Category: NASCAR Cup Series

Roush Fenway Racing played host to the Charlotte Media Tour last Thursday in Concord, NC, and featured an array of speakers, including new Roush Fenway Racing President, Steve Newmark, Edsel B. Ford II, who spoke about the Ford Racing program and introduced the Wood Brothers, Eddie Wood, who unveiled the team’s tribute car to David Pearson, and Jack Roush, who talked about the 2011 season.

STEVE NEWMARK, President, Roush Fenway Racing – “I came on board last year.  In my prior life, I had the privilege of working with a bunch of teams and drivers and sponsors, so I often got the question, ‘What compelled you or motivated you to come to Roush Fenway?’  I think you would probably acknowledge the reason for career changes are often complicated and complex, but this one was fairly simple and I was able to kind of distill it down into what I think is a simple statement.  I admired and respected and wanted to be a part of the competitive spirit and competitive drive that is the heart and soul of this organization.

            “I had the privilege to watch Jack Roush, John Henry, Robbie Reiser and how they operate and everything is focused on winning.  That singular focus is really what defines this organization.  It’s very refreshing to part of an organization where the focus isn’t on the dollars and cents.  It’s not on the profits and losses, but you get measured by the number of championships and the number of wins.  Every decision is looked at through the lens of ‘how is this gonna make the car go faster?’ 

“And I think probably the most salient example of that is to look at last season.  You’re gonna hear a lot from Jack about the statistics and we’re all aware of how well we performed at the end of the season and how well our cars ran with three wins in the Chase and half of the top six, plus a fourth car that ran great in the latter part of the season, and I think by most standards and most accounts you would say that’s a banner year.  You’re the only team that had three in the top 10.  You should pat yourself on the back.  The thing I’m most proud of about this organization is despite that, I think we recognize that took a lot of hard work to get to that point, but there isn’t a single person in this organization who is satisfied with that.  If you look at the people down in licensing or sales or the fabricators, every person will tell you that that’s not what our goal is.  Our goal is to win championships, to compete for championships, win races every weekend and have all four of our cars run at the front.  I think what you’re gonna hear today is there’s a lot of excitement about that.  If you look at how we finished up, you’re gonna hear some talk from the drivers and Jack that we feel like we’re uniquely positioned and very well positioned to attain all of those goals.”

 

EDSEL B. FORD II, Member, Board of Directors, Ford Motor Co. – “It’s a pleasure to be here today and see so many familiar faces out there.  I’ve been asked to help introduce the Wood Brothers, but before I do that, I want to make a couple brief remarks about our overall NASCAR program.

         “I have met with all three of our major teams the last two days, speaking with the crew members, the leadership teams and the drivers.  We know, and they know, the past two seasons have not been up to the standards that we at Ford set for ourselves.

         “Looking back, we made great progress the last few months of 2010, got the FR9 engine up and running full-time, and won three of the Chase races.  But, make no mistake, our goal for this year is not to just win

races.  The goal, simply, is to win the championship.

         “We have the right teams, the right drivers, the right engine and the right car to do it.  More importantly, we have the will to win.  So do not underestimate our resolve.

         “We are also at 599 NASCAR Cup wins, so to go into the Daytona 500, with a chance to reach 600 is pretty special.  And this is the 110th anniversary season of my great-grandfather’s first and only race, a victory that started the Ford racing program and pre-dates the Ford Motor Company itself.

         “We are very proud of that worldwide legacy — of being the only car manufacturer in the world that can say it has won the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500, the Monaco Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Baja 1,000 and the Bathhurst 1,000 in Australia.

         “Our teams and drivers today continue that great legacy, and we are proud to be associated with them and this great sport.

         “When we speak of current legacies in Ford Racing, two names always come up:  Jack Roush and the Wood Brothers

         “You’ll hear from Jack and his drivers shortly, but it’s my honor to introduce the Woods – starting their 61st consecutive season in NASCAR, and 61st consecutive season running nothing but Ford Motor Company products.

         “Eddie and Len are here to unveil a very special version of the famous No. 21 Ford, this time with many of the original pit crew members of the Woods, and one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history — NASCAR

Hall of Famer David Pearson.

