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Friday, August 17
Skinner optimistic about return to RCR
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com

If it wasn't for bad luck, Mike Skinner might not have any luck at all.

It would be hard to find another driver on the Winston Cup circuit that has had to endure all the misfortunes that Skinner has had to live with over the last five-plus years since joining Richard Childress Racing as pilot of the No. 31 Lowe's Home Improvement Chevrolet.


	Bad luck has plagued Mike Skinner all year long.

Skinner has been knocked out of too many races to count by a litany of problems ranging from a broken $2 part to being crashed from behind or on the side by another driver. If some fluke event is going to occur on the racetrack, it's probably happen to Skinner and the No. 31 car first. That's just been his luck.

Such a ongoing streak of maladies that have prevented him from earning his first career Cup points victory would be enough to make most other drivers question if the problem wasn't so much the car, but themselves. Such bad luck can easily play games with a person's confidence and focus.

But not Skinner. He's managed to keep his head on straight and remain on a steady and even keel as he continues to soldier on in Cup racing.

The latest twist of bad fate to strike Skinner was more than a month ago in the inaugural Tropicana 400 at the new Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Skinner was having an exceptional race, having made it into the top-5, when the right front tire on his Chevrolet blew out, sending Skinner crashing head-on into the Turn 2 wall.

It was the worst crash of his career, Skinner said. Among his injuries was a broken ankle, torn knee ligaments, sprained shoulder and a concussion. He gives thanks for having the HANS device, as it and the rest of the safety equipment on the 31 car saved his life, he feels.

Not only was it the worst crash of Skinner's racing life, it couldn't have come at a worst time. He was just getting ready to open discussions with team owner Richard Childress about his future with RCR Racing. Even though Skinner still has one more season remaining on the three-year deal he signed with RCR back prior to the 2000 campaign, rumors have been rampant that Skinner and RCR would be parting ways at the end of this season.

But now, more than a month after his crash in Joliet, Skinner returns to Winston Cup competition in this Sunday's Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway in bucolic Brooklyn, Mich. in a very positive frame of mind. The Susanville, Calif. native is eager to get back behind the wheel and try to salvage what he can from the remainder of this season.

One bit of unexpected good news came about as the result of his crash: While he was on the mend, Skinner and Childress finally had the opportunity to talk about his future. While Lowe's is likely leaving the team as primary sponsor after this season, Childress told Skinner he wants to keep him onboard for 2002, providing a new sponsor can be found.

Skinner spent some time with ESPN.com recently talking about his crash, his recovery, his future with RCR and how much he's looking forward to this weekend's race in Michigan. Here are some excerpts from that conversation:

ESPN: First of all, Mike, how are you feeling?

SKINNER: "Much better. We're progressing well. We went to the doctor last Tuesday and the ankle is doing real good. We're a little concerned with the knee, but we had another full week of healing, I'm starting to exercise and do some things and looking forward to being back at Michigan."

ESPN: Given the scope of the injuries you suffered, is Michigan, because it's so long and an oval, is that the type of track that you want to come back at, as opposed to perhaps a track like Watkins Glen, or perhaps a short track or intermediate-sized track?

SKINNER: "The turning part is no problem. I would have been fine to go to Watkins Glen, but it was the braking and clutching, all the footwork, that would have been difficult. All my ribs are healed up good, my shoulder's in pretty good shape, my neck is fine, all the other injuries that occurred in the crash are all very far along and are all good. It's mostly the feet and the leg. I wanted to run Indy real bad, but we knew that given another week to heal, and the fact that Robby (Robby Gordon, who filled Skinner's position since the injury) is a real good road racer, so leave him in the car ... and then put me back in with a couple extra weeks of healing. It's only been a little over four weeks since my surgery (on his knee and ankle), and I'm walking without crutches and just an air cast on my leg. We've made major, major progress. We also have two titanium screws (in the ankle) instead of casting it."

ESPN: Are you looking at any additional surgery in the off-season?

SKINNER: "Well, we're going to see how this knee does. I think the ankle will be fine. We expect a full recovery. As far as the knee, we've been getting by with a bad ACL before this. If the MCL heals up good, we may not do surgery at the end of the season. But if it continues to give me trouble, then right after the checkered flag drops at Atlanta (the season-ending race), I'll be on a hospital operating table the next morning."

ESPN: Looking back at the accident, it was just a fluke thing that you cut a tire and went right into the wall, wasn't it?

SKINNER: "It sure was. All I remember is running in the top-5, we had caught the car in front of us, went into the corner wide open in the fastest part of the racetrack, and the right front tire blew. I remember hitting the wall, and then everything was blank until I got to the hospital."

ESPN: We spoke in late June and you said at the time that you expected to sit down with (team owner) Richard Childress by the time of the Brickyard 400 to resolve whether you would be coming back to the team next season or not. Obviously, the accident was a major setback. But have you and Richard come to any type of decision about 2002?

SKINNER: "According to Richard, they're working frantically on getting a sponsor that wants Mike Skinner to drive, that wants an RCR car, and if that happens, obviously it's a no-brainer. But if they get a sponsor that has another driver, or another driver brings a big sponsor over with him, it's a business, and I understand that. At the same token, Richard made a three-year commitment to me, and I made a three-year commitment to him. This is the second year; we have another year to go. I look for him to fulfill that, and I know he wants to and I want to. It's just a matter of if it's the best thing for Richard Childress Racing and Mike Skinner, then that's what we're going to do.

