Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Spencer may not forget but he does forgive

Friday, Jan. 10, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

NASCAR Winston Cup veteran Jimmy Spencer has sold a lot of t-shirts as a result of his oft-repeated warning to competitors who cross him on the track: "Jimmy Spencer never forgets."

As it turns out, Jimmy Spencer doesn't hold grudges, either.

During a trip this week to Las Vegas, the 45-year-old driver actually spoke highly of Kurt Busch, with whom Spencer has had several on-track altercations during the past two seasons. The last incident, in which Spencer and Busch tangled in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis in August, resulted in both drivers and their car owners being called on the carpet by NASCAR president Mike Helton.

"I don't have a grudge against him; I like Kurt," Spencer said of the Las Vegas native. "I don't carry grudges ... but I think that Kurt was obviously carrying grudges because he obviously knocked me out of the way at Bristol, he spun Robby Gordon out at Charlotte, things like that.

"I think the meeting that NASCAR had with Kurt and myself (following the Brickyard 400), it wasn't as much a meeting for Jimmy Spencer as it was for Kurt to understand what was going on. The bottom line is it was the best thing that happened to Kurt Busch, that meeting at Watkins Glen, because it straightened him out. He became a guy that won a lot of races toward the second half of the season and shined really well.

"Kurt is a very good competitor but you can't go around with a chip on your shoulder like he had and NASCAR sort of took that and knocked it off of his shoulder and now he's being successful."

Busch won four races last season, including three of the final five, and finished third in Winston Cup points.

The Spencer-Busch feud began late in the 2001 season when the drivers made contact in the race at Phoenix International Raceway, ruining Busch's chances of finishing in the top 10. When Busch bumped Spencer out of the lead en route to his first career victory last spring at Bristol Motor Speedway, Busch said the incident with Spencer at Phoenix was in the back of his mind.

Spencer said after the Bristol race that he wouldn't forget the episode and that "when I smash back, (Busch) won't finish." A few months later, at Indianapolis, Spencer tapped Busch from behind after a pass early in the race, sending Busch hard into the outside wall and knocking him out of the race.

In a post-race interview, Busch said the bump was in retaliation for the Bristol incident and called Spencer an "old, decrepit has-been."

"He blamed me at Indianapolis," Spencer said. "There's no way I'm going to crash somebody at Indianapolis at that speed and NASCAR knows it. He made himself look pretty poor. Yeah, I did bump him -- I'm not saying I didn't bump him -- but I sure as hell didn't mean to bump him."

Spencer, who lost his ride with Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of last season, will drive the No. 7 Sirius Satellite Dodge for car owner Jim Smith in 2003. Spencer said he does not expect to have any problems with the 24-year-old Busch this season.

"It's a situation where we've raced since (the incident at Indianapolis) -- we raced at Miami and we raced at a lot of the tracks -- and we didn't have any problems," Spencer said. "I think he matured as a driver and that's good; I'm glad for him.

"I think Kurt's a good driver but on the other side of it, you don't go out there and retaliate and spin people out and be a guy that blames everything on somebody. Kurt was blaming everything on somebody and NASCAR explained to him that that's not how this sport operates. He came out of it OK and he learned a valuable lesson. We all went through it -- every one of us has gone through it. Now he has gone through it and I think it's behind him and he'll be successful."

Richert has 20 years of Winston Cup experience, serving as crew chief for racing legends Dale Earnhardt, Neil Bonnett, Buddy Baker and Benny Parsons. Richert was only 20 years old when he became the youngest crew chief to win the Winston Cup championship with Earnhardt in 1980.

Roush Racing still is looking for a primary sponsor for the No. 99 truck.

"I've thought about it and I decided even before I left Homestead that I wasn't even going to try it again," said Stewart, who has raced in the Indy 500 twice since moving to the Winston Cup Series in 1999.

"It's a strain on (crew chief Greg Zipadelli) and the guys on the team. Every day that I'm up there (in Indianapolis), they worry about a tire blowing out or an engine blowing or something that is out of my control to where I hit the fence and screw something up to where I can't do my job here. As much as my heart wants to do it, I need to take care of what I signed up for here. This is what I do; I'm a stock-car driver."

BACE won Busch Series championships in 1995 with Johnny Benson as the driver and in 1996 and 1997 with Randy LaJoie.

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