         “The Woods will be – for the 11th year – sponsored by Motorcraft and Quick Lane, and we are pleased to have young Trevor Bayne stepping into the seat filled by so many of NASCAR’s greatest drivers.

         “With that, let me welcome Eddie Wood.”

EDDIE WOOD, Co-Owner – No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion – “Edsel can really speak well, can’t he?  I’ve always told him I wish I could give a speech like him, but I can’t.  I’ll just do the best I can here.  We’re gonna unveil a paint scheme that honors David Pearson the entire season this year.  Most of you that are as old as I am will remember it well.  We just want to honor David as a friend and a guy that made Wood Brothers Racing.”

JACK ROUSH, Co-Owner, Roush Fenway Racing – “I felt like I was gonna celebrate the fact that I’m starting my 45^th year with Ford Motor Company as it relates to racing.  I was a Ford employee before that, and, of course, I’ve been upstaged dramatically here by the Wood Brothers in their 61 years, so no matter how old you get, it seems like there’s always somebody older that’s done more and needs to be respected and looked up to, and I’ve certainly looked up to the Wood Brothers and David Pearson, and Eddie and Len and Leonard my entire life, so it’s a pleasure to share space with them here today.

         “Looking at last year, we had our 298 team entries.  I wasn’t briefed on this, but I’m sure that makes us the biggest racing team in the world in terms of the number of entries we had for races in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and the ARCA Series.  We had a couple of other things going on in my family, but I won’t bring those up.  My daughter and my son were both involved in drag racing and road racing, but they don’t count.  The 10 victories we had in all the series went to 410 (in RFR history).  We had four Sprint Cup victories, 25 top-fives, 56 top-10s, three poles and four victories.  Greg got his 52^nd victory this year at Kansas and Carl got his 50^th victory at the season finale at Homestead.  Thank you very much for that guys. That made an otherwise not great year look not so bad.

         “We had 100,000 race miles accumulated by Roush Fenway drivers in those three series and that brought out total for 23 years to over 1 million miles.  We eclipsed 1 million competitive miles, not including test track miles, but the actual race miles exceeded 1 million in 2010.  Matt Kenseth got his 400^th Sprint Cup start at Homestead.

         “Nationwide, I’ll go through that very quickly, we had 28 top-fives, 63 top-10s, three poles and four victories – the same as we had in the Cup Series.  We had four teams the entire year and five entrants for six of the races at the end of the year with Trevor Bayne coming on board.

         “Carl won his three Nationwide races this year with three different sponsors – Fastenal, Copart and Aflac, which is a sign of the times in terms of the partnerships we need to build to make our programs viable.  He also won the inaugural Road America race at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which is one of the greatest race tracks in the country we haven’t been to with our NASCAR cars.

         “Ricky Stenhouse won our 12^th Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award in the last 13 seasons.  He finished 16^th in points.  Nationwide is probably worth a mention in that we had nine drivers in the Nationwide Series last year.  We had three established senior drivers and had six rookies.  It has been our intention to use the Nationwide Series to develop crew, drivers, crew chiefs and technicians and all the skills necessary to support the Cup side.  We look forward to being involved with Ricky and Trevor in 2011 racing for a championship.

         “Carl Edwards, based on the way NASCAR’s ruling has come out on declaring which series you want to run for a championship, he won’t be racing for a championship in Nationwide, but, hopefully, he can be a factor in an owner’s championship, which will occur later in the year as that develops.

         “In ARCA we had 18-year-old Chris Buescher, who won two races and had three top-fives and five top-10s in only eight starts.  That was an incredible run for him in ARCA with the Roulo Brothers providing the car for him and doing the support for him with our assistance; we hope he can have great success there as well.

         “Looking at our Cup lineup of drivers for 2011, Roush Fenway drivers are great role model.  They’re solid citizens for the young NASCAR fans and they can be counted on to bring excitement to the track every week and help captivate the attention and the loyalty of the NASCAR fans.

