DREHER ISLAND, S.C. -- Kevin Blanch hopped off the bass boat with an empty fish bag, the unaccustomed look of losing on his face.

"That's why I struggle,'' said Blanch, glancing around the Citgo BassMasters qualifying tournament. "These guys, they're fishing 200 days a year. While they're fishing, I'm racing 200 days a year.''

	Sam Hornish Jr., right, celebrates with crew chief Kevin Blanch, left, after winning the Chevy 500 at Texas.

And Blanch's team has done it better than any other in the IRL. He's the crew chief for Sam Hornish Jr., who clinched his second straight series title this month.

Fishing has always been a preferred pastime for racers and crew members of all series. But Blanch takes things to a much more competitive level.

His goal? To become a full-time pro bass master.

"I get a lot of people who come up to me and ask, 'Why do you want to go fish for a living?''' Blanch said. "Well, I may never make it, but you have to have a goal in life.''

Blanch laughs when asked how lake fishing fits in with the big-money, international flavor of open-wheel racing. "Yeah, I get that sometimes, but I'm just a hillbilly that done good,'' he said.

You think Blanch isn't serious?

The day after Hornish won the title at Texas Motor Speedway, Blanch flew home to Indianapolis, packed up his gear, and began the long drive to South Carolina's Lake Murray five hours later.

"He's got an enormous will to win,'' Hornish said. "That what makes us work on the track.''

Blanch grew up catching anything he could around Yorktown, Ind. He'd always thought how much fun it would be make money fishing.

However, he got sidetracked into racing. He began by painting cars in 1989 and tinkering with setups on several Indiana small tracks. As he rose up the IRL ranks, Blanch never forgot his dreams of freshwater fame.

"He talks about it some on planes when we're traveling,'' said Hornish, who leans more to bowling off the track.

Blanch may be the only one in open-wheel racing who sees similarities between the IRL and fishing.

"Racing is so similar to this it's unbelievable,'' he said. "Racing is adjusting on the fly, just like fishing, adjust on the fly, make split-second decisions.

"I don't know how many times I said, 'I'm going to go fish that hole,' and then went over there and caught a fish,'' Blanch said, "and you say, 'Man, that was a good decision.' It's the same way when you're working on a race car. 'Should you put this here, should you move this here?'''

Blanch thought he might follow up the grueling IRL season with a tournament closer to home. However, he wanted the experience of being around some the best in the sport like past BassMasters Classic winner Davy Hite. "There was so much I could learn down here,'' Blanch said.

Blanch blended in as any amateur, said Robert Richardson, the pro paired with Blanch the second day of the three-day event.

"He told me first he was in auto racing,'' Richardson said. As the hours dragged on, the two talked more about what they did off the lake.

"Wow,'' thought Richardson, when he learned of Blanch's success.

Blanch didn't have a lot of luck at Lake Murray. Richardson said lake conditions -- an ongoing drought and a dam project have lowered levels -- were difficult for even the top anglers to read.

"He seemed to be a pretty good fishermen,'' Richardson said.

Blanch also proved a good teacher. He advised Richardson on their way to the dock so the camera could see his sponsor's name.

"The thing is, I understand getting the sponsorship out there and a lot of these guys are just starting to pick up on that,'' Blanch said.

Pro fishing has long appealed to accomplished people of other sports, said George McNeilly, director of communications for ESPN Outdoors, which televises BassMasters events.

Baseball's Wade Boggs, hockey's Pat Verbeek and college football's Lee Corso took part in a celebrity tournament at the last BassMasters Classic, the tour's signature event.

Racers Tony Stewart and Dave Marcis are all big bass-fishing tour fans. NASCAR star Jeff Burton, who drives the No. 99 Citgo car, signed autographs at the last classic, McNeilly said.

"These guys absolutely get bass fishing,'' McNeilly said.

Blanch hopes to fish a few more tournaments, as long as his racing work allows.

Hornish says Blanch has the work ethic and patience to succeed at fishing if he wanted. "He would do whatever it took,'' Hornish said.

Blanch, 39, isn't ready to leave the track just yet, not with his team geared for a run at the Indianapolis 500 and a third consecutive driver's crown.

"It's just one of them where you wake up one day and say you're done racing,'' Blanch said.

He will be ready when the switch comes. At Texas, his crew worked from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., dealing with a fire on one car and a crash of the second.

"We were putting in some hours,'' he said. "But it paid off. That's the same here in fishing. These guys practice and the ones that practice more are the guys that do well.''

He says his top team goal would be the checkered flag at Indianapolis. His personal goal? To one day hold up a winning bass. "Someday, hopefully,'' he said, "I can do that.''