It was Roger Staubach's 65th birthday, but it could just as easily have been a celebration for the start of Hall of Fame Racing's second season. Last year, the team owned by Staubach and Troy Aikman finished the year without any wins. For two former quarterbacks used to winning, that may have been the hardest adjustment of all.
“I remember when we coming in 17th and we're high fiving each other,” says Staubach. “it was last year at Daytona, and we're like in a state of shock. We didn't know what was going to happen.”
Driver Tony Raines finished nearly 98-percent of the races he started, and in NASCAR, that's always a good start.
“Ha ha, we did that pretty well, says Aikman. “If you win prizes for that, then we would have won something.”
Even better news is that the team finished high enough last year to be locked in for the first five races this year. Last season, Raines had 29-starts for Hall of Fame Racing, and this year he is guaranteed to be in the field for only the second time at Daytona.
“Having been through everything, that's a plus,” say Raines. “As a group, we're not nervous, we're not going in there looking around, and looking over our shoulders, we know what we need to do now, we've been there.”
“He's ready,” says Aikman. “He's ready to race a full schedule, and we're looking forward to now seeing how he'll do, under better circumstances, and also what we feel is a good crew chief, should help him.”
So while Staubach is celebrating a birthday, Hall of Fame Racing is celebrating the beginning of their second year. But the event they're all waiting for is that first celebration in the winners circle.
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