         “I haven’t spoken specifically about it.  I know Carl has been off to Vietnam and Greg has been off doing things in the woods and been on vacation somewhat.  Matt has been thinking about he and Katie having a baby.  In fact, Greg, Carl and Matt – all three families are expecting children.  I don’t know what they were doing in the late portion of the year, but, anyway, it’s gonna come to fruition in 2011 and they’re great role models for the family spirit that NASCAR wants to be known for.

         “One of the things that I wanted to mention on the environmental sustainability thing, I did a little math.  I’ve got some mathematics in my background.  I’d be inclined to ask the question, but it would take too long to get the answers from everybody, but we fly our race teams on two 727’s to and from the race tracks and as I was evaluating with Ian the size of my carbon footprint and what I could do to minimize it, I said, ‘Maybe these airliners are a problem.  They’ve got three big jet engines on them, but we carry about 110 people per trip on our airliners that are race team members and marketing folks and some like General Sadler, who has joined us here today.  He’s had his health problems and we’re glad to have General Sadler back on track, but we have some guest that ride the airliners, but get 31 passenger miles per gallon of Jet A fuel in our airliners.  When I got ready to do the math I said, ‘This is gonna be really bad,’ but to move a race team member around the country the way we move our folks, we get 31 miles per gallon of Jet A for each passenger, so I’m real proud of that.

         “We’ve got great challenges in the troubled economy that we’ve got.  The economy does show signs of getting better.  The lights are back on in Detroit.  My engineering business up north has returned to viability, which was a happy result, but our challenges on the Cup side is to be able to bring new partners to the sport and we continue to do our best with Steve Newmark’s leadership to find these new sponsors.  We’ve got the best sponsors in the business, I think, with 3M and Aflac and UPS and Crown Royal, and, of course, Ford Motor Company returning with us after all these years.

         “I was an employee of Ford before I started racing and became involved with Ford, but Ford has got 45 years of support with us.  Edsel and I became acquainted 10 years after I got involved with Ford from a racing point of view.  Edsel and I have been friends for 35 years.  I know he’s left the building now, but I’m very proud of that as well.

         “In our conversations with our sponsors, all of our sponsors agree that they continue to see NASCAR as a sport being very important to their marketing efforts and Roush Fenway as an organization being a terrific management investment partner central to their commitment of retaining existing customers and to attract new ones.  NASCAR has continued to be high on their priorities in that regard.

         “We are fully sponsored for our Sprint Cup cars for 2011.  We have some space available, I’ll say valuable space available on Carl’s Nationwide car.  It’s about half-sponsored for half the races and we may or may not run a full schedule with Carl, depending on the sponsorship and how his efforts work out toward making his run at a Sprint Cup championship.  Ricky and Trevor will be running full Nationwide programs and there is space available on their cars as well.

         “Sponsors that have an interest there, if there’s anything you can do to help us from a media point of view to generate interest should contact either Steve Newmark or myself.

         “Technically, 2010 was a challenge at first getting started.  The effort we made over the winter with our computer algorithms to support our simulations did not work out.  They didn’t correlate with real-time, actual impact of changes to the race track.  We figured that out early on.  By Bristol we knew we were in trouble.  The changes we made over the winter through our third party vendors didn’t correlate and that left the crew chiefs for the middle part of the year, relegated the crew chiefs and drivers to make single variable changes to be able to evaluate is it the wedge, is it the camber, is it the nose weight, is it the swaybar front or rear?  By mid-year, by Chicago, we had that sorted out.  We got back on track.  We had gone back and corrected some of the algorithm problems, the coordination of the tire data with the race track ride data, and we had those things sorted out.

         “But we still had the problem of establishing correlation to where the guys would trust it.  Of course, by Chase time we were back on track, but we had lost some of the development benefit that we had from not having the success we had hoped to have and otherwise could have had at the race tracks.  So that left us at the end of the year with the prospect of doing the best we could, which, as has been mentioned, everybody knows we finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the points.  We’re happy with that result, but that left us not only with momentum, but identifying some things we need to work on.

         “Robbie Reiser, Chip Bolin and all the fellas have been working hard all winter.  In fact, there’s a test going on right now at DisneyWorld in Orlando today with one of our cars to evaluate some brakes and other things, but we’ve spent the winter working as hard as we can.  We think we’re in good shape for 2011.

