That friendly greeting has been extended to numerous new teams for 2007. But the warm welcome hasn’t only come from league officials. It’s also come from fellow competitors, who despite competing for high stakes on the track, maintain a sense of community with each other.
The “one big, happy family†atmosphere was evident at a recent test at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Second-year team owner Michael Crawford, who is still searching for drivers to fill his two seats in 2007, tested six rookies on the 1.5-mile oval – four of them specifically for other teams.
“I think most of us, as team owners, have been in that situation before, †Crawford said. “When you start a team, it takes a lot of time and effort to get your new equipment ready to go racing. They’re scrambling to be ready for the Open Test and the first race. They realized that we have a reliable team that’s ready to go, so we were happy to help these guys pass their rookie tests. â€
Micky Gilbert, co-owner of first-year entrant Mile High Motorsports, was first in the car. Gilbert started two races on the road course at Infineon Raceway last year. Andersen Racing drivers Andrew Prendeville and Joey Scarallo also passed their rookie tests in the Michael Crawford Motorsports machine.
Supermodified driver AJ Russell, who is looking to form his own team, as well as Grand Am’s Shane Lewis and Star Mazda’s Ron White also completed their rookie tests.
“Ideally, we would be at Homestead with just two drivers, †Crawford said. “On the bright side, the test introduced us to some of our competitors as well as gave us the opportunity to test drivers for our own program. We hope to build on our eight top-10 finishes from a year ago. â€
