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Number of the Day
5.8
Jeff Gordon’s average finish in 6 California Speedway races. He has 2 wins at the track.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first race at Texas on April 2, 2000.
Should WC Drivers in the top 10 in points be allowed to race in the
Busch Series?
http://de3fan4.tripod.com/
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from Larry
Momma,
Dale Earnhardt had more class than DW will ever hope to have.
And yes, I'm sick of hearing 'boogity, boogity, boogity'! After all,
aren't the biggest percentage of viewers/fans "adults"? Cannot wait
until FOX run is over and NBC takes over. Then I will no longer have
to listen to that immature crap!
Larry
DE3FAN
from eeknomeek
Ok, I kept my mouth shut when Melinda said her first comment.
I almost kept my mouth shut the second. But I can't do it.
Guess I can't turn the other cheek. Where the h*ll does the b*itch
get off being so disrespectful towards the dead? Let alone Dale Earnhardt.
Guess her parents have about as much couth as she does. Which is
NONE in my book. I would say that she is lower than dirt in a dustbowl.
Momma, I have a lot of respect for you putting those comments in this list,
even though I'll bet you had to bleed a lot to do it. Melinda, get
the h*ll off the list, make us subscribers happy....so we don't have to
listen to your disrespectful, nasty bulls*it any more. Momma, keep
up the great work. I love it! But do try to cover a few more
ford, pontiac and dodge drivers, not all of us are chevy fans.
Sincerely,
EEK
from Bill
Well, Momma, I admire your persistent comments about the late Dale
Earnhardt and his many victories, it is true that Dale had an uncanny ability
to read a race track and take advantage of other drivers weaknesses.
It is also true, dear one, that Dale often drove as if he was at a Saturday
night dirt track bump and run race. Bill
I agree Bill, Dale did drive like he was Saturday night racing….but isn’t that what NASCAR is all about? Isn’t that where NASCAR came from?
from Tom
To all the FORD haters out there-- There are only 2 points that matter;
1) You spend your money and I'll spend mine wisely.
2) 2002 Nascar top 10 in points----7 FORDS
Nuff said--Tom B.--------FORD FAN
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., On Jimmy Kimmel Live: Dale Jr. will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC-TV late night Thursday (early Friday morning for some) at 12:05 am ET. - Budweiser Racing PR
Men®
Haircolor `Tune Up' Sweepstakes: Daytona 500 winner Michael
Waltrip is giving men across the country a chance to sit in the driver's
seat and accelerate charitable donations with the Just For Men Haircolor
"Tune Up" Sweepstakes. By entering the "Tune Up" Sweepstakes at http://www.justformen.com,
men can be eligible to win official stock car racing lessons and help drive
funds for Give Kids The World, a non-profit, 51-acre resort for children
with life- threatening illnesses whose one wish is to visit central Florida's
best-loved attractions. Gentlemen, Start Your Engines Graying men ages
25 and older can enter the Just For Men Haircolor "Tune Up" Sweepstakes
online at http://www.justformen.com from March 24, 2003, through July 31,
2003. To enter via mail, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to receive
an entry form, or print out the online entry, and mail to: Just For Men
Haircolor "Tune Up" Sweepstakes; P.O. Box 2697; Pittsburgh, PA 15230. All
mailed entries must be postmarked by July 31, 2003, and received by August
7, 2003. Men also can enter at the Just For Men Haircolor "Tune Up" Tent
at California Speedway, April 25-27 and at the speedway in Chicago, July
11-13. No purchase is necessary to enter or to win. The Sweepstakes is
open to U.S. residents only.
