Post by dalejrfan on Jan 18, 2006 2:54:46 GMT -5
Team changes can feel clinical, but emotions play undeniable role
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - In the vacuum of e-mailed news releases and 20-second radio sound bytes, Nextel Cup driver and team changes can sound so clean, so clinical.
On Dec. 22, PPI Racing sent a release saying it hired Travis Kvapil to drive its No. 32 Chevrolet, and Bobby Hamilton Jr.'s services were longer required.
This news did not exactly shake the sports world, nor even the racing world. Hamilton Jr. finished 36th in points, and Kvapil was 33rd. PPI, owned by Cal Wells, is a single-car team fighting the good fight to stay alive in a sport dominated by multi-car operations.
Peel away the business-as-usual veneer and there's real, honest emotion that shows just how much the people who're in this business care.
"It just didn't work out," Hamilton Jr. said Saturday while testing at truck he plans to drive for a team affiliated with his father's in at least 11 races this year. "But the bottom line is I have a feeling I will be in the sport a whole lot longer than he (Wells) is."
Hamilton's father compared Wells' team to the Titanic, saying that even though a fictional movie was made about that ill-fated ship being raised, the reality is it's still in pieces on the ocean floor.
He's also hot about how his son's dismissal came down.
"I don't care who you are or what business you are in, you don't give a guy his pink slip and make it get there when's standing in front of his Christmas tree taking a family photo with his child in his hands," Hamilton said.
The driver change at PPI was formally announced Dec. 22, but Wells said Monday his company informed Hamilton Jr., through a management company that acts as agent for several Cup drivers, of its intentions immediately after the final race last season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"It's a shame that reality gets filtered by emotion," Wells said. "When you have a management company and you're talking every day and they're saying, `Well, maybe we should tell Bobby this or we'd better not tell Bobby that and get him upset,' it becomes a very confusing situation.
"What I can tell you, hand on my heart, is that we had conversations with Bobby's management group as they were looking at opportunities. The day after Homestead, we were asked to hold back on the written release because they were very close to a deal and didn't want to spoil it by having him as an announced free agent.
"You try to do the best job you can to not drop somebody in the grease, to give them a chance to land someplace they're happy with. I don't think we could have been any clearer or anymore straightforward."
Hamilton Jr. said he asked to get out of his deal with PPI last year to pursue another opportunity. He said PPI kept him from doing that until all prospective Cup rides were filled.
"We kind of figured it was coming, but the way it was done, they shut down every other opportunity for me to get another shot at a Cup car," Hamilton Jr. said.
Wells acknowledged Hamilton Jr. asked out, "but the timing didn't fit with our (sponsor) obligations, and then he dropped it and decided maybe he wanted to try to make it work."
Wells is in Daytona this week to work with his team, led by crew chief James Ince, on making things work with Kvapil.
Hamilton Jr. said he plans to do everything he can to win the Truck Series races he enters to show other car owners who might need a Cup driver he can get the job done.
"This is the worst sport in the world for being `out of sight, out of mind,' " he said. "If I had stayed home waiting on a phone call, I'd wind up working on a farm somewhere.
"When you're running 95th every week nobody wants to touch you. I have to get out there and rebuild my whole career that I have busted my butt for to get where I am.
"Sometimes I think you can sort of relax and think it'll all be OK. I had a burning in my gut and a look in my eye and I don't have it. I need to get it back."
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - In the vacuum of e-mailed news releases and 20-second radio sound bytes, Nextel Cup driver and team changes can sound so clean, so clinical.
On Dec. 22, PPI Racing sent a release saying it hired Travis Kvapil to drive its No. 32 Chevrolet, and Bobby Hamilton Jr.'s services were longer required.
This news did not exactly shake the sports world, nor even the racing world. Hamilton Jr. finished 36th in points, and Kvapil was 33rd. PPI, owned by Cal Wells, is a single-car team fighting the good fight to stay alive in a sport dominated by multi-car operations.
Peel away the business-as-usual veneer and there's real, honest emotion that shows just how much the people who're in this business care.
"It just didn't work out," Hamilton Jr. said Saturday while testing at truck he plans to drive for a team affiliated with his father's in at least 11 races this year. "But the bottom line is I have a feeling I will be in the sport a whole lot longer than he (Wells) is."
Hamilton's father compared Wells' team to the Titanic, saying that even though a fictional movie was made about that ill-fated ship being raised, the reality is it's still in pieces on the ocean floor.
He's also hot about how his son's dismissal came down.
"I don't care who you are or what business you are in, you don't give a guy his pink slip and make it get there when's standing in front of his Christmas tree taking a family photo with his child in his hands," Hamilton said.
The driver change at PPI was formally announced Dec. 22, but Wells said Monday his company informed Hamilton Jr., through a management company that acts as agent for several Cup drivers, of its intentions immediately after the final race last season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"It's a shame that reality gets filtered by emotion," Wells said. "When you have a management company and you're talking every day and they're saying, `Well, maybe we should tell Bobby this or we'd better not tell Bobby that and get him upset,' it becomes a very confusing situation.
"What I can tell you, hand on my heart, is that we had conversations with Bobby's management group as they were looking at opportunities. The day after Homestead, we were asked to hold back on the written release because they were very close to a deal and didn't want to spoil it by having him as an announced free agent.
"You try to do the best job you can to not drop somebody in the grease, to give them a chance to land someplace they're happy with. I don't think we could have been any clearer or anymore straightforward."
Hamilton Jr. said he asked to get out of his deal with PPI last year to pursue another opportunity. He said PPI kept him from doing that until all prospective Cup rides were filled.
"We kind of figured it was coming, but the way it was done, they shut down every other opportunity for me to get another shot at a Cup car," Hamilton Jr. said.
Wells acknowledged Hamilton Jr. asked out, "but the timing didn't fit with our (sponsor) obligations, and then he dropped it and decided maybe he wanted to try to make it work."
Wells is in Daytona this week to work with his team, led by crew chief James Ince, on making things work with Kvapil.
Hamilton Jr. said he plans to do everything he can to win the Truck Series races he enters to show other car owners who might need a Cup driver he can get the job done.
"This is the worst sport in the world for being `out of sight, out of mind,' " he said. "If I had stayed home waiting on a phone call, I'd wind up working on a farm somewhere.
"When you're running 95th every week nobody wants to touch you. I have to get out there and rebuild my whole career that I have busted my butt for to get where I am.
"Sometimes I think you can sort of relax and think it'll all be OK. I had a burning in my gut and a look in my eye and I don't have it. I need to get it back."