Despite signs to contrary, Morgan-McClure remains (cont'd)

"There's nothing set in stone," Morgan said. "We're trying to pick two or three races we might attempt. We're working on sponsorship for next year. We don't expect anything to happen this year except to get back to the track and let people know we're still alive. We're working on a couple of deals that I hope will pan out. We've been in this business a long time and have chased a lot of empty leads. But I feel like we've got a legitimate shot at getting a sponsor.

"That's where all our effort's going right now. We've got a skeleton crew, couple of guys from the shop and guys who have worked for us in the past coming back and working a couple of days at a time."

From the time Morgan-McClure came on the scene more than 25 years ago, the Abdingon, Va.-based "little team that could" has defied the odds, winning three Daytona 500s. But the team hasn't visited Victory Lane since Bobby Hamilton piloted the No. 4 to a win at Martinsville in 1998.

The one option Morgan refuses to think about is going the "start and park" route.

"I don't think that's a survivable option," Morgan said. "We like to race. If you've got that in you, that's what you do. If you just want to be here, that's one thing. But we've never just wanted to be here.

"When we got into this business years ago, we had the guy who sold us our first race team tell us, 'You can't compete with the Junior Johnsons, the Bud Moores and the Wood Brothers.' We didn't believe that. The American spirit is 'anybody can do anything if they're willing to work hard enough and they have the drive.' I wouldn't like the 'start and park' scenario."

Last month, Morgan agreed to put the 18-acre race shop complex on the market. It's currently listed at $8.5 million.

"We were approached by a couple of realtors wanting a contract on it," Morgan said. "We talked about it, myself and my partners, and we decided to go ahead and list it and see what happens. We could opt out if sponsorship comes through. In this financial time, there's no expectations that someone will step up and offer us a contract, but we have a lot of money tied up in that facility and the team."

But Morgan stressed the team is not for sale, and if sponsorship emerges, the property could be taken off the market.

"People probably are seeing some mixed signals there," Morgan said. "But we actually hope to race, we intend to race. It so happens that if we get a decent offer on the property, that speeds that decision up. We're not going to remain in limbo forever. We're hoping to have something wrapped up by the end of the year, or before the start of next season. That's our plan, and we've got a couple of specific deals we're working on that might come through for us."

Still, Morgan admits without sponsorship, the options start to become limited.

"If we happen to have a sale for it, it'll depend on sponsorship, which should happen in the next two, three, four months," Morgan said. "At that point, if I don't have anything firm and we sell the building, I think it wouldn't be realistic to keep it going. I guess what I'm saying is we'd have to evaluate it at the time. If we didn't have any live prospects, I don't think we'd go out and build another facility, if we didn't have the ability to continue to race."