While team owner Bob Keselowski remains on the mend, veteran NASCAR crew chief Rick Ren will call the shots for Craftsman Truck Series driver Terry Cook, beginning with the May 16 Hardee's 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Reigning Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart today reiterated that he has no plans to attempt to drive in this year's Indianapolis 500 as well as the Coca-Cola 600 Winston Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway on the same day. "As I've said from the beginning of the season, I am not going to compete in the Indianapolis 500, and my reasons are still the same," said the former Indy Racing League champion who has twice competed in the Indy and Charlotte races on the same day. "I need to take care of what I signed up to do here with Joe Gibbs Racing.... As much as my heart wants to do it, I can't justify putting my personal ambitions ahead of the sacrifices made by my race team." ESPN.com had reported this weekend that Stewart would replace the injured Dario Franchitti on Michael Andretti's team for the Indy event, but Stewart told the Indianapolis Star yesterday that he had had no contact with the team.
Kenny Wallace says he will compete in the May 10 Charter Pipeline 250 Busch Series race at his hometown track, Gateway International Raceway, in a car with a special St. Louis Cardinals paint scheme. "Even though I reside in North Carolina now, St. Louis is where my heart is," said Wallace, a St. Louis native. "The St. Louis Cardinals are an institution, and … I’m just glad that Major League Baseball wanted to be a part of this." Wallace says the car will represent a collaboration between Bill Davis Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. Team Caliber, Sports Design and Wincraft, Inc. will produce a line of licensed merchandise to commemorate the program at the track, which is just outside St. Louis.
Players from the Busch Series, television broadcast teams and other sports and local celebrities are expected to take part in the TD2 Marketing Annual Golf Classic May 20 in Kannapolis, N.C., in a benefit for the Busch Series Ladies Association. The event at Kannapolis Country Club includes a breakfast and awards ceremony, a $1 million shootout, $10,000 putting contest and a $10,000 hole in one contest in addition to hole in one contests with a boat and vehicle for prizes. Anyone interested in sponsorship opportunities or in signing up to play should telephone Mike Troxell at TD2 Marketing at (704) 786-3030 or send an e-mail to td2marketing@.... LesCare Kitchens Inc. will be the presenting sponsor.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A developer who sought to build a NASCAR racing track at the Meadowlands Sports Complex now wants to build the speedway at an industrial site in Linden, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported Tuesday.
The $401 million proposal by developer and former state Assemblyman Morton Salkind calls for Liberty Speedway at Linden to feature a 100,000-seat grandstand -- expandable to 140,000 seats -- and a .92-mile track in accordance with NASCAR regulations, the newspaper reported.
It also calls for a 400,000-square-foot entertainment center and a 20-story
hotel and conference center. If approved, the track would be the only NASCAR
facility in the New Jersey-New York metropolitan area.
Salkind submitted a similar plan last fall for the Meadowlands complex
in East Rutherford. That plan is technically still on the table, although
Salkind now prefers the Linden site.
By Don Hamm
As I mentioned in my previous article last Thursday, http://www.insidethepitbox.com/April03/dh030419.html rumors abound about Steve Park and the Pennzoil Chevy. It's now being reported that Jason Keller may be in the seat at Charlotte. I'd like to be a fly on the wall inside the inner sanctum of DEI where I could listen in and tell you what's really going on. One writer noted that he didn't believe Steve was receiving any less support in equipment or his team. His point was that maybe it isn't the equipment, Steve or the team. It may well be that it's a simple lack of chemistry. That happens regardless of what team we're talking about. As my previous article pointed out, look at the friction at Yates Racing. They lost Rudd and Fatback. Dale's ticked. Steve is a good driver and it may well be he just needs to go somewhere new to best ply his trade. The racing world wonders and waits.
Lee Montgomery says that Jeff Gordon will be the first repeat winner of 2003.
Credit: Autostock
Opinion: Predictions for the
next nine races
By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive
First Quarter 2003
We've seen a little bit of everything through the first nine races of
2003: Fantastic finishes,
controversial calls, bad weather, crew chief moves and an excellent points
race.
The one thing we haven't seen is a repeat winner. The first nine races were won by nine different drivers, and if you check the list of guys who haven't won, you might expect that streak to continue through the next few races, perhaps even to the unofficial halfway point, the Pepsi 400 at Daytona on July 5.
