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Happy Friday! Quote of the Day
"I love what I do; I love this business."
-- Bobby Hamilton Sr, March 2006 as he announced he had cancer
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News gathered from multiple sources, including but not limited to: Jayski.com, Cup Scene Daily, Thatsracin.com, catchfence.com, nascar.com, yahoo!, espn.com and others.
from Bob S
IROC series, still in search of sponsor, won't do Daytona
IMHO, this is a huge loss, but they allowed it to degenerate into a boring, drafting series by succumbing to NASCAR pressure and eliminating the smaller ovals and road tracks. Not only made the events a snooze, but probably kept Euro stars from entering. They ought to listen to Tony Stewart!
Kerry to take over testing for Dale Jr. at Daytona: Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he plans on leaving the rest of the testing of the #8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy to sibling Kerry Earnhardt.
Sorry Momma, your boy is acting less and less like a serious racer. He's the fave among fans, but from the guys I talk to, not too popular among the guys in the garage.
Benny Parsons Health UPDATE 3: Benny Parsons' right lung is healthy and strong, and doctors believe Parsons' body will eventually adjust to having just one healthy lung.
This is so much more positive than anything I've heard to date, and I'm bugged that his status seems to be largely ignored on the Speed broadcasts - can only suspect they're avoiding bad news so soon after Hamilton.
from Pauli
hello Momma
Just wanted to tell you how I enjoy reading Know your NASCAR. IS there any way you could make this:
I love what I do; I love this business."
-- Bobby Hamilton Sr, March 2006 as he announced he had cancer
Quote of the Year?
Pauli
Sounds like a good idea to me.....anyone out there agree?!
Daytona 500 Testing Session 1 overall: after four days of testing at Daytona International Speedway for the 2007 Daytona 500, the fastest was #66-Jeff Green at 186.722 followed by #8A-Dale Earnhardt Jr., #44C-Dale Jarrett, #96A-Tony Raines and #25B-Casey Mears. Slowest of the 28 drivers was #27-Kirk Shelmerdine at 182.667mph. 4,842 total laps were run this week. #41-Reed Sorenson ran the most laps in a given session (105 on Wednesday afternoon). #22-Dave Blaney ran the most total laps (295) this week. Of the 26 teams that tested this week, 13 were Chevys, five were Dodges, five were Fords and three were Toyotas. On Friday, Jan 12 thru 14, the Craftsman Truck Series will test and the Nextel Cup Series returns to Daytona to test from Monday, Jan 15-17th.
Too many drivers would make NASCAR Chase a waste, Stewart tells Sirius listeners
On this week's edition of "Tony Stewart Live" on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, .Stewart talked about the potential changes to the format for the Chase for the Nextel Cup, which will reportedly include an increase in the number of drivers and an increase in points awarded for a win.
Tony Stewart: "I still think it should only be 10 [drivers]. I mean, what's next? It goes from 12 to 15 two more years down the road and then it goes from 15 to 20 and this and that? No more than 12. It shouldn't have been more than 10 to begin with. That's a quarter of the field. Why do we need to bring in more than that? But I do like the idea of 10 more points [for a win].
"I think the one thing that hasn't been talked about that I keep bringing up is give the top 10 guys in the Chase their own points structure. Yes, they are racing the other 33 guys for the win but they are racing the other nine guys for the championship so give them their own points structure and let them get their points accordingly."
"Tony Stewart Live" airs every Tuesday (8-10pm ET) exclusively on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio / Channel 128. The full program will re-air Saturday (7am ET & 8pm ET) on channel 128.
DETROIT (January 9, 2007) -- Dodge's NASCAR stars Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge and Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Havoline Texaco Dodge, joined Dodge executives today to unveil the new Dodge Avenger production car and its racing counterpart the Dodge Avenger Car of Tomorrow.
"It was really cool to be part of today's announcement," said Elliott Sadler. "We're looking forward to seeing the Dodge Avenger on track later this year. It's exciting to get to come to Detroit and introduce the Avenger. Hopefully, we'll get to take it to victory lane later this year."
The details on the new Dodge Avenger for NASCAR competition, along with photos of today's event at the Detroit Auto Show, are available for dodgemotorsportsmedia.com. For information please contact Debby Robinson at drobinson@... or 312.505.4336.
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MCMURRAY LOOKS TO REBOUND IN 2007
By Greg Engle
Jamie McMurray didn't exactly have a stellar freshman season at Roush Racing.
After leaving Chip Ganassi and signing with Roush in 2006, McMurray had what can best be described as a miserable season. But McMurray begins 2007 with a renewed optimism after a wholesale slew of changes during the off-season.
"We've changed so much," McMurray said Wednesday morning at Daytona International Speedway. "We've got a new crew chief, new car chief, new engineer, new tire guy, new guys at the shop. All of the cars are gonna be brand new. We pretty much have already changed everything."
After scoring a victory in only his second Nextel Cup start in 2002, McMurray has watched his fortunes tumble over the last few seasons, the low perhaps came last year when he scored only three top five finishes and seven top ten finishes the entire season.
"The deal with last year, I would tell myself after I'd go home after a race and say, `I don't think it can get any worse,' and then I'd show up the next week and I'd be like, `Wow, I was wrong,'" McMurray said.
McMurray also had five DNFs last year, all coming in the last ten races of the season.
"The last 10 races, I don't know how many we finished, but I think we didn't finish more than we did finish," McMurray said. "So when you don't run well and then you can't even finish it's so frustrating and you're so mentally beat up that I think when you get to that point that you just want it to be over."
As McMurray has rebuilt his team, he's also had to rebuild his own confidence as well.
"Everyone always joked around about how I always smiled and laughed, but you're right, at the end of the year I would divert myself to the front of the hauler so I didn't have to walk behind with everybody," McMurray said. "I was scared of the questions that were gonna be asked or people would ask the same question about what's wrong. If I knew what was wrong, I would have went and tried to fix it.
"I don't deal with that very well and I know that," he added. "So I'm gonna go back and try to get to where I can think positive again and be happy."
He took a big step in that direction Tuesday by posting the fastest lap in the morning session of testing at Daytona.
"I tell you, it will make you happy as hell just to run well," McMurray said. "If you run well, it seems like that goes away, but when you don't, it certainly drives you crazy."
Your![file:///C:/DOCUME~1/smonacel/LOCALS~1/Temp//att61dfb.gif]()
Momma
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants wins't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt 1998
This list is authored by:
Sandra Monacelli
221 W. 57th Street 18B
Loveland, CO 80538
970/663-6967
"I love what I do; I love this business."
-- Bobby Hamilton Sr, March 2006 as he announced he had cancer
Most Popular Driver Vote
www.MostPopularDriver.com
www.MostPopularDriver.com
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Comments from the Peanut Galleryfrom Bob S
IROC series, still in search of sponsor, won't do Daytona
IMHO, this is a huge loss, but they allowed it to degenerate into a boring, drafting series by succumbing to NASCAR pressure and eliminating the smaller ovals and road tracks. Not only made the events a snooze, but probably kept Euro stars from entering. They ought to listen to Tony Stewart!
Kerry to take over testing for Dale Jr. at Daytona: Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he plans on leaving the rest of the testing of the #8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy to sibling Kerry Earnhardt.
Sorry Momma, your boy is acting less and less like a serious racer. He's the fave among fans, but from the guys I talk to, not too popular among the guys in the garage.
Benny Parsons Health UPDATE 3: Benny Parsons' right lung is healthy and strong, and doctors believe Parsons' body will eventually adjust to having just one healthy lung.
This is so much more positive than anything I've heard to date, and I'm bugged that his status seems to be largely ignored on the Speed broadcasts - can only suspect they're avoiding bad news so soon after Hamilton.
from Pauli
hello Momma
Just wanted to tell you how I enjoy reading Know your NASCAR. IS there any way you could make this:
I love what I do; I love this business."
-- Bobby Hamilton Sr, March 2006 as he announced he had cancer
Quote of the Year?
Pauli
Sounds like a good idea to me.....anyone out there agree?!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bits and PiecesDaytona 500 Testing Session 1 overall: after four days of testing at Daytona International Speedway for the 2007 Daytona 500, the fastest was #66-Jeff Green at 186.722 followed by #8A-Dale Earnhardt Jr., #44C-Dale Jarrett, #96A-Tony Raines and #25B-Casey Mears. Slowest of the 28 drivers was #27-Kirk Shelmerdine at 182.667mph. 4,842 total laps were run this week. #41-Reed Sorenson ran the most laps in a given session (105 on Wednesday afternoon). #22-Dave Blaney ran the most total laps (295) this week. Of the 26 teams that tested this week, 13 were Chevys, five were Dodges, five were Fords and three were Toyotas. On Friday, Jan 12 thru 14, the Craftsman Truck Series will test and the Nextel Cup Series returns to Daytona to test from Monday, Jan 15-17th.
