E&M not ready to throw in towel despite uphill battle

You could easily forgive John Carter if he just turned off the lights and locked the doors to his E&M Motorsports racing garage in the north Georgia mountains after the season he had in 2007.

But that wouldn't be his style. Carter is no quitter.

John Carter

In it for good

John Carter's single-car operation out of Toccoa, Ga., isn't much to look at, but they get as much as they can out of the little they have.

• Complete story, click here

"Whatever I go out to do, I go out to win," Carter said. "There's no negative thoughts on anything I do. I don't care if it's the scrap business, trash or whatever I'm trying to conquer. I go in with a positive outlook, no matter what it costs."

And trying to be a small fish in a very large pond has cost Carter dearly over the past three seasons, both financially and psychologically.

A partnership that would have provided stability and sponsorship fell apart after a handful of races. His team made just one race -- at Michigan -- and Joe Nemechek wound up crashing the team's best car after 92 laps.

A driver from Europe who promised to bring money to the team instead turned out to be a fraud. He can't sell any of his remaining rolling stock because of the change to the Car of Tomorrow chassis. And plans for a shop to replace his little two-car garage have stalled for lack of working capital.

"The last three years I've run, it's all come out of my pocket," Carter said. "I'd rather not say [how much]. I don't want to make myself sick thinking about it.

"I've had to take out a loan because I still don't have a sponsor. But I do have one trying to come on with me and help me. We have the same shop, but we can make it happen out of there."

And yet, Carter, who runs a recycling business in Toccoa, Ga., when he's not trying to make it as an independent team owner in NASCAR's premier series, still believes he can compete with the Rick Hendricks and Jack Roushes of the world.

"[The season] didn't work out the way it was supposed to," Carter said. "You just got to go with the flow, take the good with the bad. You may have a lot of bad days but I always feel something good is going to come from it."

This is why Carter has purchased one COT and has another on order. He plans on being at Daytona in February, with either Burney Lamar or Carl Long behind the wheel of the No. 08 Dodge, whether that's out of his pocket or with partial sponsorship.

"We've got new cars being built right now, one for Daytona and one for the races after that," he said. "You can use the same cars because of the same suspension pieces. One car's built now and the other's being built and I'm in the process of buying it."

Carter's belief stems from the people who have stepped up to help his small-town operation.

"One good thing about our program: We've brought in people who know how to build them," Carter said. "All of the cars are basically the same but we've got people who have been building the Toyota cars to build our Dodge cars. It comes out of the same shop that they've been building their cars for."

Plus, noted engine builder Ernie Elliott -- the man behind Bill Elliott's superspeedway domination in the '80s -- is responsible for the horsepower.

"He's building us a special engine to run Daytona with," Carter said. "We believe we've got a good package to run at a superspeedway with the Car of Tomorrow."

Some may consider John Carter a modern-day NASCAR version of Don Quixote. He faces incredible odds in his quest of a dream.

But instead of living a fantasy, Carter knows full well the reality of the situation. He just refuses to let anything but positive thoughts enter his mind. He truly believes it will only take one stroke of luck to spark a successful season in 2008.

"With the two drivers I've got, I still think we can go out there and win," Carter said. "A lot of people think this is off the wall, but with these new cars and all, I still think we can compete and still win a race.

"If we can get in a race and run with Ernie's engines and these cars are so equal to each other, I think we've got a better shot than ever, as far as going there and running in the top five or 10."