June 12, 1999                                                       by Robin Meiser

                     PUTTING THE HAMMER DOWN 

The Q105 Pure Stock points battle at Charlotte County Speedway has see-sawed all season between Cheryl "The Pearl" Weaver and Michael "The Hammer" Wear.  On June 19, the battle started out being won by Weaver but by the end of the evening Wear had put the hammer down, running the most impressive race of his five year racing career at CCS and retaking the points lead.  Weaver and Wear's tight points battle has been the high point of regular division racing at CCS.

Wear began his racing career many years ago in Quincy, Illinois in drag racing.  He moved here 17 years ago with his wife, Keren.  The couple has two children, son Terry who is his most ardent pit crew member and 13 year old daughter, Tina, his biggest cheerleader.  Michael's ties to drag racing continue as his "real job" is at Cope Racing Engines in Fort Myers where he builds Pro Stock motorcycle engines for the likes of Dave Schultz and Antron Brown.

Five years ago, Michael began racing in the pure stock division with much help and support from sponsor, Gil Drake of Drake Motor Company.  Wear credits Drake with being his inspiration, guiding him to a fifth place points finish in 1994.  Although, no longer a sponsor on Wear's car, the admiration and respect that Michael has for Gil Drake is evident and he will always be thankful for Drake's support.

The other driving force in his racing career is E.J. Trivette, who is also a sponsor on his car and does all of his chassis set-up.  Chassis by Trivette has sponsored several CCS points champions through the years such as Rodney Calico and Dave Speakman.  Trivette is a legend to many at CCS for another reason, as well.  He is such a great chassis expert that he was chosen to set-up cars such as the General Lee in the "Dukes of Hazard" television show.  He worked on Burt Reynolds Trans Am in the "Smokey and the Bandit" movies and set up the race cars in the Kenny Rogers movie "Six Pack".  However, the action shots in these movies might not have been possible, had it not been for Trivette's development of the film truck that was used in these films to capture the racing footage.

The other sponsors on the #1 car include Cape Flooring and Design; and Caloosa Shell.  Besides his son, Terry, his other pit crew members include Chip Foster and Andy Neely.

Wear's nickname "The Hammer" came as a result of his ability to "put the hammer down".  Michael puts his all into his racing, whether it be on the track or off.  During last year's racing season he was "volunteered" to be the driver's representative for the pure stock division.  He took that job as seriously as he does his on-track racing.  Not only did he attend all driver's representative meetings but he conducted meetings on his own for the division when decisions needed to be made.  When a driver in his division had an issue with the racing officials, Michael stepped in and stood beside each driver during discussions on the issue until it was resolved.  He was the epitome of a driver's representative and served his division well.

This year, his focus is on the championship and taking home that six foot tall trophy.  Despite several set backs, he still maintains the points lead, at least part-time until Cheryl Weaver takes it back for awhile.  Let's all hope this friendly rivalry continues all racing season between these two fine competitors.  The ultimate would be for them to be tied in points going into the last race of the season and one of them winning the championship by a bumper.  Which one will it be, "The Hammer" or "The Pearl"?  Only time and luck will tell.

                                                          -Robin Meiser