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TNT looking at no commercial breaks in 2007? UPDATE 2 Pepsi 400 to be 'branded': Sports Business Journal reports that TNT is floating a package to potential advertisers that would allow advertising during the race broadcast and eliminate commercial breaks. The advertising would take place on the screen during the broadcast and allow continuous race coverage. TNT will broadcast six Nextel Cup races next summer. The story reports that officials from Turner and NASCAR would not comment. The story also reported that TNT's Cup ratings are down 8.3% from last season.(Roanoke Times)(10-18-2006) UPDATE: hearing that the Pepsi 400 at Daytona will be shown with no commercials by TNT [in primetime] and the coverage will be sponsored by...Pepsi, but the other five races, as of now, will be shown with commercial breaks.(1-4-2007) UPDATE 2: TNT, for the prime-time July 7 Pepsi 400, wants to add some wrinkles. Trish Frohman, TNT executive vice president, hopes to enlist 12 advertisers she says Pepsi, DirecTV and pain reliever 360 OTC are in to air commercials, running up to two minutes, in about a quarter of the TV screen as race shots continue. Correction. Those "won't be commercials," says Frohman, but rather "branded content" that's "organic to the environment." Meaning, she says, that TNT's production staffers will work with advertisers to make ads er, "content" specifically for the race. TNT announcers, she says, will "absolutely" be "as engaged as anybody" in the effort. Which shouldn't surprise anybody. TV networks, paying millions or even billions for big-time TV rights, already seem like ad agencies for sports they cover. While Pepsi 400 coverage will still include local cable ads beyond TNT's purview, Frohman says the total time devoted to marketing messages will be less than normal NASCAR coverage.(USA Today)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin site opens: Mark Martin now has his own official website, markmartin.com. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ESPN the Magazine allows fans to vote for next cover: Each year, ESPN The Magazine's trademark NEXT issue looks ahead and identifies those athletes whose talent and style will shape the landscape of sports in the years to come. This year, in addition to showcasing the innovations and trends that are changing the games we love, The Magazine has selected five finalists to vie for the prize of NEXT cover athlete: Dwight Howard, Calvin Johnson, Evgeni Malkin, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jose Reyes. For the second year in a row, fans can log on to ESPN.com, from January 10-17, to vote on who should be NEXT. The winner of the poll will appear on the cover of The Magazine's NEXT issue, on sale January 31. Previous NEXT cover athletes include Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Yao Ming, Alex Rodriguez and Brian Urlacher.(ESPN PR)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mooresville NASCAR Artists Exhibition: Garry Hill Automotive Fine Art, Inc (garryhill.com) . is pleased to announce that Motorsports Artist Garry Hill will be exhibiting his original paintings and limited edition prints in association with RM Auctions (www.rmauctions.com). The RM Classic Car Auction and Garry Hill Racing Art Show will be held at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL, February 8-11.For the better part of three decades motorsports artist Garry Hill has captured racing's great heritage and tradition with his limited edition fine art prints. Many are personally autographed (Hand signed) by racing's greatest drivers and personalities. RM Auctions is world renowned for thier auctions featuring historic automotive marks and memorabilia. For additional information please contact Garry Hill Automotive Fine Art, Inc. at 1-800-847-0043 or via email at garryhill.com.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Busch Series to be televised in Canada: TSN and RDS will be the home of NASCAR Busch Series races in 2007 after the networks agreed to a new multi-year deal to become the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of the stock car series. Under the agreement, TSN and RDS have secured the Canadian broadcast rights to all 35 NASCAR Busch Series races, all of which will be available in High Definition on TSN, with a broad selection of events on RDS. The Busch Series complements TSN's extensive auto racing broadcast package, which will see TSN televise 28 Nextel Cup Series races in 2007, up from 21 races last season. The announcement also strengthens RDS's commitment to expanding awareness of NASCAR in Quebec and throughout French Canada. This marks the first time both TSN and RDS will air the NASCAR Busch Series property. NASCAR has a strong fan base in Canada with 5.8 million fans, representing one out of four Canadian adults. NASCAR is the No. 1 motorsport series on television in Canada. TSN recorded record ratings for its coverage of the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series with a national average audience of 332,000 viewers, up 15 percent from 2005.(TSN.com)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speed signs Voda to Multi-Year Deal: SPEED has signed veteran sports journalist Krista Voda to a multi-year deal that will include hosting the network's pre-race show for all of the Craftsman Truck Series races in 2007. Voda also recently signed with FOX Sports as a pit reporter for their Nextel Cup Series races in 2007. Voda began her work in NASCAR for FOX Sports and SPEED in 2002 as a reporter and host for Totally NASCAR. Over the last several years, Voda has worked on multiple programs for both networks, including SPEED's coverage of the popular Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series.(SpeedTV.com)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speedway case hearing begins in shooting of detective at Kansas Speedway: Detective Susan Brown was guarding a vault building at Kansas Speedway when she saw a masked man approach with a gun in his hand. After telling a worker to get inside, Brown pulled her handgun and tried to shut the door, she said. But before she could get the door closed, an object later determined to be a handgun was jammed into the space between the door and its frame, near the hinges. That's when the gunfire started and she was critically injured, Brown testified during a preliminary hearing Tuesday for two men, Fredrick Douglas and Nolden Garner, who are accused of attempting to rob the speedway the evening of Oct. 1. During the hearing, a worker overseeing the operations of the vault building testified that at the time of the robbery attempt, workers were getting ready to move about $1 million after a weekend of racing. The robbers struck just after workers had moved eight $500 boxes of quarters into a minivan outside the vault building. At the end of testimony, Wyandotte County Judge Robert L. Serra ordered both Douglas, 66, of Kansas City, Kan., and Garner, 51, of Grandview to stand trial. They are charged with attempted capital murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated robbery. Attorneys for the men entered not-guilty pleas on their behalf. The men are not thought to have gotten away with any money. The day's testimony outlined the evidence that linked the men to the crime, including testimony by a detective who said Garner admitted to the crime and that a third person was involved. That person provided aprons and caps that would allow Douglas and Garner into the area where the vault was located, Howard testified. A spokesman for the Wyandotte County district attorney's office said this week that no one else has been charged in connection with the case. In her emotional testimony, Brown testified that she was shot between four and six times. She suffered injuries to her right shoulder, right wrist and a leg. She testified that at least one of the suspects continued to shoot at her when she was lying on the ground wounded.(Kansas City Star)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On this week's edition of "Tony Stewart Live" on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, .Stewart talked about the potential changes to the format for the Chase for the Nextel Cup, which will reportedly include an increase in the number of drivers and an increase in points awarded for a win.
Tony Stewart: "I still think it should only be 10 [drivers]. I mean, what's next? It goes from 12 to 15 two more years down the road and then it goes from 15 to 20 and this and that? No more than 12. It shouldn't have been more than 10 to begin with. That's a quarter of the field. Why do we need to bring in more than that? But I do like the idea of 10 more points [for a win].
"I think the one thing that hasn't been talked about that I keep bringing up is give the top 10 guys in the Chase their own points structure. Yes, they are racing the other 33 guys for the win but they are racing the other nine guys for the championship so give them their own points structure and let them get their points accordingly."
"Tony Stewart Live" airs every Tuesday (8-10pm ET) exclusively on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio / Channel 128. The full program will re-air Saturday (7am ET & 8pm ET) on channel 128.
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Sadler, Busch and Montoya Usher in the Dodge Avenger Era for NASCAR Competition DETROIT (January 9, 2007) -- Dodge's NASCAR stars Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge and Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Havoline Texaco Dodge, joined Dodge executives today to unveil the new Dodge Avenger production car and its racing counterpart the Dodge Avenger Car of Tomorrow.
"It was really cool to be part of today's announcement," said Elliott Sadler. "We're looking forward to seeing the Dodge Avenger on track later this year. It's exciting to get to come to Detroit and introduce the Avenger. Hopefully, we'll get to take it to victory lane later this year."
The details on the new Dodge Avenger for NASCAR competition, along with photos of today's event at the Detroit Auto Show, are available for dodgemotorsportsmedia.com. For information please contact Debby Robinson at drobinson@... or 312.505.4336.
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Where is ... Ned Jarrett?
Legendary driver, broadcaster keeping an eye on Toyota at Daytona
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ned Jarrett strolls through the garage at Daytona International Speedway. He hasn't changed a bit.
Jarrett still looks and sounds like the same man who graced NASCAR broadcasts for more than 10 years. Jarrett's silver hair is still combed straight back, his smile is wide, and he is feeling better than he has in a long time. He is here at Daytona to watch his son Dale test the new Toyota Camry.
The debut of the Camry was something that Ned Jarrett didn't want to miss. He hadn't been to preseason testing at Daytona in more than 10 years, but a combination of good health, good weather and a Toyota debut was too good to pass up.
"I am doing well," Jarrett said. "It is almost a full-time job taking care of your health when you get to my age. I am 74 now, and things start happening where you abuse your body over the years."
Jarrett suffered two mini-strokes in the summer of 2006 -- officially, they are called Transient Ischemic Attacks -- but he is almost back to 100 percent.
"One of them [caused] some damage to my left eye, but it is coming back," Jarrett said.
Jarrett won 50 races, but retired in 1966 at age 33. A back injury suffered in 1965 continues to bug him to this day, but Jarrett spends an hour-and-a-half each morning making sure he remains in decent shape.
"As soon as I get up in the morning, I work out. Every day," Jarrett said, "I broke my back when I was racing in 1965, and it has come back to haunt me, so I have to exercise it every single day. I have got a lot of different stretches, some light weight lifting.
