Racing notebook

LOUDON, N.H. – Steve Williams has been a member of Ricky Craven’s crew ever since Craven joined the PPI-Motorsports/Tide No. 32 team in 2001 and he said the decision by Craven and team owner Cal Wells III to part ways after this season has been a difficult pill to swallow.

“It’s tough. It’s a tough business I’ll tell you,” said Williams. “Ricky is the greatest. We’ll be lucky if we get somebody like him. There are so many guys out there with an attitude and that kind of stuff.

“Ricky has been nothing but nice to all of us. The stuff he does for us like the lobsterfest and a softball game with the crew are things not a lot of guys do for their teams. We all think highly of him,” said Williams.

Williams predicted Craven will land a Nextel Cup ride next year.

“No question about it. Maybe it was time for a change for him. Maybe he needed to see some new faces,” said Williams.

One of the best testaments to Craven’s ability occurred last month when he started 42nd on the road course at Sonoma, Calif., and finished 16th to equal two previous 16ths that were his best this season.

“That was unbelievable. He stayed after it all day long and he did what he needed to do on a road course. You need to keep your fenders on, you need to stay on the track and just drive it in clean. That’s what he did.”

Craven has said he will sorely miss his crew members and Williams said the feeling is mutual.

“We’ll miss him, too,” said Williams. “You see these guys more than you see your family and when one leaves, it’s tough.”

Spencer: More sponsors needed

Veteran Nextel Cup driver Jimmy Spencer, who doesn’t have a full-time ride this season, said the biggest problem in the sport “is the lack of sponsorship dollars. There’s lots of teams that aren’t sponsored. That’s probably the brunt of it.”

He said one of the components contributing to the lack of sponsorship is “greed on some people’s part evidently is what I should say. I don’t know if that’s the right word to phrase it as. I don’t like the way the sport has changed for the amount of money that comes in to it. It seems to all go to one party.”

How difficult is it for a veteran driver in his 30s or 40s to land a full-time ride?

“There’s not 25-, 35-, 20-year old kids who can win races. We haven’t seen a lot of it lately. The young guys are winning but it’s not the 20-year-old kids,” said the 47-year-old Spencer, who has won two races in his 451-race career. “I think a lot of these guys are moving up awful, awful quick. A lot of the car owners want it because they figure ‘I’ll live with this cat for two or three years. And I think it’s the right thing for them to do.”

Changes set for Busch North

There were 35 cars in the Busch North Siemens 125 Saturday afternoon at New Hampshire International Speedway.

But that has been more of the exception this year as several of the races have had car counts in the low 20s.

There will be changes in the series which will be announced in the near future, according to Busch North race director Lee Roy, but he said the car counts aren’t a major concern.

“I’m not worried about it and the main reason I say that is because of the quality of cars we do have,” said Roy.

The Busch North series has four weekends of racing in conjunction with the Nextel Cup series: two at NHIS, one at Dover (Del.) and the other at Watkins Glen (N.Y.), the only race scheduled at that track Aug. 14.

Jim Hunter, the NASCAR vice president for corporate communications, has had his job description expanded so he will oversee the NASCAR’s seven Dodge weekly touring series.

Roy said Hunter was involved in the Busch North series “20-22 years ago and it means a great deal to him. I’ve had some great meetings with him. I’m looking forward to the changes he’s talking about. He’s putting an organization and a new model in place.”

The changes that can be expected include exploring some new tracks and addressing “the whole financial structure.”

Several Busch North veterans like Dale Shaw and Tracy Gordon have left the series to join the Pro All-Stars Series (pro stock) tour because it is much less expensive and the payouts are comparable.

“We’re racing steel bodies and we always have been. That’s one of the greatest costs to the race teams,” said Roy, who listed the cost in the $10,000-$12,000 range while other race series run cars whose bodies are comprised of a mixture including fiberglass.