BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Florence, N.C. — In the war of weather verses NASCAR the humans never stood a chance. Rain, at times heavy, scrubbed all day one activities at the track that’s known to be The Track Too Tough To Tame and forced a cancellation of qualifying for both the Busch Grand National and Winston Cup Series.

While the local areas in South and North Carolina desperately need the rain it doesn’t play well with big horsepowered cars on slicks. NASCAR gave it up at about 2:30 p.m. after it became clear that the line of showers ran deep south, and all the way to the Florida/Georgia state boarders.

With the scuttling of the Friday schedule, in its entirety, NASCAR decided they’d cut their losses and hold the pre-announced schedule for the balance of the weekend. This means that the Cup teams will get two 45-minute sessions on Saturday while the Busch boys will start their event without the benefit of having taken a single lap on this tricky egg shaped speedway.

Only one driver will miss the Winston Cup show after the field was lined up on owner points, and that is Carl Long.

Weather forecasts for the balance of the weekend don’t give reason to be overly optimistic that the schedule will hold on either Saturday or Sunday with forecasts calling for a 70 percent chance of rain for both days. And while that’s horrible news for the racing crowd, it’s more than welcome for those who live in the Carolinas and have been watching their towns’ reservoirs dropping to alarming low levels with each passing day.

STANDARDIZATION
While no bulletin has been issued, yet, NASCAR has all but issued the paperwork to make the body locations standard for the 2003 season. The prospect has been looming during the past several weeks, but issuance of the rule has been slowed, somewhat, by team politicking.

In the final analysis NASCAR will call for the car bodies to sit at a 60-inch measurement, plus or minus three-quarters-of-an-inch as measured from the center of the roof at the windshield seem to the center of the rear axle housing.

Generally the ruling is being hailed in the garage as a plus, but it does represent a lot of work for several car owners. Robert Yates, just today, learned from his crew chiefs – Michael McSwain and Todd Parrott – that about 40 of the Yates’ 42-car fleet will need to be re-skinned to meet the new NASCAR specification.

Yates, when asked about the massive job, shrugged and said, “It’s only sheetmetal.”

NASCAR, while tightening down body mounting locations, will also take a bite out of the team’s creativity in outlawing twisted roofs and hoods. Changes here will prohibit the teams from getting too wild with the bows and bends on the roofs of these cars.

There was talk that NASCAR would issue the greenhouses, the area above the doorsills, for the cars complete with A, B and C pillars along with a roof stamping, but that apparently has been taken off the table.

One owner said, “someone with too much free time and not enough common sense” formulated that plan.

The critical measurements of the greenhouse, however, will be captured in the new NASCAR 2003 templates and will make all windshield rakes and measurements standard across all brands.

Dodge and Ford are supposed to be currently running the same windshield rakes this year, but something with the templates allowed the Dodge to lay their windshield back slightly more than the Ford teams. This reduced angle is helpful to the Dodge cause as it helps reduce drag.

FUMBLE
Andy Petree announced today that the deal he’d been working with Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, has fallen apart and that there will be no deal struck between the two for ownership of Andy Petree Racing.

Petree made the announcement as his back inches ever closer to the time when finding and securing a sponsorship for the 2003 season becomes of utmost importance. Petree, who carries a $4 million dollar deal with Schneider Electric and Square D, needs additional corporate support for his No. 55 Chevrolet.

"Negotiations really didn’t break down,” said Petree regarding the deal that many in the sport hoped would happen, due to Jones’ firebrand management style. “We worked hard on it and went back and forth for quite a few months. We did agree on everything, I’ll say that. We got all of our agreements done. I agreed to everything and thought they did too. I signed the agreements and I guess they decided they didn’t want to do it for 2003.

“I’ve got a deadline and I’ve just got to know something. I’ve got to know whether we’re doing it or not. It [the decision] was basically [made] last weekend, but I extended it to this weekend just to give it another week just in case some things changed. But they didn’t."

Currently Petree is interested in any and all offers from potential sponsors, and will work to provide a winning program for that special sponsor. Petree also did not rule out the possibility of taking on a partner in his Ashville, N.C. based operation.

“It is getting more and more expensive to be competitive in this sport,” said Petree. “It takes a lot of money and it might be a little more than say Schneider Electric and Square D can put into an effort like this. So, we’re probably looking for some partners to come in here and help with that and to share with that. That could be a possibility."