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If you read nothing else in today's list, please be sure to read "Racing Perspectives" below. This will truly fire you up, and I expect you to email that jerk and let him know just what NASCAR is all about and what you think of him.
Today In Nascar History
February 21, 1948
Nascar becomes incorporated.
A driver can still be considered a rookie if he/she has run no more than seven races in the previous season.
Don’t for get to vote on whether or not DEI is behind Steve Park 100 percent.
http://bhb10.tripod.com/de3fan/
from Trudy
To all the Jeff Gordon fans out there:
I'm sorry you have to buy new racing apparel.
He will be racing a new number this year, No. 12.
Brooke is taking half of his number too.
LMAO Trudy. The sad thing is, she would probably do that if she could….
Nissan May Race In Nascar To Promote Truck: Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY), gearing up to launch a full-size pickup truck later this year, may race in a top pickup truck league of the National Association for Stock Car Racing, or Nascar, in an effort to promote the truck. Larry Dominique, chief product specialist for Nissan's full-size pickup truck and sport-utility vehicles, said Nascar has contacted and asked Nissan whether the Tokyo auto maker is interested in taking part in its Craftsman truck race series. Though there are some obstacles, including a sizable investment needed to develop race-ready pickup trucks, Dominique said Nissan told Nascar it wanted to keep the dialogue open and learn more about the series. - Wall Street Journal/Yahoo Biz
Mark
Martin to serve as Grand Marshal for Rockingham Busch race:
Roush Racing's Mark Martin will serve as the Grand Marshal for Saturday's
Rockingham 200 Busch Series race at North Carolina Speedway. Martin, who
won 11 Busch races at Rockingham and captured six poles, will give the
command to start engines. Martin holds virtually every record for the 200-mile
event of which he competed on 25 occasions, finishing inside the top five
16 times and in the top 10 on 20 occasions, before retiring from the Busch
series after the 2000 season. "It's an honor to be recognized for something
that you accomplished in your career," said Martin. "We had a lot of good
Busch races at Rockingham over the years and a lot of other people were
responsible for that as well. Still I do appreciate the honor and look
forward to it on Saturday." - FOXSports
Series: Jeff Gordon and The Jeff Gordon Foundation are again
teaming up with Sesame Street to raise money for charity. The Jeff Gordon
Foundation, established in 1999, and Sesame Street, created by Sesame Workshop,
the non-profit educational organization, are in the second year of a multi-year
partnership. The 2002 program featured the release of the “Jeff Gordon
Foundation-Sesame Street Elmo” diecast car designed by renowned motorsports
artist Sam Bass. This season, the special edition diecast features another
Sesame Street favorite, Cookie Monster, and is again designed by Sam Bass.
Once more, this specially designed collector’s car will not be raced. Action
Performance Companies will produce the diecast replicas of the “2003 Jeff
Gordon Foundation-Sesame Street Cookie Monster” car, which will be released
for sale in June of this year.
CONCORD, N.C. (Feb. 14, 2003) - The Speedway Club is offering a unique, upscale motorsports experience for the May races at Lowe's Motor Speedway. A limited number of Access Passes are now on sale, offering premium tickets along with amenities only The Speedway Club can offer.
An Access Pass includes a frontstretch seat, a pre-race pit tour, dining in The Speedway Club's elegant restaurant, a souvenir program and a subscription to Winners Magazine.
Access Pass options: The Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Winston Cup event on Sunday, May 25: Veranda seat, $385; Clubhouse seat, $447.
The Winston Pole Night, Hardee's 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and The Winston All-Star race on Friday and Saturday, May 16-17: Veranda seat, $458; Clubhouse seat, $474.
The Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Winston Cup event on Sunday, May 25, and The CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Busch Series race on Saturday, May 24: Veranda seat, $588; Clubhouse seat, $656.
The Winston Pole Night and Hardee's 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday, May 16, The Winston All-Star race on Saturday, May 17, The CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Busch Series race on Saturday, May 24 and The Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Winston Cup event on Sunday, May 25: Veranda seat, $931; Clubhouse seat, $1,015.
The Speedway Club is a private club located above the 1.5-mile oval at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Its 4,000 members enjoy fine dining, live entertainment and the excitement of racing throughout the year.
To purchase an Access Pass or obtain information about The Speedway Club, call (704) 455-3240 and mention you saw this on racingone.
RacingOne Report
The real racing season starts Sunday at Rockingham if you ask most Winston
Cup drivers. After
all the preparation and excitement of Daytona, Rockingham begins the meat
of the NASCAR season.
“Leaving Daytona to go to Rockingham is a major transition," said Dale Jarrett. "Everyone says it’s where the real season begins primarily because when we’re competing at Daytona it’s pretty much just putting the pedal down and surviving the big one. At Rockingham the driver has a lot more to do with the outcome of the race. It’s all about tire conservation, and having a good enough race car during the last 100 miles.”
Jarrett and the UPS Racing Team has a pretty solid record at "The Rock," scoring one win, 10 top fives and 12 top 10s in 14 starts since the #88 team’s inception in 1996. The rough and tumble North Carolina Speedway is a welcome site for Team UPS.
“It is a great track for this team,” said crew chief Todd Parrott. “It is a little hard to go from the 12 days we spend in Daytona to Rockingham, because teams typically spend all winter getting their Daytona car ready. Fortunately for us we spent a lot of time getting our Rockingham car ready too. The #38 team went to Rockingham and tested and it was real successful. With Elliott and Dale having the same feel for a racecar we should be able to use a lot of what Raymond (Fox, #38 crew chief) and the guys learned there. We’re taking the same car we raced at Indianapolis last year, and depending on how that works out for us, we may take it to Las Vegas the next weekend.”
Jarrett has left his mark at North Carolina Speedway. He is the track record holder for most laps led in a 400-mile race. He led 321 of the 393 laps raced at the spring race on February 23, 1997. In 31 starts at ‘The Rock,’ Jarrett’s total laps led equals 1,036 laps.
By JIM UTTER
ThatsRacin.com Writer
Lack of confidence is not a problem with Richard "Slugger" Labbe.
No wonder. Results speak for themselves.
Labbe joined Dale Earnhardt Inc. late in the 2001 season as crew chief for driver Michael Waltrip. Forty-eight starts later, he has two Winston Cup victories at Daytona International Speedway with Waltrip, including last weekend's 2003 season opening Daytona 500.
"We know what we build and we know what we have. Sometimes, people can't
see that," Labbe,
34, said. "Some people thought we would finish 22nd, 23rd or so this year.
So be it.
"My philosophy? We'll just show you on the race track we can do it."
They certainly did last weekend. Waltrip had run strong throughout Speedweeks, but his performance was overshadowed by his DEI teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
When Earnhardt Jr.'s successful Speedweeks performance was cut short by an electrical problem in his No. 8 Chevrolet in the Daytona 500, Waltrip became the biggest beneficiary, earning his third win at Daytona and second Daytona 500 trophy.
"We need to contend each week and we need to be a title contender this year, or at least be a team that wins a lot of races, wins some poles and does a lot of good things," Waltrip said. "Slugger has put his signature on our team. He runs it. It's his. He respects my opinion and that's important to me that we have that type of relationship. I think what we have is a perfect definition of a team."
It wasn't always that way.
Waltrip opened the 2001 season with a win in the Daytona 500 – his first career victory, ending a 462-race winless streak. But things went downhill fast.
By April, his crew chief, Scott Eggleston, had left, and Waltrip's performance plummeted.
Late in the season, the team found a permanent replacement in Labbe, a former tire specialist and car chief at Hendrick Motorsports. He had also served as crew chief for Kenny Irwin during the late driver's 1998 rookie season with Robert Yates Racing.
As he began his tenure at DEI, Labbe turned to Ty Norris, DEI's executive vice president for motorsports, for advice on how to approach the difficult process of reorganizing Waltrip's team.
Norris' advice? "Run it like you own it," he told Labbe.
There has been no looking back.
Waltrip's performance showed some signs of improvement late in 2001 and he became a consistent force last year. He made a return trip to Victory Lane, winning the July race at Daytona.
With his job performance under scrutiny, Waltrip's team continued to make strides as the 2002 season wound down. He ended the year 14th in points –10 positions higher than 2001.
"You got to have somebody who says, ‘This is my ship and I'm the captain.' We didn't have that at the 15 car," Waltrip said. "We spent a lot of 2001 just floundering. We were lost.
"Slugger has the type of personality and is the kind of leader who can say, ‘I know where I'm going and you all can go with me.' "
Labbe said his most difficult job is to make every member of the No. 15 team a believer.
"I told the guys on the team before we left to come down to Daytona. I said, ‘We are leaving that car in Daytona USA,' " he said. "They said, ‘Aw, no way. You're crazy.'
"I said, 'We are leaving that car in Daytona ... – I don't care if I have to sell it to some drunk in the infield.' And look where it is. They believe in me and I believe in all the work they do."
RACING PERSPECTIVES
A Response to Jeff Arenz
Someone Who Has No Clue About
NASCAR
by Jeff Alan - Staff Writer
Every once in awhile, the NASCAR pot is stirred up by a --- dare I say --- journalist who seems hell-bent on getting a e-mailbox full of threatening and vile letters from those whom he might push to the limit of patience and decorum.
A few years ago, it was Gerry Callahan, who read the Petty family, and the entire racing community, the riot act, in a column that even Saddam Hussein would consider in bad taste.
And now, from the land of Mark Twain, another blithering boob has surfaced with a scathing dissertation of NASCAR racing ----- directed at both drivers and the fans. And the more I think of it, perhaps this whole thing is a staged diatribe by the editors of the Hannibal Courier-Post to boost newsstand sales or website hits. If it is, it will work.
But it will come with a price.
To be fair to Mr. Arenz, I will post his exact quotes here, lest I take something out of context. What will follow is my response. And I sure hope you guys agree.
(Arenz) “In my view, it doesn't take much talent to be a race car driver.”
I can understand your view, Jeff. Most narrow-minded, stick-and-ball writers stuck in a small, hometown newspaper would probably consider driving home after drinking 20 drafts at the local sport pub, and do so without killing someone, a badge of honor. So, why would I expect anything else from you? Your statement is so absurd …. so shallow … so far removed from the opinions of noted sports psychologists … and so inaccurate, that it isn’t worth even debating.
(Arenz) “There aren't many people that I know who can make the less than split-second decision to swing a baseball bat and have the hand-eye coordination to hit it 400-to-500 feet.”
You don’t know many people then, Jeff. But then, I don’t know many people who can hit a baseball 400 feet, either. But I know OF at least 250 guys who do it all summer. So, does that make baseball players unique? I think not.
Put down that swimsuit issue and wake up, Jeff. Dr. Fran Pirozzolo, the world’s most renown sports psychologist (He is also the staff psychologist for the New York Yankees) makes no bones about the fact that competitive driving challenges as many finely-developed physical and mental attributes as any other athlete. And, in some cases, more. But if you knew that, Jeff, you wouldn’t have made such an asinine remark.
(Arenz) “Why is there a need to drive in excess of 80 miles-per-hour (for those of us who may have a lead foot on interstate highways), let alone make the dashboard needle reach the 180-mark? Why would anyone pay good money only to sit there and have their hearing ruined?”
First of all, Jeff, race cars don’t have speedometers ---- another direct indication of your lack of knowledge and imbecile attitude. NASCAR racing is the most popular spectator sport in America. This means there are plenty of people who don’t share your view about the noise, or anything else your anus has spouted via your PBR-stained fingertips.
While I am at it, Jeff. why would people pay good money to see a bunch of over-fed, under-paid, out-of-shape, whining, ready-to-strike-at-the-drop-of-a-hat baseball players, just to have an excuse to drink some beer in the sun?
(Arenz) “A race car driver doesn't have to be in shape. He or she doesn't need the offseason workout program of true athletes”
Jeff, your stupidity is exceeded only by your stupidity. Guess you never took a few minutes to do some research before you lambasted this sport. You would have learned that conditioning and physical training is pretty much standard for drivers and crew today. Yes, it does make a difference because the physical condition of those who tend to the cars in the pits have slashed four-tire pit-stop times by almost 8-seconds in the past 10-years.
Let me tell you something, Jeff; It takes more stamina and physical endurance for a driver to run a 500-mile race, than it is for one of your beloved baseball players to sit on the bench, chewing tobacco, and scratching their genitals for nine innings, then trotting to their positions on the field in a vapor trail of methane. Go ahead and try to convince me otherwise. Go ahead. Try it. I dare to say that if you climbed into a race car, you go about two laps before you came in to grab a PBR, or crap in your pants. Or both.
(Arenz) “I realize that a racing event can't be contested when there is pouring rain. The crashes, which unfortnatety (I left the typo from the story intact. My guess is that the newspaper can’t afford a spell-checker) seem to be the only entertaining aspect of racing, would be endless…”
At least you realize something, Jeff. There may be hope for you. Unfortunately, you don’t realize that fans also find entertainment in the competition and rivalries. But why would you know that, Jeff? You are a lover of ‘stick and ball’ sports, and you have the sports bar mentality to go with it.
(Arenz) “Why would anyone want to start a year with a Super Bowl-like event?”
It is called ‘marketing,’ Jeff. There has been a long, cold, off-season. Everyone is ready for racing. Daytona is, typically, temperate in February, and folks can plan their vacations around the race, instead of shoveling a foot of snow. A big race in February – the beginning of the season --- generates worldwide excitement for the upcoming year.
But I don’t expect you to know, care, or understand that, Jeff. I really don’t.
(Arenz) “It's such an important event, that Dale Earnhardt (a man that I respect very little because of his brash personality) died trying to capture the checkered flag at Daytona in 2001. I am passionate about many things, but taking that passion to a dying level seems to be too extreme for me.”
Well, Jeff, I am sure you must be passionate about getting hate mail, because that comment right there will light the fuse to the biggest stick of dynamite you have ever seen. I sure hope your pitiful, second-rate newspaper has something other than a used Packard-Bell 386 for a Pop-3 Server, because about 500, 000 fans are about to attack it with vitriol … the likes you have never seen.
And by the way, Jeff, a baseball player (You know, Jeff, those super-human athletes that you adore?) just died because he was using a drug that caused his bodily organs to stop working --- all in the name of making the roster of a baseball club. Are you going to insult that dead man, and his family, by criticizing his passion, which was so great that he risked his life to achieve his goals?
I can think of a dozen or more athletes who have risked --- and lost --- their lives in the pursuit of their passion. But I’m not going to pass them along here for you. You don’t care. The words of your article bespeaks of lurid deductions and antiquated views.
And that was the one that had me so pissed I had to stop reading for a half hour just to collect my thoughts. This guy needs to be taken out behind the woodshed and whipped with a birch strap. How dare he slander NASCAR, let alone Dale Earnhardt. I wouldn't wipe my ass with Arenz, let alone help him if he were dying.
(Arenz) “If NASCAR ever wants to be considered a serious sport, instead of being one step above pro wrestling, it should determine a true champion by finishing what it starts.”
Jeff, there you go again. You know what? I haven’t seen an imbecile like you since Gerry Callahan. Are you two related? You actually believe NASCAR isn’t a serious sport? Granted, the pre-race shows and the victory lane celebrations, complete with confetti and fireworks, may look like a professional wrestling event, but I assure you those drivers aren’t following a script. Ask Ryan Newman if this isn’t a serious sport. Ask guys like Troy Aikman or Terry Bradshaw if this isn’t a serious sport.
Ask your mother. Hell, she might even know.
Jeff, climb out from under that old steamboat on the Mississippi. NASCAR garners the second-highest annual TV ratings than your beloved baseball, hockey, and basketball…. COMBINED! Only the NFL can claim hold of the top of the heap. And that’s not bad for a sport that wasn’t even in the mainstream until just 15 years ago. But, Jeff, I don’t expect you to know that, or care, either. You’ve been sitting in front of too many big screens, in too many sports bars, sucking down nickel drafts to really care and research what you write.
(Arenz) “Now, chew on that Billy Ray and Bobby Sue.”
Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Arenz. We will. And wait till’ you see what is spit back out.
Have a nice day, Mr. Arenz.
Peace to you.
You can reach Jeff Alan at: Jalan@...
Jeff Arenz can be reached by calling (573) 221-2800 or by e-mail at jeff.arenz@...
To read the whole story, here is the link….
http://www.hannibal.net/stories/022003/spo_0220030022.shtml
Ok guys, you know what to do.....go for it!
Your
Momma
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