I will say this, and it came right from Richard: We're trying everything we can to keep us all together. (Team manager) Gil Martin and I work great together, Gil and Royce (crew chief Royce McGee) have done good together when they work together on the Cup car. We're looking for a lot of good things in the future. With the 29 (Kevin Harvick), 30 (Jeff Green) and 31 cars for next year, that's going to be a heck of an organization, and I hate to leave it, especially with how competitive we were the last two or three races before the accident.

We were awfully good. We were in the top-5 at Daytona and got crashed from behind, were running in the top-5 at Chicago and the right front tire blew, crashing us. That's no fault of the team or the driver. That's a competitive program right there, and there's lots of people that would trade places with us right there. In racing, you have to look deep enough to see the potential. We might have put some wrong things together and some wrong people in the wrong places, had some problems and just didn't gel good with this thing in the past, but we have seen some major progress since we've done some different things, and that's what we want to build on. We want to build on our strengths."

ESPN: After you were released from the hospital and went home to Daytona Beach to recuperate, did you think to yourself that the accident couldn't have come at a worst time? You were just getting ready to sit down with Childress about your fate for next year, and then comes the crash. Did you think about the irony and have things turned around in your mind, do you feel?

SKINNER: "I have the same concerns, but the part that's turned around in my mind is I know I'm a good race car driver and I know the race team wants me. Those are two of the most important things I've got, along with my mental health. After having that accident and walking out of that hospital without any mental problems (lingering from the concussion he also sustained in the crash) was real good. You know, bones will heal, we can fix that.

The biggest thing is that if things don't work out at RCR, I feel very confident that I'll be in a Winston Cup car next year, or a top-class Busch car, and everything will be good and we'll be out there trying to win races. I feel real confident with that, I don't have a problem with any of that. The biggest thing with the change in my attitude is that since the last time you and I talked back in late June, early July, Richard (Childress) and the race team have expressed that they want Mike Skinner in the car. If they can monetarily do it, if they can put it together and we can get the backing to do it, that's what we're going to do."

ESPN: Is Lowe's (Lowe's Home Improvement, the primary sponsor on Skinner's car) totally gone as a sponsor after this season?

SKINNER: "I really don't know. Nobody from Lowe's has told me anything, so at this point I honestly don't know what they're doing. There's a lot of rumors that they're leaving RCR, but at this point, nobody has told me anything."

ESPN: You've had so much bad luck in the last few years. You said when we spoke a couple months ago that you guarantee that if you had to step out of the car and someone else would have to drive for you, that they'd probably fare about the same as you usually do. That's pretty much exactly what's happened with Robby (Gordon). Is that some kind of vindication, that you know it's not you, but just all these mechanical and crash gremlins that just won't go away?

SKINNER: "In the race team's defense, a lot of the problems that's happened, there wasn't a lot that any of them could have done. We had Atlanta won and a rod bolt broke. They hadn't broken a rod bolt in nine years at RCR. We had a chance to win at Martinsville, and a piece of rubber got stuck in the alternator. It killed the battery. We lost laps changing batteries. What can you say? At the same token, there's probably a couple of races that I could have finished very good in that I may have made mistakes in. I'm not totally pointing fingers at the race team or the car. It's a group effort, everybody on the race team is very important. I think that the race car is very competitive."

ESPN: You already raced at Michigan earlier this year before your crash. Will it be easier to have that familiarity baseline when you climb back in the car after being injured and out for a month?

SKINNER: "No, not at all. My first lap on the racetrack will be my first lap since Chicago. I don't have any apprehension at all. I don't have any fear or being afraid to drive the race car or my physical condition not being 100 percent to do that. I don't have any problem with any of that."

ESPN: How much do you like the track at Michigan?

SKINNER: "I like Michigan. We have not had great success there, we've been crashed a couple times and had mechanical problems a couple times, but we've also ran respectable at times. I'm looking forward going to a place that will be a little easier on the body, as long as everything goes right. I'm looking for good things to happen at Michigan. I may run the (Busch) race on Saturday so we have plenty of lap time before we get into the Cup car for Sunday's race."

ESPN: What would it mean to come back to Michigan and win the first Cup points race of your career there after such a horrific wreck?

SKINNER: "Any Winston Cup victory, whether it's a points race or not, is important. I've had some Winston Cup victories, they just didn't happen to be points races. If we can win on Saturday (in the Busch race), I'll take that. We're looking forward to going to Michigan. It doesn't matter if it happens at Michigan or Martinsville. If we can win a race this year, it's going to be big."

ESPN: In your entire racing career, was the crash in Chicago the worst?

SKINNER: "Yeah, I guess this is probably the hardest I've ever hit. Texas was awfully close. I was injured worse at Texas than I am now, but thank God the HANS device and the safety things we have in our car now are so much better. I don't think any human being could take a hit like I took in Chicago without the HANS device or the Hutchens device being worn and live through it and continue to race four weeks later."

ESPN: I assume you've watched a tape of the race and your crash in particular several times?

SKINNER: "Yeah, and it was a lot harder in real life, let me tell you. You know, the sad thing about those kinds of deals is that it just wasn't anyone's fault. I did not look at the tire myself, but my crew told me the tire was cut. It could have been cut rolling the car out to the line and took 23 laps to blow. I don't know when the tire was cut or how the tire was cut. All I know is the tire blew. I don't think it was anybody's fault. Goodyear makes a good racing tire. We've seen some other tire problems, but not just to go off in the corner and blow. I've got confidence to get back in there, go to Michigan and give it 100 percent."

Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR Winston Cup for ESPN.com.

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