boisvert’s Skoal Bandit Pontiac. ”I want to win the
championship, pay off my house, sell all my (Busch North) stuff, and do
something else for a while.” Shaw’s announcement may not mean the end of his
racing career, however, as the
“It’s the final year of my Busch
North career,” he said. “I’m not going to say I might not do something
else in the future.”
The loss of
Leighton and Shaw is the latest in a series of bad signs for the Busch North
Series. Currently in its sixteenth season, NASCAR’s northern tour has
struggled to fill fields at virtually every stop. Last Saturday’s race at
Watkins Glen won’t help. The
green flag had barely flown when a massive pileup at the top of turns 3 and 4
eliminated seven cars outright, and sent at least four more to the garage for
repairs. First-year driver Troy Williams took the worst of it, flipping wildly
over the guardrail, while the cars of Martin Truex, Jr., Ted Christopher, Mike
Speakman, John Kohler, John Cerbone, and
Ironically, just prior to the start of the race,
Stockwell spoke of his desire to put Watkins Glen in his rear-view mirror as
quickly as possible. “We’ve got no business racing here,” he said. “Our
motor’s all wrong for this kind of track, we haven’t got the special brakes
and transmission we need, nothing. I don’t care if we finish last today, as
long as we roll the car into the trailer in one piece so we can get on to Beech
Ridge and
Unfortunately, the first-lap melee reduced what Stockwell
called “the best car I’ve ever driven” to scrap metal, in only its second
start. “It’s junk,” reported Stockwell’s father Lennie Monday. “Even
the steering wheel is bent. We hope the motor survived, though the headers and a
lot of the bolt-on stuff took it pretty hard. If the engine is okay -- and
that’s a big `if’ -- we’ll drag the old Pontiac out of mothballs and see
if we can cobble it back together in time for Thunder Road on Labor Day
weekend.”
Later in Saturday’s race,
Shelburne’s Dennis Demers flipped in turn two and tore down a lengthy section
of guardrail, severely damaging his Chevrolet. Repairs to the safety barrier
required a second red flag, and after struggling to exit his inverted racer,
Demers was released after examination at the infield care center.
Two years ago, the
BNS drew more than 60 cars at New Hampshire International Speedway, for a race
that started 43. This year, only 45 drivers have attempted to qualify for more
than one race, and only 19 have attempted every event. Just 27 teams have
entered this weekend’s race at
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Phil Scott has been holding his breath all season, waiting for a
four-month run of good luck to come to an end. Saturday night at
Scott, who leads both the ACT Dodge Tour and Thunder Road Late Model
standings, was racing two-abreast with the Pontiac of Jimmy Winters just 10 laps
from the finish, when the two came upon a slower lapped car. Winters moved high
to pass the slower car, and when he and Scott came into contact, Scott’s
Lamberton Electric Ford pounded the first-turn concrete, severely damaging the
car and bringing out a red flag.
Aside from a
serious case of “racer’s
rheumatism,” the two-time
This weekend is
officially a weekend off for the Dodge Tour troops, though a majority of the top
runners will be on hand at
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Short
(Track) Subjects…
…Ricky Craven confirmed recently that team-owner Cal Wells is looking
to add a second car to the PPI Motorsports stable. A deal to change PPI from
Ford to
…Kyle Petty says
his #43 Dodge belongs to John Andretti next season, if he wants it. If he
doesn’t, Bobby Hamilton has made it clear he would love to return.
“I’ve talked
to Kyle, and I’ve told him I’d like to get into a Dodge next year,” said
…Among the
sponsors rumored to be interested in replacing Sprint on Petty’s #45 next
season is one with
…The latest
angle on the “Where Will Ricky Rudd Race Next Season” sweepstakes has Rudd
moving to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2003, with sponsor Texaco in tow. Ganassi will
reportedly form a new team for Rudd, paving the way for Rudd’s current car
owner, Robert Yates, to finalize his long-discussed deal with Elliott Sadler.
Sponsorship for that operation is expected to come from M&Ms. The deal may
not be done yet, however, as a scheduled midweek press conference to announce
Havoline’s plans for 2003 was abruptly cancelled this week.
…The
weekend racing calendar kicks off tonight at
Saturday night,
Airborne Raceway welcomes the ACT Late Models for a 100-lap special event, along
with Street Stocks, Renegades, and the "Run Whatcha Brung" spectator
races. All "Run Whatcha Brung" entries must be registered and
inspected, drivers must wear helmets and seat belts, and no snow tires are
allowed. Post time is set for
And finally,
Devil’s Bowl Speedway in