Ford 300 - Stanton Barrett Notes

NASCAR Owner Becoming Big Movie Fan
DCT Motorsports moving ahead with Hollywood stunt man in driver ranks

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – John McGill has never considered herself that much of a movie buff – but Hollywood is really starting to grow on him.

Stanton Barrett drove the #36 DCT Motorsports Chevrolet to an 18th-place finish at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway Saturday – the car McGill owns with fellow Clevelander Carl Natale. The top-20 finish was the fifth of the season for DCT Motorsports but it’s first since May – and it came in Barrett’s second race with the team.

Barrett, a 31-year-old driver from Bishop, Calif., is also an award-winning Hollywood stunt man.

“No doubt he is great in the movies but he sure had a lot of fans Saturday at Darlington,” McGill beamed. “We just had a solid race all day, a solid weekend. We were 10th in practice and, if rain hadn’t forced the postponement, we feel we would have had a very solid qualifying run too.”

“Homestead being on the schedule this week really gives us mixed emotions. We’re glad to be running again soon after coming off a good run at Darlington, but we hate to see the season come to an end,” he added.

Homestead will mark the 23rd race this season for McGill and Natale, the first full-time owners from Cleveland that NASCAR’s top three divisions have ever seen.

“From where we were a year ago to where we are now is night and day,” McGill said. “Homestead was our fifth race a year ago, and we were still finding our way. We’ve found our way after a year, and we know we’re headed in the right direction. We’re really excited about the future, and feel there are corporate sponsors out there who will be joining us.”

The team is planning a full schedule in 2005, another step up from its inaugural five races in 2003 and 23 events this year.

“We’ve been in discussions with several potential sponsors and we have a few things already in place for 2005,” McGill said. “But because of the business-to-business opportunities that are unique to us and because of the incredibly unique opportunities a driver like Stanton Barrett, with his Hollywood connections, can bring to the table, we feel we’re going to be working with some pretty excited corporate partners.

“Our marketing platform is based on giving full value to sponsors,” he said. “Our plan all along has been to develop the sport’s most cost-efficient, sponsor-friendly marketing setup. The relationships we have within the construction industry bring a lot, too. Couple that with the fact our team is growing, running better every week and the future is looking incredibly bright on the track, is a tremendous arrangement for corporate sponsors. We’re not looking to take a huge sum of money from somebody but, rather, to give them a good, solid program where they see a really good return on their marketing investment. Our goal is to make sponsorship a winning proposition for the sponsor. If we do that, the racing will take care of itself because we’ll have the funding to do it right.”

Barrett is playing a large role in that effort. The California native joined the team a few weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and will run a large number of races with fellow DCT driver Travis Geisler, a young, promising up-and-comer from the Pittsburgh, Pa., area.

“Stanton’s experience, not just as a driver but as someone who has worked on his own cars, will help take our team to the next level,” said McGill. “Working with Ricky (Pearson, crew chief), who is a proven winning talent, will give us a combination for the boost we need.

Barrett had headed his own Stanton Barrett Racing this season, which has competed on the NASCAR Busch Series but also in selected NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events. Barrett, 31, has been driving since he was 16 years old, and has competed on the highest levels of NASCAR racing. He is a native of Bishop, Calif., and is well known not just in motorsports but also in Hollywood, where he is an award-winning stunt man who has appeared in over 120 movies, as well as television shows and commercials.