From the Crossville Chronicle- Crossville, TN. July 27, 2007
By Joe Dunn / joe@onpitroad.com
It became official Wednesday morning, Ginn racing is no more. A merger with DEI leaves only the 01 car and a Craftsman truck team surviving the merger.
Just last week, Ginn released drivers Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemecheck, announced the move of Regan Smith from the 01 to the 14 and the signing of Aric Almirola to share the 01 with Martin. With the merger, virtually all of the Ginn employees are jobless, and as the operation prepares for this weekend at Indianapolis DEI will field 4 cup cars, Martin in the 01, Truex in the 1, Junior in the 8 and Paul Menard in the 15. The 15 car is now 30th in points as it acquired the points of the 14, the 15 was in 39th. The points for the 13 car (34th) have been returned to Nascar, ending speculation that Furniture Row Racing would get the points to help Kenny Wallace.
Regan Smith’s future seems to be unsure as it was announced that he will run in the Craftsman Truck Series this weekend after it was announced Wednesday that Almirola will stay as the part time driver of the 01.
A big plus in the deal for DEI is the Ginn Racing facilities. DEI has been looking for a new shop and they have outgrown the present shop and cannot expand it any more. The teams will still operate from the present shop, but some will be moving to the 180,000 sq ft Ginn facility. In addition to the buildings Ginn brings a lot of R&D equipment including the coveted 7 post rig.
Earlier this week, the Craftsman Truck and Busch Series teams tested at Bristol Motor Speedway as the tried out the new concrete surface. Matt Kenseth was one driver that liked Bristol and didn’t want the change. However, after testing, he was surprised that he really liked the new surface. Track record holder Ryan Newman was pleased with the new surface, “It’s definitely way smoother than it was before,” he said. “The transitions are good and there’s a little relaxation coming off the corners.
Over the weekend we had more Dirt action at Wartburg and Crossville.
Friday night racing at Wartburg Speedway saw a new winner in the Super Late Model race as Curt Williams took the win. And to make it family night, brother Reagan Williams took the checkered flag in the Pure Street class.
Wartburg’s top 5’s:
SLM – 1. C. Williams, 2. B. Coffey, 3. A. Vanover, 4. J. Smith, 5. B. Hooks
Sportsman – 1. J. Adkisson, 2. J. Teague, 3. S. Shadoan, 4. K. Longmire, 5. G. Lively
Pure street -1. R. Williams, 2. M. Brashears, 3. G. Terry, 4. D. York, 5. J Capps
Pure Mini – 1. J. Manley, 2. J. Frost, 3. B. Albright, 4. D. Bray, 5. L. Frost
FWD – 1. D. Hall Jr, 2. C. Morrison, 3. J. Freels, 4. B. Hall, 5. D. Hall Sr.
Saturdays winners at Crossville Raceway were, SLM- Mark Martin, LLM- Joe Cline, OWM- Michael Asberry, Street Stock- Ron Dodson, Mini Stock- Dustin Stephens and FWD- Ricky Tinch.
The O’Reilly – Ray cook’s Southern National at Crossville was rained out Tuesday evening, no make up race will occur.
Local racing this weekend – Friday Wartburg Speedway will run a full racing card starting at 7:30 pm (et) Saturday, Crossville Raceway will run LLM, OWM, SS, MS, FWD, Cruiser cars and Chevettes. Gates open at 5 pm, racing starts at 7:00 pm (ct)
Get off that couch and bring the family out to a local dirt track and support the local racers. You may just see the next Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart on his way up.
