Team News

NASCAR Driver McMurray a Reflection of his Dad

By: Tony Fabrizio, The Tampa Tribune

July 2, 2010

NASCAR Driver McMurray a Reflection of his Dad

DAYTONA BEACH - Jamie McMurray was an emotional wreck after winning the Daytona 500 in February, and it didn't help that his dad and "best friend," Jim, wasn't there to share the pinnacle moment.

Jim McMurray came to the race but left early because of the "pothole debacles." He was watching on TV in a sports bar when Jamie held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and cried uncontrollably in Victory Lane.

More than a week passed before Jamie — who'll go for a Daytona season sweep in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 — truly got to celebrate with Jim and the rest of the McMurray clan.

That's when Jamie and his wife, Christy, booked a long table at an Italian restaurant in Mooresville, N.C. Rival team owner Richard Childress sent over some "big bottles of wine," and everyone traded stories about the day.

"I got to tell what I was thinking, and then Christy and I got to tell about the whole experience afterwards, because there are so many small things that don't seem like a big deal at the time, but when you look back, they're really cool," Jamie said over sandwiches last week.

"That was really the first time we all got to sit down and talk about everything."

For Jamie and his dad, the in-depth reflection was overdue. The two are as close as any son and father in racing, maybe closer than most in life. In normal times, they talk every day, eat lunch together several times a week, play golf, race go-karts and fish.

Jim even drove Jamie's motor coach his first few seasons in the Sprint Cup series.

But on race day in February, Jim told Christy to tell Jamie he was headed back to his hotel and would watch the finish on TV.

"I was on my Harley, and I didn't want to drive up the interstate after dark," Jim recalled by phone Thursday. "A lot of people drink at the races, and everybody is in a hurry. I didn't feel like I wanted to get run over."

So Jim made the ride 30 minutes north, pulled into the sports bar and sat with friends.

A woman nearby kept yelling for Kevin Harvick, so Jim McMurray made it known who he was rooting for.

The woman had more to say when the race was over.

"She goes, 'I need to have my picture taken with you, because my husband will never believe this,' " Jim related with a laugh. "And I go, 'No, thank you very much.' "

Back in his native Missouri, Jamie grew up around racing. Jim worked in the industry and raced Top Fuel dragsters, Funny Cars, late models, dirt cars, "a little bit of everything."

So the two have a lot in common. Most days before race weekends, they have lunch together at a salad place Jamie likes called Field of Dreams.

"He'll call every morning, and it's kind of a typical father-son deal," Jim said. "He'll go, 'what are you doing?' And I generally should say, 'what do you need?'

"We live about eight miles apart, but a lot of the stuff he uses is on my side of town, so I'll pick it up and take it out to him. We're probably closer now than we've ever been. He's getting ready to have his first child (Christy is four months pregnant), and he's excited about that."

Jamie McMurray also is experiencing a renaissance as a driver after getting squeezed out at Roush-Fenway Racing when the big Ford team cut back to the new NASCAR limit of four cars.

In a matter of a few months, he went from not having a ride to winning the biggest race of the year for an old boss who hired him back — Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Chip Ganassi.

Now he might be the best driver going on the two big restrictor-plate tracks, Daytona and Talladega. Counting his win at Talladega with Roush-Fenway in November 2009, McMurray has two wins and a second in the last three plate races.

He also won the Daytona summer race in 2007.

Success begets success at Daytona and Talladega, since other drivers want to work with a winner in the draft because they see it as their way to the front.

That's part of why Daytona and Talladega lend themselves to one driver or team getting the hot hand and keeping it for a while. Earnhardt and Michael Waltrip had it with DEI, and Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with Hendrick Motorsports.

Tony Stewart has been the best with the additional variable of a hot and slick track, so the three-time 400 winner should be a factor Saturday night.

But if McMurray prevails again — no driver has won both Daytona races since 1982 — he will have to pick up the cell phone to share the occasion with his father.

Jim McMurry raced go-karts in Kansas last week, and he's not about to spend another weekend in the heat. Plus, he has a garage door to install back home.

Son and father will have to catch up at Field of Dreams.