Premier Racing's Timothy Peters keeps on trucking with low-budget team

By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer

Friday, March 13, 2009

Premier Racing's Timothy Peters is currently ninth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings after the first three races of the 2009 season.

Sam Greenwood
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In a sport where it’s often said that money buys speed, Timothy Peters is hoping that speed buys money.

If not, there’s a chance he won’t run the full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Despite being ninth in the series standings with a pair of top-10s in the season’s first three races, Peters has only enough sponsorship to attempt the first four events, although at least a couple more appear likely.

Beyond that, the Providence, N.C., native will probably have to discontinue racing if he doesn’t find financial backing.

Peters, 28, knows that in today’s tough economy, steady performance doesn’t always guarantee steady sponsorship.

“I’m a racer, but I have to be a realist, and I’m very fortunate to be at the first four,” Peters said of the opening races of 2009. “Regardless of what happens, I’m hoping that people can see how well that our team works together and the results that they can put up and the value that it can show sponsorships.

“I know past champions that are sitting at the house probably [watching] on the TV, wishing that they had my seat for the first four. I really can’t squall too bad.”

Struggling to get from one race to the next is nothing new to Peters.

Since being hired and released by Richard Childress Racing in 2007 after only eight races as a development driver in what is now known as the Nationwide Series, Peters has made 12 Truck starts in just under two seasons, mainly because of a lack of funding. He hasn’t competed in Nationwide at all.

Peters’ Premier Racing team is a low-budget outfit that came together about a year ago when he joined up with Philip Hudgins, a national insurance company executive, who became a majority owner of the team.

Hudgins, a former colleague of Peters’ father at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Danville, Va., went with Peters to Speedweeks 2008 at Daytona when the driver didn’t have a ride, and returned the next month at Martinsville to watch him compete for his own Timothy Peters Racing team.

On both occasions, Hudgins was equally impressed.

“When I looked at Timothy, there’s something there,” Hudgins said. “He’s got heart; he really wants this bad for lots and lots of reasons. It’s not just a job to him. It’s his way of life. You can’t put a price tag on that.

“Somebody out just driving for a paycheck, yeah, OK, they may or may not get it. But this kid, it’s all he’s got, and it’s all he wants; it’s all he’s ever wanted. There ain’t no give-up in him; he’s just got the fight there.”

Premier Racing has two full-time employees: Peters and crew chief Chad Kendrick, whose roles also include serving as the team’s engine installer and jack man.

The rest of the team consists of volunteers and former Bobby Hamilton Racing and BHR-Virginia crew members who help pit Peters’ truck on race day.

The team also gets help from Danville-area businesses that donate parts or materials.

“We’re very appreciative of the local people that have come to our aid so to speak and helped us out,” Hudgins said. “Every week somebody comes along and adds to it to help the cause and keep it going.”

Premier Racing houses its three trucks in a two-car garage near Peters’ Danville home. The garage belongs to Steve Stallings, one of four co-owners of the team.

“It’s nothing fancy, but right now it’s feasible, and it’s getting the job done,” Peters said. “It’s not really the healthiest situation, but if it gets us to the race track and we can still put up these results that we’re doing, we’re just going to have to keep doing it.”

While the team does have two sponsors that Peters considers primary - Strutmasters.com and the Providence, N.C.,-based Hayes Iron & Metal - neither is planning to support Peters in that role for the full 25-race season.

That makes his performance in the races he is guaranteed all the more important.

“Being able to hit the first four, we knew that we had to come out of the box strong, hoping that we could get some recognition to continue the season where it would turn into maybe 10 more races, maybe the rest of the season,” Peters said. “And I’m telling you, to go to Daytona and finish sixth and ninth at [Auto Club Speedway in] California and going into Atlanta this past Saturday fourth in the points, I mean it just speaks volumes because I’m so proud of our little team because we’re accomplishing so much with very little.”

Of course, the adversity imposed by Peters’ shoestring racing budget pales in comparison to losing his father, Tony, to a massive heart attack in 2001. Tony Peters, like so many fathers, was instrumental in helping his son get started in racing.

After his father’s death at age 53, Peters, who was racing Late Models at the time, could have given up the sport. But he didn’t.

Nor did he quit after losing his ride at RCR, something he considers the low point of his career.

So no matter how hard it gets to find sponsorship right now, Peters won’t give up easily.

“It’s my job to get up on the wheel and see what we can do to extend our schedule,” he said. “And if it comes down to possibly having to do a race-by-race [schedule] and it comes down to nail-biting time hoping that the check gets in the mail before you leave to go to the race track, I guess that’s the way we’re going to have to survive it.”

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Comments

2 responses to "Premier Racing's Timothy Peters keeps on trucking with low-budget team". Post a Comment.

1

Georgia Ross said:
Mar 13, 2009 at 5:45 PM
TRUE SMALL-TEAM RACING SPIRIT...two employees...local volunteers...materials and parts from local businesses. AGAINST ALL ODDS...this is the way stock car racing began and I hope that Timothy and his team can keep the team going for many races to come...BEST OF LUCK TO THEM!
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ben megginson said:
Mar 27, 2009 at 7:04 PM
go, timmy,
i'm your cousin, well, 2nd cousin. been following your career as much as i can
go, cuz
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