Cleveland Team Notches Top 20 at Darlington

Barrett drives DCT Motorsports team to 18th

Stanton Barrett

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Cleveland, Ohio, businessman John McGill never thought the sandhills of Darlington, S.C., could become such a special place so quickly. But McGill, who owns DCT Motorsports with fellow Cleveland businessman Carl Natale, watched his NASCAR Busch Series team finish 18th in Saturday’s Darlington 200 at the famed 1.366-mile speedway.

“That’s pretty special,” grinned McGill, who saw Stanton Barrett, driving just his second race for the team, run in the top 20 throughout the day. It was the fifth top-20 of the season for the young team.

“When we started this race team, we saw an opportunity for a couple of Cleveland businessmen to make a mark in this sport. We’re not where we want to be yet but we are headed in the right direction, and coming home with a solid, deserved top-20 finish at a track as traditional as Darlington is pretty big,” McGill said.

The team is planning a full schedule in 2005, another step up from its inaugural five races in 2003 and 23 events this year. DCT Motorsports is talking with potential sponsors regarding next season.

“The contacts and relationships Stanton has in Hollywood and with the movie and television industry bring a lot to the table for a sponsor,” McGill said. “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, this is a tremendous arrangement for corporate sponsors.

“DCT Motorsports can do all of that and still do things economically,” McGill added. “We’re not looking to take a huge sum of money from somebody right off the bat 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, an award-winning Hollywood stunt man, 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.