DEAL, SCHMEAL; Why DaimlerChrysler sued Bill Davis.(Competition)

Byline: AL PEARCE

First, there's the building at 1314 Starr Road in High Point, North Carolina, a building identified by signage as "Tundra Race Truck Center.'' Last winter, Bill Davis Racing applied for and received a business license for "Race Team'' in the building. Then, there's the Bill Davis Racing employee claiming to represent Toyota during an April 30 wind tunnel test at Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia. The chances appear better than good the Toyota Tundra being tested that Wednesday came from 1314 Starr Road in High Point.

Finally, there are the Bill Davis Racing employees, who've publicly said they're helping Toyota develop its truck program for 2004. That, you should know, even as Bill Davis Racing is competing in Winston Cup as a factory-backed Dodge Intrepid entry.

That's why Dodge Motor-sports filed suit against BDR on May 22, the day it withdrew all technical and financial support from the team. The suit alleges breach of the six-year contract the parties signed Feb. 14, 2000, even as Davis was fielding Pontiacs for Ward Burton and Dave Blaney. (That's not unprecedented; teams seldom end one relationship without having a new one firmly in place.) BDR has won three races for Dodge since Dodge returned to NASCAR in 2001, including the 2002 Daytona 500.

Dodge wants Davis to return the unspent portion of the $2 million to $2.5 million he has already been paid this season. It also doesn't want him to use anything he has developed or learned during years with Dodge Motorsports. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial, but most NASCAR watchers at Pocono think the issue will be quietly settled out of court. The folks in Daytona Beach consider lawsuits only slightly less reprehensible than the possibility of a Democrat someday returning to the White House.

"People in every business or industry worry about lawsuits,'' said NASCAR president Mike Helton. "Because we deal with so many private contractors, there are a lot of agreements in this sport. There are agreements between manufacturers and teams, between teams and sponsors, between speedways and the sanctioning body, between drivers and owners. And when you have that many agreements, you're going to have some disagreements.''

Davis won't comment, except for a statement saying he is surprised by Dodge's reaction and he expects to prevail in court. "There'll be no further statement or interview for the foreseeable future,'' said a team spokesperson. The statement said BDR likely will remain with Dodge the rest of this season. The lawsuit says Davis' contract with Dodge Motor-sports bars his drivers from driving any vehicle from Dodge's competitors. Likewise, his employees couldn't "represent, ...