By CHRIS MARQUART

SAYBROOK, Ill./LEBANON, Pa. (March 31, 2004) -- When opportunity knocks, naturally, the door opens. When it pounds the door down, you better be ready to go where ever it asks you to go.

For Blake Feese, 22, the door was in splinters as he packed his bags for Nashville.

Bobby Gerhart, pilot of the Lucas Oil No. 5, underwent surgery at the end of February to repair a high tear in his hamstring. The surgery, planned to be arthroscopic and to last only an hour went three and a half hours and left him with an eight-inch incision on the back of his leg.

Needless to say, "we'll skip Nashville and Charlotte," Gerhart said. "We'll be back after that, but in the meantime, Blake will be in the car. And even when I get back, he will continue to race for us."

Feese tested for Gerhart at Daytona this year. Gerhart sat on the pole. He was also at a test session a week ago at Nashville as several teams took their mounts through shakedown paces at the Nashville Superspeedway. The second race on the ARCA RE/MAX Schedule is planned for Friday, April 9.

"I liked Nashville," Feese said. "It was fun."

"This sort of thing doesn't just come around. This is a top notch, well-organized team. If the equipment is not proper, you won't get the result you need to further your career. This is a big opportunity because not only is it good equipment, they're good people."

Feese explained that in stock car racing today, with the economy as it is, it is tough to find a good ride in good equipment. A driver can go south and find a good team, but if the driver doesn't carry a good sponsor or bring some form of revenue to the operation, the deal is as good as a bucket with no bottom.

A high-profile team is not likely to put a driver in a car with little experience and no backing because the driver will not be able to cover the expense of a race-day operation or cover the expense of a damaged racecar in a worst-case scenario.

Feese climbed his way up from winged sprint cars, starting in micro sprints at local tracks in Illinois, and then moving to 410's before jumping into stock cars with Fitz-Bradshaw Racing in both ARCA's RE/MAX Series and the Hooter's Pro Cup Tour.

"I grew up around sprint cars," Feese said. "My dad (Dave Feese) raced sprint cars and in 1999, I jumped to 410 winged cars. I ran them until the middle of last season."

But, Feese had to back away from that to pursue "something" with stock cars. With sprint cars, it was becoming increasingly difficult to land a good sponsor and many car owners were dropping out of the touring sprint car series; with them went top rides. Feese decided to chase the stock car ranks, but he ran into a problem.

"I couldn't be in two places at once," Feese said with a laugh. "I couldn't be racing one place and down in Charlotte the same time meeting people."

But there was something missing in Feese's trophy case, a World of Outlaws victory. He spent his 410 Sprint car career admiring people like Jeff Gordon, Ken Schrader and Jack Hewitt and the big three in WoO Sprint action: Danny Lasoski, Steve Kinser and Mark Kinser.

Then came a WoO tour date at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. Feese won and it allowed him to turn his full attention to asphalt racing.

"That was a dream come true. The outlaws are the guys I grew up wanting to be like," Feese said. "To be able to beat them last year brought closure. It was like, 'ok, now you can pursue the stock car deal.'"

Fitz-Bradshaw racing picked Feese up and they ran the Hooters Pro Cup event at Hickory Speedway in Hickory, NC. From there, the team hit South Boston Speedway in South Boston, VA and ran 11th, one lap down to the leaders after qualifying fifth.

"In a stock car situation, there is a better chance you can race for a longer time than with a sprint car team," Feese said. "I like asphalt."

Feese's first asphalt stock car race came in Elko, MN behind the wheel of an asphalt late model. He had driven winged sprinters on pavement, as well.

"I think it is easier to jump from dirt to asphalt than to go from asphalt to dirt," Feese said, listing off drivers who have been successful in the jump: Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Ken Schrader and Kasey Kahne, to name a few.

Feese explained that things happen slower in a stock car than a sprint car. Sprint car racers are used to going remarkably fast in tight confines and need to have fast reaction times. Stock car racers have heavier cars and less horsepower, which allows sprint racers to have more time to react in a car that feels logy.

"For instance, when we ran the Outlaws at Bristol (Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN), we were two seconds faster than the Cup Cars," Feese explained. "A lot carries over," He continued. "You need to make sure that you don't break the rear end loose, but on dirt, with a sprint car, that is a lot easier to do."

Feese said that throttle control is probably the most significant lesson a dirt driver can learn when planning a jump to asphalt.

"You won't break those tires loose and you will save the tire wear, which is big on asphalt," Feese said. Nashville was previously known for its brutal abuse of tires, but prospects this year are looking different. Either way, Feese will try his hand at throttle control and Nashville's Superspeedway in Bobby Gerhart's Lucas Oil No. 5 April 9.

Catch the race live on Speed beginning at 8 PM (CST).

Head shot courtesy of Arca Racing and Car shot courtesy of Bobby Gerhart.