BUSCH: Andy Santerre Has New Team Manager

Santerre has new team manager

HARRISBURG, N.C. (Oct. 26, 1998) Innovative Motorsports Inc., which fields the No. 47 MONRO Muffler Brake & Service Chevrolets for Raybestos rookie driver Andy Santerre, announces the addition of Joe Carver as Team Manager and sports a new paint scheme for Rockingham and Homestead.

Joe Carver, formerly of Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, has been hired as Team/General Manager. His duties include overseeing the daily operations of Innovative Motorsports and soliciting associate funding and developing sponsorship programs.

Carver has over 35 years of racing experience, 20 years of which were spent promoting two race tracks -- Nashville Speedway USA and Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. For the past 15 years, he has been with Darrell Waltrip Motorsports as Vice President, Business Management. In addition to his business duties at DarWal, Inc., Carver also managed the team's NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ventures.

"I am happy to be back with the Busch Series and especially with a team as full of potential as Innovative Motorsports," Carver said. "Andy is a gifted driver and spokesperson who has a brilliant racing career ahead of him. Andy reminds me a lot of Darrell Waltrip back in 1968 when he first started racing. I took Darrell to his first television interview and I see a lot of the same qualities in Andy as I saw in Darrell. I have years of experience in racing and feel I can be a positive force as Innovative Motorsports continues to improve and excel."

Santerre is also excited about the addition of Joe to the fold.

"I've said all along that we have a great base line here at IMI," Santerre said. "Even though we started the 1998 season late and spent most of the season playing catch-up and trying to find the right personnel, we have a great bunch of guys who are knowledgeable and hardworking. The only thing we are really lacking is depth. Not many members on our team have past experience at these tracks so it is great to have Joe with us as a team manager. We plan to use his vast experience to continue to improve our program."

Joe Carver assumed his position with IMI prior to Rockingham and will be in attendance with the team as they showcase another exciting change in their program -- a gold No. 47 car to commemorate NASCAR's 50th anniversary.

"We wanted to do something to show how excited we are to be involved in NASCAR's golden anniversary season," said crew chief Nicholas Short. "What better way than to commemorate the Golden Anniversary with a golden car?"

Santerre, the current leading Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate, agrees.

"We have had two or three collectibles made in gold for the 50th anniversary and they have been a big hit with the fans. We have gotten a lot of requests for them and thought we should share the car with all the Busch Series fans whether they are mine or another driver's."

Santerre started racing competitively nine years ago and even though he dreamed of racing in the elite series of NASCAR, he never thought his dreams could come true. Now, nine years later, he is the leading Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year contender in the largest-ever rookie field and is racing competitively in NASCAR's 50th year.

"It is fun to sit back and think of when I started racing," Santerre said. "I was just home visiting my folks and walked around the one bay garage where we used to work on the race car. We couldn't even use creepers because the floor was so uneven and had so many cracks. Now, I am racing on the NASCAR Busch Series and am a part of the NASCAR 50th anniversary celebration. It is a dream come true."

Source: NASCAR Online