Q&A: Cal Wells.

Team owner Cal Wells of the number 32 - Tide Taurus - talks about winning his first NASCAR Winston Cup race with Ricky Craven, the goals he set for the 32 and the 96, and a lot more:

Q:
Cal Wells - Car Owner - 32 - Tide Taurus - Has team morale changed since the win?

Team owner Cal Wells of the number 32 - Tide Taurus - talks about winning his first NASCAR Winston Cup race with Ricky Craven, the goals he set for the 32 and the 96, and a lot more:

Q:
Cal Wells - Car Owner - 32 - Tide Taurus - Has team morale changed since the win?

Cal Wells:
We like what we do. We're always pretty happy with the fact that we get to race for a living, so the morale is usually on the upswing all the time. We have our weekends that are challenging, where we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and go forward, but, overall, it's always pretty good. Certainly, anytime you win it goes beyond the reinforced feelings that you're heading down the right path towards the goal you've set for any racing program - whether that's running in the top 10 or whatever it happens to be.

Q:
What goals did you set for the 32 and the 96?

CW:
The goal for the 96 was to qualify for every race and we didn't do that. For the 32, it was to finish in the top 25 in points and contend in the top 10 as often as possible. Understand I was a fan of Ricky's. I didn't know him well when we signed him to the Tide 32 and we had a pretty big leap to come from where we were the year before, so I think we're gonna exceed our expectations on both ends. You always want to win a race or more. You're always gonna set a goal of winning a race. You don't want to show up on a race weekend without feeling that you've got a good, solid chance of winning a race. It was an expectation and it was a goal we had set. How many of us thought it was achieveable at Daytona of 2001 versus, say by mid-season, our confidence continued to grow that we really could accomplish that goal this year.

Q:
What do you bring from CART to NASCAR?

CW:
I don't think a whole lot. Business practices and taking care of our folks, but you could learn that in almost any business. My understanding of competition and ultimately the car just speaks through four tyres on the road is the same in any form of racing. I think maybe we've got a little bit of a jump in a couple of areas to other teams that would start from scratch in that we have a wealth of knowledge within PPI Motorsports in multiple disciplines of motorsport, but as far as applying CART technological resources or Off-Road technological resources to Winston Cup is very little. The methodology for success in all disciplines is the same, so really the only big experience is just that of competition itself.

Q:
Will you be able to continue the 96 program next year if you don't find a sponsor?

CW:
No.

Q:
Who helped confirm your feelings about Ricky (Craven) when you hired him?

CW:
It started with myself. I have a broad range of personal experience with head trauma having endured six concussions myself and a subdural hemotoma when I was 18 and in an automobile accident, so I'm pretty experienced. When we were looking at an evolution for the Tide program and we felt that part of that evolution was going to be the athlete and changing the driver from 2000 to 2001. We had a list of who was available and what the real needs of our race team were, which was to gather experience and still have an opportunity to run at the front. Looking at the talent that was available and being a fan of Ricky's, I felt we should put him on the list. Interestingly enough, we had a quite a bit of internal disagreement about that when we first started looking at the candidates available. We didn't have a lot of time because, really, through almost Atlanta we were pretty confident we were gonna stay with Scott. When it became apparent that we needed more experience to help grow our direction - and Scott just wasn't gonna gain that for another year or two - a lot of people that may have been available were committed. I didn't want any contract meddle. I didn't want to buy anybody out. I had already created enough havoc for myself coming down here with the acquisition of Tide and McDonald's, it just made no sense to look at what was available, and, by far, the guy who had the most potential was Ricky. Our then general manager, Joe Garone, who now runs the NASCAR/Hickory technical center over here, gave Ricky a call and said, 'Hey, let's get together for dinner.' Interestingly enough, even Joe was very suspect that Ricky was healthy, but it took about three or maybe four sentences for me to look Ricky in the eye and listen to his responses where I knew he was all there. Beyond that, it was just doing proper due diligence so I didn't leave Tide or Kenmore or Ford, any of our partners in this racing program, down a road that wouldn't be healthy. So we went back to Ricky's original doctor and did another battery of tests. Then we went to Dr. Petty, who did all of Dale Earnhardt's work. We were actually connected to him through Don Hawk, who has done a lot of consulting for me. And then I also, for all of my athletes in any racing I'd done for the last 10 years, we do a complete physical beyond a neurological study. A complete physical from stem to stern at Johns Hopkins University and that was not unique to Ricky. That's something I do with all my guys, so we actually went through three separate deals. Beyond making sure that he was hitting on all eight cylinders neurologically, we also must wanted to make sure there wasn't something else that none of us know about. I mean, we all should really go through a physical every year and we never do, of course. We always think we're gonna, but we never do, so it's a good, healthy thing for Ricky to go through as well and he came up 100 percent.

Q:
Was his win a vindication?

CW:
I think there was some, not only for Ricky but for me and the team, and how we had been perceived about whether we could or couldn't be competitive when we first came to Winston Cup. I was so proud and so excited, and I was actually more than a little surprised at how negative so many people were about it. But, as time went on and we've tried to earn our way in the garage area, which, to me, is personally the most important piece, I think winning a Winston Cup race was really, really important and I hope it's something I'll look back on and say, 'Boy, that was a milestone - the first of what really turned out to be a long line of successes,' and I'm sure Ricky could say the same thing. He became one of the most sought after athletes after Jeff Gordon and prior to Tony Stewart, and had the opportunity to drive at a number of different and high profile teams. Ultimately had the pick of the litter and chose the 25 car that was sponsored by Budweiser at the time and that obviously didn't pan out. I'm sure he said this was kind of a rebirth from him. I've heard a lot about 'Ricky's back and Ricky's this and Ricky's that,' but I don't think he ever really left. He took some time off and kind of got his wits about what was gonna be best for him and kept his hand in the water with Midwest, the 50 car, and a few other things he had done. But, really, he just needed that opportunity that was knocking down his door three or four years ago. Now, I'm sure those things will happen again, but, fortunately, Ricky and I are committed to each other for quite some time in the future and we're all tied to Procter & Gamble and the Tide brand."

