Darrell Waltrip set to race Saturday at Martinsville

Published 11:03 pm Friday, July 21, 2006

By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Things have changed in auto racing.
Mainly, the technology has drastically improved.
In today's racing, computers are used to adjust everything on the vehicles. Darrell Waltrip said that was not the case when he was an everyday driver.
"I believe the biggest difference is that when I drove, I was our onboard computer. I made the call to change whatever shocks, springs and sway bars we needed to," Waltrip said Wednesday in a teleconference interview.
Waltrip will once again try his hand at modern day stock car racing Saturday at Martinsville Speedway when he takes the driver's seat of his brother Michael's number 99 Aaron's Dream Machine. Waltrip said racing in Virginia was more of a family decision than one he made on his own.
"Up until they scheduled this race at Martinsville Speedway there was no family circle approved for me to race on. In other words, my wife had a restriction on where she would consider allowing me to race," he said.
Putting the elder Waltrip in his brother's car was part of the ongoing Aaron's ad campaign. Saturday's Busch Series race will be the first Darrell has participated in since 1995.
"Every good ad campaign there has to be a payoff. You can't continue doing the same thing over and over again if there is not a payoff somewhere," Waltrip said. "Obviously, after I get to drive it (Dream Machine) once, I'm probably going to want to try to drive it again somewhere."
David Reutimann, who drives for Waltrip's Craftsman Truck Series team, will take over the wheel of the Aaron's number 99 car following the Martinsville race.
He said he was excited about driving the Dream Machine, no matter what condition Waltrip leaves it in.
"We all know what kind of track Martinsville Speedway is and D.W. doesn't have an opportunity to race a lot. He's going to get the most out of it that he possibly can. He knows he can use her up if he needs to. I have no problem with him bringing it back in a cardboard box if he needs to as long as he's going to the front, which I know he will," Reutimann said.
The Busch Series race at Martinsville Speedway starts Saturday at 3 p.m.