Atlantic champ Lazzaro gets shot at NASCAR

Mike Harris

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 7:20 a.m.

Anthony Lazzaro would be a stranger to most people in NASCAR garages.

And if they do know that Lazzaro is the 1999 Toyota-Atlantic series champion, they probably think he's a European open-wheel driver trying to get to CART's Champ Car series or Formula One.

Surprise!

The 33-year-old Lazzaro is a full-fledged Southerner, born in Charleston, S.C., and raised in Atlanta. He was weaned on stock car racing and had every intention of winding up in the Winston Cup series before finding himself in an Atlantic ride in 1996.

"I was offered a small deal in Formula Atlantic. The money was pretty good, and I had to make a living to support a wife and two kids, so I stayed," Lazzaro said.

Lazzaro wound up driving for Cal Wells, who put him in a car capable of challenging for the Atlantic title in 1998 and winning it this year. Now Wells is giving him another opportunity - putting Lazzaro into a NASCAR Busch series car.

Wells, who also fields cars in CART and off-road racing, is about to take a giant step, adding a Busch team and a two-car Winston Cup operation to his stable over the next two years.

"We started with 25 people as possible drivers," Wells said. "They were from CART, the Indy Racing League, sports cars, Atlantics, Indy Lights and Cup cars.

"We got that down to six guys that I'm sure would have been competent. But some of them just didn't want to get tied up for long term and our agreement with our sponsors ties you up."

Wells, who already has announced that McDonald's will sponsor the Busch car and one of the Cup cars - with Tide expected to be the sponsor of the second Cup ride - said the new team tested four racers before settling on Lazzaro as its Busch driver.

"I've got a lot of confidence he'll do a good job," Wells said. "He was great in the test, and I think he's going to be fabulous. It's not like he's never been in a car with fenders."

Lazzaro, who took a chance in 1994 and quit a steady job as a BMW mechanic to race, will begin this new career with four Busch races this season.

"It's going to be a huge challenge," said Lazzaro, who will move his family from Atlanta to Hickory, N.C., near the team's new shop, after his children finish school next spring.

The plan is that he will run for Busch series Rookie of the Year in 2000, and eventually move up to Winston Cup, hopefully with Wells.

"The way Cal does things is only one way, the right way," Lazzaro said. "If I was going to go up to Champ cars, I'd want to do it with Cal. It's very important I stay with him."

Now that the Atlantic season is over, Lazzaro's focus has turned to stock cars.

After a one-day session with veteran stock car driver Andy Hillenburg at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Lazzaro tested a new Wells Ford Taurus at tracks in Hickory and Rockingham in North Carolina.

He knows the switch won't be easy - especially this year.

"Our No. 1 goal is to qualify," Lazzaro said. "No. 2 is to finish. As soon as we can do those things, we'll try to qualify better and finish better."

Next year, he'll be out to prove he belongs.

"We're going to go for rookie of the year and a top-15 in the points," Lazzaro said. "Obviously, though, those are all tough goals. Busch is really one of the most competitive and toughest forms of auto racing in the world."

Lazzaro said the biggest adjustments from the agile, 1,200-pound Atlantic cars to the brutish, 3,200-pound Busch cars are learning to deal with the added weight and figuring out how to save tires.

"It's really a different driving style," he said.

But, as he talked about the future, Lazzaro's smile widened and he stared off into the distance.

"I went to my first stock car race in '79 or '80, and I remember meeting Richard Petty," he said. "I can't wait to get started."