RICHARD CHILDRESS,
 OWNER OF RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING, WAS THE GUEST AT
TODAY'S WINSTON BREAKFAST CLUB. 

HAVE YOU TALKED TO PAUL TRACY ABOUT JOINING RCR?

"A lot of people have
asked me about that when the word came out about the IRL and wanted to
know if Paul Tracy would be my driver since he's in CART now and might be
looking to move to IRL some day. I don't know what his plans are.  I
haven't talked to him in two years. Two or three years ago we talked
about it. He said some day he wanted to go Winston Cup racing and
whenever he did, he was going to talk to us. So I haven't talked to him.
But he's my kind of driver. He's got a little flair to him. I'd rather
have the drivers that you have to sit down and talk to or the driver that
wants to win every week. They've got to have a little fire in their guts.
I was with one of the best for 20 years so that's set the standards for
what we've got to have for RCR."

HOW DO YOU MANAGE THESE DRIVER PERSONALITIES LIKE ROBBY GORDON AND KEVIN
HARVICK?

"Well, first of all you've got to treat them with respect. And
you've got to have respect for each other. And I think we do that. When
we sit down and talk, we talk about everything. I just don't sit down and
say why did you do this or why did that happen or something. We just sit
down and start talking in general about how things might affect you
besides what might happen on the race track. You've just got to talk to
these guys when the time is there. An owner needs to be there for them
when times are tough for them as well."

DALE JR. RECENTLY CREATED A STIR WHEN HE SAID HE WAS A FREE AGENT.  DO
YOU EVER SEE HIM DRIVING FOR RCR?

"No, not as long as DEI (Dale
Earnhardt Inc.) is going and their doors are open, I think you'll see him
racing for DEI. I know what Dale's (Earnhardt) plans were for DEI and
where he wanted to see Jr. and Kerry race. I hope that if he ever did
decide to race somewhere else that he would come and talk to me and would
want to drive an RCR car."

HAS HE EVER DONE THAT?

"No, not really. We haven't sat down and talked
about it directly."

DO YOU THINK THE CURRENT WINSTON CUP POINT SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE TWEAKED?)
"I think one of the reasons they want to tweak the points system is to
see the cars pass more and to see the whole race run harder all the way
through. If it will accomplish that and give the race fans a better race,
that's a good way to go about it. I think some of these guys are talking
about bonus points a quarter of the way for the top 10 cars and extra for
leading half way and three-quarters of the way and you'd have the same
system on top of that.



"But I think to get our back to where we're passing, we've got to work on
a better aero package. That's what I'm suggesting - getting something
like the aero package we had at Talladega and Daytona a couple of years
ago. We need that package everywhere. It's just so hard with these cars
so aerodynamic these days to pull out and make a pass. If we had a big
block of wind out in front of these guys, you'd see some awesome racing.
It's no different from what CART did with the Handford (device) wing. It
just went from a few lead changes to (several) lead changes. If you look
back at the lead changes we had at Daytona and Talladega after they took
it off and when we had it on, I think you would see a lot more lead
changes at that point. That's going to accomplish what we want to see in
more passing on the race track. That's my opinion."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HAVING TRAVELING SAFETY CREWS? DOES THAT MATTER TO
YOU?

"Safety matters. I think NASCAR really has done a good job of
boosting up the safety. They've brought in the crew that travels with us
now that know the people and has the records. They have medical
assistance everywhere we go. Bringing a complete crew? Yeah, I think that
would be a good idea. But is it the answer? I don't know. I guess the
biggest controversy or question now is the amount of time it takes them
to get to the scene. And that's not an easy thing - even in CART. It's
tough when cars are out there running 150-200mph.

"There are also questions about the best way to do it - to stop racing
back to the caution or race back to the caution. There are pros and cons
to both ways. My side of it is that you race back to the caution as quick
as you can and get them under control of a pace car. If not, cars are
still going to be coming to the caution and somebody is going to get hit
sooner or later. That's my opinion. I've heard it's better to race under
the caution and let everybody hold their positions. But the cars are
still coming to get back around there. Unless they just stop on the track
when the caution comes out, there's no way to get to those guys that
quick with cars still coming until the pace car stops them. Again, that's
my opinion."

