Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 22, 1995 TAG: 9509220062
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRUCE STANTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Tonight, Jerry Glanville will eat bologna sandwiches and potato chips, and he will sleep in his truck. On Saturday night, he will feast like a king in the full-service restaurant of his choice and will rest in a posh hotel.
Why the big difference? He's paying for tonight's meal; the Fox Network is paying for Saturday night's food.
Now, before you get the idea Glanville, who is an NFL commentator for Fox, is cheap with his own money and not with someone else's, understand he is financing his own NASCAR SuperTruck team. And his Ford F-150 is a lot more expensive to maintain than the one you can buy off your local dealer's lot.
Without the sponsorship money many other SuperTruck teams have, Glanville, the former head coach of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and Houston Oilers, has cut corners wherever possible. Even if it means a stiff neck from sleeping in his truck.
``We make our own sandwiches, and we don't even get a motel room,'' said Glanville, who has driven in every race of the SuperTruck series' inaugural season. ``I go from no sleep to a $150 room, and I go from bologna sandwiches to lobster tail overnight.''
Unlike most NASCAR drivers, Glanville also takes the wheel of his tractor-trailer on trips.
``I was driving somewhere and someone said, `You're only the second driver I've seen to get out of the [transporter] truck and into the car,''' Glanville said. ``I said, `Who was the other one?' And he said, `A.J. Foyt.' And we both drive Western Star tractors.
``It's fun. We'll get hooked up with the other transporter drivers and drive down the road about as fast as we do down the track,'' said Glanville, whose CB handle is ``No Deposit, No Return.''
Glanville is hoping for returns next year on the deposit he has made on this year's team. With a sponsor, the former NFL coach feels his team can be competitive in every race. Money from a sponsorship would help him get out of the SuperTruck bargain basement.
For example, his team usually spends the first half of every race trying to figure out the track, because he doesn't have a budget for practice time. Some teams have $600,000 set aside for practice alone, he said.
``If we just had that to race ... '' Glanville said. ``I think we'd be awesome if we had a sponsor. But I don't have time to bang on doors. I wish I did. I do 17 games a year on Fox, and I'll race 21 times this year.''
Glanville will need some kind of financial backing next year; he has plans to build an All-Pro car and two Busch Grand National cars. The SuperTrucks will race several doubleheaders with the two NASCAR series next year, and he wants to be prepared to compete in them.
``My hero is Kenny Schrader, because he drives so much,'' Glanville said of the driver of the Winston Cup Budweiser Monte Carlo. ``My goal is to drive more races than Kenny Schrader, so our goal is to race and run the whole weekend.''
Today, Glanville's goal is to make the 36-truck field for the Goody's 150 at Martinsville Speedway. Qualifying begins at 4:30 p.m., and the race takes the green flag at 2 p.m. Saturday. When the race is over, he heads for Giants Stadium to work the Fox telecast of the New Orleans-New York Giants game Sunday.
While Glanville is better known for his exploits in the NFL - wearing all-black attire on the sideline and leaving game tickets for Elvis - his hope is to become known and respected as a driver.
He began racing as a hobby while he still was in the NFL.
``I was drag racing Harley Davidsons for a while, and then I got a chance to drive Kyle Petty's Mello Yello car at Atlanta,'' said Glanville, who lives in Cumming, Ga.
After that experience, Glanville dabbled in Busch Grand National and ARCA racing, but he was not able to race full-time until he lost his job with the Falcons.
``I got offered a football job last year,'' he said. ``But I really wanted to do the racing. I wanted to do a whole series, and I didn't have any idea how much money was coming in the truck series. At least we've learned an awful lot and will be better because of it.''
While many SuperTruck teams have big budgets, they don't have an overwhelming advantage in the series over competitors such as Glanville's team. The equalizer, appropriately enough for Glanville, is a halftime period.
Each SuperTruck team is given 10 minutes at the halfway point of each race to change tires, fill up with gas and make any other adjustments.
``Without the halftime, we would have had to go home,'' Glanville said. ``I have a three-man crew, and a three-man crew can fix everything in 10 minutes. But if we had green-flag pit stops like Winston Cup, we'd have three guys against 12.''
Glanville enjoys beating the odds, which is one of the reasons he is so committed to staying in racing.
``There's a draw there because you're competing,'' Glanville said. ``The bottom line in football is you're competing. The bottom line in racing is you're competing. When I get out of bed, I know we're competing in seven or eight days, so we have to get to work.''
He also has to make sure to stock up on bologna and bread. At least until this racing season is over.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB