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Newburgh’s Ricky Craven is having fun again on the Winston Cup circuit.
Cherryfield’s Andy Santerre is enjoying being a co-owner-driver on the Busch Grand National circuit but could be having even more fun if he could land some sponsors.
Craven is currently 23rd in the points standings thanks to two top-15 finishes through the first six races with his new team, PPI Motorsports.
“I’m having the time of my life,” said the 34-year-old Craven, who drives the No. 32 Tide Ford. “I’m very happy with my team. I’m in the car five days a week and, the other two, I’m playing with [children] Riley and Everett.”
“It has been refreshing. I feel like I picked up where I left off in ’97 before I got hurt,” said Craven, referring to his 19th-place finish in the Budweiser Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports. “I’ve got renewed enthusiasm and the business has become very enjoyable again. There’s no substitute for that.”
Craven added, “I feel awfully good about the potential for this team.”
The 1995 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year finished fifth after starting 41st at the Dura Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway on Feb. 25 and crossed the finish line 13th at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 after qualifying 43rd two weeks later at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In last Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, he was 23rd after starting 34th.
His average start has been 33rd and his average finish has been 22nd.
“We ran among the leaders at Rockingham, Daytona, and Atlanta. We were truly contending,” said Craven, who placed 23rd at the Daytona 500. “We ran respectably at Darlington and Bristol. Every week, I have the equipment, resources and support I need to contend for a win.”
Qualifying has been the trouble area.
“That has been our weak link and we’re focusing on every aspect of it. As a team, we know we haven’t hit our stride yet,” said Craven. “We’re all still going through the adjustment of getting to know one another.
“The good news is we’re running strong in the races,” said Craven who would rather run well in the races and have problems qualifying than have it the other way around.
The team continues to build cars and Craven said “we’ll get to the point by the [12th] race in Charlotte where we’ll be able to run a new race car every week.”
He likes working with crew chief Mike Beam, owner Cal Wells, race engineer Roy McCauley and the rest of his crew.
“It’s a very hungry determined group. I enjoy being around them,” added Craven, who could only run a limited schedule last year because Midwest Transit Co. was underfunded and undermanned. “They have confidence in me and I have confidence in them. There’s no substitute for believing [in one another].”
Next up for Craven is the Harrah’s 500 Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway where he was injured during a practice run in 1997 and missed two races.
He raced there again in 1999.
Santerre led 76 laps during last Saturday’s Cheeze-It 250 Busch Grand National race at Bristol Motor Speedway. However, he got tangled up with Brad Teague on lap 188 and the accident ended his day. He had to settle for a 31st place finish.
“We had a great car. We were dominant in the middle half of the race and, after we got tires [on lap 163], I really feel we could have won the race. But we’ll never know,” said Santerre.
The 32-year-old Santerre was at a distinct disadvantage during the race because a loose wire in his helmet left him unable to communicate with his spotter.
“It don’t think it played a part in the accident although if I had a spotter, he might have been able to tell me to watch out for Teague,” said Santerre, who started 29th.
He has run two of the six Busch Grand National races so far, placing 23rd after starting 16th at the AllTel 200 at Rockingham.
A dropped jack on a pit stop cost him a much higher finish.
He still intends to run eight to 10 races for his Santerre-Reece Motorsports team, which has six full-time employees, two everyday volunteers and several other part-time volunteers. They have four cars, two short track (one mile or less) and two big track (over one mile) Chevy Monte Carlos.
“For a new team, I’m real proud of the guys. To run in the top five is terrific but finishing in the top five is tough to do,” said Santerre whose crew chief is former Distance Racing Products (Unity) owner and long-time Maine stock car driver Stan Meserve.
“We have hired several marketing firms to try to land some sponsors for us,” said Santerre. “It costs approximately $80,000-$100,000 per race or $3.5 million for an entire season.”
Santerre said he will drive more than 8-10 races if necessary to appease the sponsors. He will run again on April 14 in Nashville.
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