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closeWhen Tim Bainey Sr. gave his sons Tim Jr. and Dan a pretty neat Christmas present about five years ago — the chance to drive several laps at Dover International Speedway as part of ride and drive program — little did he know, he’d provide his sons with some experience on a track where they hope to make the jump to NASCAR.
The Baineys family operation, based in Philipsburg, is scheduled to make its Camping World Truck Series debut at the Monster Mile on May 29.
Tim Jr. will try to qualify and race the “Aaron’s No. 00 Dream Machine” in at least five races on the Trucks circuit it was announced this week at the Aaron’s meeting of its national managers and employees in Washington, D.C., this past week.
In addition to Dover, Tim Jr. is scheduled to race at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis (July 24), Bristol Motor Speedway (Aug. 19), Iowa Speedway (Sept. 5) and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (Oct. 24).
“When we were little we always pushed our Matchbox cars around and rode our Big Wheels up and down the street pretending we were NASCAR drivers,” said Tim Jr., who recently turned 30.
“You always dream about that. It’s really cool that we’re living it out. How cool is it that you have a NASCAR Camping World Truck team based out of Philipsburg, Pa.?”
Making the jump
The run at the truck series began thanks to the uncertainty surrounding the USAR Pro- Cup Series, which lost its main sponsor, the Hooters restaurant chain, after the end of last season.
Aaron’s, the leasing and rental giant in electronics, appliances and home furnishings, had sponsored Tim Jr. on the circuit the past two seasons and had allowed the Baineys to build a car last season for Brett Butler, son of Aaron’s CEO Ken Butler. Aaron’s, heavily involved in motorsports, also sponsors the full-time Sprint Cup ride of David Reutimann and the part-time Nationwide ride of Ken Butler III.
The USAR series, which at its height had Northern and Southern Divisions with more than 30 cars at each event, had just 21 cars compete in its season opener on April 4.
Tim Jr. said the uncertainty of the USAR series led to the Baineys to pitch a new idea to Aaron’s, which had been happy with the team’s performance in the USAR Series.
“We waited around to see if the series was going to go somewhere and it actually got up into February and they still were up in the air about what was going to go on,” Tim Jr. said. “We talked with Aaron’s about maybe looking toward the Truck Series stuff and they thought it would be a good time to get into it. They already have the Nationwide car and the Sprint Cup car. It was a good time for it.”
He took the idea to Aaron’s and CEO Butler and it worked.
“Ken Butler is an aggressive guy. When you pitch him an idea that sounds like it’s a little bit of a risk or let’s go after something, he’s a pretty cool guy. He said, ‘Hey, let’s go ahead and try this.’”
“Tim Jr. has been a part of our marketing plans over the last two years and an excellent spokesman for Aaron’s,” Butler said in a statement
announcing the deal. “His passion for racing and his marketing savvy combine to produce a solid program on and off the racetrack.”
Getting on track
Being successful on the racetrack means starting with good equipment and the Baineys did not have a truck in their shop. But just a little more than a month before their debut at Dover, they believe they have a good start.
They acquired two pristine trucks from Spears Motorsports, which suspended operations on the circuit after the 2007 season. Current Trucks Series drivers David Starr (3 times) and Dennis Setzer (1) won events in Spears trucks. Current Sprint Cup drivers Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola also drove for the team.
The Baineys also will receive their engines from Hendrick Motorsports, recognized as one of the premier builders in the sport. Hendrick Motorsports builds engines for Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin and many other NASCAR teams at all levels.
“They’re really good trucks, hopefully the best stuff out there,” Tim Jr. said. “And we’re going to have Hendrick engines and that’s as good as it gets.
“The trucks are very similar to the cars,” he added. “They’re a little different aerodynamically, but the chassis are 95 percent the same as the cars.”
Tim Jr. is still waiting to find out just how different they drive. He’s yet to take a lap in a truck.
“I’m anxious to get him there and have him run five laps,” said Dan, his older brother and crew chief. “Just to get him on a track and to have him say, ‘This is what it feels like and this is what is different.’”
Because of the late start and NASCAR’s ban on testing at its sanctioned tracks, Tim Jr. may not get a chance to drive the truck before the first practice session at Dover.
“We’re going to be right up against it to get something together that we can go test before Dover,” Tim Jr. said. “Hopefully we can, but we’ve gone places before where we haven’t had something on the track. It makes it a little tougher, but I think it will be fine.”
The Baineys confidence to make a 36-car field comes from their development on the USAR series. With a smaller budget than most teams, Tim Jr. was able to run among the top 10 and top 5. Last season, Tim Jr. said he and teammate Brett Butler combined to lead more than 200 laps.
“Not to sound cocky, but I am pretty confident in everything we’ve done and learned in the last 10 years that we can get a truck in these shows,” said Dan, 27. “I think he’s a heck-of-a driver and hopefully I know enough.”
Tim Jr. also exudes confidence, but doesn’t downplay the pressure to make the field. In 2003, they just missed qualifying for Busch Series fields at Bristol (37th) and Memphis (38th) by hundredths of seconds. At Bristol that year, more than 60 cars tried to qualify.