         “Just hitting the high points, we’ve got a new relationship with a software simulator provider for 2011 that we previewed in 2010.  That has the prospect of keeping us on track.  We’re really excited about the renewed affiliation with the Wood Brothers.  It’s a chance to build cars with them and interact with them on things.  They’ve been the speedway kings forever and we’re anxious to glean from them some of the information they’ve got that is useful to us.

         “We’ve got a new 2011 nose, not only is it new for NASCAR and all of the teams, but we’ve also got a consideration for the upper part of the nose that we think will help us some.  We’ve built all new cars for all of our Cup programs.  Every Cup program is gonna have a new chassis with a new aero look and new suspension or re-thought suspension considerations.  The stronger-than-ever commitment from Ford.  After 110 years Ford is still hanging in there for technology and vehicle support.  We’ve realigned our engineering staff, separating the simulation engineering from the bread-and-butter mechanical, electrical or aerodynamic system and improve how it works or prove that the validity of the design that you’ve got.

         “We’ve got that going on in one group and then the simulation going on in another.  Of course, Chip Bolin is the new manager for the simulation coordination and Tommy Wheeler has taken the conventional engineering things going forward.  I’m real excited about that.  We think that’s a new look that’s gonna help us.

         “I want to close by repeating just a couple of things.  Our drivers are solid citizens.  We couldn’t be prouder of our drivers.  We couldn’t be prouder of our major sponsors.  The challenge for all of us, every team owner in the sport and all the drivers, is to help their teams identify new sponsors that can bring new energy in and celebrate NASCAR’s bright future so they can benefit from the enthusiasm that goes with NASCAR’s brand loyal fans for both the Nationwide, the Truck Series and the Cup Series.  I realize we’re not involved in truck, but we obviously share the interest and the health of those programs as well.

         “I want to express my welcome to Steve Newmark.  He’s been with us now on an interim period for eight months.  We have given him the mantle.  He does carry the cloak of president of our company now and we look forward to having many years with him and I think you’ll all get to know him and like him as time goes on.”

Richard Petty Motorsports hosted the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour on Wednesday to discuss the changes that have been made to the organization since the end of last season and what the expectations are for 2011.  Below is a transcript of the formal stage remarks from team personnel.

RICHARD PETTY, Co-Owner – Richard Petty Motorsports – “First of all, I want to say welcome to the new Richard Petty Motorsports.  I guess through all these years I want to go back and thank the fans that are here for coming.  Without them, none of us would be here.  I guess when we look back at last year, especially the end of the year, everybody hung together.  Our sponsors stayed with us all the way through the winter and came back this spring and we’re getting ready for the new season.  It was really good to have all of those people say, ‘OK, guys.  Stay in there and keep digging and we’re gonna be ready for the next year.’  That gave us a lot of incentive to go ahead and finish up last year.  You’ve got to give our crew a lot of credit the last five or six races because they didn’t know if they were gonna have a job when they came in the next week or not, but they stepped it up – the drivers stepped it up and the whole crew stepped it up and we ended up with a pretty good season. 

         “As everybody knows, we had four cars last year and we’re gonna have two cars this year with AJ and Marcos driving the cars.  We’re gonna have Stanley back with the No. 9 car as a major sponsor and Best Buy is gonna be the major sponsor, even though we’ve got a lot of other sponsors that you’ll hear from later on.  These guys just stayed with us and made it work. 

         “I guess, most of all, being the press, I want to thank you all for the way you helped handle our situation last year.  You didn’t put us in that much of a crack and we were able to overcome the deal and give us some partners to come on and make things work for this coming year.  We’re looking forward to this year. 

         “I was looking around following you guys and you’ve been around to all these Taj Mahal’s and see all the race cars, so we wanted to bring you to a place where it all happens, which is at the race track, so that’s the reason we’re here today.  I want to thank you all for everything you’ve done all these years for NASCAR, the Petty organization and just everything to bring racing out. 

         “For the last three or four months it’s been football, football, football, so now that football is almost over, we’ve got you all out here to carry the ball forward into next season.  I think everybody here and everybody I’ve talked to is really looking forward to a new season.  It’s been a couple of months since we’ve raced and racers want to race all the time, so with your help to get the spectators and the fans and help us please those people, all of our sponsors that have helped us all this time, you do your job and we’ll try to do our job and work together and make all of this a lot bigger operation. 

