Happy Thursday. Today In Nascar History May 7, 1995: Dale Earnhardt wins the Save Mart Supermarkets 300 in Sonoma, Calif., for the only road-course win of his Cup career. Mark Martin dominated, leading 66 of 74 laps, but finishes second by .32 seconds. Earnhardt leads the final two laps.
"You never forget your first love, whether it's a high school sweetheart, a faithful old hunting dog, or a fickle race track in South Carolina with a contrary disposition. And, if you happen to be a race car driver, there's no victory so sweet, so memorable, as whipping Darlington Raceway." - Dale Earnhardt Bits and Pieces Former NASCAR Driver Kevin Grubb found dead ESPN.com is reporting that suspended Nationwide Series driver Kevin Grubb was found dead on Wednesday in a Richmond, Va., area hotel. He was 31. Henrico Co. Lt. Richard Cosby said Grubb was discovered at the Alpine Motel just outside of Richmond at 11:30 a.m. The cause of death has not been released pending the notification of next to kin, but Cosby said no foul play was suspected. Grubb was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR on Sept. 11, 2006 after his second violation of NASCAR’s substance abuse policy. Grubb, the younger brother of former NASCAR driver Wayne Grubb, began his Nationwide career in 1997 with four starts for Grubb Motorsports. He ran in 16 Nationwide events for his father’s team in 1998 with a top finish of second at Dover. Grubb drove for Brewco Motorsports from 1999 through 2001, collecting 18 top 10s. After several failed seasons with two other teams he was scheduled to drive for Team Reno Motorsports in 2004, but failed a substance abuse test in March and was suspended. The suspension in 2006 came after Grubb refused to take a drug test following a second-lap crash at Richmond. Failure to take the tests is considered an automatic failed test. The next day Grubb claimed that he declined the test because of a concussion suffered during the accident and offered to take a test at that time. He reportedly claimed no memory of the refusal due to the head injury. Grubb was a native of Mechanicsville, Va., a suburb of Richmond. Sorenson Completes Test at Infineon Raceway: #43-Reed Sorenson visited Infineon Raceway on Wednesday to hone his skills on the challenging 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course. Sorenson came to the track for the one-day test session in preparation for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Sprint Cup Series weekend, June 19-21 (Father’s Day). Sorenson has competed twice on the challenging road course (2006, 2007), with a best finish of 29th in 2006. He was joined by his crew chief, Mike Shiplett, at the test. “This is my favorite of the two road courses we visit because it’s more technical. We don’t run as fast, but it’s fun to race here,” said Sorenson. “There are a few places where we can get better on the track. I have to learn not to go too fast.” Sorenson, driver of the #43 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports, piloted a late model stock car supplied by Pioneer Motorsports out of Lake Oroville. He was coached by road-course veteran Chris Cook and completed approximately 90 laps in the full-day test. “Reed’s only 23 years old, but I consider him a veteran. It doesn’t surprise me that he picks things up really well. We’re just trying to practice the track as perfectly as we possibly can,” said Cook, who has also worked with NASCAR drivers David Reutimann, Johnny Sauter, Paul Menard and AJ Allmendinger.(Infineon Raceway)
National Guard scheme returns on the #24: This weekend at Darlington Raceway, the National Guard's ESGR program will be showcased on the hood of the #24 DuPont/National Guard Chevy that Jeff Gordon drives. Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) is a Department of Defense initiative that seeks to develop and promote a culture in which all American employers support and value the military service of their employees. It does so by recognizing outstanding employer support, increasing awareness of the law, and resolving conflicts through mediation. For more information on the ESGR program, please visit nationalguard.com. In addition to this weekend at Darlington, Gordon will partner with the National Guard at five other venues: Michigan in June, Chicago in July, Richmond in Sept., New Hampshire in Sept. 20, and Martinsville in Oct.(HMS PR) Special AMP/Dale Jr. Tradin' Paint can: AMP Energy has announced the launch of Tradin' Paint, a new limited time only Dale Earnhardt Jr. themed energy drink. The beverage is a collision of three flavors: Orange, Lime and Berry, with all the energy ingredients and great taste that consumers expect from AMP. Featuring the same paint scheme as Hendrick Motorsports' #88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevy, Tradin' Paint has all the marks, dings and paint streaks that show up on cars during a hotly contested race, which fans refer to as "tradin' paint." Tradin' Paint is currently available in a 16-oz can nationwide through the end of the summer.(Pepsi PR) MtnDew scheme for Dale Jr. at Darlington: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive a special #88 Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevy this weekend at Darlington Raceway. The #88 machine will display on its hood the new Mountain Dew logo unveiled earlier this year. The car will be painted in a metallic silver, black and "Mountain Dew" green. Mountain Dew has been a part of the sport since 1981, when Darrell Waltrip won his first of two championships in the Dew car. Last year's paint scheme had an "old school" retro feel, and this weekend's car will have a "new school" look. AND Later this month, Earnhardt's #88 machine will have a different look at the May 16 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. The 34-year-old driver chose white as the primary color for his Chevy, which will sport a paint scheme showcasing the Dale Jr. Foundation that weekend. Hendrick Motorsports' next top-five finish will be the organization's 700th in Sprint Cup competition. Since 1984, Hendrick drivers have scored 178 wins, 699 top-five finishes and 1,154 top-10s.