"It could, and probably will," said Jeff Burton, who is one of the guys who hasn't visited victory lane this year. "If this was four years ago and you told me this was going on, I'd be amazed. But I fully expected it coming into this year. It's not surprising to me that we've had nine different winners."
What's the limit? Fifteen? Twenty? Will it be possible for someone to break out of the pack, win a bunch of races and coast to the championship?
Some drivers don't think so, especially with the parity in the sport the way it is.
"It's just the way it is right now," said Mark Martin, another non-winner
in '03. "The competitor
in me doesn't really love that. But what are we doing here? We're not racing
for $5,000 to win, there's a reason for that. We're putting on great shows,
and it's great racing.
"But from a competitor's side, I wish we could gain an advantage and go out there and clobber them like you could years ago. But right now, we haven't figured out how to do that."
Of course, no one has. Kurt Busch, one of Martin's teammates, has come closest to that, as he has three second-place finishes to go along with his victory at Bristol.
But Busch doesn't even lead the points. That distinction belongs to Matt Kenseth, another Roush Racing guy, who has led since the fourth race. But Kenseth had a rotten race at Martinsville, and his points lead is only 51 over Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So what do the next seven races bring? Let's look into the crystal ball.
• Will there be a repeat winner? Yes. While it's likely the different-winners
streak could stretch to
12 or 13, the guys who have won in 2003 haven't been flukes. Kenseth, Earnhardt
Jr., Busch, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon have all run well more than once
this season. That answers the next question.
• Who will be the first repeat winner? Chances are good it will come from one of those five drivers. Gordon is perhaps the streakiest of those drivers, so let's say Gordon. Where? How far out on this limb do you want me to go?
• Which drivers will continue the different-winners' streak? Well, let's see. This is not a hard choice. Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart comes to mind. And what about Jimmie Johnson?
Both are in the top 10 in points and have run well this season. If one of those guys doesn't win before the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, I'll pick Johnson to win there.
• Who will be the next first-time winner? Did you know there's not a driver in the top 20 in points who is without a Winston Cup victory in his career? The closest is rookie Greg Biffle, who is 22nd in points. But Biffle has shown some strength this year, so if there's going to be a new winner, it's him. Maybe Michigan? Pressure is on.
• Will Earnhardt Jr. take the points lead? Maybe the better question
is, "Will Earnhardt Jr. not
take the points lead?" Junior has been solid so far and looks like a championship
contender. One more bad race by Kenseth and the No. 8 leads the points.
• Who else will sit atop the points standings? Geez, what is the limit? Already, Michael Waltrip, Busch and Kenseth have led. Gordon, Johnson, Stewart and Labonte could get there, too.
• Pick the next seven winners. I should've made it easy on myself and opted out of this. But I don't care. I've been wrong before. California: Kenseth (so much for the different-winners streak); Richmond: Ward Burton; Charlotte: Johnson; Dover: Johnson; Pocono: Labonte; Michigan: Busch; Sonoma: Gordon. Yikes, I expect the Earnhardt Jr. e-mails to come pouring in. But ...
• Who will be the points leader heading to Daytona: Earnhardt Jr. And he'll win the race, too.
• Who is the next candidate to lose his job? We've already seen Dale Jarrett's team pull the trigger and ax Brad Parrott as crew chief. There are any number of drivers and crew chiefs under the gun, but two come to mind: Kyle Petty and Jeremy Mayfield. Petty, whose team showed progress last year, has seemed to regress.
He's 38th in the points without a sniff of a top 10. Since Petty owns
the team, he isn't going
anywhere. Crew chief Steven Lane, got your resume ready? As for Mayfield,
he's already been in the rumor mill. Car owner Ray Evernham says Mayfield
is safe, but that is sometimes the kiss of death.
• Will NASCAR clear up the rule book? Yes, and Saddam Hussein's popularity ratings will rise above 80 percent.