MORE ON CREATING A BETTER AERO PACKAGE

"When we had the roof fin and
the wicker on the spoiler, that caused a tremendous amount of drag on the
cars. It kept them bunched up. We had the best racing with those on
there. When we took it off, the drivers complained that we were in too
big of a bunch. Well, they're still in a bunch now even with it off. But
they're just not passing. They're sitting there just riding."

WOULD IT HELP IF WE LOOKED AT SOFTER TIRES SO THEY WOULD HAVE TO PIT
MORE OFTEN?

"Car owners don't want it. That costs money (laughs).
That's a good question. Again, the problem isn't the tires. The problem
is the aerodynamics on the cars. They're so slick and streamlined. A
speedboat in the water puts off a little wake. A barge in the water puts
off a big wake. I remember when I was driving here and we raced three and
four and five wide here all day long because the cars were so dirty. You
look back when the cars didn't have the aero package that they have now
and we had some great racing. It didn't matter if you were first. You
didn't want to be first. Today, you want to be first because you know
nobody can pass you. It used to be a gamble if there were three or four
cars there. I think that'll help. I support going back to some way of
getting these cars dirtied up so that you can pass on these race tracks.
I'm a fan too and I want to see more passing."

CAN YOU LOBBY AS A GROUP TO DO THIS?

"NASCAR is already looked at it. I
think they've done some testing with it. They're well aware that we want
to see some changes in that area."

ON SUNOCO BECOMING THE OFFICIAL FUEL OF NASCAR IN '04

"I ran Sunoco
back when I was running Modifieds. You'd go to the local place and buy
it. I think they are probably the largest racing fuel producer in the
states. It's sad to see Unocal go - just like RJ Reynolds. But times
change. And the economy changes. And that causes people to take different
actions in business. But we at RCR - including our engine department -
are not concerned at all because we know the quality of product that
they've always had out there. Sunoco probably supplies more racing fuel
to the Saturday night racers than anyone else."

WITH NASCAR'S GROWING POPULARITY AND ATTRACTION TO FOREIGN DRIVERS, DO
YOU ENVISION HAVING NASCAR RACES OVERSEAS?

"We went to Japan two or
three years in a row. It was an expensive venture to do that. I'd like to
see us race Rockingham (Motor Speedway) or around London. I'd love to go
to Europe and race. I'd love to see Nextel Cup racing to a place like
Rockingham, England. Yeah, I would jump on that."  (WHAT ABOUT CANADA OR
MEXICO?

"I think we'd be accepted very well there as well. Anywhere that
they've run the Rally cars, NASCAR Winston Cup would be accepted very
well."

ARE YOU GOING TO RUN THE BAJA 1000 WITH ROBBY GORDON THIS YEAR?

"I
don't know. He's asked me to. Have you ever ridden in a truck with him?
(laughs). Those trucks are neat. He's building a new one now to take the
press around in at Phoenix I think. It has 42-inch travel. You can go
over a ditch three-feet deep and not even feel it. You think of them as a
truck, but they're probably as sophisticated as an Indy car when you look
at all the stuff that it takes. They're about as expensive to build as an
Indy car."

WHAT DID IT MEAN TO YOU AND ROBBY GORDON TO SWEEP THE ROAD COURSE RACES
THIS YEAR?

"When he came and first drove for us, we thought we'd have a
shot at winning. And we did. We were in a position to win Watkins Glen
but the camera caught on fire. We had a pit mistake last year that cost
us. We beat ourselves last year on road courses. This year, fortunately
we got the right breaks at the right time. But we also had to have the
right driver and the right car. I'm really impressed with the way Kevin
Harvick has come around as a road racer. His car was in a position to be
able to win either race as well."

ON DIVERSITY, WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST AFRICAN AMERICANS DO TO GET MORE
INVOLVED IN NASCAR?

"If you watch drag racing, there are a lot of
African Americans in drag racing. They were brought up in that area. One
of the problems is that they're not brought up around Go-Kart racing and
Short Track racing. There are a couple of drivers out there that have
some future in NASCAR racing. But you've got to start out when you're
very young. When I was a kid, I started going to races when I was six
years old. They haven't been given access to it through their parents or
locations or whatever. But I think they have all the chance in the world.
Some day you'll see an African American racing Winston Cup. If you can
get the kids interested and get them to an event where they can see,
taste, and smell the excitement of NASCAR racing. It all has to start
with the youth and getting them involved. We welcome all forms of racers.
They bring new fans and it's great to have new fans."

-gm racing-


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