ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 Monster Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports

How do you feel about this year’s Daytona 500?

"I think we’re in pretty good shape. We’ve worked really hard over the winter. The Daytona 500 didn’t start in January, it didn’t start in December, it started the first week of November -- you better be preparing for the Daytona 500. So we started our preparation way back in November. We’ve been basically flying under the radar. Nobody really knows what we’ve been doing, but we are as well prepared or better prepared then I’ve ever showed up to the Daytona 500."

What are your plans for this year? "I can’t spell you out my plans yet. Next Friday I have another announcement that’s coming. But, right now we have two cars here at Daytona. One being the Monster Energy car and one being a Warner Music car. Both of these cars are identical race cars. David (Gilliland) is driving one of them. We’ve basically been silent. I go away and take off and do my Dakar (Rally) deal in December. My guys have put their heads down and built us race cars that I have not ever had in my facility before. I encourage you to walk by and take a look at the garage area and look under the hood of these cars because they’re not stock cars. These things are full blown Formula 1 cars, Indy cars or COT cars with a COT body on top of it. This is the best piece of machinery that we’ve ever brought to the race track, so I’m excited about it."

Are you going to run every Sprint Cup Series race? "The 7 car will run every race, but I might not be in it. We’ve got some big stuff coming up next week that we’re going to talk about. We’ve got a lot of good stuff on our plate. I’d rather be in this position than the other position wondering what I’m going to do. I think we’re just going to end up having more stuff than I can actually fit in in a single season."

Will you run two cars the entire season with your team and BAM Racing? "That is yet to be determined on how many races we will run two. Right now, we’re in a ramp up time. Daytona was hard on us. I didn’t want to come to Daytona with two race teams and backup cars that we could roll out of the trailer and maybe in a few hours get them bolted together. We came here with four race cars finished. Hit the button, they’ll start up and hit the race track. We’ve made this mistake before and to not carry good capable backup cars on the trailer drives me crazy. So, I wasn’t going to take on the project unless we could actually put four cars in the trailer and hit the race track here at Daytona. Obviously, we picked the two that we feel are the best two cars. The best two cars might be in the trailer but I hope they don’t get out of the trailer. At the same time, though, they’re finished. And when I mean they’re finished, contingency decals, drivers sat in both of them -- I’ve been in my car. David Gilliland has been in his car. He’s driven it around the parking lot at the shop. All of the cars have been on the chassis dyno. All the seat belts are set. Rearview mirrors are done. Literally it’s as fast as NASCAR will allow us to hit the track which is probably 15 minutes and we could have our backup cars on the track as well. That was really our goal. Like I said, we’ve kind of been silent all winter long. Nobody really knows what we’ve been doing except for the Dakar program and the NASCAR team hasn’t got a lot of attention. And I’m fine with that. I think the most important thing is we come down here and we’re fast."

Who provides your engines? "Triad (Racing Technologies) is doing the motors, which obviously has a direct relationship with TRD. They built great engines for us last year. I enjoy my Toyota relationship. It’s been good. That one goes back -- I've had Toyota relationships for 21 years now back when I won the 1989 Mickey Thompson off-road championship driving a Toyota. It’s funny that some of the same guys are there. Lee White (president and general manager, Toyota Racing Development) was my team manager when I actually left Toyota and went and drove for Jack Roush in the IMSA Series. Les Unger (national motorsports marketing manager, Toyota Motor Sales) has been around there for 21 years that I’m aware of and we’ve got good relationships there."

http://tiny.cc/KFTsw

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News - NASCAR
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009 - 10:30 p.m. ET

After a hiatus of more than a year, BAM Racing's No. 49 Toyota will return to the Sprint Cup Series full time next season with a driver to be named, the team announced Sunday at Homestead.

Sponsored by Warner Music Nashville under an agreement that will feature a variety of country music artists on the car, BAM unveiled the "Larry the Cable Guy" paint scheme that will adorn the No. 49 Camry in the Daytona 500.

"We've been speaking to a number of drivers," said team owner Beth Ann Morgenthau.

A likely frontrunner is Ken Schrader, who competed in three races for BAM in 2008 before lack of sponsorship forced Morgenthau to park the car. Tony Morgenthau, Beth Ann's husband and chief operating officer of BAM Racing, said Friday he had met with two candidates.