"Just when you think you know it, you didn't quote understand it the same way they understood it," Martin said. "If you go along on the road long enough, you're going to get caught in the fog."
With that, let's get out of this fog, the fog where I supposedly know what's going to happen in the second quarter of 2003.
The only thing one can really predict is that it will be unpredictable.
And it should be pretty fun, too.
Lee Montgomery is a staff writer for NASCAR.com.
The opinions listed here are those solely of the writer.
Ricky Rudd has just one top-10 finish so far in 2003. Credit: Autostock
Rudd disappointed over first-quarter results
Ricky Rudd hasn't gotten off to the start he had hoped for with his new team, the Wood Brothers.
While enjoying the first of the rare free weekends on Winston Cup's 36-race schedule, Rudd reflected on being 19th in the points. His only top-10 finish in a race was a fourth on the second week of the season in Rockingham.
"I'm kind of with a new situation this year with the Wood Brothers,"
said Rudd, who left Robert
Yates Racing following a contentious 2002 season.
"We were actually as high as ninth in the points going into Talladega, but we took a big hit there. Then we finished 11th this past week at Martinsville.
"But that 42nd-place finish two weeks ago at Talladega, where we were in that big 27-car wreck, that's when we took the big hit in the points. It's going to take us a little while to dig back out of it, but we feel like we're somewhere in a top-10 type car."
Rudd, who was 10th at this time last year, added that staying out of wrecks "is probably our biggest problem."
One big difference between the Yates team and the Wood Brothers is that Robert Yates fields two Winston Cup cars, while the Wood Brothers have only Rudd's No. 21 Ford.
That has not been a problem, though, as far as Rudd is concerned.
"When I was with the Yates organization, even though there were two teams, they pretty much operated independently," he said. "They were actually in separate towns from one another and it really wasn't a smart usage of the team concept.
"As much as the two drivers wanted to work together or help each other, nothing really applied. (Dale) Jarrett had cars that were built in their shop and we had store-bought chassis. I understand now that Doug Yates has stepped in more and seen a lot of the weaknesses and fixed a lot of the problems they had."
Rudd noted that Jarrett and Elliott Sadler, the driver who left the Wood Brothers and moved into Rudd's vacated seat with Yates, are now operating out of the same shop with the same chassis.
Rudd doesn't feel alone, either. His new team has a working relationship with Roush Racing, which fields five Cup cars and supplies engines and chassis for the Wood Brothers.
"We have a lot of the benefits from sharing with the Roush camp," he said. "There is information available, so much so that it can overwhelm you sometimes with too much information."
Rudd noted that he and crew chief Pat Tryson sit down with Roush driver Mark Martin and his crew chief, Ben Leslie, after each Saturday practice and discuss what they're doing and how it is working.
"We kind of compare notebooks, and I know it's been beneficial to us.
Hopefully, it's helped
Mark some, too," Rudd said.
Rudd, with 23 wins in 27 seasons, said what his team needs most to develop now is more consistency.
"We certainly aren't where we need to be, we're playing catch-up and there are some reasons for that, like just-getting-to-know-your-new-team blues and stuff like that," Rudd said.
"We're working through it," he added. "Hopefully, by the midpoint in the season we can talk more about the positive things."
By LOUIS BREWSTER
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Fresh from its first free weekend of the season, NASCAR's Winston Cup heads to California Speedway for the Auto Club California 500 on Sunday.
This marks the seventh Cup event at the D-shaped, two-mile track at Fontana, and it could be the most wide-open race of the season.
There have been nine winners in the Winston Cup's nine races this season, eight drivers have won poles and there are unfamiliar faces among the top 10 in the points race.
Matt Kenseth, a two-time Busch Series winner at Fontana, is atop the standings, 51 points ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Gordon, the lone multiple Cup winner at California Speedway, is third and defending champion Tony Stewart is seventh.
