What ever happened to ... Carter Travis

Travis Carter, a 56-year-old Ellerbe, N.C., native, has been a fixture in NASCAR since 1971. His greatest success came as a crew chief for Benny Parsons, Cale Yarborough, Harry Gant and Bobby Allison. He also owned his own Nextel Cup teams from 19902003. Today, he's fielding a car for his son, Matt Carter, in the Hooters Pro Cup Series. He recently spoke with Rick Minter of Cox News Service.

Q: Do you plan to take Matt to one of NASCAR's top divisions?

A: We would like to do that. He ran a truck race a couple of years ago, and I thought he did real well.We've just been unable to get the funding to go to another level, but I think it would be fun, and I think Matt is qualified and very capable, so we're going to continue to work toward that goal.

Q: How tough would it be to come back as an independent owner in today's world of multicar operations?

A: I think it can be done, but I think it would have to be done under a scenario in which you rely on one of the stronger teams for technology and support. But Clay Andrews Racing and David Gilliland proved with their (Busch Series) win at Kentucky Speedway that you can be effective.

I was right proud of that because written off the possibility everybody had written off the possibility of anybody other than a multicar team owner being able to do that. They were racing out of one of our shops, so I was able to keep up with them on a daily basis.

Q: What are you most proud of from your NASCAR career?

A: I'm proud that I came from a tobacco farm in the sandhills of North Carolina and was able to associate myself with some quality people - people I worked for and worked with. There are things we accomplished and things we left undone, but I was just pleased and thankful to have been a part of it.

Q: At age 56, do you still have some racing left in you?

A: I can still work. I still get fired up, rant and rave and get people moving. I still enjoy doing that.