Rockingham
by Andy Belmont-Staff Writer and ARCA Series Driver
02/20/2004

Well, here it is about 10PM on Wednesday night, and we are getting ready to make the short drive over to "The Rock" from a "borrowed shop" at Leading Edge Race cars in Concord, NC. Lot's of hard work by a dedicated group of people are making this possible. Probably the most enjoyable part of our job is to be around people who are infected with the same addiction we have to racing. Deep inside, we all love it. You couldn't possibly explain it to a person outside of motorsports. They just don't get it. The hours, the dedication, the blood, sweat and gears. (pardon the pun)

Plenty of folks are stricken with the disease. Phone calls to generate the financial support for this effort have been met with much higher than anticipated positive response. There is no doubt in my mind that there are companies out there who would like to savor the chance at Nextel Cup racing, even if it is with a car that would run in the lower half of the field. In all reality, they will be getting what they paid for with us. Otherwise, they would be with a bigger team and out of reach. Call me crazy, but at my age, I feel that this is an incredible honor to have this perhaps one fleeting chance.

Making the attempt on "the other side" of the fence is a mountain I am certain. Make no mistake, this could possibly be the opportunity of a lifetime. We have no illusions of running near the head of the pack. Just qualifying will be like a win in the Daytona 500.

For the last six seasons, we have been regulars on the ARCA RE/MAX tour. Save for a terrible season in 2003, we have been a regular top ten ARCA point contender, something we are very proud of. The e-mails and phone calls of good luck have been overwhelming. It kind of makes us step back a second and reflect on all of the great people that make up the sport of auto racing. If it wasn't for the ARCA series and racing in general, and the relationships we have managed to cultivate there, life would for sure not feel so complete.

It has been since 1992, that we made an attempt at being semi-regulars on the Cup tour. Again, we have no illusions of what we are trying to accomplish. The goal is to get into the show and be respectable. We will try not be in anyone's way or whatever and perhaps do well enough to get to the next one. Believe it or not, some folks have expressed interest enough with their checkbook that we just might be able to get to point B if we can get A in the books.

We want to do this right. New uniforms and graphics. Perhaps the most sanitary race cars we have ever been around is a good start. None of this could be remotely possible if it wasn't for Brack Maggard, President of Southern Pan Services, Greg Gore from Continental Fire and Safety as well as the folks at Chaser and all of our product sponsors, volunteer helpers and pit crew. These folks could all have savored the two month lay off until the next ARCA event, but they wanted to try it. No decision would be possible without the supporting players and win, lose or draw, this is a proud moment for our little team from Langhorne, PA.

I am not sure how it will all shake out. It almost doesn't matter. We have a shot at it one more time.