         “Again, I want to thank you all for all the years that I’ve been here and all the years you’ve treated the Petty crowd pretty good, so, again, thank you and welcome to a new year.”

ANDY MURSTEIN, Co-Owner – Richard Petty Motorsports – “First, let me say how excited and truly honored I am to be a part of the RPM family.  Our history as Medallion Financial, we traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol TAXI and the company was actually started by my grandfather back in 1937, so, like RPM and Ford, we have a very long and successful automotive history. 

         “Back in 1937 the city of New York sold 11,787 taxi medallions for $10 each.  My grandfather started by driving a cab and through the years bought up several hundred at $10 each and the city never issued anymore since then, so today they sell for $800,000 each and we stuck with it.  That’s the way I view all investments is this is something that, like the taxi medallions, I hope 70 years from now my children are involved like Richard’s family is involved.  It’s truly a family goal that we have. 

         “We went public about 15 years ago and since then we’ve raised several billion dollars and invested it in companies and all of our companies really fit the same model as what we have here – a great tradition and great integrity.  The board of directors of my company, in addition to myself, is Governor Mario Cuomo, whose son is now governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, Governor and Senator Lowell Wycker, and another king of his sport, Hank Aaron, is on our board.  To me, Hank and Richard are very similar men – very humble, yet legendary people who have transformed their sport.  So, again, I’m proud to be a part of that. 

         “One of the many companies that we invested in over the years was we do taxi top advertising on top of cabs.  I started that in 1995 and by 2005 we had about 10,000 taxis throughout the U.S. and they all sold out.  We did so well that the tops were all sold, so we had no place left to put them, so I remember calling the mayor of New York and I said, ‘Mr. Mayor, I’d like to come see you.  We’re doing very well.  We want to bring more money into the economy in New York.  Can we start advertising on the doors of the taxis, on the hoods, on the trunks.’  I remember the mayor looked at me with a puzzled look and said, ‘Heck no.  What do you think this is, NASCAR?’  So that’s what got us thinking that this is a sport where not only can we bring strong financial resources to, but also new sponsors. 

         “We’ve got terrific sponsors today, but my goal long-term is to grow from two cars to four cars and bring additional sponsors to the table.  So we looked at many sports opportunities over the years.  We looked at actually buying at one point the Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Cubs, but we picked this and it’s really for one main reason, and it’s for the people that you see on the stage today and the rest of the RPM team like Lisa Brown and Robbie Loomis in the audience.  They stand for everything that Medallion does, which is excellence, tradition and integrity.  So I promise the media and the fans that we’re gonna do everything that we can to get this great man and this great company back where they belong – in the winner’s circle.  And we promise you the best is yet to come at RPM.”

JAMIE ALLISON, Ford Racing, Director, North America Motorsports – “We at Ford really believe in the new RPM.  Richard Petty Motorsports is very important to us at Ford Motor Co.  We have a long and illustrious tradition here in the sport.  We have a great team between Roush Fenway, RPM and the Wood Brothers and we stick with our teams, so, Richard, through the difficulties of last year when you and Brian reached out to us, there was not a moment of consideration. 

         “Our chairman, Edsel Ford, the chairman of Ford Racing, absolutely felt in his heart that it was the right thing to do and to make sure that the legacy of Richard Petty continued, so we are very happy and very blessed that we are here today to kick off the Daytona 500 in the presence of the King.  He is called the King for a reason.  His connection with the fans is unparalleled.  The way he’s been a part of the sport is something we at Ford cherish very much and that’s why we’re involved with the sport – because of men like Richard Petty. 