"It takes me, in the morning -- from the time I get up to the time I sit to eat breakfask -- it is an hour-and-a-half. Then I eat breakfast and if the weather is fit to play golf, I play golf."
Jarrett's greatest joys these days are golf and grandkids. He and his wife, Martha, hop into their Navigator to drive the 13 miles from their home in Newton, N.C., to Hickory to catch one of their grandkids' many sporting events, and Dale often comes to Newton to play golf at his father's course.
It doesn't take long for the elder Jarrett to get out his clubs. He has lived in the same house in Newton for 23 years, and his back porch is right behind the eighth green on his home course.
Jarrett hits his first golf shot of the day at 10:30 a.m., four days a week. When the sun is out -- and often when it is not -- his large group of pals get together to smack the ball, wager a few bucks and discuss things. The activity keeps Jarrett's weight down -- he weighs a slim 165 pounds, 15 pounds lighter than his driving days.
Jarrett didn't go to the track much in 2006 -- he says he was present on race day just twice -- but he maintains a room in his home with three televisions to monitor the Nextel Cup action on Sundays.
It the ultimate man room. He jokes that Martha, with whom he celebrated his 50th anniversary in 2006, won't set foot in it.
"It is sort of my room, and Martha doesn't go down there," Jarrett said. "I have three television sets. I have a big one that I have the race on, and I have one that is dedicated to the in-car camera.
"Dale would carry one [in-car camera] most of the time last year. I could pick up the audio between he and the spotter and crew chief. When he didn't have it in there, I had it rigged through my computer.
"I subscribe to TrackPass, and I ran cables from the office, where my computer is, over to the recreation room, is which all on the same floor of the house."
Jarrett worked as an analyst for MRN Radio and ESPN for many years, and still tapes his Ned Jarrett World of Racing every week for MRN. He says that today's TV announcers have it much tougher than when he was in the booth.
"The way the networks do it now, they are a little more tuned in to entertainment as opposed to just calling the races like we did in those days," Jarrett said. "It makes [the] job more challenging,"
Equally as challenging was accepting his son's exodus from Robert Yates Racing. Jarrett admits that the move from Ford to Toyota was a difficult one for him to accept, at first.
"The way things have changed over the years, with all the car companies becoming global now, I don't really have a problem with it," Jarrett said. "When Dale first came to me about it, he said that he had an opportunity [at Michael Waltrip Racing] and wondered what my thoughts on it would be.
"I had some apprehension about it, I will be honest with you, but it didn't take me long to get over that and once I learned how many people they employ in America ... There are more Toyotas built in America than Fords. That made it a whole lot easier for me to take."
Accepting Toyota was easy. It has been much more difficult for Jarrett to handle the cancer struggles of his close friend Benny Parsons, and he was saddened this week when he learned that Bobby Hamilton had died of cancer.
"Bobby was a straight shooter, first of all," Jarrett said. "He would speak straight from the heart. He would tell you what was on his mind and whether he thought you would like it or not, and I always respected it."
Legendary driver, broadcaster keeping an eye on Toyota at Daytona
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ned Jarrett strolls through the garage at Daytona International Speedway. He hasn't changed a bit.
Jarrett still looks and sounds like the same man who graced NASCAR broadcasts for more than 10 years. Jarrett's silver hair is still combed straight back, his smile is wide, and he is feeling better than he has in a long time. He is here at Daytona to watch his son Dale test the new Toyota Camry.
The debut of the Camry was something that Ned Jarrett didn't want to miss. He hadn't been to preseason testing at Daytona in more than 10 years, but a combination of good health, good weather and a Toyota debut was too good to pass up.
"I am doing well," Jarrett said. "It is almost a full-time job taking care of your health when you get to my age. I am 74 now, and things start happening where you abuse your body over the years."
Jarrett suffered two mini-strokes in the summer of 2006 -- officially, they are called Transient Ischemic Attacks -- but he is almost back to 100 percent.
"One of them [caused] some damage to my left eye, but it is coming back," Jarrett said.
Jarrett won 50 races, but retired in 1966 at age 33. A back injury suffered in 1965 continues to bug him to this day, but Jarrett spends an hour-and-a-half each morning making sure he remains in decent shape.
"As soon as I get up in the morning, I work out. Every day," Jarrett said, "I broke my back when I was racing in 1965, and it has come back to haunt me, so I have to exercise it every single day. I have got a lot of different stretches, some light weight lifting.
"It takes me, in the morning -- from the time I get up to the time I sit to eat breakfask -- it is an hour-and-a-half. Then I eat breakfast and if the weather is fit to play golf, I play golf."
Jarrett's greatest joys these days are golf and grandkids. He and his wife, Martha, hop into their Navigator to drive the 13 miles from their home in Newton, N.C., to Hickory to catch one of their grandkids' many sporting events, and Dale often comes to Newton to play golf at his father's course.
It doesn't take long for the elder Jarrett to get out his clubs. He has lived in the same house in Newton for 23 years, and his back porch is right behind the eighth green on his home course.
Jarrett hits his first golf shot of the day at 10:30 a.m., four days a week. When the sun is out -- and often when it is not -- his large group of pals get together to smack the ball, wager a few bucks and discuss things. The activity keeps Jarrett's weight down -- he weighs a slim 165 pounds, 15 pounds lighter than his driving days.
Jarrett didn't go to the track much in 2006 -- he says he was present on race day just twice -- but he maintains a room in his home with three televisions to monitor the Nextel Cup action on Sundays.
It the ultimate man room. He jokes that Martha, with whom he celebrated his 50th anniversary in 2006, won't set foot in it.
"It is sort of my room, and Martha doesn't go down there," Jarrett said. "I have three television sets. I have a big one that I have the race on, and I have one that is dedicated to the in-car camera.
"Dale would carry one [in-car camera] most of the time last year. I could pick up the audio between he and the spotter and crew chief. When he didn't have it in there, I had it rigged through my computer.
"I subscribe to TrackPass, and I ran cables from the office, where my computer is, over to the recreation room, is which all on the same floor of the house."
Jarrett worked as an analyst for MRN Radio and ESPN for many years, and still tapes his Ned Jarrett World of Racing every week for MRN. He says that today's TV announcers have it much tougher than when he was in the booth.
"The way the networks do it now, they are a little more tuned in to entertainment as opposed to just calling the races like we did in those days," Jarrett said. "It makes [the] job more challenging,"
Equally as challenging was accepting his son's exodus from Robert Yates Racing. Jarrett admits that the move from Ford to Toyota was a difficult one for him to accept, at first.
"The way things have changed over the years, with all the car companies becoming global now, I don't really have a problem with it," Jarrett said. "When Dale first came to me about it, he said that he had an opportunity [at Michael Waltrip Racing] and wondered what my thoughts on it would be.
"I had some apprehension about it, I will be honest with you, but it didn't take me long to get over that and once I learned how many people they employ in America ... There are more Toyotas built in America than Fords. That made it a whole lot easier for me to take."
Accepting Toyota was easy. It has been much more difficult for Jarrett to handle the cancer struggles of his close friend Benny Parsons, and he was saddened this week when he learned that Bobby Hamilton had died of cancer.
"Bobby was a straight shooter, first of all," Jarrett said. "He would speak straight from the heart. He would tell you what was on his mind and whether he thought you would like it or not, and I always respected it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Expectations for Toyota? There's not one answer
DAVID POOLE
Will a Toyota win a race in its first Nextel Cup season in 2007? Dale Jarrett says that's not even the right question.
"I don't think winning one race is the question," Jarrett said. "I think it's a question of how many we win. I don't think there's any doubt we will win, the question is whether each of the teams will be involved, and I think they will be."
Jarrett will drive the No. 44 Toyotas for Michael Waltrip Racing, one of three multicar operations carrying the manufacturer's banner into the Cup series after a three-year apprenticeship in the Truck Series.
After getting its wobbly legs underneath it, Toyota swept the top six spots in the standings last year. While that kind of domination might be Toyota's long-range goal for the Cup series, its short-term goals are far more modest.
David Reutimann and driver/owner Waltrip are Jarrett's teammates, and Dave Blaney has Jeremy Mayfield alongside him at Bill Davis Racing. Team Red Bull will field cars for Brian Vickers and rookie A.J. Allmendinger.
But among those seven teams scheduled to run full-time schedules, only Blaney is guaranteed a starting spot in the first five races because of his points from 2006. Jarrett is protected, too, as the most recent Cup champion who might need a former champion's provisional, but everyone is working without a net.
"The goal right now is to make sure each car is in each race," Jarrett said, speaking for the three-car Waltrip team but saying what most certainly applies to all of the Camry fleet. "That's something we're going to have to work hard on the first eight to 10 races to make sure to get the cars in the top 35 and keep them there."
But Jarrett, who with his championship and 32 career victories in 639 Cup starts is the most accomplished of Toyota's first group of drivers, said he believes that by season's end someone in a Camry could be a contender for more than just an occasional win.
"We can't guarantee a sponsor we're going to be in the Chase, but do we have a chance to do that?" he asked. "I think that opportunity is there. A good, realistic goal for us is to be in the top 15, and I think we can do that with the people we have."
Matt Borland, celebrated as one of the sport's top crew chiefs during his tenure with Ryan Newman, came over from Penske Racing to lead Jarrett's team. David Hyder will try to reverse Waltrip's 2006 struggles, and Frank Kerr will team up with Reutimann for his move up from the Truck Series.
