05/11/2006 11:57 AM -
There aren't many left.
Single-car owners are an endangered species in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series. They just can't compete with the five-car armada of Roush Racing, Rick Hendrick's four-car group, and Chip Ganassi's three-car operation.
Still, Kirk Shelmerdine keeps trying.
Despite generating one of the best feel-good stories at Daytona in February, Shelmerdine has appeared in only one other race, May 1 at Talladega.
Shelmerdine, a graduate of Penncrest High in Media, surprised everyone, including himself, by qualifying for the Daytona 500. He finished a respectable 21st, collecting $272,008.
At Talladega, he was involved in an early crash but still earned $75,325. Paydays totaling $347,313 are big money for almost anyone except a NASCAR owner. Shel-merdine says the money barely keeps him afloat.
Shelmerdine only has one race-ready Chevrolet in his Welcome, N.C., shop. The car is strictly for races at Daytona and Talladega, the two restrictor-plate tracks.
"We're trying to get another car suitable for some of the other tracks," Shelmerdine, 48, said yesterday. "We're eligible for the Nextel Open [May 20 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.]."
When Shelmerdine speaks, he sounds tired. No wonder: He has no full-time employees at his shop.
"Everybody we have pretty much pays me to work there," he said jokingly. "That's what I tell them when they come looking for jobs."
Shelmerdine's problem is, corporate sponsors allocate their budgets months in advance. To find a sponsor now, he'd have to find a company with a few million available bucks.
"We have people doing that," he said. "My agent [MLF Sports, Winston-Salem, N.C.] is pursuing a lot of different angles. It isn't easy.
"A lot of the big companies don't know who to listen to or what to look for. They're all spending a lot of money [an estimated $15 million a year for one car]. A few of them are getting their money's worth.
"Once they get involved, in a lot of cases they wish they had done it sooner."
Shelmerdine's racing history is unique. When he was still in his 20s he was Dale Earnhardt's crew chief. They won four Cup titles together. Then, at the end of the 1992 season, Shelmerdine walked away from Richard Childress Racing.
Shelmerdine wanted to try racing as a driver. Also, the 24/7 routine as a crew chief wore him out.
"Success at this level is something that costs you everything else," he said. "That's not something a sane person can sustain indefinitely. I don't think I'd trade it for anything, but it costs a lot, personalwise and on a lot of fronts."
Shelmerdine was enrolled at Penn State-Delaware County when he decided to head south.
"I ran away to join the circus," he said, laughing.
Most team employees back then were from the south.
"Outside of nepotism, there was almost no way to get in the sport, especially for an Italian kid from Philly," he recalled. "It took a lot of years sort of chipping away at the wall to get inside."
He landed a job with James Hylton, an independent team owner and driver. After 3 ½ years, Shel-merdine moved to the Digard team where Darrell Waltrip was the driver.
In the early 1980s, Shelmerdine joined Childress Racing. He stayed there 12 years.
Shelmerdine's shop is across the street from the glittering new Childress headquarters. In terms of resources, it might as well be across the country.
When Shelmerdine qualified for Daytona, no one was happier than NASCAR chairman Brian France.
"That's exactly what NASCAR was built on: somebody with ingenuity, determination and talent against some tall odds," France said.
However, NASCAR isn't doing anything to help the Shelmerdines of racing. NASCAR is free enterprise at its finest. All the race teams are separate franchises, so, as the sanctioning body, NASCAR really can't help them financially.
Asked why he perseveres against such formidable odds, Shelmerdine replied: "I have a lot at stake. I have a lot invested, timewise and moneywise. I still feel the potential is big. I'm just now getting both hands on the rope.
"It's a very frustrating business, but the highs are pretty high. We work all these ridiculous hours because the payoffs once in a while are pretty nice. Over the years, we've been able to pull off quite a few impossible tasks."
Now, he'd like to conquer the odds, sign a sponsor and go racing full time. He's earned the opportunity.
By BILL FLEISCHMAN
For the Daily News