         “This business is really about people and it’s about leadership.  You saw it on the slide.  Leaders make a difference and Richard is a leader in his own right, but we also have new leaders coming into the team.  You heard a little bit from Andy.  I met with Andy down in Florida and I can assure you that Andy is in it for the long haul.  It’s in the heart and there’s a family approach to it, so the leadership of Andy, coupled with Lisa, who is the new CEO and she will have a really great impact on this.  This opportunity to really change and bring in some great skills from outside the sport to transform what we do here is really vital, so Lisa will have an impact.  Everybody knows who Robbie Loomis is and it’s his steady hands that will guide this team.  He’s very tenured and very accomplished and we look forward to having you take us where you’ve been, which is in championship runs.  But who is gonna pilot these cars to get there? 

         “AJ Allmendinger is returning for the second year with his team and we are thrilled to have that, and Marcos Ambrose – a Ford champion down in Australia – is making his own claims here in NASCAR.  So we are energized and excited and, obviously, with the support of the sponsors like Best Buy and Stanley, we believe we have a really, really great team.  So I’d like to leave you with the last piece. 

         “We have milestones at Ford.  A couple of milestones you’ll be reading out and hearing about.  The first milestone is this is Henry Ford’s 110^th anniversary of starting racing.  If you didn’t know, Henry Ford raced once and won the only race he entered.  It was that race he won that garnered the attention of investors, who allowed him to start Ford Motor Co. 18 months later, so Ford Motor Co. started by Henry Ford actually racing.  So this is our 110-year anniversary. 

         “Second, we have 599  Cup wins and the King is responsible for nine out of those 599, so we’re obviously going for the 600 club very, very soon.  We want 600 and we want it bad and we want it at Daytona, so all I can say is destiny is on our side, legends are on our side and the future is on our side, so go Ford, go RPM and let’s take it all the way to victory lane.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion – “First of all, obviously, it was a tough year.  Paul is a little modest.  He’s a huge fan of this sport, just an amazing guy and, honestly, the reason that this car has Best Buy on it right now is because of him, so, Paul, I thank you for all of your hard work.  People see on the outside how tough it was with what we were going through, but on the inside how much tougher it was.  Paul fought as hard as he could to keep this sponsor on the race car, so, from me, Paul, I really consider you a close friend of mine, but I thank you so much just for the effort that you went through just to get this back on the race car.  It means so much to this race team.  You’re one of the best guys around, so I thank you for the effort and everything that you did. 

         “Andy, it’s pretty amazing to have a group like yours come in and support this race team, support myself, support Marcos, support everybody at RPM.  It’s a great company.  You don’t even know what to say about Richard – a legend, that’s an understatement.  Richard had been through a lot of tough times lately, so to see a group like yours come in and give us the opportunity to go out and show what we can do means a lot, so I thank you and your group for all of the effort that you put into this. 

         “Jamie, all the support that Ford has given this race team in the past, in the future, but especially in the tough times last year, it was pretty amazing to see.  I felt really important — that you guys wanted to support myself and you felt so confident in this race team that you did what you had to do to keep this thing going, so I thank you for that. 

         “For me, I’m excited.  It’s not just about Best Buy, obviously, although they’re the key sponsor on the team, we’ve got Valvoline and Air Force, so that’s good see.  We’ve got Wix Filters, the PVA, Super 8, Reynolds, so a team that didn’t look like it would be around, we’ve got a lot of sponsors on this race team.  I’m excited about this year.  I think this team has a ton of potential. 

         “Mike Shiplett, my crew chief is sitting here in the front, although I think you should be working right now, I’m glad to see that you’re here.  I promise you guys that Mike is gonna be one of the best crew chiefs in this sport that you’ve ever heard of and I get to see that on a daily basis.  He’s an amazing guy.  The work ethic that he puts into it just kind of trickles down through the whole rest of the race team.  Mike, I know you’re gonna be one of the best out there, you already are, I’ve just got to take you to that next standard.  That’s my job and everybody at RPM, there are a few here but everybody back at the shop who can’t here this, I’m glad they can’t because they really should be working too.  We’ve got a Daytona car to get ready, so everything that we went through last year was tough, but I feel like everything that we had to fight to keep going is only gonna make us stronger on the other side.  I think it showed us internally what the team was all about and how strong we really wanted to be because we very easily could have fallen apart.  Everybody could have gone and looked for other jobs and started fighting, but we got stronger.  We got to the race track and, as always, the cars were prepared to the top.  The cars were fast, so I feel like the stuff we went through is gonna make us stronger on the other side.  I’m excited to be a part of that.  We’ve got a ton of potential, but we know potential doesn’t mean anything if we don’t live up to it, so that’s our job.  We’re gonna go out there and do everything that we can.  We’ll get this thing in victory lane. 

