Racing up the Ladder

Butch Gilliland is in that chain. He's no shark, but he's no tuna, either.

Gilliland, 42, will be busy this weekend. He competes Saturday in the California 200, the fourth of 14 events in the NASCAR Winston West Series that Gilliland won in 1997. But the Chino driver has other fish--really big fish--to fry too, as he stakes a claim in Sunday's showcase, the California 500.

No longer content to race exclusively in the regional but increasingly lucrative Winston West Series, Gilliland will compete against NASCAR's glamour boys in a few Winston Cup races, beginning at the California Speedway less than an hour from his Anaheim race shop.

If all goes according to plan, he will run a full Winston Cup schedule next season.

"It's something we've worked hard for all of our lives," said Gilliland, named the Winston West series' most popular driver in 1997. "That's a goal I set a long time ago. I've been racing since I was 8, but [only] racing cars the last 10 years. I still work hard at it every day, and to make it happen would be a great thing.

"But the main thing in Winston Cup is to have the financial resources to run up front. If you don't have the financial resources to buy the equipment and personnel, it's impossible. So many people try it without the pieces and it just can't be done."

Richard Hilton's Jenn West Motorsports, Gilliland's team, began operating in January and hit a snag immediately in its Winston Cup endeavors. The team didn't get any testing done for the March 7 Las Vegas 400 and failed to qualify.

"But for Fontana, we've cured that," Gilliland said. "We've tested at Phoenix and Fontana [last week] and we'll be ready to rock and roll."

Besides Fontana and Phoenix, Gilliland will race Winston Cup events at Sears Point, where he has finished as high as 21st, and Indianapolis, in the Brickyard 400.

Gilliland is off to a rocky start this season in Winston West. He crashed in Las Vegas, got two flat tires in Tucson and finished eighth in Phoenix.

"Some people start off good and finish bad," Gilliland said. "We got all our bad luck out of the way early."

David Gilliland, 22, Butch's son, is racing late-model cars at Irwindale and Bakersfield and street stock cars at Perris, and is poised to take his father's position in Winston West when Butch jumps to Winston Cup.