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Even though the first race of the season was still a month away, January was a busy month for Steve. 1998 started out in high gear for Steve and the Pennzoil team! On January 2nd, the new pit crew was announced. For more information about this top caliber crew, see a copy of the PR release. Steve knows this addition puts more pressure on him to perform as a driver, because it's one more key element that is now in place. The crew is had already been practicing pit stops and began an extensive month of testing prior to the Daytona 500. Steve had the following to say about his new crew:
"You can tell who the more talented pit crew members are because they can adapt very quickly to working with new guys. If what we've seen in practice already is any indication, we will be one of the strongest teams on pit road."
Photos taken by Orlando & Christine Teixeira at the '98 Winston Cup Preview
Steve's Schedule for the month is as action packed as the crew. His first big event of the year, was the first big event of the year for NASCAR. The Winston Cup Preview, held in Winston-Salem North Carolina is the official "kick off" of the season. Nearly every driver was available for autographs at specified times, and many of the drivers brought their cars for the fans to see. Especially those with new paint schemes, drivers, and/or sponsorship. After his early morning autograph session, Steve appeared live on QVC. It was the first time for the fans to see him live since the 1997 season came to an end. He sounded excited about the new team and it's future. (As well he should be) It was nice to see someone else bring up Steve's long career leading up to Winston Cup. Some of Steve's thoughts on the coming season:
"That's something that's real important to us. (Rookie of the year) Not only just running for the rookie of the year, but just really taking this year as a learning year. We have a brand new team, we really want to get all the guys just out there working together. It's hard to organize 5, 30 people in the course of 2 months and try to get everyone working together to make the tea a successful team. Ty Norris and Don Hawk and everybody back at DEI have just done a wonderful job getting the best people we need to be successful in the time to come." - Steve 1-10-98, on 1998's goals - QVC Interview.
Monday the 12th, Steve started testing the new car at Daytona International Speedway. The crew got it's first chance to put all the off season work together. They chose to bypass the first session, as they felt they weren't 110%. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo & NASCAR have a few changes in 1998 like the SB2 engines, and new compression ratios, so this years open testing is very important to all the drivers. (Yes, Ford will be changing over to the Taurus this year, making testing important for "them" too) Steve tested January 12, 13 & 14.
Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt.
& Steve at Daytona.
Date:
Time:
Speed:
1/12 am session
49.822
180.643
1/12 pm session
48.638
185.041
1/13 am session
48.490
185.605
1/13 pm session
48.324
186.243
1/14 am session
48.477
185.655
1/14 pm session
48.146
186.931
The Miller Motorsports Show was held the weekend of the 16th - 18th in Fort Washington Pennsylvania. There were over 150 cars on display, Steve's included. Many of the drivers held autograph sessions throughout the weekend, as well as a free raffle, and an auction benefiting the Burn Foundation. Steve was on hand on Saturday the 17th from 4-6 PM. I have received some absolutely fabulous exclusive photos; too many for this page. See the Miller Motorsports Show page!
Thank you to Sherry Burke for sending in the photos!
The rest of January was filled with more testing. Steve headed to Talladega the 20th, 21st, & 22nd. Then, off to Rockingham the 26th, 27th, & 28th.
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