"If you look at where I was and what I was doing, all that was kind of doing was finishing out my career," said Jarrett, who completed a 12-year stint at Robert Yates Racing last year. "This gives me an opportunity to help a good friend (Waltrip) get something started and be able to be a part of that."
Davis' team ran Dodges without manufacturer's support for the past several seasons, and the results on the track showed it. When Blaney finished fourth at Richmond last September, it was just the team's second top-five finish in four seasons. Mayfield comes over after leaving Evernham Motorsports in a messy breakup.
Team Red Bull, meanwhile, hopes to get Vickers and Allmendinger on the track with consistency.
Vickers, who got his first career Cup victory in October at Talladega before leaving Hendrick Motorsports, said he's excited about this new chapter in his career.
"During the offseason I've been in the shop at lot more than I had the past couple of years fitting seats and just kind of getting to know everybody," he said. "It's a breath of fresh air. But it has been a lot of work, too."
Driving for a new team, in a new make of car, Vickers anticipates a "learning curve."
"We'd love to go race for wins, but that's not a realistic goal right now," Vickers said. "We need to focus on building good cars, finishing races and growing the team."
Vickers' teammate faces an even stiffer challenge, as Allmendinger moves into a new motorsports discipline with a new operation. He was a star in the Champ Car World Series, but decided to come to stock cars when his contract in that series was up at the end of last season.
DAVID POOLE
Will a Toyota win a race in its first Nextel Cup season in 2007? Dale Jarrett says that's not even the right question.
"I don't think winning one race is the question," Jarrett said. "I think it's a question of how many we win. I don't think there's any doubt we will win, the question is whether each of the teams will be involved, and I think they will be."
Jarrett will drive the No. 44 Toyotas for Michael Waltrip Racing, one of three multicar operations carrying the manufacturer's banner into the Cup series after a three-year apprenticeship in the Truck Series.
After getting its wobbly legs underneath it, Toyota swept the top six spots in the standings last year. While that kind of domination might be Toyota's long-range goal for the Cup series, its short-term goals are far more modest.
David Reutimann and driver/owner Waltrip are Jarrett's teammates, and Dave Blaney has Jeremy Mayfield alongside him at Bill Davis Racing. Team Red Bull will field cars for Brian Vickers and rookie A.J. Allmendinger.
But among those seven teams scheduled to run full-time schedules, only Blaney is guaranteed a starting spot in the first five races because of his points from 2006. Jarrett is protected, too, as the most recent Cup champion who might need a former champion's provisional, but everyone is working without a net.
"The goal right now is to make sure each car is in each race," Jarrett said, speaking for the three-car Waltrip team but saying what most certainly applies to all of the Camry fleet. "That's something we're going to have to work hard on the first eight to 10 races to make sure to get the cars in the top 35 and keep them there."
But Jarrett, who with his championship and 32 career victories in 639 Cup starts is the most accomplished of Toyota's first group of drivers, said he believes that by season's end someone in a Camry could be a contender for more than just an occasional win.
"We can't guarantee a sponsor we're going to be in the Chase, but do we have a chance to do that?" he asked. "I think that opportunity is there. A good, realistic goal for us is to be in the top 15, and I think we can do that with the people we have."
Matt Borland, celebrated as one of the sport's top crew chiefs during his tenure with Ryan Newman, came over from Penske Racing to lead Jarrett's team. David Hyder will try to reverse Waltrip's 2006 struggles, and Frank Kerr will team up with Reutimann for his move up from the Truck Series.
"If you look at where I was and what I was doing, all that was kind of doing was finishing out my career," said Jarrett, who completed a 12-year stint at Robert Yates Racing last year. "This gives me an opportunity to help a good friend (Waltrip) get something started and be able to be a part of that."
Davis' team ran Dodges without manufacturer's support for the past several seasons, and the results on the track showed it. When Blaney finished fourth at Richmond last September, it was just the team's second top-five finish in four seasons. Mayfield comes over after leaving Evernham Motorsports in a messy breakup.
Team Red Bull, meanwhile, hopes to get Vickers and Allmendinger on the track with consistency.
Vickers, who got his first career Cup victory in October at Talladega before leaving Hendrick Motorsports, said he's excited about this new chapter in his career.
"During the offseason I've been in the shop at lot more than I had the past couple of years fitting seats and just kind of getting to know everybody," he said. "It's a breath of fresh air. But it has been a lot of work, too."
Driving for a new team, in a new make of car, Vickers anticipates a "learning curve."
"We'd love to go race for wins, but that's not a realistic goal right now," Vickers said. "We need to focus on building good cars, finishing races and growing the team."
Vickers' teammate faces an even stiffer challenge, as Allmendinger moves into a new motorsports discipline with a new operation. He was a star in the Champ Car World Series, but decided to come to stock cars when his contract in that series was up at the end of last season.
Jamie McMurray, team in need of a turnaround
DAVID POOLE
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Jamie McMurray learned some things in the 2006 Nextel Cup season. Some of the lessons were not pleasant ones.
"I'd go home after a race and say, `I don't think it can get any worse,'" McMurray said. "Then I'd show up the next week and I'd be like, `Wow, I was wrong.'"
In his first year at Roush Racing, McMurray had what can only be called a miserable year. He did have three top-fives, but after a third at Watkins Glen he never finished better than 17th in any of the final 14 races and wound up 25th in the final standings.
Just about the only good thing about last year for McMurray is that it's now this year.
"You don't run well and then you can't even finish," the 30-year-old driver said. "It's so frustrating and you're so mentally beat up that I think when you get to that point that you just want it to be over."
Daytona testing this week presented a new page for McMurray and his team. His new crew chief, Larry Carter, came to work with the team only last week, and the No. 26 Ford team also has a new car chief, a new engineer, a new tire specialist and several other new people in the shop.
"All of the cars are going to be brand new," McMurray added. "We pretty much changed everything. There needs to be a lot of changes to make you feel better."
McMurray crashed out three times and lost two engines in the final 10 races of 2006 while the winds of change begin to swirl around his team.
He'd started at Roush with Jimmy Fennig as his crew chief, but Bob Osborne took over in April. While McMurray finished in the top 10 in three of the first six races after the switch, he said the relationship with Osborne just never clicked.
"Our personalities were just so different," McMurray said. "Bob certainly had the skills and qualities to make a car go fast, but we didn't have the off-track down just hanging out. ...I didn't realize how important that was to me until I didn't have it."
McMurray said he went to Jack Roush in September and asked for a change.
"Jack said, `You need to go out and find who you think you're going to work well with,'" McMurray said. "I don't remember exactly how he worded it, but it was something like, `You need to kind of dig your own grave and then lay in it.'"
McMurray got to know Carter when Carter was Rusty Wallace's crew chief and McMurray drove a Busch car Wallace owned. Carter, though, was in line for a crew chief's post at Michael Waltrip Racing and McMurray didn't know if he'd come to the 26 team in the state in appeared to be in.
"I knew it would be a challenge, really, to get anybody to come over because when you run as bad as we did, no one really wants to come," McMurray said.
Carter's decision to take the job was a boost to McMurray's attitude.
He's working on that side of his game, too. When he was struggling earlier in his career in the Busch Series, McMurray said he went to a school that helped him figure out how to turn negative thinking around. He's decided to go back for a refresher course.
"If all we really had to do was race, that's pretty easy," McMurray said. "But it's dealing with the media and the bad questions or the negative questions and your sponsors and the pressure that comes along with that. I don't deal with that well and I know that, so I'm going to go back and try to get to where I can think positive again and be happy.
"I tell you, it will make you happy just to run well. If you run well, it seems like that goes away, but when you don't, it certainly drives you crazy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DAVID POOLE
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Jamie McMurray learned some things in the 2006 Nextel Cup season. Some of the lessons were not pleasant ones.
"I'd go home after a race and say, `I don't think it can get any worse,'" McMurray said. "Then I'd show up the next week and I'd be like, `Wow, I was wrong.'"
In his first year at Roush Racing, McMurray had what can only be called a miserable year. He did have three top-fives, but after a third at Watkins Glen he never finished better than 17th in any of the final 14 races and wound up 25th in the final standings.
Just about the only good thing about last year for McMurray is that it's now this year.
"You don't run well and then you can't even finish," the 30-year-old driver said. "It's so frustrating and you're so mentally beat up that I think when you get to that point that you just want it to be over."
Daytona testing this week presented a new page for McMurray and his team. His new crew chief, Larry Carter, came to work with the team only last week, and the No. 26 Ford team also has a new car chief, a new engineer, a new tire specialist and several other new people in the shop.
"All of the cars are going to be brand new," McMurray added. "We pretty much changed everything. There needs to be a lot of changes to make you feel better."
McMurray crashed out three times and lost two engines in the final 10 races of 2006 while the winds of change begin to swirl around his team.
He'd started at Roush with Jimmy Fennig as his crew chief, but Bob Osborne took over in April. While McMurray finished in the top 10 in three of the first six races after the switch, he said the relationship with Osborne just never clicked.
"Our personalities were just so different," McMurray said. "Bob certainly had the skills and qualities to make a car go fast, but we didn't have the off-track down just hanging out. ...I didn't realize how important that was to me until I didn't have it."
