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 Had those ambitions come to fruition, McClure feels the state of his race team may be a bit different. "I may have had the problems, but I think I could have got things going in the right direction a lot quicker (with a second team) because with more testing and input from two different drivers and race teams, I think we could have got through this a lot quicker," McClure said. Hamilton currently ranks 30th in the standings. He''s never finished worse that 23rd in any full season in his career. It''s time to turn things around, calcutta and the change is on, starting this weekend at Darlington Raceway, where Hamilton has three consecutive seventh-place finishes. "Everybody loves Darlington. I think it''s one of our favorite race tracks," McClure said. "We were lucky enough to win a race there varsity clubs of america tucson with sterling, i think back in ''95. we''re looking forward to it, and i think we''re going to be ready for it." hamilton added, "just staying off the fence (is the key to success at darlington), and that''s hard to do there. several guys have won that race and have had the recognized darlington stripe. it depends on who hits it the lightest. "every lap you go around there calcutta there''s one groove that works and then two laps later that groove tennis clubs doesn''t work any more. we''ve been pretty fortunate calcutta the last three or four races. we''ve been able to run there and not get in any crashes and not even get a stripe on the car. all that means is we''re way overdue for it." after the struggles they''ve faced the past few seasons, hamilton and the morgan-mcclure contingent are well overdue. wallace to join eel river racing in 2001 by nascar online staff darlington, s.c. (sept. 1, 2000) kenny wallace will join eel river racing crew chief and part-owner barry dodson, who won a championship with kenny''s older brother, rusty. eel river racing announced friday the signing of nascar winston cup series driver kenny wallace to a three-year contract beginning in 2001 to clubs drive its no. 27 cars. wallace apparently will replace raybestos rookie of the year candidate mike bliss, who has driven for eel river at the 16 events the team has attempted to make since bliss replaced rookie jeff fuller, who was released after seven races. bliss is 42nd in the calcutta standings, having made 16 starts this season with a best finish of 22nd, at sears point raceway. "this is a big day for me," wallace said. "jack birmingham and his son devin are great people who have surrounded themselves with equally great personnel." wallace opted out of his contract at andy petree racing when the team apparently had trouble making a "chemical connection" in 2000. wallace''s best finish in 23 starts has been 13th at sears point in june. he said the opportunity to work with veteran crew chief barry dodson, four years ago, morgan-mcclure motorsports was a weekly contender in the nascar winston cup series. sterling marlin had finished among the top-10 in points for a second consecutive season, and the clubs kodak chevrolet team showed no signs of slowing. however, that''s precisely what has happened, and no one is exactly sure why. marlin departed to team sabco following the 1997 campaign after dropping from eighth to 25th in the championship point standings. in came . bobby hamilton, who had spent the past three seasons at petty enterprises. during that time, he''d finished as high as ninth in the points. on paper it was a perfect fit: small-town driver joins small-town team. in his first season behind the wheel of the no. 4 chevrolet, hamilton recorded three top-5s, including a trip to victory lane at martinsville, and eight top-10s en route to a 10th-place finish in the points. the morgan-mcclure steamroller appeared to be chugging once again. they''ve had just one top-5 finish since. "me and larry (mcclure, team owner) were talking one day and we feel like it took us a year and a half to dig this big hole we''re in, so we''re still trying to dig out," hamilton said. "we''re not going to dig back out in a week or two." we sell the finest golf equipment
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