McMurray becoming an unwelcome sight in the mirror

Dick Brinster

Thursday, Aug. 24, 2000 | 9:17 a.m.

Jamie McMurray spent much of his time earlier this season trying to outrun drivers in the back of the field in the NASCAR truck series.

Now, three weeks and two pole-winning efforts after changing to TKO Motorsports, those drivers can see McMurray when they check their mirrors - to find out who's about to lap them.

They might see plenty of that again Sunday in the inaugural Sears Craftsman 175 at Chicago Motor Speedway.

"I'm really excited about this," said the 24-year-old driver from Joplin, Mo., whose first career pole came in his initial start for Mike Farris' team on July 22 at Michigan Speedway. "To achieve that in our first week together really opened up a lot of eyes."

Actually, being noticed is how McMurray - a four-time national go-kart champion in the 1990s - got his job with TKO.

He was driving for Mittler Brothers Racing, a part-time team in need of sponsorship. The team had hoped to keep McMurray until it could get some backing.

"We tested him, and I knew after the first five laps that he had that gut feel for what it took to make a truck go fast," said team owner Mike Mittler, who also has a machine shop near St. Louis.

So before 1999 was over, McMurray drove in five races for Mittler, who feared that more exposure would cost him the racer he discovered on a short track.

He was right.

"We knew that when you showcase your product that people are going to want to come after it and people are going to want to get the best that they can," Mittler said. "I guess I kind of did too good a job telling everyone I talked to that this young man was going to be a superstar.

"It's shown in three races already with a new team that he is a superstar."

McMurray finished sixth after winning the pole in Michigan, then went to Indianapolis Raceway Park hoping to prove his effort wasn't a fluke. He did just that, qualifying fifth and finishing third.

Two weekends ago, in Nashville, Tenn., McMurray won the pole at a record pace and ran second to two-time series champion Jack Sprague early on. But McMurray wrecked, finished 25th and is now 24th in the standings.

Still, the competitiveness was there, and McMurray hopes that will pay off soon in his first victory. Although he makes no prediction of when that will happen, McMurray is confident in himself and his team

"We've proven that we can qualify and run up front," he said. "We know we can go to any track at this point and be a factor."

That's no surprise to fellow driver Mike Wallace, himself a product of grass-roots racing around his native St. Louis. He sees McMurray as another of those competitors sometimes floating from truck to truck, hoping for the right combination

"He's got talent," Wallace said. "He just needed a place to show it. Now he is showing it."

Crew chief Todd Myers likes McMurray's ability to recognize the needs of the truck and advise the crew on what changes must be made. Myers says so much - horsepower, the aerodynamic package, the setup, and a hardworking crew - goes into building a winning team.

But he insists that good results can't be achieved without a driver who can work with the crew chief and crew to help make the truck better.

"We have all the elements in place, so I hope we can keep it all together," Myers said. "The best is yet to come for all of us."

Perhaps, but maybe not together.

Although TKO has Dodge factory backing, it also is without a lucrative primary sponsor, and after this season its hold on McMurray might be as tenuous as Mittler's had been.

Farris says the success of McMurray, signed only through the end of the year, has come almost too fast.

"I know a lot of other owners out there are going to try to make a run at Jamie after everything he has done over the last month," Farris said. "We have finally got our team running right, and now we have to contend with outside forces trying to pull it apart.

"We hope we can put the right package together to keep it all together."