         “Marcos, I’m excited to have you on this race team, although you’re over there giggling right now.  I don’t know what’s going on – telling jokes – but I’m happy to have you be a part of this race team and I’m looking forward to being your teammate.  Hopefully, you won’t run into me as much now that we’re teammates (laughter), but, let’s be honest, we all saw how much I liked to mess with the 9 on the race track, so I don’t know if that will change.  I’m excited about it.  I’m excited about this race team.  The way I look at it, heck, it can’t get any worse than it was last year, so we can only get better from that, so thank you.  Thanks to all the fans for coming out and let’s have a good time this year.”

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – “To AJ, if I was running into you, it means you were going too slow (laughter).  Likewise, I’m looking forward to working with AJ.  Teammates are always great to have.  I get along well with him off the track.  I know I play better golf than you, so it should be a good challenge.  It’s a real honor to be here today considering the adversity we went through at the end of 2010.  To drive for Richard Petty and the RPM team is a real thrill.  I never thought in Australia that I’d ever get a chance to drive for the King, but here I am.  

         “I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m very optimistic and very enthusiastic about our chances in 2011.  I signed on with RPM before the turmoil at the end of 2010 and I must say that the way the company came out of the ashes so strong with such commitment to win is quite outstanding.  Without guys like the King to have the leadership to drive it all forward, it was quite an incredible story.  I’m still not too sure how it all came back together again because I wasn’t privy to the inside meetings, but it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen – the loyalty, the support behind Richard and this team has really spurred me on to really refocus my energies in NASCAR, to get out there on the race track in 2011 and deliver for Richard, for RPM, for Stanley and for DeWalt and for every employee at RPM.  It’s been an incredible story and I can’t wait to turn it into a great new story come the Daytona 500 hopefully and through the rest of the year. 

         “Looking at the highlights package, there was way too much road course racing for my liking, so I’m looking to really prove myself on the ovals.  I feel like this is the best chance in my career ever to get the job done and I just can’t wait to get started.  With the help of Todd Parrott, a champion crew chief and a Daytona ring holder, I couldn’t ask for anyone better.  I hope I can deliver on the race track.  I know that you’ve got my back and I’m proud to be associated with you and hopefully get our team to victory lane as quick as we can. 

         “I’ve actually passed my sinus infection on to him, so I apologize in advance.  You’re gonna be going through the next four days in a bit of misery, but thank you for everybody who turned out today.  Thank you for the fans who came out and let’s get started.  Let’s get cranking on 2011 and hopefully we’ll contend for the chase and see you in victory lane.”

RICHARD PETTY CONTINUED – “Again, I just want to thank everybody for all their support.  I may have said this before, but I don’t know that we could put a better crowd together to start the season with.  I’m real confident in our drivers, our crew chiefs and the deals we have working with Ford and working with Roush.  All of that stuff is really coming together.  We were lucky to get through last year, but we feel like we’ve got a really, really good team with all of our sponsors and partners that came back and are working with us.  All the crew people that we have, again, we can concentrate on two cars now instead of four. 

         “We’re really looking forward to next year.  Again, we just want to tell you that we appreciate all you’ve done over a period of years to get us to this point and we’re gonna try to keep pushing.  I’ve been up.  I’ve been down.  I’ve been in-between, so we feel like this is our best chance in the last five or six years to really go forward with Richard Petty Motorsports. 

         “Again, we want to thank all of our people and all of our new partners that came in and helped us out.  As some of you know, the last couple of years I’ve sort of been sitting on the sidelines without having much say-so in the business deal and now they’ve put the pressure back on me.  They’ve put me out front and I’ve got a little bit of say-so on what’s going on, so I feel better about that. 