(HMS PR) Charity race raises $100,000 for Denny Hamlin Foundation By Scene Daily Staff Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin says the recent Short Track Showdown he hosted at Southside Speedway in Virginia raised $100,000 for his foundation, which raises awareness and funding for Cystic Fibrosis research and treatment and aids children with other debilitating illnesses. Proceeds from the event will be split between the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and St. Jude’s Hospital. Hamlin selected the cause because he has a cousin who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. "Finding a cure is a cause that is near and dear to my heart, and I am extremely proud to take an active role in supporting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation," Hamlin said. The 175-lap race drew more than 5,000 spectators to the track where Hamlin started his Late Model career. It featured Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, former teammate Tony Stewart and spotter Curtis Markham. "I had a blast at Southside Speedway,” Hamlin said. “It is always so much fun to spend a day with so many people who have helped me along the way. The fact that we doubled what we raised last year is a testament to how committed NASCAR fans are to giving back to the community.” Tony Stewart: NASCAR’s version of Maxwell Smart Greg Engle/nascarexaminer.com In the old television series ‘Get Smart’, the bumbling lead character Maxwell Smart had many memorable lines, including one where he’d hold up his thumb and forefinger close together and say, “Missed it by that much.” That could be the theme for Tony Stewart for 2009. Stewart has come up just a bit short of his first win as an owner-driver on several occasions. Along the way however he’s proven to many that he is a force to be reckoned with. When the two-time champion made the surprise decision to leave Joe Gibbs Racing last year to become co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing there were many who were skeptical of Stewart’s future success. The season so far however has quieted many of those doubters. Stewart has amassed a record of four top five finishes and seven top-10’s in the first 10 races of the year. More recently, Stewart has finished runner-up in two of the last three races and has been in the top five in four of the last five. He’s currently third in the championship point standings. And oh so close to his first win as an owner/driver. That first victory, when it does come, will validate what Stewart set out to accomplish and give the entire team a boost. "Oh yeah, it always gives you more confidence after you get that first win,” Stewart said. “You always wonder if you can win and then once you've won, it's not a matter of can you when, it's when is it going to happen again? Just getting over that hump and getting the first one is a big accomplishment.” Stewart credits much of his success to this point not only to the support he gets from Hendrick Motorsports, but to his teammate Ryan Newman. Newman has been running well as of late too, having scored two top five finishes in the last two races. Newman is 10th in the points. “Obviously having Ryan is a huge asset,” Stewart said. “We've worked well together from day one. His depth of knowledge of the car and why things do what they do has been a huge asset to me. It's been a huge asset to the whole organization.” But he has tasted victory at Darlington before, winning last years Nationwide Series race here. “With the rich heritage and history at Darlington, to win there – it’s a feeling that’s hard to describe,” Stewart said of his NASCAR Nationwide Series win. “It’s just cool to win at Darlington… This series is just so deep in history, and this is one of those tracks where the history goes as deep as NASCAR does. To finally get a win at Darlington was a huge honor for me.” And if Stewart does score his first season win this weekend, it will be the first time since 1998 that an owner/driver has won a Sprint Cup series race “We've got the equipment. We need to do our jobs and the results have shown,” Stewart said. “Both Ryan and I have had good runs this year so far ... I think that success has come much quicker than any of us anticipated that it would happen." If he does win however, just don’t expect Stewart to take off his shoe and start talking into it in Victory Lane. Junior Johnson a proud papa after son's first win Ed Hinton/espn.com I haven't heard this much excitement in Junior Johnson's voice since Dale Earnhardt stuck Darrell Waltrip in the fence at Richmond in 1987. And that time, it was anger. This time it was joy, glee and enormous fatherly pride in his son, Robert, 15, who the other night won "the first race he drove, anywhere," Junior said by phone. How'd the boy look? Junior thundered laughter. "He shocked me." More proud laughter. "When the race started, he left out [in a hurry]. You'd have thought he'd been driving for 10 years." No NASCAR dad in the Cup garages today is as qualified as Junior Johnson to know when he's got a natural on his hands. The legendary moonshine-runner-turned-racer was a natural himself in the 1950s and '60s -- no one, before or since, has been as flat-out, all the time as Junior. But, "I don't know if I was that gung ho to go as he was," Junior said of Robert's run last Saturday night at Caraway Speedway, a highly respected cradle track for stars, in the Sportsman division. "He was tickled to death, and so was I," said Junior, 77, who sold his racing team in 1995 and retired to his cattle ranch in the Blue Ridge foothills of North Carolina. But his only son has him looking toward a return to NASCAR -- which requires that drivers be at least 18 -- within three years. "If he keeps learning and learning and learning, he'll be able to make it plumb to the top," Junior said. "But you know how kids are. They get different things on their mind and stuff." Should Robert divert his thinking to another career, his father would understand. Junior himself never was extremely passionate about racing -- just very good at driving, stretching mechanical rules to and beyond the limits, and obtaining lucrative sponsorships. "But I think he's really dedicated to it," Junior said. "He's got his mind made up that's what he wants to do. He looks like he's really dead set to make it." If so, "Every step he makes, I'm gonna be there," Junior said. Even all the way back to NASCAR, where Junior won 50 races as a driver and 140 more as a car owner before growing weary of NASCAR busting him on rules violations? "I wouldn't be a bit surprised," Junior said. "You know, I can cope with the rules, whatever they are." Did he ever, in his time. He was NASCAR's most celebrated "cheater," a word he has long dismissed. "It ain't cheatin'; it's gaining a technical advantage." If Robert wants to go all the way to Sprint Cup, "I know what it takes and how to get it done," said the man who fielded winning cars for LeeRoy Yarbrough, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and others. In my mind, there simply could be no better teacher of stock car racing, anywhere, than Junior Johnson, who has had his son testing privately on both dirt and asphalt tracks -- Caraway is paved -- for more than a year. "We've worked on dirt more than anything to start with," Junior said. "I want him to learn how to back a car in a corner and save it when he gets sideways and everything like that. "He's accomplished most all that stuff." Despite the Caraway win, "I'm not going to let him just drop dirt and take off to asphalt. I'm going to keep stepping back and refreshing his memory on what it takes to handle a car." The training will remain methodical throughout. "When he moves, he'll be able to handle a move that we make," Junior said. "I'm not going to rush him into something headstrong, hoping to get there real quick. "We've got plenty of time. He's got three or four years yet to go [before he's eligible for NASCAR]." Teenaged Robert is sponsored by Junior Johnson's Country Hams. Might he need to turn 21 before he can be sponsored by the legal liquor brand, Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon? Junior thundered laughter again: "I don't know about that, now." So if they could get the brand on the side of the car, Robert Glenn Johnson III would be the third generation in what you could call the moonshine business. Matt McLaughlin Mouths Off Appreciating the Lady in Black Matt McLaughlin · Frontstretch.com This week, the Cup circuit heads to Darlington, South Carolina for what will regrettably be its only stop at the “Track Too Tough To Tame” this season. Even given the awkward eve of Mother’s Day race date that no other track ever wanted, the fact they’ll be racing there this weekend still makes my heart rejoice. For even if you’ve read my output for just a few months, it should be painfully obvious to you by now that Darlington is my favorite track on the circuit. Some folks can’t understand my passion for this place. They tell me it’s a single groove race track that’s worn out, its time has passed, and it is located a million miles from nowhere. They seem to think those are “issues;” but to me, that’s part of the charm. By and large, fans who don’t “get” Darlington tend to be newer to the sport and have never made the trip to the Lady In Black. If all Arabs should visit Mecca once in their lifetime, any true stock car racing fan should go to Darlington at least once before they die. If you’ve never been there and have no plans to go … shame on you. Others continue to insist that my dedication to Darlington is due to regionalism. One more time, folks, I was indeed born deep in the heart of the South…of Jersey, and I’ve lived in the Northeast most of my life. I’m from Chester County. Think Amish buggies, horse farms, and winding sun-dappled country back roads carved out by beneficent glaciers for the enjoyment of current day Harley riders. For those of you west of the Mississippi in culturally-impoverished burgs like L.A. who might not have taken your geography studies to heart, it’s a real long ride from Lancaster to Darlington. I don’t live there; but Lord willing, I will when I retire. So, what lies behind my fascination and passion for this track? First off, it’s location, location, location. As you roll from Charlotte to Darlington (watching your speed, as race weekend is seen by local and South Carolina State police as prime revenue hunting season), you’ll go back in time, through dying mill towns, cotton fields, and any number of small towns that are still lost in the ’60s. There are places small enough where, after the races, people set up lawn chairs in filling station parking lots just to watch the big NASCAR teams’ transporters roll home to Charlotte in impromptu block parties. (Hell, there are towns small enough after Sunday services for get togethers just to watch the local cops ticket out-of-towners.) You’ll pass stately old antebellum towns that could double as Mayberry RFD. You’ll pass through groves of scrub pines in the sandy soil of the Sand Hills. As you get closer to the track on 151, you’ll see a collection of stately old Victorian homes with gliders and rockers on their wraparound porches, stately shade trees in the backyard, and gleaming American iron in the driveway. On Saturday morning, many men folk will be out there washing their trucks with a garden hose in the driveway. For one weekend, at least, the outside world that largely ignores its existence focuses its attention on the Darlington area — and appearances must be kept up, after all. The people in this region are among the nicest I have dealt with in my travels — almost too polite, to the point of being courtly. If you need directions or you need a hand, they will always lend one. I can’t even remember how many times I had to ask for directions on my first trip to Darlington; but in every instance, I was offered assistance with a smile. It was just a matter of breaching the language difference between those who spoke Southern and myself — who spoke Yankee, and had yet to get a conceptual grasp on just how far a distance “a ways down” actually was. When I got a flat on my motorcycle on race morning one time, I was offered capable assistance and tools by a gentleman old enough to be my grandfather, a man who went the extra mile to call a friend who owned the local parts house to open up on Sunday morning and get me the inner tube I needed. It wound up getting delivered free of charge; and even though I offered a 20 as a tip, the men inevitably turned it down. Even the harried convenience store clerks on the main drags to the track will take the time to smile, wish you a nice day and, in most instances, address you as “sir” even if you are a long-haired Yankee kid in a tie-dye Dead tour T-shirt. Their manners don’t come across as cynical or an affectation, but rather the sort of conduct required by the faith that is the bedrock of most of their lives. Then, there’s the track itself. You walk onto this speedway and are immediately struck by the fact you are walking on sacred ground. All the great ones, from Junior Johnson to Jimmie Johnson, from the Flock brothers to the Busch brothers, from local native Cale Yarborough to Juan Pablo Montoya, from David Pearson to David Green, from Cecil Gordon to Jeff Gordon and three generations of Pettys and Earnhardts have raced here. They’ve raced on a track with a notoriously abrasive surface and unforgiving corners, not to mention the normal brutal heat of Labor Day weekend — a race that proved a true test of both man and machine. There’s no question every driver who has managed a win at Darlington counts it as one of the crowning achievements of their lives. Like the old saying goes, here you race the race track, not the other racers — and the Lady in Black is notoriously unforgiving to those who get sloppy. Even the best in the business will earn their Darlington stripes getting up off of what is now turn 2. Richard Petty won seven Daytona 500s, but just one Southern 500. You want to see that standard Petty smile turn to a thousand watts? Ask the King about his lone ’67 Southern 500 victory. For newer fans who might need a primer in the sport’s history, I highly recommend a trip to the Joe Weatherly Museum on the grounds of the track. There, you’ll see cars from the earliest days to more modern mounts. Take a look at those cars of yesteryear and be amazed at what you see — drivers with balls of solid brass wheeled them around Darlington at incredible speeds for the era on the circuit’s original superspeedway. These were indeed “stock” cars, not unlike what you might find sitting on the street outside the track. The Plymouth that Johnny Mantz wheeled to victory in the first Southern 500 had, in fact, been used earlier in the week to drive around on the public roads by none other than Bill France, Sr. while he was hanging posters to promote the race. Make no mistake about it, the Lady in Black is not an entirely affectionate nickname, or it wasn’t when it was coined. Cale Yarborough took a wild, out of the park ride into the parking lot here in 1965, back when only a flimsy guardrail separated the race track from the outside world. Richard Petty took a terrifying tumble here in 1970 down across pit wall, just as ABC’s Wide World of Sports joined the action live. The King’s head and arm could be seen exiting the car as it rolled, leading to the adoption of the window nets that are still standard issue in stock cars today. Even looking at Bill Elliott’s history-making 1985 Thunderbird, it’s hard not to note how relatively crude and homemade the car looks as he took the checkered flag for the Winston Million. That’s appropriate for a Darlington winner — Bill and his brothers built it in a family-owned shop that would shame even most Truck Series teams today. Yes, there have been some terrible races at Darlington. Ned Jarrett won here by 14 laps in 1965, thanks in large part to that year’s Chrysler boycott of NASCAR. Mantz also won here by 15 laps in that first Southern 500, perhaps the only race with tire attrition worse than last year’s Brickyard 400. But there have been some classic races at Darlington, too, too many for me to recount here in the space allotted me. (And one day, I’ll get the FS editors to allow me to rerun my seven piece history on the Southern 500… I promise… I hope.) There was the aforementioned ’85 Southern 500, when Bill Elliott became “Million Dollar Bill” and helped put stock car racing on the map outside of the Deep South. The single day payday was unheard of in auto racing in the era, and might have been the most brilliant marketing campaign of the late T. Wayne Roberts’ storied career. I remember watching in awe as Tim Richmond ran down Bill Elliott in the fading twilight on a rain slick track at the end of the 1987 Southern 500, sideways in every corner. To this day, that single race win has me convinced that nobody, nobody ever had the same car control that Tim did. And that’s from a guy in the grandstands wearing a Bill Elliott T-Shirt that stood up and cheered with the rest when Tim took the lead on lap 362. More recently, Ricky Craven held off Kurt Busch in a fender banging, tire smoking, drag race out of turn four by a mere .002 seconds in 2003, in what I remain convinced was the greatest race of the FOX TV era. In the end, Darlington doesn’t need me to defend her. The Lady in Black has earned a spot in this sport’s history that is beyond attack or even civil debate. To paraphrase Stephen King, anyone who dare question the existence of Darlington needs to have their powers of reason called into serious question. It’s like trying to explain to non-believers the enduring legend of Harley Davidson. There are cheaper, better-performing, bikes that get better gas mileage, but until you’ve thrown your leg over an American V-twin Harley Davidson and ridden the back roads, you’re just not going to get it. There is no reason in this era of fuel mileage and global warming concerns for the Mustang GT to have endured nigh on 35 years now, but until you’ve driven one, rear tires churning away from a stoplight, you don’t know what cars are all about. Some called it the devil’s music and called for it to be banned, but rock and roll has endured. Some of its leading purveyors including the Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen might have their charms lost on folks who let their tastes be dictated by American Idol; but for decades, they have been playing to packed houses of delirious fans who are in on the secret. If you’ve never seen the Dead or the Boss perform on a good night, you’re missing out on something so pure, so real, so all-encompassing, my pity at your loss must be mixed with loathing of your abject stupidity at missing something so overwhelming that it has defined generations of fans. Some things, like the opening notes of Thunder Road, the uneven idle of a Cobra Jet Mustang with its shaker hood rattling back and forth, the Potatoe-Potatoe-Potatoe rumble of a Harley, or the racing at Darlington have survived generations and defined us as a people and indelibly marked our culture. If I have to explain it to you, you’ll never understand it. They’re racing at Darlington this weekend. Let’s rock and roll. With Martin Coming Back, What does Keselowski Do? Jack Lewis - SCR Everything else looks good to me. The team is solid, and is led by a veteran crew chief in Eury Sr. If the entire team moved up to Cup, there would no doubt be growing pains, but it should result in a long-term gain for Dale Jr. and his driver. Questions, Comments: Email Jack Fast and furious the best way to describe Cup racing at Darlington Raceway By Rea White/scenedaily.com There's an odd thing about Darlington Raceway. Despite setbacks each may have endured at the track, in spite of damaged sides and paint left on the wall regularly in races at the 1.366-mile oval, NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers seem to love the track. They dismiss past poor performances, seem to embrace the concept of hitting the wall and earning the so-called Darlington Stripe and tend to believe that this next race is the one where they might finally conquer this tough, unforgiving track. Further, with the return of the Southern 500 name to the race there this weekend - though that event was traditionally run on Labor Day weekend - drivers find themselves nostalgic about recalling the men who have come before them, the ones who did tame this track. When drivers speak of racing at Darlington, one word crops up over and over: challenging. “The track itself is fast, fun and very challenging. Every lap, every corner is a challenge. It makes for great racing,” Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers said. “Plus there is so much history that comes with racing at Darlington.” That history includes an impressive list of winners, with the likes of Speedy Thompson, Fred Lorenzen, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough and Jeff Gordon. Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch joined their ranks last season, becoming the youngest driver (at 23) to win in the 60-year history of the track. “It meant a lot," he says of that victory. "That race track has so much history to it. I don’t claim to know all the history and heritage of it, but I know there’s a lot to it. I know watching old videos of Pearson or Cale there, then watching some of the highlights of the races there, too. You think of things like Jeff’s million [dollar win], [Bill] Elliott’s million. Then you’ve got races from before that time, when they were still running around there with guard-rail walls. "It’s kind of fun to watch those and see what the track was like back in the heyday. But we’re running around there so fast now, and the start/finish line is on the opposite side. And with the new pavement, it’s fast, too. To me, it’s just neat to be able to become a winner there.” Although the track was repaved before last season's race, drivers say it's still a treacherous place to attempt to get around. Busch says he hit the wall several times en route to his win last season, and many say that it's not that one is going to hit it, just that he hits it in a way that does the least amount of damage, that will be key in the race. The night race takes a combination of patience and perseverance as drivers attempt to manage it. Tires wear quickly, and the wall approaches at high speeds. There's no time for a driver to relax. "It’s the toughest place we go," Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle says. "I don’t care who you talk to. It is absolutely mentally and physically one of the toughest race tracks, and it’s unforgiving as well, and I guess that’s what makes it part of being tough. There’s no margin for error at Darlington, and I love it. It’s really a challenging place. It’s fun to go to, and we’ve had really good success there.” While some thought repaving Darlington might ruin the racing there, it has actually made the cars run even faster. Most say that they don't know exactly what the grip level will be like in this year's event - and that they won't know until they get some laps there this weekend. Goodyear held a tire test there recently in order to get the best compound for the event, and the surface has a bit of aging and wear on it. Perhaps that just adds yet another element to this weekend's race. As they prepare for the race, drivers find that it is more than the history there that makes Darlington alluring. It is the type of race they expect to put on Saturday night. "There’s the history, but, for me, the pure entertainment value cannot be higher than those races where you see them passing each other and slide-jobbing lap after lap, corner after corner," Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards says. "It’s just cool to race on that same race track, and it’s really cool how it drives. I think it’s more technical, more difficult and more fun than almost any track we go to.” The track doesn’t just challenge drivers physically, but it also demands total concentration. "It is such a challenging track and so demanding from a mental standpoint," says Penske Racing's Kurt Busch, who lost to Ricky Craven there in 2003 by .002 seconds, a record in the era of electronic scoring and timing. "You used to have to get your car set up right to deal with the unbelievably abrasive surface. Even with the brand-new pavement, it will still always be the ultimate challenge. That’s just part of the equation, because then you have to apply a mental focus to each and every lap. "You really do race the race track lap after lap in hopes of being there up front to race the other competitors in the final few laps.” Darlington legends: Cotton Owens remembers special Labor Day weekend By Jim McLaurin/scenedaily.com DARLINGTON, S.C. – Surprisingly, Everett "Cotton" Owens didn’t make much of a dent as a driver at Darlington Raceway, despite its being the biggest track in his home state of South Carolina and despite his status as one of the top 50 drivers in NASCAR history. But in 1970, as a team owner, he knocked a hole in the old track. "That was really a special weekend for me," said Owens, the long-retired driver/car owner from Spartanburg. "I don’t think it could have gotten much better." It was indeed special. On Labor Day weekend of 1970, Owens pulled off a rare double. On Saturday night, he was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, which is situated just outside the fence on the backstretch of the historic track, and on the following Monday, Buddy Baker gave him a victory in the Southern 500, the oldest big race on the oldest superspeedway in NASCAR history. Only one other time, when Cale Yarborough won the 500 in 1973 on the same weekend as his boss Junior Johnson’s induction, has that been accomplished. "Cotton was my man," said Baker, who later joined Owens in the Hall of Fame. "I never had the privilege of racing against him - my dad raced against him, but I never had the opportunity - he was just a wee bit before my time. "But I won a Southern 500 for him. I'd still be driving for him, but the factories [car manufacturers] said they were only going to keep two teams with full backing," said Baker, who moved over to team with Richard Petty. "I never left because I was unhappy with Cotton. If you're going to look for somebody to race for who wouldn't put any pressure on you, he was the one." The ones Owens applied the pressure to were the other cars on the track. Whether as a driver or car owner, he applied plenty of that. Owens made his mark as a driver in the old modified division, which predated even NASCAR, winning more than 100 races and earning the nickname "King of the Modifieds" for himself. But he also scored nine wins in the Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup) behind the wheel, and that included the first win for Pontiac, on Daytona’s old beach-road course, in 1957. He also scored wins on the beach-road track in 1953 and 1954, in a modified ’38 Plymouth. "I loved the modifieds," he said. "They were very good cars. You more or less hand-built them yourselves, and it went back to your wits against everybody else's, and when you won, you felt pretty good about it." He raced modifieds, he said, because back in the 1940s and ’50s, "I could make more money with my modified. We didn't run as many laps, and didn't use as many tires or use nearly the same amount of fuel. And you could drive home every night." He did OK in the Grand Nationals, too. In fact, he is one of the few drivers still around who drove in the first Southern 500, in 1950. In a field of 75 cars, he finished seventh, driving a little Plymouth similar to the one driven by the winner, Johnny Mantz. Owens was injured at Richmond in 1951, curtailing his driving career, but as owner he went to the top. More than 30 drivers won a total of 38 Grand National races behind the wheel of Owens’ cars, including hall of famers Baker, Junior Johnson, and a fellow Spartanburg native named David Pearson. Pearson, in fact, drove an Owens Dodge to 15 victories, 28 top-fives, and 33 top-10s in 42 races in 1966, winning the Grand National drivers’ championship and the owners’ title for Owens. Owens maintains that Pearson was the best driver he ever saw, much less sat in one of his cars, but Baker still has a warm place in his heart, too. On March 24, 1970, Baker drove a Dodge Daytona prepared by Owens to the first lap at over 200 miles per hour (200.447) on an enclosed course in any type of auto, at Talladega Superspeedway. But it was pretty hard to top that weekend at Darlington. "I think we qualified for the outside pole and went along real good," Owens recalled. "I know with about 30 laps to go, we had a lap on the fieldk, and I was controlling Baker. He was right in front of a lapped car, and all we wanted to do was to keep him behind us. He came off the corner all cross-wise, and I put out the board, 'Slow that thing down!' "He had relaxed with it and wasn't right up on the wheel right there at the end. "He was thinking about cashing the check." So was Owens. "The weekend went off real good," he said. Darlington still holds a pretty good chunk of Owens’ heart, too. At the track’s inaugural Darlington Historic Racing Festival last September, Owens was one of the featured guests, and he brought one of the old ’64 Dodges Pearson drove. "I got to ride all my grandkids around, so they could actually say they rode around Darlington in a race car," he said. "That was something." It’s a pretty safe bet he’ll have that car back again this September when the legends come back to town on Sept. 26-27. "I wouldn’t miss it," he said. Trent Owens Trades In Wheel For Wrench By Rick Minter | Senior Writer | RacinToday.com Trent Owens’ story is a familiar one in the NASCAR garage. The Darlington, S.C. native and nephew of Richard Petty started out with dreams of being a big-time race driver, but that didn’t turn out to be in the cards for him. So, like many of his peers, he turned his attention to being a crew chief. It’s a tough transition, no doubt, but ex-drivers tend to make some of the most successful crew chiefs. Ray Evernham, one of the best crew chiefs of all time, was a top Modified driver before an injury forced him down a different career path. Kasey Kahne’s crew chief, Kenny Francis, is a former Late Model driver. Sam Hornish Jr.’s’ crew chief, Travis Geisler, advanced as far as the Nationwide Series before giving up driving. Frankie Kerr, an ex-sprint car racer, is the man behind the surprising results being posted by Marcos Ambrose. David Hyder, a former short tracker, had the Wood Brothers Ford up front for much of Speedweeks at Daytona. And so it goes. Owens, now the crew chief for Braun Racing’s No. 32 Toyota Camry in the Nationwide Series, first showed his skills as a crew chief the year after he stopped driving. He put together a rag-tag outfit for a young driver from Kansas, who had come to Nashville Superspeedway to make his first start in the ARCA series. It was Owens who planned the pit strategy that had the unknown rookie in position to be leading late in the race and eventually finish second. The driver was Clint Bowyer. Richard Childress was watching on TV that day, and the rest, as they say, is history – at least for Bowyer. Owens is still waiting for his call from a Cup team owner, but he is proud of what he accomplished that afternoon in 2003. “That was a good day for both of us,” he said. No doubt, success that day made it easier to move on from driving cars to working on them. As a driver, he made it as far as the Camping World Truck Series, and was set to run for rookie of the year in a truck fielded by Billy Ballew. But it just didn’t work out. All told, he made 12 starts in 2001 and 2002, then made the hard decision to hang up his helmet. “It just got to the point where sponsor dollars were hard to find,” Owens said. “I had a family. Making a living as driver is very, very hard. Year to year; one year’s good, one’s bad. You’re always fighting to keep your seat.” Still, there’s a part of him that would like to be driving the cars instead of preparing them. “There’s nothing like the thrill of driving,” he said. I’ll always have that desire to do that. But I’m happy crew chiefing now.” He said that at times he gets as excited as he once did driving a car to its limits. “It’s not the same as when I was driving, but when I’m directing people, making changes to race car and seeing the performance improve on the race track, I definitely get an adrenaline rush, especially when we’re leading or coming down to checkers,” he said. In many races in recent years, the No. 32 has been driven by moonlighting Sprint Cup drivers, which Owens says has helped him grow in his job. “Having Cup drivers is a tremendous help on performance and helping my ability,” he said. “They’re so confident when they try to explain what’s going on with the race car and what can be done to help it. It helps me learn the right direction to go with the changes.” That Cup driver input also helps him make better decisions during races. “They lead me in a better direction,” he said. “There’s the reason they race at the Cup level. Not only are they good drivers, but they can get their cars better than the other guys’.” This weekend, he has a Cup driver, Brian Vickers, behind the wheel for a race that is very special to him. Friday’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200 will be run at his home track, Darlington Raceway. Victory Lane at the South’s oldest superspeedway is just 10 miles from his boyhood home. “I have lots of friends and family still there,” he said. “My wife’s family is still there. There’s an extra incentive, plus the history of Darlington makes it that much more special.” Last year he came close to scoring a hometown win. “We had a great car with Kyle Busch driving,” he said. “We led a lot of laps and got in a mid-race accident.” He said that fast car was no fluke. “I put a lot of extra effort in for Darlington,” he said. “I make sure everything is right. I really want to win it bad.” Vickers said he’s confident Owens can give him a winning car. “He’s a great crew chief,” Vickers said. “I like him a lot.” Kahne, Petty teammates try to turn it around by Rea White, NASCAR Scene, Special to FOXSports.com Richard Petty Motorsports started off the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season better than it ended the last one. Kasey Kahne was leading the organization's four drivers and was sitting in one of the top 12 positions to make the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. But he has endured some setbacks in recent weeks, earning only two finishes of 20th or better in the last six races. With his struggles at Richmond, where he finished 29th, Kahne fell to 17th and five spots out of position for a Chase berth. Teammate AJ Allmendinger, meanwhile, started off the season on a high note as well and flirted with a spot in the group that will lock into the Chase. But his 21st-place finish at Richmond last weekend was his best in four races and his first inside the top 30 in that stretch. He has dropped from 15th to 28th in the standings over the course of the last four races. Meanwhile, RPM's Reed Sorenson is 22nd, and Elliott Sadler is 29th. The setbacks have not been all of the team's own making, and the group is preparing for a stretch of races where the team, and particularly Kahne, have the chance to excel. Can they turn things around? Entering the race weekend at Richmond, Kahne said that he felt as if he was ready for better things. "We're just right there on the verge, it seems like all of the time," Kahne said."We have to get a little bit better than that. We're out of the Chase right now, so I don't feel like a Chase guy. We could be in it after (the race), and I'll feel like a Chase guy again." For weeks he has spoken about small adjustments that the team might make to gain a little ground. The group is not yet using the new Dodge engine, still working on testing it to check out its reliability with their setups before switching this season. For several races, Kahne has questioned why the group has not switched to the motor — one that is obviously working well for the Penske Racing teams. And he has dealt with the frustration that his performances have sometimes bred. That was the case for all of all of the RPM competitors following the Richmond race last weekend. Sorenson led the organization with his 20th-place finish. Allmendinger finished 21st, Sadler 25th and Kahne 29th. "It seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Kahne said after the race. "We made some gains with the adjustments (crew chief) Kenny (Francis) made, but overall, a frustrating night for the Budweiser team. The guys did another great job on pit road. It just wasn't our night." Sadler, a native of Virginia, was similarly disappointed with the outcome and a series of recent setbacks. "We were back there with our teammates so there's a lot of work ahead of us," he said after the race. "My guys worked hard, and we'll continue to work hard to get our program where it needs to be." The group has oftentimes focused on the positives, on trying to take an optimistic approach to the races that are coming. "There isn't any great strategy other than just keep getting the best finishes we can and stay out of trouble," Sorenson said. "We've run pretty well this year, but something always seems to happen. Now we are starting to finish races, and the results show." Kahne has endured frustrations as well. This season, as he works to return to the Chase for the first time since 2006 — his lone appearance in the championship field — he has watched what his competitors have done and slowly orchestrated his way through races. He has looked back on his past and knows that he can win races. After all, he does have nine career victories in the series. So he said recently that he battles that sense of frustration and keeps working to get better finishes. He's preparing for a stretch where, in 2008, he went on a hot streak. He swept the Lowe's Motor Speedway events, winning both the non-points all-star race and the Coca-Cola 600 and then went on to win at Pocono two weeks later. Now he's just trying to get his team back in that form. "I work hard to make sure that I do the best that I can each week," he said. "What gets to me is when you start getting happy running 12th or 14th. That's not where I want to be. At times right now, I leave the track after I finish 13th and I'm a little upset, but that's better than it could have been. I don't really like that attitude, but that's kind of what it has been the last couple of years. "I think you get that way by where your results are, where you're racing. It's a good thing, too, because at least you're being consistent, and you're not falling out of races and crashing and finishing 40th. I want that drive and that adrenaline to be a top-five guy. We'll just keep working hard, and maybe we'll get there this year. Hopefully, we'll get there soon." NASCAR ON TV THIS WEEK
Approximate Green Flag 7:35pm. All times Eastern Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain, Your Nascar Momma
"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 won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." -Dale Earnhardt - 1998 |
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