Timothy Peters and T.J. Bell are off to a surprisingly strong start.
"Being in the top-10 in points with those veterans means everything in the world to me, especially with our budget and where our shop is," said Peters, a 28-year-old driver who is fourth in the points.
His team has two full-time employees -- himself and his crew chief -- and is run out of a friend's home garage.
"It speaks volumes for us and I'm just proud we've accomplished a lot with less than a lot of other guys," Peters added.
"I'd like to think we can continue our performance and top-10s and maybe those will turn into a top-five or a win," Peters said. "We made a big splash and we want to continue that momentum, but our main goal is finding that almighty dollar to keep us going all year long."
Bell, tied for fifth with three-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., is just as excited about his start -- and also worrying about finding more money.
"We're guaranteed quite a few races, but we still need to find funding, and that would be the biggest success," Bell said. "Other than that, we want to finish in the top-10 in points and, hopefully, get a victory."
Peters is trying to keep a positive attitude.
"My dad always taught me to make the best of your situation, and sometimes things are bad. But are they really that bad?" Peters said. "If you've got the desire to be in motorsports and are in it, you're very fortunate, and if you want to continue, the sky is the limit. Don't give up. Just look at us."
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BACK ON TRACK: The Wood Brothers team ends its two-week hiatus with Bill Elliott attempting to qualify the team's famed No. 21 Ford for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The pioneer NASCAR team has chosen to run only a partial schedule this season.
After Elliott finished 23rd in the season-opening Daytona 500, the team skipped the races at California and Las Vegas, getting ready for Atlanta, where the Woods have a record 12 wins -- the last with Morgan Shepherd in 1993.
After failing to make the Daytona race a year ago, team co-owner Eddie Wood said running it this year was good for the team but yielded mixed results, especially since it was shortened by rain.
"We didn't need it to rain," Wood said. "The way our car was and the way our pit strategy worked out, we needed about 15 or 20 more laps, at least.
"It did help the overall program just because we ran well, and all the work that went into that paid off. The same amount of effort has gone into Atlanta, and will go into every race we run."
Wood said he did miss being at California and Las Vegas.
"That is kind of the hard part of it, but we are rebuilding and, hopefully, we can get enough sponsorship to go back full time in 2010," he added.
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CALLING IT QUITS: Longtime race driver Didier Theys has decided to retire, another victim of the global economic crisis.
The 52-year-old Belgian won 18 sports car races all over the world, including two Daytona 24-hour races and the Sebring 12-hour race. His championships include the 2002 Grand-Am Rolex Series, the 1986 Super Vee series and the 1987 Indy Lights title.
Theys also competed in 47 CART Indy car events, and ran in the Indianapolis 500 three times, the last time in 1993.
Last year, he was fifth in the American Le Mans Series LMP2 class at Sebring and also placed third in the LMP2 category last year in the Le Mans Series in Europe with co-drivers Fredy Lienhard and Jan Lammers.
"I enjoyed working with friends like Fredy Lienhard, (team owner) Markus Hotz and Jan Lammers in the last few years," Theys said. "I was planning on retiring in 2009 anyway, but I was hoping to do it at the end of the season, not in March.
"Unfortunately, due to the downturn in the global economy, we weren't able to put together a program for 2009."
Theys will continue to work in the sport as a consultant and driving coach, both for individual drivers and teams and for World Class Driving in Phoenix, where he is the driving director.
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