"We're a fully funded team," he said, adding that the team is talking to several potential engine suppliers, including Toyota Racing Development U.S.A.

Beth Ann Morgenthau said she expected crew members currently working at Wood Brothers Racing, including crew chief David Hyder, to return to BAM.

"I do have personnel from the previous 49 team," she said. "They've been on loan to the Wood Brothers, and they're coming back. They've been training (with) the Wood Brothers."

Wood Brothers owner Eddie Wood, however, insisted Hyder would remain with his team next season.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/article/2009-11-22/notebook-no-disappointment-for-martin

By CARLOS FRÍAS
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 17, 2007

HOMESTEAD - Until she took off her helmet, most of the boys didn't realize they'd been beaten by a girl.

Beth Ann Coulter, the 12-year-old with the dusty face and gravel in her gut, wore a proud smile as she held up her go-kart trophy. The oldest of four siblings, she had a bug for racing, but nobody is quite sure how she got it. That was 50 years ago, when you didn't find many debutantes at a racetrack.

Her father was torn between pride and consternation. His daughter raced anything and everywhere. Catamarans in the open water. An old Jaguar against Cuban racers on a dirt track out west in undeveloped Miami. Speed boats in the Miami Marina. And in her down time, she watched racing legends Bobby and Davey Allison at the old Hialeah Speedway.

If it went fast, Beth Ann was up for the challenge.

"Guys would lend me their go-kart to go racing and I'd come back with a trophy," said Beth Ann, a 1966 graduate of Miami Springs High.

Still, there was no way that her father, an innovator who made his money in medical equipment in the 1950s, was ever going to let her chase that dream.

"Beth Ann, people die racing those cars,''" she remembers him saying. "My father was never going to put any of the company's money into racing."

Fifty years later, her husband did.

Tony Morgenthau and his wife, Beth Ann, own NASCAR's only South Florida-based team and they're one of the sport's few single-car teams. The "60-ish" Coral Gables couple's operation is small, but their passion for the sport is unmatched.

For Beth Ann's birthday on Feb. 24, 2000, Tony handed her a dress box that rattled in a way a dress shouldn't. She tore open the box to find dozens of metal race cars bouncing around inside.

"The real one's in Charlotte," Tony, an investment banker, told her.

They used her initials to name the team - BAM Racing - and started running a full Nextel Cup schedule by 2003.

As a single-car team, BAM always is up against big spenders. It's a challenge. Race weekends are hectic, like Friday's schedule at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Tony headed to the pits to be with his driver, John Andretti, who was trying to qualify for Sunday's Nextel Cup finale, the Ford 400. Beth Ann, wearing a headset, watched from a covered patio on the infield, listening as the qualifying times were announced and recording each one.

"It's stressful, because we want to be in the race," she said. "I'd like to be in there pushing the pedal down for them sometimes."

Still has the bug. So much so that after pestering Tony about racing again, he signed her up for the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

"We didn't want her to drive one of ours," Tony joked.

Beth Ann drove directly behind the instructor, tailed by several other drivers. At one point, she was tempted to pass the lead car. "If I had had a radio, I would've asked to let me pass," she said. "I could've passed him and he knew it."

BAM has found the real racing world tougher to navigate. Using five drivers this season, BAM qualified for only 17 of 36 races. Their best start was seventh on Oct. 7 at Talladega and their best finish was 17th at Bristol in March. Still, they managed to earn just over $1.4 million. Friday, after qualifying to race at Homestead the past two years, BAM ran out of luck. Andretti couldn't get the No. 49 into Sunday's lineup.

"It's like David and Goliath. Except in racing, Goliath always wins," said driver Chris Chaffin, who qualified cars twice for Tony and Beth Ann this year, but is now racing in the Truck Series. "I think they think that one day they'll win a race, but they know that's a long time off and that this is a building process."

As the sun began to set, Beth Ann walked back to the garage area with her headset dangling and hugged Tony. The BAM crew began packing its trailer, but Beth Ann already is looking forward to next season.

"I'm not afraid of anything," she said, "especially not speed."

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