Sears Pulls Sponsorship of Craftsman Truck Series Team for 1998
1 December 1997
In a pair of announcements a few more pieces of the 1998 racing season have become clearer. First was Sears' announcement that they would not be sponsoring a team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series through its DieHard branded products in 1998. They will though continue on with programs that will provide sponsorship to race events and a fan oriented contest. The DieHard races for the 1998 season will include the Winston Cup event at Talladega Superspeedway, and a full weekend known as the DieHard Batteries Motorsports Weekend. The event will feature the DieHard 200 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the DieHard 250 for the NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division and run over the weekend of July 3-5 at the Milwaukee mile. Paul Baffico, president of the Sears Automotive Group, said, "Sears is a very big supporter of racing. With our DieHard, Craftsman, NTB National Tire & Battery and Western Auto racing programs, we reach out to the fans of many different types of racing, including CART, IRL, NASCAR, NHRA and Trans-Am. While we'll miss having a specific truck to cheer on, with Craftsman as the sponsor of the entire truck series and DieHard as a race sponsor, we'll still be very involved with the series." The Sears announcement prompted news out the Harrisburg, NC shops of Darrell Waltrip owner of the #17 DieHard Truck campaigned in 1997 by driver Rich Bickle. The news that the DieHard sponsorship was going away prompted Keith Waltz, spokesman for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, to say - "We no longer have a truck team and have no plans to continue the program." Waltrip, who just celebrated his 25th year on the circuit, heads towards 1998 without a sponsor for his Winston Cup team. Waltrip, looking for a spark to get his Winston Cup program back on track, will take the truck team personnel and fold it into the Winston Cup operation. "We have got a bunch of good guys in the truck team and Darrell felt they'd be an asset to roll into the Cup team," Waltz said. "He felt it would make the Winston Cup team stronger and that that's where we needed to concentrate." Waltrip is looking to sell off the truck team to interested parties. The truck team, that came in second in the series points, consists of a hauler, tractor and five or six trucks. Driver Rich Bickle, who told Waltrip he'd be leaving the fold after the last truck event at Las Vegas, is said to have lined up a ride with the new Washington/Erving team. The deal though appears to have stalled with only a letter of intent signed at this time.