Notes: BACE prepared to run without sponsor

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Raines has a new crew chief to replace the departed Larry Carter, and BACE Motorsports looked inside its own team to find him.

Buddy Sisco was promoted from car chief, the position he held under Carter last year, and recently began serving as Raines' crew chief.

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"He's the crew chief as we speak," Raines said Tuesday during NASCAR Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway. "He's been around. I'm thinking he'll be more than capable of doing a good job. We've just got a lot of work to do, like we did last year. It's never easy."

Raines finished the 2003 season 33rd in points as BACE completed the year without a full-time sponsor. The team wants a backer, of course, but it's not easy finding sponsorship these days.

"We're looking to finalize something or put something on there," Raines said. "It's a hard road to hoe like that."

And they'll try it again this year, Raines said. Car owner Bill Baumgardner has promised to run the full season again, with or without sponsorship.

"The way they talk, they are," Raines said. "I'm hoping, because I want to run every race if I can. We'll see."

NASCAR updates teams on safety issues

NASCAR held a driver/crew chief meeting during the lunch break Tuesday to update the competitors on safety issues. The semi-annual meeting keeps teams informed on any safety improvements NASCAR or other sources have made.

"One thing we weren't aware of is a little bit of difference in some chemicals, the halon (for fire extinguishers)," said Larry Carter, crew chief for Rusty Wallace. "That's definitely something we need to look at."

Carter said NASCAR also addressed the ongoing improvement of seats, nets and other driver restraints.

"It seems like they're still in the process of proceeding," Carter said. "I think it was good."

Rudd flying high in Florida

Ricky Rudd was flying high at Daytona, posting the third-fastest speed during the morning session. But that was nothing compared to a flight he took Monday.

	Ricky Rudd Credit: Autostock

Rudd joined Air Force Col. Burt "Psycho" Dreher for an F-15 Eagle orientation flight above the skies of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle.

"If you can just imagine the most impressive or violent carnival ride that you've ever been on and multiply that by about 10, it would be close to that," Rudd said.

"It is everything I can do to keep from passing out in the high G turns and I'm sitting there just trying to stay awake. And Psycho is sitting there and doesn't even hardly work up a sweat.

"But at the same time he's flying an airplane and you've got all this physical abuse you're going through. He's got to look at things like weapons, he's got to watch the guys he is fighting, he's got to watch they guys at his wing tips.

"I don't see how they do it. He's got a respect for what I do, but that's nothing compared to what these guys do."

Rudd said his biggest goal was to not get sick or pass out, and he accomplished that, but Dreher did try to put a scare in Rudd.

"Put 8.5 g's on his body today," Dreher said. "He did fine. Didn't bat an eye. Then we decided to take him out over the water and have a drag race.

"Took him 1.1. Took him supersonic out over the (Gulf of Mexico), come back and pitch out and land. So it was a pretty exciting 40, 45 minutes out there for him."

Torquespeed Carter skips Daytona

Torquespeed Carter skipped testing to concentrate on finding a sponsor for the 2004 season.

Torquespeed Carter, the union between NASCAR team owner Travis Carter and the United Kingdom-based team Torquespeed, will field Fords out of Carter's shop in Statesville, N.C.

	Travis Carter

"We are diligently pursuing sponsorship, and our decision not to test at Daytona does not mean Torquespeed Carter is not going to run in the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season," Carter said.

"It means we are still diligently pursuing sponsorship. Our discussions with potential sponsors are promising but are still in the early stages. It is our goal to start the season racing in the Daytona 500 but realistically we are not putting a stringent timeline on when we will start racing. Our season will begin when the appropriate funding is in place."

Paul Musselle, the spokesperson for the UK Investors, said talks with "major global brands are ongoing." The Torquespeed Carter organization has a business plan for four years and will race in Nextel Cup at some point.

"We are hoping to have funding in place soon, however, we realize the challenges facing us with a late start to the sponsorship acquisition process as well as the ongoing state of economy," Musselle said. "Those factors may cause a delay in launching Torquespeed Carter's on-track activities."

Hermie Sadler gets crew chief

	Hermie Sadler

Ernie Cope has been hired as crew chief for Hermie Sadler's SCORE Motorsports team - co-owned by Sadler and former NBA star Bryant Stith - which intends to run the full Busch Series schedule this season.

"Ernie is very talented and his experience will make a tremendous impact on our team," said Sadler, the older brother of Nextel Cup driver Elliott Sadler. "We are proud to have him and are looking forward to a very successful season. We're gearing up to run the first eight NASCAR Busch Series races and select Nextel Cup races. I've been very impressed with Ernie's knowledge and work ethic and know his hard work will pay off with solid results."

Cope previously served as crew chief for Derrike Cope and a car chief for Evernham Motorsports.

Mack to test Roush trucks

Former Indy Racing League driver George Mack will test a Roush Racing truck soon as part of the team's diversity program. Roush hired Sam Belnavis in the off-season to head the program and to represent Roush Racing as its NCTS owner representative.

Mack could end up driving a Roush truck later in the season, making him the second African-American to join the series. Bill Lester drives for Bill Davis Racing's Toyota team on a full-time basis.

Square D back with Hamilton

Square D will return as primary sponsor of Bobby Hamilton's No. 4 Dodge trucks in 2004, the two companies announced Tuesday.

"It worked out really well last season, and so we decided to do it once again," Hamilton said. "I want to continue driving as long as I am competitive and with two wins this year, I see our team as one of the strongest in the circuit. Square D has been a great supporter of Bobby Hamilton, and I'm one of their biggest fans, too."

Hamilton won two Craftsman Truck Series races in 2003 and finished sixth in the points standings.