THOMASVILLE, NC -- Vince Lombardi use to say "you make your own luck!" That's exactly what Rick Ware did in the King Soopers 150 at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The rookie has had his share of bad luckthis season, but things seemed to turn around for him last Sunday. Ware finished 13th after qualifying 20th in a field of 32 cars. His career-best finish and first top-15 in the NWWS. "I'm happy to be able to race every lap. With the way our season has been, we will take it and go on from here. We're going short-track racing with Hoosier tires now...we should be very competitive, Ware said."

Of eleven rookies taking the green flag, Ware finished in the top-5. The rookie title chase is wide-open after five races. Currently there is a two-way tie for 2nd and 4th places in the battle for the Sears Point Raceway Rookie-of-the-Year Award. Ware dropped one rookie position after PPIR to 7th but moved up to 19th in the championship points race.

"We took "Blackjack" to PPIR and hoped our luck would change. My PR guy put two playing cards on the dash of the car -- an ace of clubs and a king of hearts (blackjack) to give us the luck we were searching for, Ware said." "We couldn't afford to lose ground in the rookie race. I really messed up in qualifying. My rhythm was off for some reason. I hated it...after 2nd round practice and some tweaking, I knew the car was dialed in...I just blame the driver, as Ware pointed the finger at himself." "I thought our luck wasn't going to change after the qualifying run, but I kept thinking about the race to get things turned around, he said."

All in all, Ware had a good weekend and looks to Bakersfield to continue his good luck. "We had our Bakersfield car with us at PPIR as a back-up car. It is all set up for Mesa Marin...we sure didn't want to have to use it. We saw others having to go to back-up cars on Saturday and it wasn't pretty, Ware said." "As a matter of fact, one of those teams came to us wanting to use the car. I wanted to help him out, but I really couldn't afford to take any chances with my luck!"

Ware has competed in all five events on the schedule and plans to complete the 1999 schedule, with or without sponsorship. Ware is seeking a primary marketing partner to support the 1999-2000 NWWS campaign. Ware Enterprises, the marketing and public relations division of Ware Racing has been talking with some prospects but no commitments at this time. Ware Racing is a North Carolina based race team, located just 45-minutes north of Charlotte. Contact the race team at 336-476-2999 or Email at: wareracing@aol.com.

Source: Ware Racing Enterprises
Posted: 5/19/99