Q:
Does the sponsor deal coincide with Ricky's deal?

CW:
No, it doesn't. My contract with Ricky actually goes beyond that, but that being said, I hope and believe that our agreement with Tide will continue over time. Anybody that owns a race team is always in discussions with their sponsor about making the deal longer, so there's nothing special about that. We really believe and hope that we'll have a long successful future and partnership with Tide.

Q:
Could you win a title with a one-car team?

CW:
Nothing is impossible. It's our objective for this year, which we believe is achieveable, is to end up in the top 20. That's the new objective. Our original objective was top 25, but our new objective is top 20 and we feel it's still a steep hill. There are only five opportunities left. We would have taken another giant leap towards at Talladega. We had only a couple hundred yards left there and it would have made a big, big difference - it was probably a 70-point swing with where we would have finished - so nothing is impossible. Jeff Gordon padded his lead by a couple hundred points in just the last few weeks, so anything is do-able. I believe we're about 125-130 points out of the top 20 and we're really focused on that. Next year, our objective would be to try and fall somewhere between 15th and top 10. I believe we could run in the top 10, but I think it's achieveable to be somewhere between 15th and 10th. The closer you get toward the pointy end of the arrow, the tougher and tougher it gets. So, I think to say that we could win a championship is not something we're looking at. We're building a team to be able to contend for that, but I believe we're still a couple years down the road from even being considered.

Q:
Where are you as far as personnel on your team?

CW:
I actually just came out of an engineering meeting for this call, but every aspect of our company is always looking for improvement. That happens all the time.

Q:
What about the opportunites that win presents for you?

CW:
I honestly believe in my heart of hearts, not to in anyway shape or form diminish our success at Martinsville - that was huge and that was huge for me because that and Darlington are, in many respects, what stock car racing is about as far as its history goes. I'm not saying that the Daytonas and some of the great new race tracks like the Californias and Las Vegases, Charlotte - there are all sorts of different places where you could say this is the bastion of stock car racing. But Martinsville is the only track that was on the schedule the very first season and it's still on the schedule. The Southern 500 would be another big, big goal as far as saying, 'Wow, we really raced against the best at a track with a lot of historical perspective.' That being said, I think our second win - whenever that comes - and I pray to God every day and we work very, very hard here that we can make that this weekend. If not this weekend, then next weekend, but certainly sooner than later. I think that's really when you prove you belong. There are a lot of very good race teams and very good race drivers that have won only one event and I think that really proves how tough it is to not only win once, but to go beyond one single victory. That, to me, is really when you've earned the respect in the garage area - at least I hope I've earned the respect in the garage area where you can back it up. That's really my focus right now and I think then maybe we'll gain the kind of credibility as it relates to the sponsor front and so many other things. The garage area is so competitive. There are so many super high quality teams and tremendous athletes that compete of the 43 that are fortunate enough to earn their way in every weekend. We're proud to be part of it, but I think to really work our way through the labyrinth of sponsorship and corporate identity and identity within the garage area and with the fans, winning a second event is huge. I think you'll find that with most teams or drivers that have done it. Once they've won their first, it's great but you don't want it to be considered a fluke. You want it be considered something like, 'Well, it's the first of what hopefully will be a strong line of success.' That's really what we're working so hard towards now. Then if we can make sponsor calls when they come though or someone calls us, then that'll be what it is. I had an opportunity to create a relationship as a customer with Robert Yates. It was very important for me to eliminate the challenge I had in CART, which was an engine development program. I wanted to have the horsepower as a non-issue when it related to our performance. If the 88 or the 28 was running up front, we knew it wasn't the engine. It might be a dozen other things or a combination of one of those, but that means it wasn't the power. When I looked at making the evolutionary change to Ricky, I went to Robert and had a very candid conversation with him. I said, 'Look, here's what's on the table. Who would you hire?' And he said, 'By far your upside is with Craven. This guy can really get on top of the wheel and I don't think he's gotten a fair shot.' But he also relayed a story to me about the trials and tribulations he's been though during his several decades of experience. What was so interesting to me was when he was trying to fill one of the seats in his race car. This was some time ago, but that he had one car that was running very, very well and then he had one car that wasn't - it was outside the top 25 in points. He said the most interesting thing to him was that people weren't calling to drive it and that it wasn't getting the kind of interest from the level of driver or the level of crew chief that he had grown accustomed to and felt he had earned. What he really realized is that, as he said, 'You need to warm the seat in your race car, so that people want to be in it and they want to drive it.' That became a big focus for him and I think it's obvious how the 88 and 28 are running now. They're neck and neck with each other and are contenders for the championship. It might have slipped away this year, but, hopefully not. Certainly, they've been there all year and it was a very telling story that if you don't build an organization that's a place a good guy wants to drive, then you don't get the good guy. If the good guy doesn't drive, then it doesn't matter how good the cars are and that's really what we're focusing on now is keeping the seat warm in our race car, which Ricky Craven fills and will fill pretty much as long as he wants to. But that being said, for us to have the seat warm up in a second car - if the 96 were to have a rebirth, we've got to make sure that 32 runs well. That's really where you're gonna gain your credibility.

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