Jamie McMurray Interview

SCR: In 1997 you were track champion at I-44 Speedway in Lebanon, Missouri. Did you dream that five years later you would be in Victory Lane for a Winston Cup race?
McMurray: From '94 to '97 or '98, I ran just local stock cars. Actually, before I started racing stock cars, I thought by the time I was 20 or 21 I would be in Winston Cup. I was not being realistic, just thinking that a national champion in go-carts ought to move up. I ran stock cars for two, three, four years, and in '98 I remember thinking, "What do you have to do to move up?" Everybody was telling us, "Oh, bring money and you can drive our car." I thought, "God, how is it ever going to happen?" Then I got an opportunity from Mike Mitler in 1999 to go run five truck races in his truck. At the end of '99 I moved to St. Louis where his shop was, and he gave me a job. We set out to go run as many truck races as we could in 2000. Halfway through the year 2000 I got an opportunity from another truck team to move on. It was really hard leaving Mike because I felt like he was one of the guys who really helped me get going and got me noticed.

SCR: How did the deal with Chip Ganassi Racing come about? I've heard that NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter recommended you for the ride.
McMurray: That's kind of what they told me, that Jim had given me two thumbs up. I guess you could say he thought I was going to be a good driver and good for the sport. Chip and Felix (Sabates, co-owner) had been watching me and so had Tony (Glover) and Andy (Graves, team manager). One thing Felix said to me that I really liked was, "You know, Jamie, you are aggressive when you need to be and you get out of the way when you need to." That's kind of the way I race. If I don't feel like I have a car that's capable of being where it is, I won't race somebody so hard and maybe have them get into me and get taken out. I'll let the guy go. That's kind of neat that they saw that and that they realized that. Obviously they wanted Ricky Rudd, and they were going to hire him and couldn't get everything worked out. You know, everything happens for a reason. I'm thrilled that it's happened. I don't know what I've done to deserve this opportunity, but I feel really blessed and I'm trying to make the most of it.

SCR: Considering the history of the Havoline car, which you'll be driving in 2003, do you feel added pressure to get the job done?
McMurray: Most certainly. There have been so many great drivers in that car. To me, that's about the best sponsor in Cup, and for them to take a chance on a rookie, that meant a lot to me. But a sponsor can't put any more pressure on a driver than what a driver puts on himself. The thing is, there was a lot of pressure for me to perform in a Winston Cup car. Now that we've won a race it's almost a different type of pressure-just the pressure to keep performing and to live up to what I've already done. But really, and I've said this a million times to all the media, I'm just going to go out as a driver and give 100 percent, and the team is going to go out and give 100 percent. At the end of the day, if after every race, we can say that we did that, that's all we can do.

SCR: It was a great TV moment when they interviewed your dad after the win and you could see the emotion on his face. How instrumental has he been in your career?
McMurray: Well, not just my dad but my whole family has been very supportive. My mom and dad gave up a lot to put me through the racing that I went through with go-carts and stock cars. I would say my mom gave up a lot, maybe a new house or a new car, you know, just things you would like to have, just to get me to where I am. To have my dad there ... I had never won a truck race or a Busch race, so to get to have my dad there when I won my first race over the last couple of years, and to make it a Cup race of all things, that was really special. I didn't think about that until we got to Victory Lane and I saw my dad on the front row with a hat on, holding a No. 1 finger up and smiling for the camera. I don't know what was going through his head, but that was probably as important to me as anything, getting to see him there.