Mike Skinner No. 23 Bad Boy Mowers Racing Event Preview
Track: Daytona International Speedway (2.5 miles)
Location: Daytona Beach, Fla.
Race(s): Gatorade 150 Duel and Daytona 500
Date(s): 02.16.06 and 02.19.06
Notes:
The No. 23 Bad Boy Mowers Dodge Charger at Daytona International Speedway is Chassis No. 62 … It was last run in the 2004 Daytona 500 and helped carry Scott Wimmer and the Cat Racing team to a third-place finish (started 26th).
Bad Boy Mowers is back … Bad Boy Mowers is teaming up with Bill Davis Racing to sponsor Mike Skinner and the No. 23 team in the 2006 Gatorade Duel and Daytona 500. This will not be the first time Bad Boy Mowers, Inc. has participated in the NEXTEL Cup Series with Davis. Bad Boy Mowers was an associate sponsor on the No. 23 car at Texas Motor Speedway in April 2004, when Dave Blaney brought home an 11th-place finish, and then last year Bad Boy Mowers teamed up with Skinner and BDR at Talladega Superspeedway in May. Founded in 1998 and based in Batesville, Ark., Bad Boy Mowers, Inc. is a manufacturer of zero-turn commercial lawn mowers. Its vision for the future is to become the “Bad Boy” of the commercial mowing industry by providing its customers with a superior performing machine, second-to-none in power, durability and accessibility. To achieve this goal, Bad Boy has teamed with Briggs and Stratton Commercial Power to bring its customers the 31 horsepower Vanguard BIG BLOCK. This BIG BLOCK engine is the most powerful 31 horsepower air-cooled engine on the market. To learn more about Bad Boy Mowers, go to www.badboymowers.com.
Pre-season testing … Skinner tested with the No. 23 team at Daytona in January.
Back-to-back poles … Skinner seemed to be on instant replay at Daytona International Speedway in 1997, when he did a “pole sweep” at the superspeedway that year in both the February and July events with his current teammate’s (Dave Blaney’s) crew chief, Kevin Hamlin.
Back-to-back top-fives … History seemed to repeats itself just a couple of years after Skinner’s Daytona pole sweep in 1997, when he finished fourth in both the Daytona 500 and Pepsi 400 at DIS in 1999.
The No. 23 Bad Boy Mowers team lineup … Along with Bill and Gail Davis, the following is a list of the crew members who will help Skinner with the No. 23 Bad Boy Mowers Dodge this week at Daytona International Speedway:
Crew Chief: Rick Viers
Car Chief: Cal Northrop
Mechanic: Ryan Crellin
Mechanic: Kyle Roland
Tire Specialist: Steven Berry
Engine Tuner: Chuck Evans
Truck Driver: Mark Metcalfe
Over-the-wall crew
FT Carrier: Brad Tunny
FT Changer: Phillip Norris
Jackman: Kevin Kerr
RT Carrier: Chris Burger
RT Changer: Chad Rainey
Gasman: Tim Clancy
Catch-can: Bibb Bruton
Driver Support: Chip Wile
Don’t miss any of it … The 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season will officially kick off this Saturday, Feb. 11 with the Budweiser Shootout starting at 8:30 p.m. EST. The broadcast of the event will begin at 8 p.m. EST on NBC (TV) and 7 p.m. EST on MRN (radio). Qualifying for the Gatorade 150s and Daytona 500 is scheduled to start at 12:10 p.m. EST Sunday, and the broadcast of the event will begin at Noon on NBC with Bud Pole updates airing on MRN between 2:10 and 3:30 p.m. EST. The Gatorade 150s are scheduled to start at 2:10 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 16, and will broadcast LIVE starting at 2 p.m. EST on TNT (TV) and 1 p.m. EST on MRN. Then, the finale of SPEEDWEEKS—the Daytona 500—is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 19. The event broadcast will begin at 2:30 p.m. EST on NBC and 1 p.m. EST on MRN.
Quotes:
Skinner, you have raced in the historical Daytona 500 since 1997. What about that?
“Yeah, that is very important to me that I have had the opportunity to compete consecutively in probably the most historical race in our sport. It’s often called the Super Bowl of NASCAR. Who doesn’t want to go to the Super Bowl? If you are a NASCAR driver and you want to run a race, the Daytona 500 is that race to run just like the Indy 500 is probably the one to run when you are racing open wheel.
“I say this and I mean it, I love Daytona and really like restrictor plate racing. I’ve made Daytona my home, and I’ve had a lot of success at the track here. This sport has the greatest fans, and Daytona itself is one of the biggest sporting facilities in the country.”
This isn’t your first rodeo with Bad Boy Mowers, nor running for Bill Davis Racing in NEXTEL Cup Series competition. Right?
“I do like working with Bad Boy Mowers. It is a great company to work with and I had a great time running for them last year at Talladega. I have a small landscaping business and we couldn’t get the job done without our Bad Boy mower. When the opportunity presents itself, I will be glad to drive for them anytime.
“As for driving for Bill and Gail Davis in the 500, it is a great opportunity and honored they have appointed me to do it. We did the run last year, but this year I will have two teammates instead of one and anytime you go racing at Daytona, three cars are much better than one. In fact, looking back at last year’s Gatorade 150, I was so close to winning that one, but got passed by a two-car team, which one of the drivers was Michael Waltrip. So, if we end up in the same race this year I’m definitely going to talk to him before that flag waves.
“The bottom line here is all of this is great for Bill Davis Racing. Bill is going to have three cars out there running over the next week-and-a-half, and it’s always better to have three horses instead of one.”
