| | Associated Press
CONCORD, N.C. -- Down and seemingly out a day earlier,
Darrell Waltrip was back in the Coca-Cola 600 Friday because of an
accommodating driver and a last-minute business deal.
Waltrip failed to qualify for Sunday's race, but was still able
to gain entry into the event when Carl Long, an aspiring Winston
Cup driver, agreed to give Waltrip the seat in his car.
Long, 32, had just made the first Winston Cup race of his career
when Waltrip, a three-time series champion, asked him to give up
his spot.
Long was happy to oblige.
"I'm doing this for my future," he said. "Who can help me get
noticed? Darrell. Nobody knows Carl Long -- Darrell's floor sweepers
make more than I do.
"What I'm looking for is who can help me find a sponsor to get
into Winston Cup. Darrell can."
The deal was finalized Friday after a night of negotiating.
Waltrip's Carter-Haas team made a pitch to Thee Dixon, who owns the
No. 85 Ford Long occasionally tries to qualify for Winston Cup
races.
Long had turned the 35th-best lap in qualifying for the
Coca-Cola 600, guaranteeing him a spot in the race. But the team
had used an engine geared for qualifying, and didn't have a
suitable one to last for the entire 600 miles of the race.
So Carter-Haas offered Dixon its sponsorship for the race if
Waltrip could drive the car. Waltrip, who has won the race a record
five times, is retiring at the end of the year and desperately
wanted into the field.
What Long received in the deal is unknown, but Waltrip said he
was taking care of his "new best friend."
"You don't think I had to make a few promises, do you?"
Waltrip said. "I will make it worth his time, not monetarily, but
I'll take care of him."
The attention Long is receiving might be enough.
Long knew the car, which once belonged to Jack Roush but was
sold to Dixon at an auction, couldn't compete in Sunday's race.
It's doubtful Waltrip, or the engine he'll put in the car, will
make it a winner, but Long was feeling like one Friday.
"It's so hard to get a friend in this sport and I need some to
make it," Long said. "I heard Darrell call me his new best
friend, so it looks like it's working out."
Indeed it was, as Long strolled through the garage, stopping to
talk to other drivers as his small crew looked on in amazement.
Only a day earlier, a security guard tried to chase Long and his
crew chief out of pit row thinking they didn't belong. When
qualifying ended and the garages closed, Long and his crew had to
go back to Dixon's race shop to the spots on the floor they've been
sleeping on while preparing for the race.
"We don't have a lot of money," Long said. "If we need tools
to work on the car, I have to buy them. If the crew needs food, we
have to buy that, too. And if we need new tires, we have to beg the
other teams for their throwaways. I'm hoping Darrell can help us
work up from that."
But Long also has to hope Waltrip doesn't wreck the car in
Sunday's race. If he does, it will take weeks for Long and his crew
of one full-time mechanic to rebuild it. Then he'll have to
carefully plan which track to bring it to since his crew has to
take vacation time from their regular jobs to go to the races.
If the car makes it out of the race intact, Long plans to load
it into the hauler -- which he also drives -- and try to qualify it
next week at Dover, Del.
"What a gracious thing this kid is doing," Waltrip said.
"Knowing what he has to do to even be here, then to make a race
and let 'ole D.W. in his car, it's a nice exciting story." | |
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Darrell Waltrip didn't want to miss his last 600.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
A generous Carl Long hopes his actions don't go unnoticed.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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