Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Pruett washes out with Wells’ team

Friday, Jan. 5, 2001 | 9 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

After a shaky rookie season, second-year team owner Cal Wells said he is in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series for the long haul.

The same cannot be said for driver Scott Pruett, whom Wells brought from his Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) team to NASCAR last season.

Wells on Wednesday announced that he was replacing Pruett with veteran Winston Cup driver Ricky Craven in the No. 32 Tide Ford Taurus this season.

Wells said the decision to replace Pruett was difficult, but one that was necessary "to move our entire program forward."

"Anytime change comes it's hard -- very, very hard -- and certainly this was no different," Wells said. "Scott is a tremendous athlete. I have been proud to work with him and I hope to continue to work with him but, ultimately, at the end of the day it's my responsibility to my race team, my sponsors and to the athletes themselves to provide and guide through the best opportunities possible.

"I really felt compelled to move forward in this direction. I appreciate all that Scott has done. I hope to continue my relationship with him and I want to thank him for all he has done to get us to this point."

Pruett, a 10-year veteran of the open-wheel ranks, finished 37th in the final Winston Cup standings after posting just one top 10 in 28 starts. His best qualifying effort came in last year's CarsDirect.com 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in which he started second, and his best finish was a 10th-place effort in the Brickyard 400.

But the 40-year-old Pruett failed to start six races and had an average finish of 31st in his 28 races.

Wells, who will field two cars in the Winston Cup Series this season for drivers Craven and Andy Houston, said he did not hold Pruett solely responsible for the team's poor showing in its inaugural season.

"I think the challenges that were in front of all of us were steeper than we realized and we really needed an incumbent somewhere," Wells said. "And while we have been successful in hiring people that build great race cars that have been successful in the hands of other drivers or other team owners ... the experience in the (driver's) seat is so, so critical.

"It has nothing to do with talent, it's just experience and time and what one relies on when being successful in any given type of race car."

Wells said he hopes to continue working with Pruett, but did not say what form that relationship would take.

"I want to clarify that Scott is still a driver for PPI Motorsports," Wells said. "How that whole relationship will evolve has yet to be determined. We have had some ongoing discussions and we will continue to and I'm confident that we will be able to hopefully continue to work together in the future."

The test, which will not be open to the public, will include drivers Casey Atwood and Bill Elliott (Evernham Motorsports); Kyle Petty, John Andretti and Buckshot Jones (Petty Enterprises); Stacy Compton (Melling Racing); Ward Burton and Dave Blaney (Bill Davis Racing); and Sterling Marlin (Ganassi/Sabco Racing).

Team owners Ray Evernham, Bill Davis and Chip Ganassi also are expected to be at the test session, which will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. both days.

Cicale spent the past two seasons working with driver Paul Tracy -- who, like Tagliani, resides in Las Vegas. Under Cicale's tutelage, Tracy won three races in the 2000 CART season for Team Kool Green.

Cicale's role within Team Player's will be to assist chief engineer Kelly Loewen in his duties and act as technical advisor.

Dismore is competing in the IROC series for the second consecutive season and will be joined by fellow IRL drivers Buddy Lazier, Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever Jr.

The Extraordinaire Trophy is awarded to the parade's most spectacular entry. The design of the float reportedly inspired the Automobile Club of Southern California -- Densham's sponsor -- to change the paint scheme on the Funny Car this season to more closely resemble the parade entry.

The nostalgia drag-racing series series will make stops in Las Vegas May 5-6 and Sept. 21-23. ...

The five-race 2001 SCORE Desert Series will kick off Jan. 18-21 with the seventh annual Laughlin Desert Challenge.