NWWS: NASCAR Winston West Series Pete Graham PR

• Jack Durbin
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Wed Aug 7 22:26:35 EDT 1996

>From NASCAR Public Relations

For Immediate Release:

  Pete Graham and his NASCAR Winston West Series race team know how to
overcome problems.  They have prevailed this year despite many obstacles that
have come their way.
  This is the first year the 34 year old El Cerrito, Calif. driver has
competed on the full schedule for the NASCAR Winston West series.  It's also
a year in which Graham and his team have already encountered plenty of
problems for one season.
  "We've had our fair share of bad luck this year," Graham admitted.  "Every
race it seems there's been something come up."  But the team has been
determined not to let adversity get them down, he said.
  With a career best 7th place team finish in his most recent race, Graham is
hoping this year's bad luck is all behind them.  "Our performance this year
has actually been pretty good," Graham stressed.  "Fortunately, at Denver our
potential finally started to show.  I really hope this is the turning point
in the season."
  Graham and his team will try to keep their momentum going when the NASCAR
Winston West Series travels to Madera (Calif) Speedway for the Racestuff 250
on August 10.  Despite problems this year, Graham has worked his way up to
ninth in the NWWS championship standings and hopes to build on that with a
good finish at Madera.
  While some teams might be discouraged by bad breaks, Graham says his group
has actually been strengthened by their resolve to overcome the problems.
 "The team's really come through it well.  It's really been fantastic,"
Graham said.  At a time when some teams might start having internal
squabbles, his team is coming together, Graham said.  "Everybody is working
triple hard, working longer hours trying to get things figured out," he said.
  Graham says it has been important not to let the bad luck that has come
their way impede their progress as a team.  "I've been around the Winston
West series for about ten years now.  I've seen what's happened to us this
year.  It's difficult, but it's not unique," he said.  "We're not the only
team this has ever happened to."
  This season is the first of a long term goal Graham and his team mapped out
last winter.  "Basically, in the off season we put ourselves on a three year
plan," he explained.  "This year our focus was to pick up our competitive
level.  We really sat down as a team and plotted our performance goals."
  Their meeting included some new members who joined the team.  "Some of the
personnel we've added to this team have really complimented the people we had
on the team already.  I really consider them a top 10 team," said Graham,
although he admitted that their qualifying is not always reflective of that.
 The team usually focuses more on a suspension setup for the race rather than
the time trials, he said.
  While Graham is still searching for a major sponsor for his team, two
associate sponsors have provided crucial support this year, he said.  Airport
Auto Broker, a long time sponsor and "integral part" of the team, stepped up
to make sure the team makes every race, Graham stressed.  PowerBar also came
on board in support of the team, he said.
  As part of their stepped up effort this year, Graham purchased another race
car before the season began.  Then late last month he made a change in the
horsepower department switching to MADCAP Racing Engines.  "We're real
excited about this.  It takes care of the weak link in our program," Graham
said of the new engine program.  "We're picking it up a little bit and trying
to go to the next level.  And with our next two years, we have further
goals."
  Graham started his racing efforts in a mini-stock in 1985.  He raced a
touring division of four cylinder cars, finishing as high as second in the
points standings in 1990.  He worked on a NASCAR Winston West Series team in
his spare time, meanwhile, and eventually decided he wanted to make a change.
 He bought his first big stock car in 1993.  "I knew Winston West was where I
wanted to be," Graham said.  Despite his rough start this year, he's moving
ahead with those plans.