Trucks: Dominic Dobson to Debut in CTS
2 April 1998
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Dominic Dobson, driver of the MCI Mopar No. 78 Dodge in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, is looking forward to this weekend's race at the Metro-Dade Motorsports Complex with relish.And with good reason, too.
"After our successful testing at Homestead a few weeks ago, I'm excited to go back and qualify in my first NASCAR truck race," says Dobson, 39, of Mercer Island, Wash. "With the addition of Todd Myers as our assistance crew chief, I feel like we have real NASCAR expertise on our team now.
"My race engineer from last year, Ron Matheis, and Todd seem to be getting along well, and they've come up with a good basic setup from which to start. I know I still have a lot of learning to do with these trucks, but with all the support we've been getting the folks on the other Dodge teams and from Dodge Motor Sports, we think we have all the elements for a great season."
Dobson is a veteran of numerous forms of racing. He's driven in the Indianapolis 500 seven times, was named the Fastest Rookie in History at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1988, and was honored as the Most Consistent Qualifier at the Old Brickyard in 1991.
Dobson also has extensive experience in sports car and endurance racing, including IMSA GTP and SCCA, and he's been a senior instructor for the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving.
In practice prior to the Jan. 18 Craftsman season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway, Dobson hit the wall hard -- and replaced himself with Rich Bickle.
"We rolled out our spare truck, and because Rick had a guaranteed starting spot, we just felt it was important for MCI and for Dodge to have a truck in the first race of the season," Dobson says.
Bickle finished 10th.
Dobson will drive the red, white and blue MCI Mopar Dodge truck in Thursday's (April 3) test day here, then attempt to qualifying Friday for Saturday's race.
"The field is about 61 trucks, and only 36 are going to make the race," he says. "Obviously, even qualifying is going to be very competitive."
MCI Racing is a group within MCI, which spearheads all of MCI's motorsport initiatives including series sponsorships with NASCAR, CART, Indy Lights, Atlantic and Historic Sportscar Racing. As well as team sponsorships with Arciero Wells/MCI Racing Team IN CART, the MCI Toyota Atlantic Team, the MCI Toyota Off-Road Truck Team, PacWest Racing Team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series , and Stewart Grand Prix in Formula One. Over the Miami race weekend, MCI announced its new sponsorship of the inaugural FedEx Championship Series Fantasy Racing Game.
MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a leading provider of local-to-global communication services to business and residential users. The company's fast-growing portfolio of advanced data, Internet and IT services now accounts for nearly a quarter of MCI's $19.7 billion in annual revenue. MCI operates one of the world's largest and most advanced digital networks, connecting local markets in the U.S to more than 280 countries and locations worldwide. MCI has agreed to merge with WorldCom, one of the world's fastest-growing communications companies. The merger, which is expected to be completed by mid-1998, will create MCI WorldCom, a company uniquely positioned in the U.S. local and long distance markets as well as the global data and Internet markets.