But the rest of the rankings are filled with surprises. Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, who has won three races in 543 starts, is eighth followed by Ricky Craven and Elliott Sadler. Craven won in mid-March at Darlington (S.C.) and Sadler has five top-10 finishes in his first year with Robert Yates Racing.
Parity a quarter of the way through the 36-race season has arrived in Winston Cup.
And there are even more reasons for the buzz surrounding the Fontana stop Sunday.
The second date
Since NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. mentioned California Speedway as one of four tracks under consideration for a second date under a realignment plan for 2004, there has been plenty of speculation regarding expanding the Fontana race schedule.
France was speaking with his NASCAR hat on, but he is also the chairman of the board for International Raceway Corp., which owns the speedway.
Second-date talk reached its zenith when the series raced at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway and Darlington, two of the tracks mentioned as possibly losing a race. Although the talk has subsided it figures to pick up with NASCAR at Fontana.
A second Cup date is not assured. The track will ask San Bernardino County to amend its conditional use permit and, more than likely, to pay part of the $5 million needed for lights for a prospective night race.
Here comes Gordon
No other Cup driver has enjoyed the level of success Gordon has achieved at Fontana. He's won two of the previous six races and was listed as a co-owner for the Chevrolet Jimmy Johnson drive to victory a year ago.
Gordon put the familiar No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet in the winner's circle two weeks ago at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, the 62nd victory of his career. It was the first victory in 16 races for Gordon.
Last year, Gordon dropped to fourth in the points race after winning the title the year before. Gordon was 16th at Fontana last year.
Earnhardt on the prowl
Much was expected of Earnhardt this year, especially after opening the season at Daytona with victories in the qualifying and Busch races. But a 36th-place finish in the opener cooled the championship talk. Then came a 33rd-place finish the following week at Rockingham.
But no Cup driver has scored as many points as Earnhardt over the past six races. He has climbed into second on the strength of five top-10 finishes and 975 points over that span.
Earnhardt has had mixed success at Fontana. He won a Busch race in 1998 and finished third in the Cup race in 2001 but was a disappointing 36th last year after suffering the most serious crash of his career.
Changing of the guard
Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte and Rusty Wallace have meaningful memories of California. Rudd and Elliott won their first Cup races at Riverside International Raceway in 1983, and Labonte started his then-record 655 consecutive starts at the now-defunct road course in 1979.
For Wallace, the last of his 54 Cup victories came at Fontana in 2002, a streak that has reached 71 races. Last year was the first time in 16 years that Wallace had not won at least one race.
The four racers have a combined 141 victories, but none this year.
By: The Commish
While most of the racing world is taking the week off to celebrate Easter,
experienced media planners know that arrangements for a major awards ceremony
have to be made months in advance. When that ceremony takes place during
the Christmas season, the plans have to be made even earlier. And to make
the event the major media event you need it to be for sponsors, you must
make it more of a real awards show and less of an infomercial. If you haven’t
already started thinking about the Banquet for 2003, now’s the time to
start. The following points should guide your planning.
1. Location: It has to be New York or Hollywood if you want mass-market media attention, and New York is the traditional location. Forget the talk of Nashville unless you want coverage to be restricted to TNN—excuse me, the Spike Network. To create excitement, get a venue bigger than the Hammerstein Ballroom (how about City Center?) and make tickets available to fans. Keep the prices reasonable and have the proceeds from tickets go to the Victory Junction Camp. Allot each driver a certain number of tickets to give out to his fans however he chooses and sell the rest to the public. Let’s get some real enthusiasm into the show.
2. Host: Do not hire an actor again. Actors need scripts and rehearsals. They don’t improvise well. Hire someone whose job requires her or him to think fast and speak on his/her feet, and who knows racing and is funny to boot. Jay Leno works for NBC; he’d be a good choice. So would Kenny Mayne, if you hadn’t blown your deal with ESPN. Don’t even consider Carrot Top. He’s needed for another role (see below).
