Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507240029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Norfolk area car dealers Ashton Lewis and Tommy Gibbs had pumped all the money they could afford into First Team Motorsports, but they had been unable to find a major sponsor, and their well had dried up.
``I was kinda young,'' said Sawyer, a 35-year-old Chesapeake native. ``I was going to race come hell or high water. So I did. And we incurred some awful large bills. Fortunately, the bank would still lend me money. So I'd go down and get more money.''
There is a certain quality that separates those few drivers who make it to NASCAR's big leagues from those thousands who dream of it, and perhaps this story reveals how Sawyer made the cut.
His willingness to risk everything to race - a passion for which only recently he has finished paying the bills - is a big part of why Elton Sawyer is driving in the Winston Cup series today.
His grasp in the Cup series is somewhat tenuous, to be sure. He took over the No.27 Ford Thunderbird at Martinsville in April and was impressive enough to win a promise from crew chief Mike Hill to finish the year in the car. He's hoping to be invited back to run a full schedule next year.
But at this point in his career, Sawyer still is as well known for his marriage to fellow Grand National racer Patty Moise as he is for his exploits on the track. Sawyer and Moise were married in late 1990, and their relationship already has withstood some daunting challenges.
``The first year was digging out from under financially because of all his past racing,'' Moise said. ``But we were very up front with each other. When you're in racing, you really accelerate the learning curve about someone else. You're going to see all aspects of a person because of the intense highs and lows of the sport.''
And for Sawyer, that included the bleak years of 1992 and 1993, when he didn't have a ride. It was the lowest time in a career that stretches back to Langley Raceway in Hampton almost two decades ago.
``The dream of every lap I made at Langley Raceway for years was to be in Winston Cup racing,'' he said. ``It's just the route I've had to take to get here may not have been straight down Interstate 95 to Daytona. I'm not complaining. It's just taken me some time.''
When he started racing at 17 years old at the end of 1977, he had half a notion it was a sport full of rednecks that required little more than a heavy right foot.
``Basically, I grew up playing all the ball and stick sports. I gave them everything I had. But here I was, about a 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8, 150-pound defensive back. I don't think Lou Holtz was looking for me.''
So when his father, Everett, who won quite a few local races in the 1970s, asked him if he'd like to compete in the last race of the 1977 season at Langley, Elton did it. He soon was hooked.
``The racing thing just seemed to come a little more naturally to me,'' he said. ``Once I got involved, I could see you had to put quite a bit of effort toward it just to compete, even at Langley. I started to just really dissect the cars, trying to learn as much as I could about them and how to make them drive better. You've got to be able to work with this mechanical object, and you've got to be able to make it do what you want it to do.''
Sawyer was the Langley track champion from 1983 through 1985, and in those last two years he won the regional NASCAR Racing Series title as well.
``By 1986, we had basically accomplished all we could at the local level,'' Sawyer said. ``So we decided we were going to go ahead and go Busch [Grand National] racing.
But he never had enough money, which meant he never could hire enough people. Coupled with his inexperience, Sawyer's efforts were doomed.
``I gained a lot of experience,'' he said. ``I know now the mistakes that I made. So when Patty and I get the opportunity to become car owners, hopefully we won't make those mistakes.''
From 1986 through 1991, he ran most of the Busch races. He never won, but he finished second six times. His marriage generated a lot of publicity in 1991. He didn't mind, but he wanted to make news on the track.
Sawyer lost his ride with the A.G. Dillard team in late 1991, and in 1992 and 1993 he found himself almost out of the driving scene. He took a job as a mechanic with car owner Bill Davis, whom he considers one of his closest friends.
In 1994, he finally got a break. He joined Akins/Sutton Motorsports for a full Grand National season, with solid sponsorship from Ford Credit.
And on June 11 last year, he won his first Grand National race at Myrtle Beach, S.C.
This April, after Loy Allen stepped out of the No.27 Ford in the Winston Cup series, Mike Hill called. Sawyer accepted the challenge. His first Winston Cup effort came at Martinsville Speedway, where more than 40 cars battled for 32 starting spots.
When Sawyer qualified ninth, the team was ecstatic.
``He decided to step in here at a race track where it's going to be real hard to make the race,'' Hill said. ``All the rest of those guys sitting back [who were available] were saying, `Well, there's going to be 43 Winston Cup cars there, and if I don't make the race and get that car in the show, it's going to make me look bad.'
``Then, after I selected Elton, all the rest of those guys called up and said they wanted to drive my car at Talladega. But he'll have the first choice in my book.''
Sawyer's best finish has been his 20th-place showing at Martinsville, and he knows he's got a lot to learn.
``Even at this level, I know it's going to take me a year or so to learn how to race these race cars,'' he said. ``I feel like I can drive them, but there's a difference between driving them and racing them. I feel like we can make the races, and now we've just got to really concentrate to learn how to get these cars set up to run 500 miles and race 500 miles. And the only way you're going to get that experience is to get seat time.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB