Having problems with message search?
Countdown to Daytona
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quote of the Year
"I love what I do; I love this business."
-- Bobby Hamilton Sr, March 2006 as he announced he had cancer
"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
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comments from the Peanut Gallery
from Keith
Momma, Tell R.D. if he push's the control button down and rolls the roller on his mouse it will enlarge the type.. Keep up the good work, Go Jr. from KWH in Iowa
from Judy
Thanks mom for the larger font. My old eyes thank you, too. Keep up the good work. Judy
from RD
Thanks for changing the print size.
Yep getting older, and my glasses need an upgrade.
About Smoke, he will be in the 24, saw it on Speed Report, Sunday.
rd
from Keith
Momma, Tell R.D. if he push's the control button down and rolls the roller on his mouse it will enlarge the type.. Keep up the good work, Go Jr. from KWH in Iowa
from Judy
Thanks mom for the larger font. My old eyes thank you, too. Keep up the good work. Judy
from RD
Thanks for changing the print size.
Yep getting older, and my glasses need an upgrade.
About Smoke, he will be in the 24, saw it on Speed Report, Sunday.
rd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bits and Pieces
Edwards apologizes to Stewart
Carl Edwards has allowed the winter to cool him off.
After Tony Stewart triggered a three-car collision at Pocono Raceway last July, Edwards, whose car was involved in the crash, came back at Stewart, asking, "How can a person make it this far in life and be that much of a jerk?"
Last week Stewart responded to Edwards on his weekly talk show on Sirius satellite radio.
Stewart, who has been fined by NASCAR in the past for various incidents, said he's not afraid of his feud with Edwards costing him money. In fact, he said he's planning ahead this year.
"I promise you this and I promise the race fans this: The next time that I hear Carl Edwards tell me that he's going to make me bleed he better be ready to do it right then and there. Straight up," Stewart said. "I don't care what the fine is from NASCAR. I've got $50,000 saved."
For Edwards part, he offered his apology Monday while at Daytona International Speedway for testing.
"What I did wrong was I got out of the car and made it a personal attack and said some things I shouldn't have said," Carl Edwards said. "Obviously, I was really upset with Tony. For that, I apologize. I shouldn't have done that. "I've learned that we're all in this together. I'd do anything in the world for Tony. He's a good guy. I hope we can put that behind us. I hope it's water in the bridge. If we can go into Daytona and draft together and finish 1-2 in the Daytona 500, that'd be fine with me."
Edwards apologizes to Stewart
Carl Edwards has allowed the winter to cool him off.
After Tony Stewart triggered a three-car collision at Pocono Raceway last July, Edwards, whose car was involved in the crash, came back at Stewart, asking, "How can a person make it this far in life and be that much of a jerk?"
Last week Stewart responded to Edwards on his weekly talk show on Sirius satellite radio.
Stewart, who has been fined by NASCAR in the past for various incidents, said he's not afraid of his feud with Edwards costing him money. In fact, he said he's planning ahead this year.
"I promise you this and I promise the race fans this: The next time that I hear Carl Edwards tell me that he's going to make me bleed he better be ready to do it right then and there. Straight up," Stewart said. "I don't care what the fine is from NASCAR. I've got $50,000 saved."
For Edwards part, he offered his apology Monday while at Daytona International Speedway for testing.
"What I did wrong was I got out of the car and made it a personal attack and said some things I shouldn't have said," Carl Edwards said. "Obviously, I was really upset with Tony. For that, I apologize. I shouldn't have done that. "I've learned that we're all in this together. I'd do anything in the world for Tony. He's a good guy. I hope we can put that behind us. I hope it's water in the bridge. If we can go into Daytona and draft together and finish 1-2 in the Daytona 500, that'd be fine with me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vickers takes over for Allmendinger at Daytona
AJ Allmendinger will finish his week of testing at Daytona International Speedway early.
Allmendinger, the open wheel star and newest addition to the Red Bull driver lineup, will step aside Tuesday to allow teammate Brian Vickers to return.
Vickers, who has more stock car experience than Allmendinger, will help the team try to find the speed that has eluded them so far in the Daytona test sessions. Vickers scheduled test session was last week, but team officials confirmed Monday that they would bring him back to Daytona. During last week's session, Vickers and Team Red Bull posted the slowest laps among the Toyota's that tested.
Allmendinger managed a 34th place lap on the speed charts on Monday.
AJ Allmendinger will finish his week of testing at Daytona International Speedway early.
Allmendinger, the open wheel star and newest addition to the Red Bull driver lineup, will step aside Tuesday to allow teammate Brian Vickers to return.
Vickers, who has more stock car experience than Allmendinger, will help the team try to find the speed that has eluded them so far in the Daytona test sessions. Vickers scheduled test session was last week, but team officials confirmed Monday that they would bring him back to Daytona. During last week's session, Vickers and Team Red Bull posted the slowest laps among the Toyota's that tested.
Allmendinger managed a 34th place lap on the speed charts on Monday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Penske to test COT at Daytona this week
Penske Racing driver Kurt Busch said Monday night that they will test a speedway version of the Car Of Tomorrow this week at Daytona.
"It's just matter of us wanting to get ahead of the game and set the curve and raise the bar for people that are thinking they have their Car of Tomorrow scienced out while we've got ours here ready to go for a speedway test," Busch said.
Busch also said his Miller Lite Dodge team has come up with a new acronym for the Car Of Tomorrow or `COT'. Their version? `CORN' which stands for the `Car of Right Now'
Penske Racing driver Kurt Busch said Monday night that they will test a speedway version of the Car Of Tomorrow this week at Daytona.
"It's just matter of us wanting to get ahead of the game and set the curve and raise the bar for people that are thinking they have their Car of Tomorrow scienced out while we've got ours here ready to go for a speedway test," Busch said.
Busch also said his Miller Lite Dodge team has come up with a new acronym for the Car Of Tomorrow or `COT'. Their version? `CORN' which stands for the `Car of Right Now'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cingular / AT&T hope to stay as #31 sponsor: #31-Jeff Burton said sponsor Cingular would like to stay in the sport and is looking at ways to remain a car sponsor while changing its name to AT&T. When Nextel signed the title sponsorship for NASCAR's premier series in June 2003, it grandfathered in Cingular and Alltel as team sponsors. It prohibited other telecommunication companies from becoming team sponsors and prohibited any moves by Cingular and Alltel to other teams or, in case of a merger or name change, to a new brand. With Cingular's merger with AT&T and the Cingular name being phased out, the sponsorship of the #31 Richard Childress Racing team and Burton is up in the air because AT&T cannot be branded on the car. Cingular is in its final year of its deal with RCR. "I can tell you that Cingular is extremely excited about their involvement with AT&T," Burton said Monday. "I can tell you that they're extremely excited about being involved in this sport. They love their sponsorship opportunity and they're going to do everything in their power to continue it. It's an interesting situation to be in, and time will tell exactly what happens. But from a marketing standpoint, it certainly is going to require some creativity and it's going to require some interesting strategies. But they're committed to doing what it takes to make it work, and I'm confident that they will."(SceneDaily.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEI Using Hoosier Tires at Lakeland test: A top DEI official stated Monday afternoon that the company would be using Hoosier tires on at least one car they will test at Lakeland Speedway later this week. One of the burning questions since Goodyear started leasing, instead of selling, tires to race teams was where would the teams to get tires to test with away from the seven official NASCAR test sessions. While it was widely speculated teams would turn to Hoosier for the tires needed to test, most teams had a sufficient stockpile to get them through the 2006 season. A DEI executive confirmed Monday that organization's stockpile was almost gone. In fact, it was low enough that at least one of the their teams testing at Lakeland Speedway later this week would do so on Hoosier tires. "It's working," said the executive of NASCAR's desire to reduce the amount of testing teams could do away from the official tests. "The lack of tires has forced us to rethink how we test and what we test. At Lakeland we won't be able to compare one car against another. We'll look more to establish a baseline and then gauge our improvement based on the incremental speeds after each change. How that will relate to a race set-up we just don't know yet."(Circletrackplus.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shepherd testing news, may test this week: Faith Motorsports and #89-Morgan Shepherd will not be attending NASCAR's Pre-Season Thunder test session January 8-10 at Daytona, the team announced January 7. The team had registered and was scheduled to test at the first of two sessions, but does not have a speedway car ready to test and has not been able to obtain a car that is race ready from another Dodge team, co-owner Dana Tomes said. "If things come together this week we will try to make next week's session, but if not we will probably not be able to do a speedway test before the season starts," Tomes said. "We are involved heavily in sponsorship talks with various potential sponsors right now and we should know in a week or two what we will be able to do this season as far as how many races we will be able to enter. We are hopeful that we can secure sponsorship to run the whole year, but right now those negotiations are still ongoing." Tomes said the team is open to running in NASCAR's Busch or Craftsman Truck Series if a potential sponsor has that desire. "Right now we are discussing several different options," he said. "There is a chance that nothing will come of any of it, but we are optimistic that prior to the Daytona events in February we will have something to announce."(morganshepherd.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edwards ready for next step in personal journey
DAVID POOLE
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Carl Edwards is working on more than going fast in his No. 99 Fords these days.
For one thing, he's seriously dealing with his chi. Or whatever they call that thing that's supposed to keep you happy.
"I think there was a time last year where all of a sudden I'd wake up on a Monday morning and it was like, `Man, I am not really having that much fun,'" said Edwards, the driver of the No. 99 Fords for Roush Racing.
"`I'm not working on being a better race-car driver, I'm working on my frustration or anger.' …And I think that's been a big step for me forward just in my life.
"This offseason I really focused on trying to just kind of let that go. I think that once you ... can give your energy to positive things and not be worried about exactly what went wrong, that kind of turns your world around. …Confidence is important, but it's bigger than that. It's your state of mind in general."
Like, wow.
Edwards would certainly love to get his mojo working again on the track in 2006. After winning four races in his first full season of Nextel Cup competition in 2005, he didn't win a race in 2006 and missed the Chase for the Nextel Cup after finishing third a year earlier.
It got rough at times last season, Edwards admitted Monday as the second week of Nextel Cup testing opened at Daytona International Speedway.
"There were times last year where I thought, `Man, what am I doing wrong here?'" Edwards said. "For me, once I realized that if I do everything I can and give the best effort I can, that's what I'm to be satisfied with – not the result.
"If I blow a motor or wreck or make a mistake on something, you can't dwell on that," Edwards said. "You have to march forward and do the best you can. That's why it feels so good to say, `Man, I'm not angry at anybody.' I'm letting all of that go. I want to get to the point where I can just show up at the race track with a smile and feel like I'm prepared the best I can be."
The "letting go" part is about his feud with Tony Stewart, which stems from their run-in at Pocono in July. Stewart swerved at Clint Bowyer's car and wound up taking out Edwards in the process, and later that day Edwards turned Stewart's car on pit road. They exchanged barbs afterward and the pot has still been simmering in the run-up to the 2007 season.
"What I did wrong was I got out of the car and made it a personal attack," Edwards said. "I said some things I shouldn't have said and obviously I really upset Tony. And so for that, I apologize. ...I'd do anything in the world for Tony, I think he's a good guy. I hope that's water under the bridge.
"To me, there are a lot of good things in life. I love what I do, and I don't need to come into the Daytona 500, at hopefully my championship season, with a grudge."
Edwards instead is trying to channel his energy toward reclaiming the magic he had with crew chief Bob Osborne in 2005. Osborne was taken from Edwards' team in a Roush Racing shakeup last April, but returned for the end of the 2006 season after a stint as Jamie McMurray's crew chief.
"The 2005 season was such a great season," Edwards said. "Everything was great. And we went into 2006 and didn't change much ... and we slipped just a little bit behind. Other teams had advanced a little more than we had, and that's all it takes. It's amazing.
"I feel like we're headed in the right direction. We've evolved and we're trying a couple of new things and folks in different areas, and it should be pretty good."
And let Carl get his groove back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DAVID POOLE
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Carl Edwards is working on more than going fast in his No. 99 Fords these days.
For one thing, he's seriously dealing with his chi. Or whatever they call that thing that's supposed to keep you happy.
"I think there was a time last year where all of a sudden I'd wake up on a Monday morning and it was like, `Man, I am not really having that much fun,'" said Edwards, the driver of the No. 99 Fords for Roush Racing.
"`I'm not working on being a better race-car driver, I'm working on my frustration or anger.' …And I think that's been a big step for me forward just in my life.
"This offseason I really focused on trying to just kind of let that go. I think that once you ... can give your energy to positive things and not be worried about exactly what went wrong, that kind of turns your world around. …Confidence is important, but it's bigger than that. It's your state of mind in general."
Like, wow.
Edwards would certainly love to get his mojo working again on the track in 2006. After winning four races in his first full season of Nextel Cup competition in 2005, he didn't win a race in 2006 and missed the Chase for the Nextel Cup after finishing third a year earlier.
It got rough at times last season, Edwards admitted Monday as the second week of Nextel Cup testing opened at Daytona International Speedway.
"There were times last year where I thought, `Man, what am I doing wrong here?'" Edwards said. "For me, once I realized that if I do everything I can and give the best effort I can, that's what I'm to be satisfied with – not the result.
"If I blow a motor or wreck or make a mistake on something, you can't dwell on that," Edwards said. "You have to march forward and do the best you can. That's why it feels so good to say, `Man, I'm not angry at anybody.' I'm letting all of that go. I want to get to the point where I can just show up at the race track with a smile and feel like I'm prepared the best I can be."
The "letting go" part is about his feud with Tony Stewart, which stems from their run-in at Pocono in July. Stewart swerved at Clint Bowyer's car and wound up taking out Edwards in the process, and later that day Edwards turned Stewart's car on pit road. They exchanged barbs afterward and the pot has still been simmering in the run-up to the 2007 season.
"What I did wrong was I got out of the car and made it a personal attack," Edwards said. "I said some things I shouldn't have said and obviously I really upset Tony. And so for that, I apologize. ...I'd do anything in the world for Tony, I think he's a good guy. I hope that's water under the bridge.
"To me, there are a lot of good things in life. I love what I do, and I don't need to come into the Daytona 500, at hopefully my championship season, with a grudge."
Edwards instead is trying to channel his energy toward reclaiming the magic he had with crew chief Bob Osborne in 2005. Osborne was taken from Edwards' team in a Roush Racing shakeup last April, but returned for the end of the 2006 season after a stint as Jamie McMurray's crew chief.
"The 2005 season was such a great season," Edwards said. "Everything was great. And we went into 2006 and didn't change much ... and we slipped just a little bit behind. Other teams had advanced a little more than we had, and that's all it takes. It's amazing.
"I feel like we're headed in the right direction. We've evolved and we're trying a couple of new things and folks in different areas, and it should be pretty good."
And let Carl get his groove back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Camrys blending in NASCAR garage
Foreign carmaker's Nextel Cup debut going smoothly
By RICK MINTER/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Daytona Beach, Fla. — The foreign invasion into NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series hit the shores of Daytona Beach this week with very little shock and awe.
When Toyota unloaded its fleet of Camrys at Daytona International Speedway, it was the biggest showing by a foreign nameplate since June 14, 1954, when NASCAR issued a rare invitation to owners of foreign cars to compete in a makeshift race course at the airport at Linden, N.J.
But unlike the race at Linden, the Camrys at Daytona's test session looked ... well, like all the other cars. The drivers in the Toyota garage looked and sounded ... well, like all the other drivers.
So maybe this foreign thing is going to work out OK after all.
Those expecting pomp and pageantry from Toyota's three new race teams got dull and gray. The cars, which feature beautifully colored paint schemes and decals during the racing season, were painted with dull gray primer for test sessions. The only thing that distinguished them were car numbers and manufacturer decals.
The Chevrolets looked like the Fords. The Fords looked like the Dodges. And Toyota had no trouble fitting right into the middle of the nondescript pack.
That's also the way the Camrys ran during test sessions: Middle of the pack.
Team Red Bull's general manager Marty Gaunt, a veteran of the NASCAR garage, said too much is being made of Toyota's entry into Nextel Cup. The last time a foreign make (an MG) competed in a Cup race was in August 1963.
"I think there's been a lot of hype and people worrying about the unknown," Gaunt said. "That's natural in life, in general. The way the rules are and the way NASCAR mandates everything, we're all pretty close on templates."
The foreign debut also was uneventful because of so many familiar faces working in the Toyota garage — Dale Jarrett, in his familiar UPS firesuit, driving the No. 44 Camry. Brian Vickers in the No. 83; Dave Blaney in the 22. And some well-known crew chiefs, Matt Borland and Doug Richert among them, are leading the Toyota effort.
"Some came from other [Cup] teams, some from Busch teams some from truck teams, and we've got some new people," Gaunt said. "There's not a huge shock factor coming into the garage. I think it'll be more so when we come to race time. How we perform on the track will be the deciding factor."
And that factor will include fans, who may or may not like what they see. During test sessions, only a handful of the faithful wandered through the infield fan plaza each day. They seem to understand that testing at Daytona is nothing more than an annual laid-back rite of winter, giving teams the chance to prepare for the sport's biggest race — the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18.
Drivers and crew renew acquaintances, find out how fast their cars will run, how fast the competition will run.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. bailed out after the first two days, turning over his famed No. 8 Chevy to his brother Kerry. And for the second year in a row, Tony Stewart didn't even show up. That gave journeyman Mike McLaughlin a chance to drive one of the sport's most famous cars — the No. 20 Chevrolet.
Sophomore driver Martin Truex Jr. said neither team should suffer because of the absence of the primary drivers.
"You can pretty much put anybody in there here and learn the same thing," Truex said. "Running two laps by yourself all day doesn't do much for you as a driver."
Unless you're Toyota. And everything old hat is new.
Foreign carmaker's Nextel Cup debut going smoothly
By RICK MINTER/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Daytona Beach, Fla. — The foreign invasion into NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series hit the shores of Daytona Beach this week with very little shock and awe.
When Toyota unloaded its fleet of Camrys at Daytona International Speedway, it was the biggest showing by a foreign nameplate since June 14, 1954, when NASCAR issued a rare invitation to owners of foreign cars to compete in a makeshift race course at the airport at Linden, N.J.
But unlike the race at Linden, the Camrys at Daytona's test session looked ... well, like all the other cars. The drivers in the Toyota garage looked and sounded ... well, like all the other drivers.
So maybe this foreign thing is going to work out OK after all.
Those expecting pomp and pageantry from Toyota's three new race teams got dull and gray. The cars, which feature beautifully colored paint schemes and decals during the racing season, were painted with dull gray primer for test sessions. The only thing that distinguished them were car numbers and manufacturer decals.
The Chevrolets looked like the Fords. The Fords looked like the Dodges. And Toyota had no trouble fitting right into the middle of the nondescript pack.
That's also the way the Camrys ran during test sessions: Middle of the pack.
Team Red Bull's general manager Marty Gaunt, a veteran of the NASCAR garage, said too much is being made of Toyota's entry into Nextel Cup. The last time a foreign make (an MG) competed in a Cup race was in August 1963.
"I think there's been a lot of hype and people worrying about the unknown," Gaunt said. "That's natural in life, in general. The way the rules are and the way NASCAR mandates everything, we're all pretty close on templates."
The foreign debut also was uneventful because of so many familiar faces working in the Toyota garage — Dale Jarrett, in his familiar UPS firesuit, driving the No. 44 Camry. Brian Vickers in the No. 83; Dave Blaney in the 22. And some well-known crew chiefs, Matt Borland and Doug Richert among them, are leading the Toyota effort.
"Some came from other [Cup] teams, some from Busch teams some from truck teams, and we've got some new people," Gaunt said. "There's not a huge shock factor coming into the garage. I think it'll be more so when we come to race time. How we perform on the track will be the deciding factor."
And that factor will include fans, who may or may not like what they see. During test sessions, only a handful of the faithful wandered through the infield fan plaza each day. They seem to understand that testing at Daytona is nothing more than an annual laid-back rite of winter, giving teams the chance to prepare for the sport's biggest race — the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18.
Drivers and crew renew acquaintances, find out how fast their cars will run, how fast the competition will run.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. bailed out after the first two days, turning over his famed No. 8 Chevy to his brother Kerry. And for the second year in a row, Tony Stewart didn't even show up. That gave journeyman Mike McLaughlin a chance to drive one of the sport's most famous cars — the No. 20 Chevrolet.
Sophomore driver Martin Truex Jr. said neither team should suffer because of the absence of the primary drivers.
"You can pretty much put anybody in there here and learn the same thing," Truex said. "Running two laps by yourself all day doesn't do much for you as a driver."
Unless you're Toyota. And everything old hat is new.
Ricky's reelin' in the years
After rocky road, Rudd, former owner reunite
Alan Schmadtke | Sentinel Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- As in all breakups, things were said. Things were left unsaid. And there remained an air of mystery -- Ricky Rudd saying he never retired, Robert Yates admitting his racing team needed help.
Yet it took an unlikely breakfast run-in to get the marriage going again.
One Saturday morning late last year, Yates' cell phone chirped. It was his wife, Carol, calling from a local Waffle House.
"I don't know why she was in the Waffle House when I was in town, but she was," Yates said. "She said, 'I've got somebody here. I've just hired Ricky.' "
Just like that, Rudd -- after a year of self-imposed exile -- was back as a driver. And Yates -- after months of uncertainty about a once-solid racing team -- had a familiar hand committed to helping him build.
Masterfoods USA agreed to sponsor a second Yates car -- Rudd's -- allowing Yates to guarantee the driver a full schedule of 2007 races with some contract options for a longer term.
Rudd will drive the No. 88 Ford Fusion: Snickers on the hood, a hard nut behind the wheel.
"I don't think the itch to race ever really left," said Rudd, who made one Nextel Cup appearance in 2006, subbing for injured Tony Stewart at Dover, Del., but otherwise spent his time catching up with friends and learning how to keep a house maintained. "That wasn't necessarily the pretty thing about sitting by the wayside there. When you race, you've got enough money to do all of your [home] maintenance. When you quit, you've got to start doing your own stuff."
It's not clear whether Yates' newest team is championship-caliber. Rudd owns 23 career Nextel Cup wins, but this will be his first year with crew chief Butch Hylton.
What's more, Yates has asked him to dive headfirst into getting Robert Yates Racing back to the forefront of Nextel Cup. At 50, Rudd is Nextel Cup's oldest full-time driver, and the inherent experience is to be passed along, ASAP, to new teammate David Gilliland.
"After hiring four or five rookie drivers, I needed somebody who can baseline our equipment," Yates said.
"Any question I've had, Ricky has been able to answer and give me an opinion on," Gilliland said by phone from RYR's North Carolina headquarters. "There's a lot of tracks out there I've never raced on, including Daytona, so he can fill me in on just about anything I need to know. It's been great to have somebody I can turn to who I know has the experience to know what I need to know."
Rudd recorded some of the top-10 times in solo testing last week at Daytona International Speedway as his new team tinkered with setups for Daytona 500 qualifying.
"I would not have taken this job if I thought we were going to go out there to run 10th or 15th or 25th every week," Rudd said. "I'm very optimistic. I know there are a lot of people out there predicting that we won't make the top 30 or whatever, but I've always enjoyed a challenge and like proving people wrong."
That doesn't exactly explain why he agreed to a return with Yates. Or why he was available in the first place.
From 1981 to 2005, Rudd drove in every Cup race NASCAR held. From 1994-99, he ran his own team. He decided to remove some headaches and only drive in 2000, agreeing to drive for Yates.
It was a good mix. Rudd's No. 28 Texaco Ford finished fifth in the points race that first year, fourth the next. But in 2002, the team imploded. Rudd, never at a loss for words, spread the blame.
At Richmond, Va., that fall, crew member Larry Lackey took a swing at Rudd, who responded by throwing a water bottle. Doctors sewed up the engine man's cut; they couldn't save the relationship.
Rudd bolted for a single-car team run by the Wood brothers, but it wasn't a championship-caliber team.
Citing "burnout," Rudd left the sport, though he carefully never used the word "retired."
"The burnout factor, it's probably not too hard to figure out," Rudd said. "Thirty-one years of nonstop -- they call it an offseason right now, but as you can see, it's not much of an offseason. It's really just one season rolls into the next and the next one rolls into the next, and before you know it, you look around and 10 to 15 years have gone by.
"My father passed away last year. He was 81 years old and lived a full life, and I'm sitting there thinking, 'Man, how did he get to be 81?' "
Then the inevitable post-grieving introspection set in.
"It was good for me," he said. "I got a chance to come back and clear my head. I found out what I really wanted to do was I wanted to race and wanted to be in competitive cars."
Since Rudd's exit four years ago, RYR's two teams, piloted by Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler, have combined for four wins and one top-10 season finish.
Sadler got out of his contract with Yates in August, joining Evernham Motorsports. But the biggest blow was to come for Yates: Jarrett was lured away by Toyota and Michael Waltrip, and team sponsor UPS went with him.
Eventually, Yates and Rudd got together for a car ride. It turned into a long airing-out session, so much so that Yates pulled off the road so the two friends could look each other in the eye.
Each, it turned out, wanted a commitment from the other. Rudd wouldn't say yes unless Yates assumed more control. That's how RYR succeeded before.
Yates had agreed, but his wife beat him to the punch with her Waffle House negotiating.
"Robert is a big key to this thing working, and he has been for all these years," Rudd said. "I think he tried to step back a little bit, and it didn't work. But he's back there now, and that's probably the biggest incentive for me to come over here and run because they definitely have all the things in place to do good.
"With Robert sort of regrouping, I probably picked a good time to come because I think it's only going to get better. So everything within my control, I'm going to go out and do the very best we can and settle for what we can get. Hopefully, there will be some good things and some good finishes along the way, and I wouldn't rule out anything."
After rocky road, Rudd, former owner reunite
Alan Schmadtke | Sentinel Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- As in all breakups, things were said. Things were left unsaid. And there remained an air of mystery -- Ricky Rudd saying he never retired, Robert Yates admitting his racing team needed help.
Yet it took an unlikely breakfast run-in to get the marriage going again.
One Saturday morning late last year, Yates' cell phone chirped. It was his wife, Carol, calling from a local Waffle House.
"I don't know why she was in the Waffle House when I was in town, but she was," Yates said. "She said, 'I've got somebody here. I've just hired Ricky.' "
Just like that, Rudd -- after a year of self-imposed exile -- was back as a driver. And Yates -- after months of uncertainty about a once-solid racing team -- had a familiar hand committed to helping him build.
Masterfoods USA agreed to sponsor a second Yates car -- Rudd's -- allowing Yates to guarantee the driver a full schedule of 2007 races with some contract options for a longer term.
Rudd will drive the No. 88 Ford Fusion: Snickers on the hood, a hard nut behind the wheel.
"I don't think the itch to race ever really left," said Rudd, who made one Nextel Cup appearance in 2006, subbing for injured Tony Stewart at Dover, Del., but otherwise spent his time catching up with friends and learning how to keep a house maintained. "That wasn't necessarily the pretty thing about sitting by the wayside there. When you race, you've got enough money to do all of your [home] maintenance. When you quit, you've got to start doing your own stuff."
It's not clear whether Yates' newest team is championship-caliber. Rudd owns 23 career Nextel Cup wins, but this will be his first year with crew chief Butch Hylton.
What's more, Yates has asked him to dive headfirst into getting Robert Yates Racing back to the forefront of Nextel Cup. At 50, Rudd is Nextel Cup's oldest full-time driver, and the inherent experience is to be passed along, ASAP, to new teammate David Gilliland.
"After hiring four or five rookie drivers, I needed somebody who can baseline our equipment," Yates said.
"Any question I've had, Ricky has been able to answer and give me an opinion on," Gilliland said by phone from RYR's North Carolina headquarters. "There's a lot of tracks out there I've never raced on, including Daytona, so he can fill me in on just about anything I need to know. It's been great to have somebody I can turn to who I know has the experience to know what I need to know."
Rudd recorded some of the top-10 times in solo testing last week at Daytona International Speedway as his new team tinkered with setups for Daytona 500 qualifying.
"I would not have taken this job if I thought we were going to go out there to run 10th or 15th or 25th every week," Rudd said. "I'm very optimistic. I know there are a lot of people out there predicting that we won't make the top 30 or whatever, but I've always enjoyed a challenge and like proving people wrong."
That doesn't exactly explain why he agreed to a return with Yates. Or why he was available in the first place.
From 1981 to 2005, Rudd drove in every Cup race NASCAR held. From 1994-99, he ran his own team. He decided to remove some headaches and only drive in 2000, agreeing to drive for Yates.
It was a good mix. Rudd's No. 28 Texaco Ford finished fifth in the points race that first year, fourth the next. But in 2002, the team imploded. Rudd, never at a loss for words, spread the blame.
At Richmond, Va., that fall, crew member Larry Lackey took a swing at Rudd, who responded by throwing a water bottle. Doctors sewed up the engine man's cut; they couldn't save the relationship.
Rudd bolted for a single-car team run by the Wood brothers, but it wasn't a championship-caliber team.
Citing "burnout," Rudd left the sport, though he carefully never used the word "retired."
"The burnout factor, it's probably not too hard to figure out," Rudd said. "Thirty-one years of nonstop -- they call it an offseason right now, but as you can see, it's not much of an offseason. It's really just one season rolls into the next and the next one rolls into the next, and before you know it, you look around and 10 to 15 years have gone by.
"My father passed away last year. He was 81 years old and lived a full life, and I'm sitting there thinking, 'Man, how did he get to be 81?' "
Then the inevitable post-grieving introspection set in.
"It was good for me," he said. "I got a chance to come back and clear my head. I found out what I really wanted to do was I wanted to race and wanted to be in competitive cars."
Since Rudd's exit four years ago, RYR's two teams, piloted by Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler, have combined for four wins and one top-10 season finish.
Sadler got out of his contract with Yates in August, joining Evernham Motorsports. But the biggest blow was to come for Yates: Jarrett was lured away by Toyota and Michael Waltrip, and team sponsor UPS went with him.
Eventually, Yates and Rudd got together for a car ride. It turned into a long airing-out session, so much so that Yates pulled off the road so the two friends could look each other in the eye.
Each, it turned out, wanted a commitment from the other. Rudd wouldn't say yes unless Yates assumed more control. That's how RYR succeeded before.
Yates had agreed, but his wife beat him to the punch with her Waffle House negotiating.
"Robert is a big key to this thing working, and he has been for all these years," Rudd said. "I think he tried to step back a little bit, and it didn't work. But he's back there now, and that's probably the biggest incentive for me to come over here and run because they definitely have all the things in place to do good.
"With Robert sort of regrouping, I probably picked a good time to come because I think it's only going to get better. So everything within my control, I'm going to go out and do the very best we can and settle for what we can get. Hopefully, there will be some good things and some good finishes along the way, and I wouldn't rule out anything."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Former NASCAR champion Benny Parsons dies
DAVID POOLE
Benny Parsons, whose gentle nature made him a favorite among NASCAR fans as a broadcaster and whose competitive fire drove him from his father's![file:///C:/DOCUME~1/smonacel/LOCALS~1/Temp//att8e6df.jpg]()
taxi company in Detroit to the championship in stock-car racing's top division, died early Tuesday at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
Parsons was diagnosed with lung cancer on July 13, one day after his 65th birthday. He missed a handful of races while having aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments shortly thereafter, but pressed on and was part of the NBC/TNT team that called the season's final races.
"The Wednesday before the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, I had another scan," Parsons wrote in a story for the NBC Sports web site, referring to the October race at the Charlotte track. "My doctor couldn't believe what he saw. `Remarkable!' he told me. `Ninety-nine percent of the cancer is gone!'"
Just after the season, however, Parsons suffered trouble breathing and doctors put him on oxygen. Subsequent examinations found that his left lung had been badly damaged by the aggressive treatments. Then, just after Christmas, Parsons was hospitalized at Carolinas Medical Center and was later moved to intensive care as his condition deteriorated.
"The most unbelievable thing about this is that so many people are praying for me and thinking about me," Parsons said in an interview after his diagnosis last summer. "It has been humbling.
"I've always made the mistake that when friends get sick, I know everyone is calling them so I figure I won't call. That's wrong. I can't tell you how gratifying it has been to hear from friends and colleagues. You always wonder if you made a difference, if you were saying or doing something that meant something. All of this means to me that people have been listening."
Parsons retired as a driver following the 1988 season. He won 21 races and 20 poles in 526 races in a career highlighted by his 1973 championship and victories in the 1975 Daytona 500 and the 1980 Coca-Cola 600.
He then went on to a second successful racing career as a television analyst, beginning full-time with ESPN in 1989 and continuing through the 2006 season.
"I love the people involved in racing, and the fact that I can still continue to be a part of it is fantastic," Parsons said of the broadcasting portion of his career, during which he earned the nickname "The Professor" for the easy, affable tone with which he talked about the sport he loved.
"Benny is such a great role model," Darrell Waltrip, another former champion who has turned to broadcasting, once said. "He's such a sweet and patient man. I don't think I've ever seen Benny Parsons mad about anything."
He was born on July 12, 1941, in Wilkes County and raised by his great-grandmother on Rendezvous Ridge near the community called Parsonsville. In the past few years Parsons and his wife, Terri, were building a home near there and Parsons had begun a winery bearing the Rendezvous Ridge name.
When Benny was 5, his parents, Harold and Hazel, moved with Benny's younger brother, Phill, to Detroit to seek a better way of life for their family. But Benny's great-grandmother, Julia B. Parsons, was in her 70s and very much attached to the young boy, so Benny stayed behind in a house with no electricity or hot water. The only water in the house was cold water run to it by a system of gravity devised by Silas Parsons, "Mama Julia's" husband.
His childhood heroes included NASCAR legends Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly, stars of the 1950s. But it wasn't until after he moved to Michigan 1960 to be with the rest of his family that Parsons took the first steps down his career path. He worked for his father and on occasion drove a taxi in Detroit. Because he later listed "taxi driver" as an occupation on race entry forms, that would eventually become part of his identity as a NASCAR star – the racing cab driver.
"I met two guys my dad knew who had a race car and I started going to the track, into the pits," Parsons told Circle Track magazine in an interview. "The only time I'd been to a race track was as a spectator.
"Three years later, in 1963, one of these guys stopped by Dad's station and asked me if I'd like to drive a race car. I said I thought so. He said he had a car he'd give to me, a Ford. We went to his garage, and the first thought I had when I saw that car was that he had got cheated. It was torn all to pieces. We fixed it, though, and I ran my first race, a figure-eight feature on a quarter-mile dirt track, and spun out."
But just two years later, he was rookie of the year in the Automobile Racing Club of America series. He won ARCA championships in 1968 and 1969.
Parsons finished fifth in a Daytona 500 qualifying race in 1969 and then seventh in the Cup series' biggest race. Later that year, he finished third at College Station, Texas, setting the stage for a rookie season on NASCAR's top circuit in 1970 where Parsons hooked up with car owner L.G. DeWitt.
He won his first pole at Atlanta in the final race of 1970 and got his first victory at South Boston, Va., the following year.
In 1973, Parsons won only one race in a season during which David Pearson won 11 times. But Pearson only ran in 18 of the season's 28 races in the Wood Brothers' car, so Parsons went into the final race at Rockingham leading Richard Petty by 194.35 points in a system where laps completed counted for varying points based on the size of the track.
"I was in the perfect spot, about fifth or sixth, and didn't have much traffic," Parsons said. "I was basically in a straightaway by myself. I thought, `Wouldn't it be perfect to run like this all day?'"
But on Lap 13, a car driven by Johnny Barnes spun and wound up dead ahead of him on the track. Parsons ran into Barnes and was trying to get his car going again without much luck when he glanced to his right.
"I could not believe what I saw," Parsons said. "There was no right side, none at all."
Parsons went to the garage and thought his title chances were over. But people from other teams came over and offered to help, loaning the team parts and pieces to get Parsons' car back on the track. He returned in time to complete 308 laps and hold on to win the title by 67.15 points over Cale Yarborough.
DAVID POOLE
Benny Parsons, whose gentle nature made him a favorite among NASCAR fans as a broadcaster and whose competitive fire drove him from his father's
Parsons was diagnosed with lung cancer on July 13, one day after his 65th birthday. He missed a handful of races while having aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments shortly thereafter, but pressed on and was part of the NBC/TNT team that called the season's final races.
"The Wednesday before the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, I had another scan," Parsons wrote in a story for the NBC Sports web site, referring to the October race at the Charlotte track. "My doctor couldn't believe what he saw. `Remarkable!' he told me. `Ninety-nine percent of the cancer is gone!'"
Just after the season, however, Parsons suffered trouble breathing and doctors put him on oxygen. Subsequent examinations found that his left lung had been badly damaged by the aggressive treatments. Then, just after Christmas, Parsons was hospitalized at Carolinas Medical Center and was later moved to intensive care as his condition deteriorated.
"The most unbelievable thing about this is that so many people are praying for me and thinking about me," Parsons said in an interview after his diagnosis last summer. "It has been humbling.
"I've always made the mistake that when friends get sick, I know everyone is calling them so I figure I won't call. That's wrong. I can't tell you how gratifying it has been to hear from friends and colleagues. You always wonder if you made a difference, if you were saying or doing something that meant something. All of this means to me that people have been listening."
Parsons retired as a driver following the 1988 season. He won 21 races and 20 poles in 526 races in a career highlighted by his 1973 championship and victories in the 1975 Daytona 500 and the 1980 Coca-Cola 600.
He then went on to a second successful racing career as a television analyst, beginning full-time with ESPN in 1989 and continuing through the 2006 season.
"I love the people involved in racing, and the fact that I can still continue to be a part of it is fantastic," Parsons said of the broadcasting portion of his career, during which he earned the nickname "The Professor" for the easy, affable tone with which he talked about the sport he loved.
"Benny is such a great role model," Darrell Waltrip, another former champion who has turned to broadcasting, once said. "He's such a sweet and patient man. I don't think I've ever seen Benny Parsons mad about anything."
He was born on July 12, 1941, in Wilkes County and raised by his great-grandmother on Rendezvous Ridge near the community called Parsonsville. In the past few years Parsons and his wife, Terri, were building a home near there and Parsons had begun a winery bearing the Rendezvous Ridge name.
When Benny was 5, his parents, Harold and Hazel, moved with Benny's younger brother, Phill, to Detroit to seek a better way of life for their family. But Benny's great-grandmother, Julia B. Parsons, was in her 70s and very much attached to the young boy, so Benny stayed behind in a house with no electricity or hot water. The only water in the house was cold water run to it by a system of gravity devised by Silas Parsons, "Mama Julia's" husband.
His childhood heroes included NASCAR legends Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly, stars of the 1950s. But it wasn't until after he moved to Michigan 1960 to be with the rest of his family that Parsons took the first steps down his career path. He worked for his father and on occasion drove a taxi in Detroit. Because he later listed "taxi driver" as an occupation on race entry forms, that would eventually become part of his identity as a NASCAR star – the racing cab driver.
"I met two guys my dad knew who had a race car and I started going to the track, into the pits," Parsons told Circle Track magazine in an interview. "The only time I'd been to a race track was as a spectator.
"Three years later, in 1963, one of these guys stopped by Dad's station and asked me if I'd like to drive a race car. I said I thought so. He said he had a car he'd give to me, a Ford. We went to his garage, and the first thought I had when I saw that car was that he had got cheated. It was torn all to pieces. We fixed it, though, and I ran my first race, a figure-eight feature on a quarter-mile dirt track, and spun out."
But just two years later, he was rookie of the year in the Automobile Racing Club of America series. He won ARCA championships in 1968 and 1969.
Parsons finished fifth in a Daytona 500 qualifying race in 1969 and then seventh in the Cup series' biggest race. Later that year, he finished third at College Station, Texas, setting the stage for a rookie season on NASCAR's top circuit in 1970 where Parsons hooked up with car owner L.G. DeWitt.
He won his first pole at Atlanta in the final race of 1970 and got his first victory at South Boston, Va., the following year.
In 1973, Parsons won only one race in a season during which David Pearson won 11 times. But Pearson only ran in 18 of the season's 28 races in the Wood Brothers' car, so Parsons went into the final race at Rockingham leading Richard Petty by 194.35 points in a system where laps completed counted for varying points based on the size of the track.
"I was in the perfect spot, about fifth or sixth, and didn't have much traffic," Parsons said. "I was basically in a straightaway by myself. I thought, `Wouldn't it be perfect to run like this all day?'"
But on Lap 13, a car driven by Johnny Barnes spun and wound up dead ahead of him on the track. Parsons ran into Barnes and was trying to get his car going again without much luck when he glanced to his right.
"I could not believe what I saw," Parsons said. "There was no right side, none at all."
Parsons went to the garage and thought his title chances were over. But people from other teams came over and offered to help, loaning the team parts and pieces to get Parsons' car back on the track. He returned in time to complete 308 laps and hold on to win the title by 67.15 points over Cale Yarborough.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"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![file:///C:/DOCUME~1/smonacel/LOCALS~1/Temp//att8e73b.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
"It's nothin' personal, it's just racin'
-Dale Earnhardt Sr.
This list is authored by:
Sandra Monacelli
221 W. 57th Street 18B
Loveland, CO 80538
970/663-6967
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.
This list is authored by:
Sandra Monacelli
221 W. 57th Street 18B
Loveland, CO 80538
970/663-6967
Offline 
Send Email