3. Music: One mainstream country group for the traditionalists; one contemporary (probably rock) band for the new crowd. One token appearance by a musician interested in NASCAR—Sheryl Crowe is the most decorative but the red-white-and-blue necks would have a cat. Go with Alice Cooper or John Michael Montgomery (no duets!). No made-up tribute songs to the champion—they are embarrassing. Cross-promote the music—get Sterling on Nashville Gold and Junior on TRL that week to talk the show up.
4. Entertainment: This should be provided by the drivers and the awards (more about which, below). No Cirque du Soleil, Siegfried and Roy, or Anna Nicole. The Oscars did away with big staged numbers for a reason! A cameo by Ozzy would be a nice touch, however. Get as many celebrities as you can to show up. You’ll need good gift bags—and they’ll have to contain more than a die cast, a carton of Winston's, a free sample of Viagra, and a gift certificate for a six-pack of Miller. Have the celebs help with the award presentations so we don’t just see the stiff from RJR all night. Who would you rather look at—him or him and Pamela Anderson? ‘Nuff said.
5. Spontaneity: Make this a teleprompter-free night. Drivers can write notes on their hands, a la Jeff Gordon last year. Also, if DJ makes the stage, force him to do a new speech. Those variations on buying a new car at Dale Jarrett Ford are getting tired. Make sure the drivers are present, weather not withstanding. (These guys can afford three nights in a New York hotel, no matter how much they whine.)
6. Videos: As I’ve said before, NASCAR Images just doesn’t cut it for exciting video packages. NFL Films turned around the Super Bowl DVD in less than two weeks; start working with them now to do highlight packages for individual drivers and for awards (again, see below). You need someone who is used to providing high-quality video excitement, not just cutting the main network feed for a race. Viewers are sophisticated about video—they expect even more from sports video. The increase in quality and entertainment you’ll get from going to the pros will be worth it.
7. Acceptance speeches: Limit speech time, a la the Oscars. Finishers 6-10 get 90 seconds each; finishers 3-5 get 2 minutes each: the top two get up to 4 minutes. If some of the drivers have to subcontract their speeches to the fast-talking guy from the old FedEx commercials to get all their sponsor mentions in, so be it. If they run long, start the music and cut them off. Short speeches and no teleprompters might even mean a few splashes of real emotion for a change and less of that infomercial feel. Worth a try.
8. Awards: As Alan Bestwick observed last year, it isn’t an awards banquet without some envelopes—and some suspense. So give some real awards at the banquet: MPD, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Driver, Crew Chief of the Year, etc. (Some of these awards could be created and pick up a title sponsor, too.) Make sure the leading candidates are there for the award so that there is some tension. (And please note: for most major awards ceremonies, the cameramen rehearse. Signs are placed on seat locations so the cameramen will know where to find major figures in the audience. This provides better shots during the real broadcast.)
9. Fan Involvement: Besides inviting them to the show, add some new awards voted on by the fans, both at the track and over the Internet. Some possibilities: Best Scanner Conversation, Best Commercial, Most Impressive Wreck, Favorite Racing Moment, Favorite Off-Track Moment, Best Quote. A couple of special categories could really add fan interest if they were actually acted out on the stage; for instance, Most Obnoxious TV Commentator, Most Clueless Pit Reporter, Best Punishment for Carrot Top (I told you he’d show up). Liven the show up with the unpredictable—that’s why the MTV Movie Awards are so much fun.
10. Trophies: Let’s get some decent designs, not something that looks like it was left over from Al’s Discount House of Awards and Model Railroad Supplies. Work with one of the classy New York trophy firms—Lalique, Tiffany, Swarovski—and get something worth having. And that gold car from Goodyear that goes to the champion—just two words. Radio Controlled.
If you follow these suggestions I am sure you will have a program that
will actually engage viewers and be worth watching. Start now. Remember:
you only have two more off weekends to work on this.
Your
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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