McMurray said he went to Jack Roush in September and asked for a change.
"Jack said, `You need to go out and find who you think you're going to work well with,'" McMurray said. "I don't remember exactly how he worded it, but it was something like, `You need to kind of dig your own grave and then lay in it.'"
McMurray got to know Carter when Carter was Rusty Wallace's crew chief and McMurray drove a Busch car Wallace owned. Carter, though, was in line for a crew chief's post at Michael Waltrip Racing and McMurray didn't know if he'd come to the 26 team in the state in appeared to be in.
"I knew it would be a challenge, really, to get anybody to come over because when you run as bad as we did, no one really wants to come," McMurray said.
Carter's decision to take the job was a boost to McMurray's attitude.
He's working on that side of his game, too. When he was struggling earlier in his career in the Busch Series, McMurray said he went to a school that helped him figure out how to turn negative thinking around. He's decided to go back for a refresher course.
"If all we really had to do was race, that's pretty easy," McMurray said. "But it's dealing with the media and the bad questions or the negative questions and your sponsors and the pressure that comes along with that. I don't deal with that well and I know that, so I'm going to go back and try to get to where I can think positive again and be happy.
"I tell you, it will make you happy just to run well. If you run well, it seems like that goes away, but when you don't, it certainly drives you crazy."
Toyota teams looked solid in open round of testing
By David Newton/ESPN.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Lee White flashed a big smile as he walked through the Nextel Cup garage on another sun-splashed day at Daytona International Speedway.
"We haven't run one into the fence and we haven't seen smoke come out of any wires yet, so we're OK," the senior vice president for Toyota Racing Development said.
White wasn't making light of what the three new Toyota Cup organizations accomplished during three-and-a- half days of preseason testing at the 2.5-mile track.
He was just being realistic, understanding these tests aren't more significant than any others the Japanese-based manufacturer has undertaken as it prepares for its debut in NASCAR's premier series in next month's Daytona 500.
"It doesn't mean anything," White said. "It's testing. You don't know what other people are working on or what they are trying to do. Until they roll out in three weeks, it's all irrelevant."
But what White saw at Daytona had to be encouraging. The difference in speed between the Toyota Camry and the other manufacturers -- Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge -- was minimal.
Dave Blaney of Bill Davis Racing was fast out of the box, posting the third-fastest lap in Monday's opening session. Dale Jarrett of Michael Waltrip Racing had the second-fastest lap on Wednesday afternoon.
Brian Vickers overcame a slow start to move into the middle of the pack for Team Red Bull, but his numbers weren't far enough off the leaders to panic.
"As a whole, everyone in the Toyota camp has to be pretty pleased with what we've seen," Jarrett said. "The engines have been very good and to be quite honest that was a concern of mine, obviously, coming from where I came from."
Jarrett left Robert Yates Racing, whose engine power was among the elite in NASCAR. Knowing how much RYR and other organizations spent on developing restrictor-plate engines for Daytona he wondered how far behind Toyota might be.
"But I was very pleased the first time that I went on the track with what I saw in regards to the engine, so we've been very good," he said.
The past four days was as much about learning to work together as it was about gaining speed for the Toyota teams.
"Especially for the 44 team," said crew chief Matt Borland, who left Penske Racing South to run Jarrett's team. "This is our first test we've been to. We're trying to get all the bugs worked out."
That's one reason some of the Toyota teams hung around for the Thursday morning session, a makeup for Monday afternoon's rainout, while other manufacturers left on Wednesday.
"We're going to take advantage of every minute that we've got," said Doug Richert, who left Roush Racing to become Vickers' crew chief.
Vickers spent much of testing with a qualifying setup, understanding the only way to guarantee a spot in the Daytona 500 is to be one of the two fastest cars in qualifying. The rest of the field is set by the order of finish in the 150-mile qualifying races.
Vickers, who came to Team Red Bull from Hendrick Motorsports, said it's unfair to assume Toyota will struggle from the outset.
"There is going to be some learning curves," he said. "When you saw Dodge come back into the sport it was a learning curve for them, but they won a race that first year and sat on a pole down here I believe.
"I don't think struggles is going to be the right word at all."
Vickers' former teammate, reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, expects Toyota to be a threat in Cup just as it already is in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Toyota began racing trucks in 2004 and this past season claimed the top six positions, winning the title with Todd Bodine.
"I definitely feel that they are going to be up there fighting for wins and a championship, but it just might take them a little time is all," he said.
Bobby Labonte said the concern isn't so much Toyota coming into the sport as it is seven new cars vying for a spot in the top 35 guaranteed a position in the field.
"That puts people out of the show on Sunday," said Labonte, whose Petty Enterprises teammate Kyle Petty barely slipped into the top 35 at the end of last season. "It's a competition thing, and it's going to get harder and harder."
At least for now, the competition between the Toyota teams isn't what it is between teams within other manufacturers. The engineers and crew chiefs at MWR, Bill Davis Racing and Team Red Bull have an open door policy when it comes to sharing information.
"That's what's been preached since the very first time that I spoke with Toyota representatives," Jarrett said. "They felt like in their model and in their plans that was the best way for all of us to become more successful more quickly.
"There will come a point in time that some of that will break away, but we have a ways to go before we get to that point."
Jarrett dispelled the ongoing dispute that Toyota has an advantage because it has the financial backing to spend more money than other manufacturers.
He said Toyota's approach to hiring isn't any different than when Dodge re-entered the sport with Ray Evernham.
"You can't take all novices and rookies and bring them in and expect to be pretty good, so you might have to pay someone a little bit more to get them to come over," he said.
"But I can tell you for a fact, because I know what we're paying a lot of these people, that they're not getting a huge raise to come work for Toyota, especially at Michael Waltrip Racing."
He said Toyota's advantage, particularly over Ford, is the engineering support that he begged for at RYR.
"Dodge did the same thing when they came in," Jarrett said. "They had the huge engineering staff and a lot of technology there and that's where their dollars were. ''
Borland, who has a degree in engineering and came from a company that had plenty of engineering, said the engineering support at Toyota has been "awesome."
"They've got a great group that comes to all of our tests," he said. "To show up at a test like this and be that close [in speed] right out of the box is impressive."
Jarrett has seen enough to be optimistic about his chances when he returns for the Daytona 500 that he won in 1993, '96 and 2000.
"Everything is there for that to happen," he said. "Will there be some growing pains? Yeah. Trying to find out exactly what they want at each different track will take us a little bit of time.
"But the possibility is there for us to be very competitive right from the start."
Perhaps that's why White was smiling.
"I spend most of my time on the computer working with [TRD] in California and North Carolina," he said. "The teams have their own things and they're doing it. I'm here to watch and learn.
"But so far, we're OK."
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.
By David Newton/ESPN.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Lee White flashed a big smile as he walked through the Nextel Cup garage on another sun-splashed day at Daytona International Speedway.
"We haven't run one into the fence and we haven't seen smoke come out of any wires yet, so we're OK," the senior vice president for Toyota Racing Development said.
White wasn't making light of what the three new Toyota Cup organizations accomplished during three-and-a- half days of preseason testing at the 2.5-mile track.
He was just being realistic, understanding these tests aren't more significant than any others the Japanese-based manufacturer has undertaken as it prepares for its debut in NASCAR's premier series in next month's Daytona 500.
"It doesn't mean anything," White said. "It's testing. You don't know what other people are working on or what they are trying to do. Until they roll out in three weeks, it's all irrelevant."
But what White saw at Daytona had to be encouraging. The difference in speed between the Toyota Camry and the other manufacturers -- Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge -- was minimal.
Dave Blaney of Bill Davis Racing was fast out of the box, posting the third-fastest lap in Monday's opening session. Dale Jarrett of Michael Waltrip Racing had the second-fastest lap on Wednesday afternoon.
Brian Vickers overcame a slow start to move into the middle of the pack for Team Red Bull, but his numbers weren't far enough off the leaders to panic.
"As a whole, everyone in the Toyota camp has to be pretty pleased with what we've seen," Jarrett said. "The engines have been very good and to be quite honest that was a concern of mine, obviously, coming from where I came from."
Jarrett left Robert Yates Racing, whose engine power was among the elite in NASCAR. Knowing how much RYR and other organizations spent on developing restrictor-plate engines for Daytona he wondered how far behind Toyota might be.
"But I was very pleased the first time that I went on the track with what I saw in regards to the engine, so we've been very good," he said.
The past four days was as much about learning to work together as it was about gaining speed for the Toyota teams.
"Especially for the 44 team," said crew chief Matt Borland, who left Penske Racing South to run Jarrett's team. "This is our first test we've been to. We're trying to get all the bugs worked out."
That's one reason some of the Toyota teams hung around for the Thursday morning session, a makeup for Monday afternoon's rainout, while other manufacturers left on Wednesday.
"We're going to take advantage of every minute that we've got," said Doug Richert, who left Roush Racing to become Vickers' crew chief.
Vickers spent much of testing with a qualifying setup, understanding the only way to guarantee a spot in the Daytona 500 is to be one of the two fastest cars in qualifying. The rest of the field is set by the order of finish in the 150-mile qualifying races.
Vickers, who came to Team Red Bull from Hendrick Motorsports, said it's unfair to assume Toyota will struggle from the outset.
