Practicing patience in the Late Model division

MILWAUKEE - Travis Dassow has been on his own, just another guy in a sea of faceless stock-car racing hopefuls, working in a small shop, setting up his car by trial-and-error and driving to survive in a cutthroat sport.

That's pressure.

But his latest opportunity carries a different sort of burden. It gives him absolutely, positively no excuse to fail _ none _ and buddy, that's pressure.

"You couldn't ask for a better deal," Dassow said of the chance to work with the area's pre-eminent star-maker, veteran crew chief Howie Lettow, and to drive the ASA Late Model cars that carried Stephen Leicht and Kelly Bires to the past two championships and into NASCAR.

"For all the drivers that Howie's had who've gone up to the Cup series or Busch or wherever they go, people just look at that (and say,) this kid might be doing the same thing. Instead of just being this kid off in the corner racing every week in the ASA Late Model Series, and they don't know a lot about you, when you're behind Howie, they want to know everything about you."

Dassow went it alone for two years, but in January his father, Mike Dassow, rounded up help and bought the former WalTom Racing that had run out of Lettow's shop in Pewaukee. In addition to Leicht and Bires, Lettow has worked with such drivers as reigning Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Cup drivers Tony Raines and David Stremme and 2003 Craftsman Truck Series champ Ted Musgrave.

The 20-year-old from West Bend, Wis., has yet to approach their level, of course. It's too early.

But so far, so good.

Dassow has won two of the first nine ASA Late Model Series Challenge Division races and leads the standings heading to the Milwaukee Mile this weekend. The Jani-King 150 is the featured race on Saturday of the three-day Governor's Cup Weekend.

Dassow has spent plenty of time already this year anticipating his next move _ maybe trucks, maybe Busch _ but while eager, he also knows how quickly a bad decision could undo any progress he has made. Dassow is mindful of the First Law of Lettow, advice that has served him well both on the track and in life.

"That's the biggest thing he's preached to me: patience," Dassow said. "Take your time; you'll get there."

Regardless of the pressure.

Next in line

Dale Earnhardt Inc. is working on a deal to use a combination of Mark Martin and Aric Almirola to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. in its flagship No. 8 car next season, the Associated Press reported. The two came to DEI in its merger with Ginn Racing.

One-man show?

Considering how Matt Kenseth is an integral part of the advertising for the Wisconsin All-Star 50 Sunday at the Mile, considering his experience, considering that he tested at the track last week and considering he's driving a car with which he has dominated before, it'd be easy to imagine it as a Matt Kenseth benefit.

"Well, I hope you're not wrong," he said, "but all the local guys are hard to beat no matter where you go. They really are.

"Certainly I have a great car here, and we're testing and trying to do some stuff. Not just for us but for Jason (Schuler), Joe (Wood) and (their car-building company) Pathfinder Chassis. We're trying to develop newer cars and try to figure out how we can make the stuff better."

Changes . . . or not

Although many teams tested, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Wednesday was the first at Bristol Motor Speedway since the fast and tricky 0.533-mile oval was resurfaced.

"You definitely can pass and race side-by-side competitively," rookie Regan Smith said. "It is a little tougher on the bottom to pass. . . . It is good, it is still Bristol, same rack-'em-up, smash-'em-up, everybody-(ticked)-off Bristol."

Chasing the Chase

Kenseth, third in points, will qualify for NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup just by starting Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, and as many as five others could lock themselves into the field for the 12-man championship shootout. Anyone who leaves with a 391-point advantage over 13th place will clinch a spot.

Back to Track One

Bristol will be the first track at which the so-called Car of Tomorrow will be used for a second time.

"Our cars are better, everybody's cars are going to be better the second time around at Bristol," said Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer. "So I think we'll have a little better race."

Starting anew

Champ Car's European swing begins this weekend at the Circuit Zolder in Belgium, where many of the drivers have raced but none of the teams have.

"The level of drivers in Champ Car are such that by the first qualifying session they will have figured everything out that they need to know about the track and that uncertainty will quickly disappear and we will be back to racing for the championship," said Derrick Walker, team owner for contender Will Power.

Check it out

If their cars look anything like the renderings, P.J. Chesson and Marty Roth should be hard to miss during the PEAK Antifreeze Indy 300 Sept. 9 at Chicagoland Speedway. Although Roth's single car usually runs in the back and Chesson's is likely to, their "Dussault Green Monster" paint scheme is a winner.

Cool-down laps

Arie Luyendyk Jr., son of the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and a former resident of the Milwaukee area, is to drive for the Netherlands in A1GP. The country-vs.-country series' season opens next month in their homeland. . . .

A 1952 Jaguar C-Type raced by Phil Hill to victory in Elkhart Lake in 1952 is among the cars to be on display Saturday and Sunday at the Masterpiece Style & Speed Showcase at Veterans Park on the lakefront. . . .

Indy Pro Series champion-to-be Alex Lloyd was supposed to drive Roth's car but instead tested with the much stronger Chip Ganassi Racing. . . .

Kyle Petty's broken hand will cause him to miss a second consecutive Cup race, but he hopes to return for California. Kenny Wallace is to fill in at Bristol. . . .

NHRA super-team owner Don Schumacher plans to test 19-year-old Leah Pruett. Schumacher will have a Funny Car opening next season when Gary Scelzi takes a break.