Little Now Past Bumps In The Road Spokane Driver’s Racing Career Seems To Be Back In The Groove

To understand the elation, consider the roadblocks.

Chad Little has overcome more than one false start in his career.

His bitter association with Cale Yarborough a few years back comes to mind, when with soaring hopes, the Spokane driver cast his lot with a racing legend only to find that the hottest thing in Yarborough’s garage was old Cale’s temper.

Little was discarded like a pan of used Pennzoil.

There were those early years on the Winston Cup circuit when Little broke in with a mom-and-pop operation that ran on a shoestring.

In retrospect, he could have idled in the backwater awhile longer, spent another couple of years on the Winston West tour while courting an owner with deep pockets and full sponsorship.

But getting wet one toe at a time is not Little’s style. He’s a plunger, perhaps the only personality type that survives in the increasingly competitive world of championship racing.

Little was talking about the lean times last week after his startling seventh-place finish in the Daytona 500, the top effort of five Ford teams owned by Jack Roush.

In his first out, Little equalled the one Top 10 finish he had all of last year, in 27 races.

Much has happened since August, when Little’s Spokane buddy Mark Rypien and Michigan businessman Greg Pollex sold the Mark Rypien Motor Sports Team to Roush.

The team had approached Roush, seeking assistance. When talk turned serious, Roush decided to buy the team and lease its garage in Charlotte.

The major casualty in the move was Pontiac. After a frustrating, occasionally promising season in a Grand Prix, Little is back in a Ford.

Roush, a man of impressive intellect, had to feel a little vindicated at Daytona, where Little became a footnote in NASCAR history.

He drove the last competitive Ford Thunderbird in a Winston Cup event. The car ran better than 16 of the Ford Tauruses at Daytona, but it wasn’t enough to impede progress.

Thunderbirds faded into history as of Sunday at Rockingham, N.C., where every Ford driver - Little included - was stuffed into a Taurus.

The tortoise, skeptics called them until Sunday’s strong showing on the abrasive racing surface of the Rock.

A provisional starter, Little was 44th in the starting grid and as such had to pit on the backstretch, a distinct disadvantage. The top 30 qualifiers pitted on the front straightaway, a logistical advantage on pit stops under the caution flag.

Still, Little worked his way up to 21st by the time Jeff Gordon was reaffirming himself as the reigning king of Winston Cup.

The week before at Daytona, Little drove the only T-Bird in the 500, NASCAR’s premier event. He qualified 21st by placing 11th in his heat of the twin 125s.

In the big race, he wound up within camera range of winner Dale Earnhardt.

The only Thunderbird at Rockingham belonged to Stevie Reeves, who ran in Saturday’s Busch Series race. The other four Fords in the Busch race and 22 in the Winston Cup event were Tauruses.

Gordon’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo was clearly the best, but behind the hare was a line of Tortoises.

Little, among them, acquitted himself well enough.

When they convene in Las Vegas this week for the third stop on the Winston Cup tour, Little will have more points in the driver standings than any of his esteemed teammates.

Sunday, he finished behind Roush drivers Mark Martin and Jeff Burton but ran ahead of Johnny Benson and Ted Musgrave, the others in the Roush stable.

Ranking 12th in Winston Cup points means a lot to a driver who no longer has the responsibilities or the protection that goes with holding together a team for old friends and associates.

Little sounded relaxed after Daytona. He had qualified, finished with a rush and was enjoying time away from the garage in Charlotte.

His job, essentially, is to compete.

“There are people in place to do things I used to do,” he said. “I don’t worry about bills or paychecks - none of the business stuff. I don’t have to worry about a thing other than driving. I’ve honestly never been in that situation, although we tried it with Mark’s deal. There just wasn’t the money where I could just be the driver.”

There is now.

The Roush influence has taken the question of horsepower “out of the equation,” Little said. “They (the Roush teams) are probably as competitive as anybody from a horsepower standpoint.”

The quest is universal. Increase the downforce, reduce the drag, turn back an impressive crop of rookies and more competitive teams than ever in NASCAR’s 50th season of premier stock car racing.

Last week’s non-qualifier was sitting in this week’s front row. That’s how fortunes bounce.

“There are 48 cars out here with full sponsorships,” Little said. “They all plan a full schedule. It’s tough.”

There’s an ongoing adjustment to a new crew chief, Skip Eyler, and the smoothing out process of communication that Little says is critical to success on the track, where success and failure is separated by fractions of seconds.

Resources have never been better.

“It’s exciting,” Little said. “There is so much information available now. I’m trying to learn what guys are going with who have won races. How many drivers have that kind of access? I can talk to Mark Martin. I can talk with Jack Roush. I can talk with a teammate.”

The 34-year-old University High, Washington State University and Gonzaga Law grad was as excited about 11th place in his 125 qualifying heat as his Top 10 upset in the Daytona 500 itself.

“I was as nervous prior to the twin 125s as I’ve been going into a race,” he said. “If I didn’t finish in the top 15, I was going home, more than likely, which is what happened last year.”

An accident took him out a year ago. Avoiding an accident was his ticket into the race this year.

“I can’t believe I missed that wreck on lap 10 or 12 (of the qualifier),” he said. “I was able to thread the needle there. When I got through it, my voice came over the radio about five octaves higher than normal.”

Hovering between 15th and 18th, Little said he pitted under caution with 10 laps left, took on four new tires and the crew made a chassis adjustment.

“Again, with the grace of God and being at the right place at the right time, we fought our way to 11th and made it,” he said.

Not bad for a team regarded as the fifth string.

It’s funny, Little said, talking about Fords again after championing the potential of the Pontiac through most of last year.

“They were pretty good at the end of the season,” he said. “On one hand, it’s a shame to leave when everything is getting better. It took a year to get there, but the Tauras will be just as good or better, and in a shorter period of time.”

Little said he was happiest for John Deere, his major sponsor who “stuck by me. They deserved that (Daytona) finish.”

Down the road?

“We’d like to finish in the top 15 in points this year,” he said. “I know that’d be awesome, but it’s an aggressive goal.”

With two races in the book he’s right on target.

“If I don’t make this work,” he said, “it won’t be anybody else’s fault.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)