"There is going to be some learning curves," he said. "When you saw Dodge come back into the sport it was a learning curve for them, but they won a race that first year and sat on a pole down here I believe.
"I don't think struggles is going to be the right word at all."
Vickers' former teammate, reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, expects Toyota to be a threat in Cup just as it already is in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Toyota began racing trucks in 2004 and this past season claimed the top six positions, winning the title with Todd Bodine.
"I definitely feel that they are going to be up there fighting for wins and a championship, but it just might take them a little time is all," he said.
Bobby Labonte said the concern isn't so much Toyota coming into the sport as it is seven new cars vying for a spot in the top 35 guaranteed a position in the field.
"That puts people out of the show on Sunday," said Labonte, whose Petty Enterprises teammate Kyle Petty barely slipped into the top 35 at the end of last season. "It's a competition thing, and it's going to get harder and harder."
At least for now, the competition between the Toyota teams isn't what it is between teams within other manufacturers. The engineers and crew chiefs at MWR, Bill Davis Racing and Team Red Bull have an open door policy when it comes to sharing information.
"That's what's been preached since the very first time that I spoke with Toyota representatives," Jarrett said. "They felt like in their model and in their plans that was the best way for all of us to become more successful more quickly.
"There will come a point in time that some of that will break away, but we have a ways to go before we get to that point."
Jarrett dispelled the ongoing dispute that Toyota has an advantage because it has the financial backing to spend more money than other manufacturers.
He said Toyota's approach to hiring isn't any different than when Dodge re-entered the sport with Ray Evernham.
"You can't take all novices and rookies and bring them in and expect to be pretty good, so you might have to pay someone a little bit more to get them to come over," he said.
"But I can tell you for a fact, because I know what we're paying a lot of these people, that they're not getting a huge raise to come work for Toyota, especially at Michael Waltrip Racing."
He said Toyota's advantage, particularly over Ford, is the engineering support that he begged for at RYR.
"Dodge did the same thing when they came in," Jarrett said. "They had the huge engineering staff and a lot of technology there and that's where their dollars were. ''
Borland, who has a degree in engineering and came from a company that had plenty of engineering, said the engineering support at Toyota has been "awesome."
"They've got a great group that comes to all of our tests," he said. "To show up at a test like this and be that close [in speed] right out of the box is impressive."
Jarrett has seen enough to be optimistic about his chances when he returns for the Daytona 500 that he won in 1993, '96 and 2000.
"Everything is there for that to happen," he said. "Will there be some growing pains? Yeah. Trying to find out exactly what they want at each different track will take us a little bit of time.
"But the possibility is there for us to be very competitive right from the start."
Perhaps that's why White was smiling.
"I spend most of my time on the computer working with [TRD] in California and North Carolina," he said. "The teams have their own things and they're doing it. I'm here to watch and learn.
"But so far, we're OK."
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Greg Engle
Jamie McMurray didn't exactly have a stellar freshman season at Roush Racing.
After leaving Chip Ganassi and signing with Roush in 2006, McMurray had what can best be described as a miserable season. But McMurray begins 2007 with a renewed optimism after a wholesale slew of changes during the off-season.
"We've changed so much," McMurray said Wednesday morning at Daytona International Speedway. "We've got a new crew chief, new car chief, new engineer, new tire guy, new guys at the shop. All of the cars are gonna be brand new. We pretty much have already changed everything."
After scoring a victory in only his second Nextel Cup start in 2002, McMurray has watched his fortunes tumble over the last few seasons, the low perhaps came last year when he scored only three top five finishes and seven top ten finishes the entire season.
"The deal with last year, I would tell myself after I'd go home after a race and say, `I don't think it can get any worse,' and then I'd show up the next week and I'd be like, `Wow, I was wrong,'" McMurray said.
McMurray also had five DNFs last year, all coming in the last ten races of the season.
"The last 10 races, I don't know how many we finished, but I think we didn't finish more than we did finish," McMurray said. "So when you don't run well and then you can't even finish it's so frustrating and you're so mentally beat up that I think when you get to that point that you just want it to be over."
As McMurray has rebuilt his team, he's also had to rebuild his own confidence as well.
"Everyone always joked around about how I always smiled and laughed, but you're right, at the end of the year I would divert myself to the front of the hauler so I didn't have to walk behind with everybody," McMurray said. "I was scared of the questions that were gonna be asked or people would ask the same question about what's wrong. If I knew what was wrong, I would have went and tried to fix it.
"I don't deal with that very well and I know that," he added. "So I'm gonna go back and try to get to where I can think positive again and be happy."
He took a big step in that direction Tuesday by posting the fastest lap in the morning session of testing at Daytona.
"I tell you, it will make you happy as hell just to run well," McMurray said. "If you run well, it seems like that goes away, but when you don't, it certainly drives you crazy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Big things could be in store for Childress
Lee Spencer / FOXSports.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Richard Childress ought to arrive at testing on horseback donning a black Stetson, fresh from his ranch in Bozeman, Mont. At least that's the way I see it.
On Wednesday, however, he landed across the street from Daytona International Speedway in the Richard Childress Racing jet. He still walks with the driver's swagger, though now it's exaggerated by the success he's still savoring from last season. Childress left his boots in Montana this morning, opting for more practical, conventional shoes that somehow don't match the black fleece vest he wears over his crisp, white, oxford dress shirt or his trademark ebony Wranglers.
Childress greets me in the foyer of the media center with a Happy New Year bear hug. It's been a month since I've seen him, but he appears rested and ready to capitalize on this year's opportunities. And there are many.
Kevin Harvick is sporting an entirely different look with the backing of Shell Oil. Gone is GM Goodwrench as the primary sponsor and so is the onus of Dale Earnhardt's legacy, which has weighed heavily on Harvick since he first filled in for the Intimidator at Rockingham nearly six years ago. K-Harv can finally establish his own identity with Shell.
Still, Childress (in his infinite wisdom) is quick to interject that, lest we forget, RCR would not be the company it is today without the more than two decades of support from Goodwrench. Agreed. But it will be interesting to see how Harvick, who finished a solid fourth in the 2006 point standings, responds to this new beginning.
Jeff Burton has eased into his leadership role at RCR. If any driver represents the collective voice of the competitors, it's Burton. It's no surprise that Dale Earnhardt personally selected Burton as his successor in the No. 3 a role he never had the chance to fill. He's pragmatic and political when he needs to be.
Had Clint Bowyer joined the RCR Cup roster a year later, he would have benefited from the advancements the company achieved in 2006. But R.C. loved Bowyer's chutzpah from the moment he laid eyes on him and holds high expectations for his sophomore shoe.
But the question on everyone's mind has to be the possibility of a fourth team especially with the Dale Jr./Teresa Earnhardt family feud in full throttle. R.C. has never backed off from acknowledging his willingness to field "a car" for Junior if there was ever a necessity for it. Necessity, it appears could be right around the next corner.
"Have you spoken with Junior?" I asked R.C. The question hung in the air for a moment. Then Childress pulled me away from the counter and anyone else within earshot.
"Is there a deal on the table?"
"No comment," Childress answers safely.
"Are you kidding me?" I respond.
Childress pulls me close, lifts his Maui Jim shades and exposes his baby blues. He doesn't have to say another word. R.C., your secret is safe with me.
Lee Spencer is FOXSports.com's senior NASCAR writer.
Lee Spencer / FOXSports.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Richard Childress ought to arrive at testing on horseback donning a black Stetson, fresh from his ranch in Bozeman, Mont. At least that's the way I see it.
On Wednesday, however, he landed across the street from Daytona International Speedway in the Richard Childress Racing jet. He still walks with the driver's swagger, though now it's exaggerated by the success he's still savoring from last season. Childress left his boots in Montana this morning, opting for more practical, conventional shoes that somehow don't match the black fleece vest he wears over his crisp, white, oxford dress shirt or his trademark ebony Wranglers.
Childress greets me in the foyer of the media center with a Happy New Year bear hug. It's been a month since I've seen him, but he appears rested and ready to capitalize on this year's opportunities. And there are many.
Kevin Harvick is sporting an entirely different look with the backing of Shell Oil. Gone is GM Goodwrench as the primary sponsor and so is the onus of Dale Earnhardt's legacy, which has weighed heavily on Harvick since he first filled in for the Intimidator at Rockingham nearly six years ago. K-Harv can finally establish his own identity with Shell.
Still, Childress (in his infinite wisdom) is quick to interject that, lest we forget, RCR would not be the company it is today without the more than two decades of support from Goodwrench. Agreed. But it will be interesting to see how Harvick, who finished a solid fourth in the 2006 point standings, responds to this new beginning.
Jeff Burton has eased into his leadership role at RCR. If any driver represents the collective voice of the competitors, it's Burton. It's no surprise that Dale Earnhardt personally selected Burton as his successor in the No. 3 a role he never had the chance to fill. He's pragmatic and political when he needs to be.
Had Clint Bowyer joined the RCR Cup roster a year later, he would have benefited from the advancements the company achieved in 2006. But R.C. loved Bowyer's chutzpah from the moment he laid eyes on him and holds high expectations for his sophomore shoe.
But the question on everyone's mind has to be the possibility of a fourth team especially with the Dale Jr./Teresa Earnhardt family feud in full throttle. R.C. has never backed off from acknowledging his willingness to field "a car" for Junior if there was ever a necessity for it. Necessity, it appears could be right around the next corner.