“There is a big pressure,” he said. “We’ve got to make the show.”
To aid this process, most of the tracks the Baineys have chosen are ones they know. They’ve raced at Bristol, ORP and Iowa in the USAR Series and have competed on many tracks like Martinsville.
The wildcard is the Monster Mile. “The track is so different from anywhere we’ve ever raced at,” Tim Jr. said. “It’s really high banked and a fast track. … It’s probably not the easiest place to go to a first race.”
One thing that works into their favor is that with the poor economy there’s less numbers trying to make the fields. Even former series champions Todd Bodine and Johnny Benson are struggling to find full-time sponsorship.
“The key to everything is having the right sponsors and making your racing program something that has a real good marketing value with companies,” Tim Jr. said. “It’s not all about winning. Winning is nice and winning is what your goal is as a race team, but it’s more important that you put together something for them that wins off the track.”
Off the track
To keep the sponsors happy, Tim Jr. is embarking on an ambitious personal appearance schedule. He’s going to make at least 65 appearances this summer and fall.
Making the grinding schedule at least more palpable is that he’ll make the appearances with his new bride Nikki, who is serving as the Aaron’s “Dream Girl” for her third year.
The Baineys like to joke that most of the fans come to see the striking Nikki, instead of Tim Jr.
“They really like her,” Tim Jr. said. “She’s pretty easy to get along with and not too bad to look at either. She really is one of the key parts of the appearance schedule. We’re fortunate to be able go out every day together. We have fun with it.”
Nikki downplays the stress on a young marriage. “Not many people can say that their job for the summer is to go out and do appearances as Aaron’s Dream Girl,” she said.
“This is what you work for,” Tim Jr. said. “You want to get out there in front of people and have people see you. The more people we get to meet, the more fans we can make.”
They probably made a few more this past week at the Aaron’s event. Tim, Jr. shared the stage with Reutimann and Ken Butler III and tried to shake the hand of nearly every Aaron’s employee in attendance.
“When you see Timmy up there, it made all of that stuff that we do all of the time so worth it,” Nikki said. “The smile was on his face and he was just so excited.”
Later, they visited injured soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital.
“Just seeing that attitude of those guys, it was one of the coolest things that we’ve gotten to do,” Tim Jr. said. “They were excited to see us there, but we were way more excited to see those guys and to hear what they’ve done.”
Tim Jr. also said the Trucks Series campaign has garnered
interest from local sponsors. Longtime sponsor DelGrosso Foods, maker of pasta sauces, has remained on board.
“Even with a lot of our other sponsors, there’s been a lot more interest,” Tim Jr. said “With NASCAR comes a much wider fan base and exposure.”
Long term goals
The team could compete in as many as seven races this season, but will race no more than seven to keep Tim Jr. eligible for the Rookie of the Year in 2010.
That’s ambitious for a team that composed of family and friends in a sport that millions of dollars are invested.
More short-term goals are making the field and running some laps at Dover.
“The first race at Dover, yeah it would be great to have him run in the top five, but the goal is to run all 200 laps and learn everything possible,” Dan said. “Then in the next couple of races we can go full bore to see what we can do, to see if we can run with some of these high-dollar teams.”
Tim Jr. said the cost to run three Truck races is equivalent to what the team spent to run the 12-race USAR Series.
Regardless of the results, the Baineys know that there will be family to celebrate with or commiserate with at the track.
Brother Randy, 22, serves on the team. Tim Sr., who raced on the ARCA circuit, serves as spotter. Mother “Mo” Bainey will be there, too.
“We have so much fun together,” Tim Jr. said. “Even on our bad days, we still have a pretty good time.”
Tim Sr., who owns a trucking company and purchased Central Pa. Speedway in Clearfield last year, was once warned against putting so much of his money into racing.
He calls those dollars well spent as his sons give NASCAR a whirl.
“The money that we did spend not only kept us together, but it gives Timmy, Dan and Randy the chance to take this thing to a whole different level,” he said.
“I’m real proud of the gang — these guys, the crew, the wives and girlfriends who are involved because it takes a lot of time to do this. It’s not just a Saturday night show. It takes a lot of preparation to do this.
“There are not many families that get to do that. I tell people, ‘Hey, the kids still let me hang out with the them.’ Most people are happy when their kids grow up to get their butts out of the house. I’m happy they’re still around and hanging out with me.”
Tim Jr. hopes there are many more days at the track.
“I don’t know what’s going to go on down the road with it,” he said. “I think we have long-term plans with Aaron’s, whether it’s a full or limited schedule. They seem to be behind us and making us more of a part of their overall marketing plan.”
“It’s cool to know that when we were little playing with the Matchbox cars that we’re going to be racing against these guys now,” Dan added. “Now, I go home and race them on my video games. Now, we get to go and see them in real life.”
Walt Moody is sports editor of the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4630 or wmoody@centredaily.com.
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