Cook confident in retooled team

After tough '04 campaign, little the same for ppc team this season

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Terry Cook remains with ppc Racing for 2005, but he's about the only one left from last year.

	Terry Cook was 16th in the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series standings. Credit: Autostock
	Home Cooking Terry Cook's record in the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 Year Start Finish 2000 32 4 2001 16 6 2002 20 6 2003 5 9 2004 1 5 Avg. 15 6

As the Craftsman Truck Series season dawns with the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona International Speedway, Cook's team has been totally rebuilt. Only three crewmen are left from the 2004 version, and only one over-the-wall crewman remains.

"We basically have an entire new team," Cook said. "I have a new crew chief, new spotter, new colors, new motor program, new chassis, new body-hanger - you name it, it's almost like a completely brand-new race team.

"We even have a new transporter. I'm standing in here now, looking around, and the only thing I can see left over from last year is one of my helmets. That's it."

Drivers usually praise the benefit of chemistry in teams that start a new year basically intact, but Cook welcomes the turnover. Last year was nothing short of a disaster, as Cook fell from ninth to 16th in the points over 2003. And both of his top-five finishes came in the season's first four races.

"When you had the season like I had last year, sometimes that's the only way to correct it," Cook said. "You have to basically clean house, get in some new faces and make it happen."

The one face Cook is counting on is new crew chief Rick Gay, who comes to ppc from Innovative Motorsports. The team has put a lot of its success on Gay's shoulders, allowing him to hire the people with whom he wanted to work.

"Having gone through about three or four crew chiefs last year, one of the things we learned very quickly was we need somebody with past truck experience," Cook said. "We interviewed Rick during the off-season, and it seemed like a natural fit."

2004 CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES •   Results •   Standings •   Best 25 Over Last Six Races •   Best Starts •   Best Finishes

Cook said the interview went so well that the team decided not to talk to the remaining four crew chiefs on its short list.

"We were sold on him after we were done," Cook said. "It happened that quick."

Cook calls Gay a "championship-caliber" crew chief with the right leadership skills to take ppc Racing to the next level. All the resources Gay needs are at his disposal, from the new Roush-Yates engine program to increased support from Ford.

"Even in preseason testing, we felt as though we're definitely going to be a championship contender," Cook said. "He's picked back up with the same people he was working with, and things are clicking along."

It hasn't been all candy and roses, though. A crash during January testing ruined Cook's primary Daytona truck, and the team had to move its other trucks up one race.

That means the truck slated to run at California is in Daytona this week.

"It set us back a little bit," Cook said. "We intended to start the season with five race-ready trucks."

That's down to four, but Cook expects the team to be caught up in a couple months.

By then, maybe all the attention on the former Cup drivers and former truck champions in the series will have shifted.

Cook, for one, feels as if he's been overlooked. Cook won four times in 2002 but has been winless the last two years.

Credit: Autostock

"I definitely think so," Cook said. "I don't have a big ego. I don't need to have people looking or talking about me every week and making a big fuss about it.

"We want to come in here kind of silently and do our thing each week. I've never won a championship on a major touring level like the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but I've been fortunate in my career to win five short-track championships."

And he'll approach 2005 the same way: maximize points in every race. The way to do that is lead laps and win races. If Cook finds himself in the points lead late in the year, he'll points-race.

That approach worked fine for Bobby Hamilton last year. He won the championship.

Until then, Cook is content to toil in the rather large shadows cast on the Craftsman Truck Series this year.

"To come to Daytona and have people talking about Mike Skinner, Bobby Hamilton, Jack Sprague and Ron Hornaday, that's awesome," Cook said. "What's the old saying? 'Walk silently and carry a big stick.' That's kind of the way I look at our team.

"I really feel like -- I don't feel, I know we are a championship-contending team this year. They're not talking about us right now, but eventually they will be."