"Have you spoken with Junior?" I asked R.C. The question hung in the air for a moment. Then Childress pulled me away from the counter and anyone else within earshot.
"Is there a deal on the table?"
"No comment," Childress answers safely.
"Are you kidding me?" I respond.
Childress pulls me close, lifts his Maui Jim shades and exposes his baby blues. He doesn't have to say another word. R.C., your secret is safe with me.
Lee Spencer is FOXSports.com's senior NASCAR writer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
USA TODAY interview: At home with Jr.
By Seth Livingstone, USA TODAY
CLEVELAND, N.C. Three miles from Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s front gate, a sheriff's vehicle, blue lights flashing, leads a seven-car funeral procession to Antioch Baptist Church.
Down the road, a rebel flag flies behind one of the many prefab homes that share the landscape with grazing cattle.
It's here, just outside his hometown of Mooresville, that this son of a racing legend has built his haven, a 140-acre sanctuary designed for living, entertaining and enjoying occasional periods of tranquillity. It's fewer than 40 miles from NASCAR racing's Charlotte epicenter, yet a world removed from the spotlight that relentlessly follows one of sports' most marketable commodities.
He pays a price for being named NASCAR's most popular driver for four years running. He's often besieged by fans, gawkers and autograph hounds who'll try anything to get up close and personal. Earnhardt can't walk into Wal-Mart or Applebee's without being noticed, so he's done his darnedest to bring the outside world inside his gates.
When the mood strikes, he can retreat to the saloon in the replica of a Western town he has built, pull up a lounge chair beside a new pool that overlooks the vintage gas station housing the 18 go-karts on the property, or play a round of golf on the six-hole, par-3 course he has carved into the hills opposite his home.
But on this day the golf bag sits idle, behind the red 2006 Corvette in his three-car garage.
There's no time for golf, billiards or Earnhardt's favorite activity simulated racing games on the computer. Not with racing-related meetings and an interview session at his home. Not with a scheduled flight to Paducah, Ky., for a banquet to honor champions at the track he co-owns with drivers Tony Stewart and Ken Schrader.
Earnhardt travels a lot. Sometimes his driveway serves as a landing pad for the helicopter that will whisk him away. The previous day, he had been in Atlanta to shoot a Chevrolet commercial for hours.
And he couldn't wait to get home: "The worst part about this place is (that) as soon as you leave, you're missing it. It's not that I'm doing anything (special) here. I just like it. I feel real OK here."
Popularity pays (in wallet)
Even at 32, Earnhardt doesn't mind being called "Junior," as most everyone addresses him. "For what my dad accomplished" seven NASCAR championships "I think he's earned total right for that name to stand on its own," he said.
He's embroiled in contract negotiations with stepmother Teresa, who controls Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI), his Nextel Cup race team and the multimillion-dollar merchandising rights to his father's name. At issue: the direction and control of DEI.
As his father did with DEI, Earnhardt is building his reputation and shop from the ground up. He opened a 66,000-square-foot facility 7 miles from home last week. It will house JR Motorsports, where his Busch, USAR Hooters Pro Cup and Late Model series cars will be built.
Earnhardt is not hurting for cash. He won more than $7 million in Nextel Cup prize money in 2006. That doesn't begin to calculate his value. In 2004 Forbes ranked him tops among NASCAR drivers with total earnings of $20.1 million, 18th on the list of the world's 50 highest-paid athletes. Golfer Tiger Woods ($80.3 million) and Formula One driver Michael Schumacher ($80 million) topped the list.
For Earnhardt to combat the price of celebrity, the driver of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet has spent the past two years building and refining his private domain behind a white country fence. It's a place where he and friends can let loose away from the prying eyes of TV cameras and fandom. It's a difficult task because of a legion of fans who are particularly vocal in NASCAR's traditional strongholds south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
In Atlanta, in front of the camera, Earnhardt was out of his element. Back home, sporting Wrangler jeans, an International Boxing Hall of Fame T-shirt and red-striped Adidas sneakers, he's able to kick his feet up on a chair in his memorabilia-filled office down the hill from his home and feel at ease.
"When I'm here, nobody judges me; I get to be who I want to be and act like I want to act," he said. "When I'm outside of that gate, you don't know what's around the corner, who might be trying to come after you."
Earnhardt plans to live here "until I'm done driving. I don't know where I'll go. It might be somewhere in the mountains. It might be in the middle of Texas. Eventually, I might move maybe when I'm 50ish and not tied into having to be here."
Private lifestyle
Earnhardt previously lived across the road from DEI with half-brother Kerry. His new home is a sophisticated farmhouse that was on the property when he bought it. Executive-worthy but far from lavish, it's a modular structure, with three bedrooms upstairs and a main-level office he has converted into his computer room with four stations for online racing.
The basement offers a billiard room with art-deco furnishings. There's a separate bar area with seating for eight, an air-hockey table and an elaborate, bar-style baseball game courtesy of Anheuser-Busch.
There are photos of Earnhardt with his dad, a cardboard Elvis and movie posters galore, but only two trophies the Winston from his 2000 rookie season, which rests next to the fish tank in the foyer, and one from Bristol Motor Speedway which is near a stuffed Sesame Street "Cookie Monster" in the TV room.
Clearly, the property's attraction was not the pre-existing domicile but the rolling terrain that permits Earnhardt to build what he wishes, where he wishes. His sister, Kelley, lives in one of the three houses. Teammate Martin Truex Jr. lived in another last year. Earnhardt also bought adjacent parcels, allowing him to build housing for close friends and racing associates. Two duplexes are under construction.
This extended family is part of his security system. Earnhardt guards his privacy with fences, a motorized main gate and electronic monitors. But his human monitors, those he trusts, work best.
Yet the curious still might stake out his home or even ring his doorbell in the middle of the night.
Privacy, it seems, can be as hard to secure as a checkered flag at Daytona International Speedway.
"You get some people that will sit at the front gate. They think they're going to just drive up here and get a meeting with somebody," he said. "I've gotten woke up a couple times in the middle of the night by people who've jumped the fence. The fact that the driveway's a mile-and-a-half long and they'll walk it at 3 a.m., that's probably more shocking than anything."
When he's home, Earnhardt knows there are certain places he can go without much hassle. Big Red, as his beefy Chevrolet pickup is called, might pull into Five Guys for cheeseburgers. His favorite hangout: Pie-In-The-Sky pizza parlor, about 15 minutes from home.
Any semblance of normalcy vanishes when the NASCAR circuit makes one of its 34 weekly stops away from the Charlotte area: "When I go to a race market, that's when it gets hard. You go from the motor home to the (race) car. That's it. You don't go to the grocery store. You don't go to the movies."
Even on home turf, he remains guarded. In allowing a rare glimpse, he refused photographs of his Western village or himself.
"I know if the Western town becomes popular and people become aware of it, they'll just assume that it doesn't bother me if they walk through the woods to see it. They're gonna assume: 'Junior don't care. He's a great guy. He's OK with everything.' That's really the reputation I've got."
Not that he's antisocial. He had more than a few guests at his former home 600, he estimates, one New Year's Eve. Parties at "Club-E" across from DEI headquarters and tales of late-night drinking became as legendary as late-race daring by his dad, The Intimidator.
It's considerably more serene on the current property, where his sister stables her two horses and one of Earnhardt's two fluffy cats, the black-and-white Tux, perches himself in the kitchen window overlooking the pool. Drivers such as Elliott Sadler, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne have been known to drop by to race go-karts.
Earnhardt, who appears in a recent video with hip-hop artist Jay-Z and enjoys the sounds of multiple rock artists, might be accused of bringing Southern culture into his home. Among his most recent additions is a baby grand player piano that dominates the living room.
"One of my favorite songs ever is 'Last Date,' by Floyd Cramer," Earnhardt said, "and (the piano) plays that song. Even if that was the only song it could play, I'd still have bought the damn thing because it's just awesome to sit there and listen to it and watch the keys move."
Earnhardt says he intends to allow himself more simple pleasures: "I put money into my race team and things like that. But I don't never get anywhere near foolish with it. (Lately) I'm thinking I've been doing all this, working real hard, racing. And I've just started really doing things for myself."
'I'm average'
Moving the Busch, Hooters and Late Model racing operations out of the shop on his property means Earnhardt has more room for his classic car collection. His silver 1967 Camaro is his favorite.
Sonny Lunsford, married to Earnhardt's cousin Stacy, is Earnhardt's property manager. He had much to do with the design and implementation of features at the new shop and on the estate. Lunsford set to work building both sides of the Old West street. "Dale just said, 'Make it however you want. Make it cool,' " Lunsford said.
Besides the saloon that hosted an 80-guest birthday party, there's a general store, a church with a 75-foot steeple, a hotel with three bunk-bed-equipped guest rooms and a jail with two working cells.
Alas, the building boom might be over.
"I'm gonna stop building stuff," Earnhardt vowed. "A year from now, I think you'll see a lot more landscaping up to the front gate, along the driveway."
For the next couple of decades, he expects the saloon, go-kart track and life with his closest family and friends will do just fine: "There's certain things I've been able to do and afford because of racing and winning money. But when it really comes down to what gets you by, it's pretty typical stuff. I think that's what really endears my fans. It's that I'm average. What I enjoy is the friends that I have here and that they're common people. I like hanging on to that."
