The adjustment in driving the Corvette is not limited to Earnhardt. The team has adjustments also. Junior and Said are racing an extra third car, for what is usually a two-car team. This means extra work for the crews. DOUG FEHAN, team manager and architect for the Corvette programme, said that the crew has had only two days off since the 24 Hours of Le Mans a month ago. There have been back to back races and prep work since then, and after this weekend the crews head straight to Portland for next weekend's ALMS race.
Having said that, Fehan said the guys are standing in line to work on Earnhardt's car. It has been a real focus for them, an incentive, a thrill. The Pratt & Miller team is also running a two-car Cadillac team in the SPEED World Challenge Series, so the Corvette teams have borrowed some of the Cadillac guys - who used to be with the Corvette team before the Cadillac programme came to be.
The Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose Cadillac team has ANDY PILGRIM and MAX ANGELELLI as drivers. In the first practice Friday, Pilgrim was second overall and Angelelli third overall, behind PHIL McCLURE, in a field of 26 cars.
There are no Corvette team orders. Fehan said all the drivers know the rules. They aren't to hit anything, they aren't to break anything, and they have to stay on the track. Other than that, they are free to race, and that what Said and Earnhardt said they would do. Fehan said it hasn't yet been determined which of the two drivers will start the race.
"It will be a community decision," he said, "We won't just start a guy that's good for TV. After all, TV can't talk with the driver in the car, just the driver out of the car. I think we'll make a good decision based on what everyone's comfortable with."
