before the 1988 season.In 1987 I was racing Bruce Lawmaster's No. 31 Busch car. Our shop was in Randleman, North Carolina. I was living nearby in Greensboro and working in the shop every day. It was a small team with just me, two full-time employees, and one part-timer. We did the full circuit with two cars. We won three races like that, which was pretty cool. The first Dover race in May, we won.
Things started stirring a little bit after that. I think just two weeks later we won the second race. Things started stirring a lot more. But I knew how it was. A lot of things stir but not much happens in this business. I was hooked up with Ford and I'd heard through the grapevine that I might be considered for Bud Moore's car. Steve Hmiel was putting a team together for Jack Roush, and I heard from him that I might be considered for that. Finally, one day I got a call from Jack. I'd heard more than once that I was being considered for it. Seemed like a long time between hearing about it and when I got that call.
Jack's office was not as big as the lounges in the front of the trailers that bring our cars to the track now. Jack Roush is not a frills kind of guy. His place had dynamometers and stuff to work with, but he didn't have anything pretty. He was a worker. He was a get-it-done kind of guy, which suited me fine. I was more comfortable in that environment than I would have been in glitz and glitter - marble floors and that sort of thing.
He was direct when he called. He said "I'd like you to come up and talk to me about driving my Winston Cup car."
Simple as that.
Jack's not the warmest guy in the world. It was a pretty cold call. Jack is like that, especially when he doesn't know someone. He just handles the business. Driving that car was the business at hand.
He gave me a tour of his whole place. Told me about all his stuff there. Told me about his plans.
There were no Cup cars there. He had already hired Steve Hmiel, Robin Pemberton, and a few other guys. They were putting the shop together in Liberty, North Carolina. Since I was living in Greensboro - they're only about 20 miles apart, and not too close to Charlotte - this all started to tie together.
Steve Hmiel seemed to be a fan of mine. Robin seemed to be a fan too.
Jack laid the whole thing out. He told me what he wanted to do. I questioned him a lot about how he was going to do this and that. He had a reputation for being successful, but I wasn't going to get tied up in something that wasn't going to be successful. Or at least I sure enough wanted to know about it beforehand if we were going to go down in flames.
I liked his drive and determination. I liked him, but I don't mean I was struck by his personality. Nor was he struck by mine.We were not worried about being buddies, we were worried about trying to do this thing.We're a lot alike that way.
I liked his plan, which was that he had a certain amount of money, two years worth, or something. I don't remember what it was exactly. He showed me his business and how successful his business appeared, and he said he was going to do this thing. He could do it for two years out of his own pocket without a sponsor. He said he wouldn't have started if he couldn't.
He had support from Ford. Obviously they were going to go after a sponsor, but it wasn't a deal where he had the sponsor in place.
Jack planned to spend his money on people and equipment. I never ask what he was going to pay me. We stood up at the end of the session and shook hands. I got a little bit dizzy. I had just a spell there where I didn't know what was fixing to happen. I didn't know if I was going to fall down or what.
I never asked what it paid and that was good because I didn't get paid much. He'll tell you that I asked about whether there would be enough tires and money for testing. All I wanted was a team and commitment.
We had a five year contract. Halfway through the second year, he tore that contract up and gave me a new one that paid me more.
I didn't ask for that. I've never asked for a raise in the 17 years I have driven for him. It meant something to him that I didn't ask for a raise. It meant something to him that I was willing to do it for whatever he chose to pay me. He wanted to put the money in the cars and in the team.
You know what? I did, too.