By Seth Livingstone, USA TODAY
CLEVELAND, N.C. Three miles from Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s front gate, a sheriff's vehicle, blue lights flashing, leads a seven-car funeral procession to Antioch Baptist Church.
Down the road, a rebel flag flies behind one of the many prefab homes that share the landscape with grazing cattle.
It's here, just outside his hometown of Mooresville, that this son of a racing legend has built his haven, a 140-acre sanctuary designed for living, entertaining and enjoying occasional periods of tranquillity. It's fewer than 40 miles from NASCAR racing's Charlotte epicenter, yet a world removed from the spotlight that relentlessly follows one of sports' most marketable commodities.
He pays a price for being named NASCAR's most popular driver for four years running. He's often besieged by fans, gawkers and autograph hounds who'll try anything to get up close and personal. Earnhardt can't walk into Wal-Mart or Applebee's without being noticed, so he's done his darnedest to bring the outside world inside his gates.
When the mood strikes, he can retreat to the saloon in the replica of a Western town he has built, pull up a lounge chair beside a new pool that overlooks the vintage gas station housing the 18 go-karts on the property, or play a round of golf on the six-hole, par-3 course he has carved into the hills opposite his home.
But on this day the golf bag sits idle, behind the red 2006 Corvette in his three-car garage.
There's no time for golf, billiards or Earnhardt's favorite activity simulated racing games on the computer. Not with racing-related meetings and an interview session at his home. Not with a scheduled flight to Paducah, Ky., for a banquet to honor champions at the track he co-owns with drivers Tony Stewart and Ken Schrader.
Earnhardt travels a lot. Sometimes his driveway serves as a landing pad for the helicopter that will whisk him away. The previous day, he had been in Atlanta to shoot a Chevrolet commercial for hours.
And he couldn't wait to get home: "The worst part about this place is (that) as soon as you leave, you're missing it. It's not that I'm doing anything (special) here. I just like it. I feel real OK here."
Popularity pays (in wallet)
Even at 32, Earnhardt doesn't mind being called "Junior," as most everyone addresses him. "For what my dad accomplished" seven NASCAR championships "I think he's earned total right for that name to stand on its own," he said.
He's embroiled in contract negotiations with stepmother Teresa, who controls Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI), his Nextel Cup race team and the multimillion-dollar merchandising rights to his father's name. At issue: the direction and control of DEI.
As his father did with DEI, Earnhardt is building his reputation and shop from the ground up. He opened a 66,000-square-foot facility 7 miles from home last week. It will house JR Motorsports, where his Busch, USAR Hooters Pro Cup and Late Model series cars will be built.
Earnhardt is not hurting for cash. He won more than $7 million in Nextel Cup prize money in 2006. That doesn't begin to calculate his value. In 2004 Forbes ranked him tops among NASCAR drivers with total earnings of $20.1 million, 18th on the list of the world's 50 highest-paid athletes. Golfer Tiger Woods ($80.3 million) and Formula One driver Michael Schumacher ($80 million) topped the list.
For Earnhardt to combat the price of celebrity, the driver of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet has spent the past two years building and refining his private domain behind a white country fence. It's a place where he and friends can let loose away from the prying eyes of TV cameras and fandom. It's a difficult task because of a legion of fans who are particularly vocal in NASCAR's traditional strongholds south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
In Atlanta, in front of the camera, Earnhardt was out of his element. Back home, sporting Wrangler jeans, an International Boxing Hall of Fame T-shirt and red-striped Adidas sneakers, he's able to kick his feet up on a chair in his memorabilia-filled office down the hill from his home and feel at ease.
"When I'm here, nobody judges me; I get to be who I want to be and act like I want to act," he said. "When I'm outside of that gate, you don't know what's around the corner, who might be trying to come after you."
Earnhardt plans to live here "until I'm done driving. I don't know where I'll go. It might be somewhere in the mountains. It might be in the middle of Texas. Eventually, I might move maybe when I'm 50ish and not tied into having to be here."
Private lifestyle
Earnhardt previously lived across the road from DEI with half-brother Kerry. His new home is a sophisticated farmhouse that was on the property when he bought it. Executive-worthy but far from lavish, it's a modular structure, with three bedrooms upstairs and a main-level office he has converted into his computer room with four stations for online racing.
The basement offers a billiard room with art-deco furnishings. There's a separate bar area with seating for eight, an air-hockey table and an elaborate, bar-style baseball game courtesy of Anheuser-Busch.
There are photos of Earnhardt with his dad, a cardboard Elvis and movie posters galore, but only two trophies the Winston from his 2000 rookie season, which rests next to the fish tank in the foyer, and one from Bristol Motor Speedway which is near a stuffed Sesame Street "Cookie Monster" in the TV room.
Clearly, the property's attraction was not the pre-existing domicile but the rolling terrain that permits Earnhardt to build what he wishes, where he wishes. His sister, Kelley, lives in one of the three houses. Teammate Martin Truex Jr. lived in another last year. Earnhardt also bought adjacent parcels, allowing him to build housing for close friends and racing associates. Two duplexes are under construction.
This extended family is part of his security system. Earnhardt guards his privacy with fences, a motorized main gate and electronic monitors. But his human monitors, those he trusts, work best.
Yet the curious still might stake out his home or even ring his doorbell in the middle of the night.
Privacy, it seems, can be as hard to secure as a checkered flag at Daytona International Speedway.
"You get some people that will sit at the front gate. They think they're going to just drive up here and get a meeting with somebody," he said. "I've gotten woke up a couple times in the middle of the night by people who've jumped the fence. The fact that the driveway's a mile-and-a-half long and they'll walk it at 3 a.m., that's probably more shocking than anything."
When he's home, Earnhardt knows there are certain places he can go without much hassle. Big Red, as his beefy Chevrolet pickup is called, might pull into Five Guys for cheeseburgers. His favorite hangout: Pie-In-The-Sky pizza parlor, about 15 minutes from home.
Any semblance of normalcy vanishes when the NASCAR circuit makes one of its 34 weekly stops away from the Charlotte area: "When I go to a race market, that's when it gets hard. You go from the motor home to the (race) car. That's it. You don't go to the grocery store. You don't go to the movies."
Even on home turf, he remains guarded. In allowing a rare glimpse, he refused photographs of his Western village or himself.
"I know if the Western town becomes popular and people become aware of it, they'll just assume that it doesn't bother me if they walk through the woods to see it. They're gonna assume: 'Junior don't care. He's a great guy. He's OK with everything.' That's really the reputation I've got."
Not that he's antisocial. He had more than a few guests at his former home 600, he estimates, one New Year's Eve. Parties at "Club-E" across from DEI headquarters and tales of late-night drinking became as legendary as late-race daring by his dad, The Intimidator.
It's considerably more serene on the current property, where his sister stables her two horses and one of Earnhardt's two fluffy cats, the black-and-white Tux, perches himself in the kitchen window overlooking the pool. Drivers such as Elliott Sadler, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne have been known to drop by to race go-karts.
Earnhardt, who appears in a recent video with hip-hop artist Jay-Z and enjoys the sounds of multiple rock artists, might be accused of bringing Southern culture into his home. Among his most recent additions is a baby grand player piano that dominates the living room.
"One of my favorite songs ever is 'Last Date,' by Floyd Cramer," Earnhardt said, "and (the piano) plays that song. Even if that was the only song it could play, I'd still have bought the damn thing because it's just awesome to sit there and listen to it and watch the keys move."
Earnhardt says he intends to allow himself more simple pleasures: "I put money into my race team and things like that. But I don't never get anywhere near foolish with it. (Lately) I'm thinking I've been doing all this, working real hard, racing. And I've just started really doing things for myself."
'I'm average'
Moving the Busch, Hooters and Late Model racing operations out of the shop on his property means Earnhardt has more room for his classic car collection. His silver 1967 Camaro is his favorite.
Sonny Lunsford, married to Earnhardt's cousin Stacy, is Earnhardt's property manager. He had much to do with the design and implementation of features at the new shop and on the estate. Lunsford set to work building both sides of the Old West street. "Dale just said, 'Make it however you want. Make it cool,' " Lunsford said.
Besides the saloon that hosted an 80-guest birthday party, there's a general store, a church with a 75-foot steeple, a hotel with three bunk-bed-equipped guest rooms and a jail with two working cells.
Alas, the building boom might be over.
"I'm gonna stop building stuff," Earnhardt vowed. "A year from now, I think you'll see a lot more landscaping up to the front gate, along the driveway."
For the next couple of decades, he expects the saloon, go-kart track and life with his closest family and friends will do just fine: "There's certain things I've been able to do and afford because of racing and winning money. But when it really comes down to what gets you by, it's pretty typical stuff. I think that's what really endears my fans. It's that I'm average. What I enjoy is the friends that I have here and that they're common people. I like hanging on to that."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Championships have always driven me to win races. That 3 car pulling into the track would cause people to look around and wonder what we were doing, to see how to beat us."
-Dale Earnhardt
-Dale Earnhardt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain,Your
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants wins't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt 1998
"It's nothin' personal, it's just racin'
-Dale Earnhardt Sr.
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