News - Thanksgiving Day 97-11-27

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

While my wife and two daughters are upstairs cooking the turkey (and my two sons are destroying the rest of the house ala Calvin and Hobbes), I snuck downstairs to check out the 'net. Jayski had collected some news, so here it is:

Greg Sacks has been named to drive the #98 Cale Yarborough Ford in 1998 and have named Mike Hillman crew chief(NASCAR Online), it is mentioned in the story that Hillman had just been announced as the crew chief of the #46. Not sure if this means Terry Shirley will be the crew chief there as announced on NASCAR Online back on 10-15

Cale Yarborough Motorsports is expect to announce their primary sponsor for the #98 on December 10th and are still looking for major assoc sponsorship. I hear the primary sponsor will be Thorne Apple Valley(meat processing)

Officially announced on NASCAR Online: "Darrell Waltrip Motorsports has closed its NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series operation after its sponsor, Sears, Roebuck and Company, (Diehard) decided to discontinue its support." All equipment will be sold and truck personnel will move over to the WC side.

Darrell Waltrip has announced that John Cunningham has been promoted to the position of team manager for his team(NASCAR Online)

The Charlotte Observer's David Poole has a story about 'The Hat Man' in which he tells us that, Bill Brodrick hasn't been booted from that job as reported. Brodrick worked as a publicity and public relations specialist for Unocal. According to a statement issued by Tosco Corporation, which purchased the assets of Unocal's 76 Products Co. in April, Brodrick retired from Unocal effective July 31, 1996, so he never was officially a Tosco employee. His duties in Victory Lane are controlled by tracks and race organizers, and the Tosco statement said Brodrick is free to continue those duties.(Observer).

I also got an e-mail letter from Tosco, containing the same statement as David has in his article.

CAA Performance Group, LLC, which has fielded the Big A Auto Parts Ford on the NASCAR Busch Grand National circuit this season, has brought in noted driver and crew chief Brad Noffsinger to lead the team as crew chief in 1998. The announcement was made by motorsports director Cary Agajanian. Noffsinger replaces John Birosh, who resigned as crew chief on Friday. "I want to confirm that we will be ready for Daytona in February," Agajanian said. "There was never any question that we are moving forward, and have every intention of continuing with the Big A Auto Parts team. "We will continue to build upon the ongoing success of this race team. We are solidly behind Stevie Reeves as our driver, as we announced on October 22nd, and we are very excited to have Brad Noffsinger join our team. We'll have other additions and announcements in the near future that will excite a lot of people in this sport," Agajanian said. CAA Performance Group, LLC plans on running a full NASCAR Busch Grand National schedule for the second straight year in 1998, Agajanian said. The team finished in the top 20 in the final standings, a strong showing for a first-year full-schedule team. Noffsinger joins CAA from Sabco, where he served as crew chief for driver Wally Dallenbach's NASCAR Winston Cup team. Though running a partial schedule, the car was one of the fastest at many events, and was consistently a top qualifier."

SABCO has named crew chief's for the three teams: #40 Coors Lite Chevy-Buddy Barnes(comes over from the #37); #42 BellSouth-Scott Eggleston(in house promotion);#46 First Union-Mike Hillman(moves over from the #40). Tony Glover assumes the role of SABCO team manager(NASCAR Online)

Mike Irwin (mailto:mike@nascarfans.com) NASCAR Fans _______________________________________

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