         “I feel good about the team that I have around — the guys that stuck with me all these years.  We’ve got Dale Inman here that has been with me all the years we won championships and all the races.  He’s sort of my in-between man.  I’ve got him out checking and seeing what’s going on.  Robbie has been with us a long time.  He went off and wandered around a little while, but then he came back (laughter).  We’ve got Brian Moffitt, who takes care of looking after sponsors and looking after me and family, so we’ve got those people who have been with me all these years.  Now we’ve got new people coming in from the standpoint that Lisa Brown is coming in to try to help look after the financing part of it. 

         “I’ve always been a racer and never was much on financing.  You all can see that.  We’ve got the Medallion crowd coming in and we’ve got another partner in California that we’re trying to keep in California (laughter).  Again, it’s gonna be a very different year for us.  I think it’s gonna be a different year for everybody because they’ve changed some of the rules around and we’re gonna have to work within those parameters.  We’ve got our own parameters that we have to work in, but, again to the fans, the press and our sponsors, I just want to say a real Petty thank you for staying with us all these years and we’re looking forward to the future just like you are.”

NASCAR, ESPN and Max Siegel Inc., announced today that “Wendell Scott: A Race Story” will air on ESPN in conjunction with Black History Month. The much anticipated film will tell the story of Wendell Scott, the only African-American to win a race in NASCAR’s top series.  

The film airs on ESPN Sunday, Feb. 20, at 9 p.m. ET, just hours after the scheduled running of the 53rd annual Daytona 500.   The docudrama, which was produced by Emmy Award-winning NASCAR Media Group in conjunction with ESPN Films and Max Siegel Inc., will air 50 years after Scott’s first race in NASCAR’s premier series. Scott, one of the sport’s most iconic pioneers who is often referred to as the Jackie Robinson of motorsports, paved the way for minorities and women. Scott’s lasting legacy is credited with helping create the Drive for Diversity program.  

Drive for Diversity is a NASCAR-led initiative aimed at developing and introducing minority and female drivers and crew members to competitive opportunities in the sport. 

“Wendell Scott’s legacy will live on forever as the man who broke NASCAR’s color barrier and whose courage and bravery paved the way for minorities to pursue careers in the world of motorsports,” said Paul Brooks, senior vice president of NASCAR and president of NASCAR Media Group. “This film will help preserve that legacy by telling the story of his historic ride and the positive impact his contributions are still having on the sport today.”  

A recurring thread of the film will be Scott’s lone NASCAR win at Jacksonville Speedway in 1963. Focused on the challenging path Scott was forced to take to pursue his dream of racing, A Race Story combines rare historical footage with dramatic recreations and emotional interviews from members of Scott’s family, racing legends of the past and other key stakeholders in the sport that have been impacted by Scott’s inspirational story.  

“Wendell Scott faced overwhelming challenges throughout his life and as a pioneer in his sport,” said John Dahl, executive producer, ESPN Films. “The film captures his strong sense of determination and honor with a poignant look at his struggles as well as an examination of his legacy.”  

Before Scott raced he drove a taxi in his hometown of Danville , Va. and even ran moonshine to supplement his income. As part of a marketing gimmick, a local track promoter picked Scott to race against a field of white drivers based on a recommendation from the Danville Police who said Scott was one of the hardest guys to catch.

  Through perseverance and determination in the face of discrimination, Scott earned the respect of those fellow drivers as well as NASCAR founder Bill France, who assured Scott he would be treated fairly by the sanctioning body and its competitors.  

In 1961, Scott made his debut in the top tier of NASCAR racing and less than three years later, became the first African-American to win a race in NASCAR’s elite division.   “Wendell Scott’s determination coupled with his bravery is what created that lasting legacy in American motorsports,” said Siegel, executive producer of the film and founder of Revolution Racing. “‘A Race Story’ honors that challenging ride and helps preserve his legacy as the pioneer who allowed minorities today to fully pursue their racing dreams.”  

Revolution Racing exists to provide competitive race cars to further develop the skills and capabilities of all drivers seeking opportunities in one of the world’s most competitive sports.  

“Wendell Scott opened doors for me and so many others just like me,” said Darrell Wallace Jr., Drive for Diversity and Revolution Racing driver. “He’s been a hero of mine for a long time and I’m thrilled he’s being honored and remembered in such a significant manner.”