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Today In Nascar History
April 23, 1961
Richard Petty wins at Richmond for his 4th of 200 career wins. It was a 12 car field in front of 7000 fans.
April 24, 1969
Hermie Sadler, driver of the #54 Chevy Monte Carlo sponsored by Toys R Us, and owned by Team Bristol, is born on this day.
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Should WC Drivers in the top 10 in points be allowed to race in the
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from BigDaddy
Holy Cow Batman!!!! Will miracles never stop....I got your newsletter
today. Have you been working with aol or did I just get a gift from them
allowing this one to go through. This is just a wonderful gift no matter
what because it makes things so difficult going to yahoo and then checking
for them there. I hope my other friends and family got this too so that
I don't have to send it to them while I am at yahoo. As far as DW
and all of the Fox crew, they are the greatest compared to NBC. "Boogity,
boogity, boogity" is what I wait for each and every race. I end up driving
my family crazy saying it myself. I think it is wonderful that we have
something unique and original and, like it or not, it has caught on. I
don't remember anything as big that is loved and disliked since Howard
Cosell himself...lol. It is so disappointing when mid season comes and
we lose the best dang announcers Nascar has had in a long while. No one
is perfect, but they knew who they were hiring when they hired them and
that is what makes them so special and wonderful to listen too. Their knowledge
is going to be hard to match ever again. And then you get DW and others
that still are staying active with teams, either driving or working with
teams, and that gives them everything they need to stay absolutely current
with new stuff happening now, and doesn't keep them in the dark ages. It
is wonderful to have first hand information of track changes and stuff.
Later momma.. and be careful out there... happy
nascaring... Tim
Must have been a gift from AOL….I didn’t do nothing!
from Tab
okokok-I had 2 write & let ya know that I happen 2 LIKE DW &
his BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY..I feel the same way @ the start of a race!!!!!!!
c’mon, lighten up ppl-next thing ya know, they ain't gonna like the drivers
celebrating after winning a race geeeeeesh ~tabby
<all grown up & doin the BOOGITY ne wayz>
from Karen
I'd like to see a poll on who likes D.W. and who don't.
O'SURE
I LOVE DW....and BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY!!! I am soooooo going to miss
him when FOX's run is over. I hate the NBC coverage and always find myself
counting the days until it's FOX's turn in the booth again. I have been
a DW fan since I can remember and when he retired I was heart broken, even
though I think he stuck it out way too long and made himself look bad in
the end, he had a hard time pulling himself away from the sport he loves
so much, and that's understandable, but from the first day I saw him in
the booth I was so happy! A void was filled for me...and I love his "high
pitched voice" and his excitement! It's much better than Allen Bestwick's
"stick in the mud, I have no clue what I'm talking about persona"! And
that's just my 2 cents, even though ya didn't ask for it! LOL
Karen
Some comments haven’t been posted today, but they will be quickly…lot’s of news to report!
Crew
has feminine touch - All-female team will service Robinson's truck in June
TMS race: Two weeks after Annika Sorenstam competes against
the men at Colonial in Fort Worth, seven Dallas-area women will make history
at Texas Motor Speedway by competing against men in the pits of a NASCAR
race. An all-female pit crew will work with driver Shawna Robinson in the
O'Reilly 400. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at TMS on June 6.
It will be the first time an all-female pit crew has gone over the wall
in a major NASCAR event. Aaron's Sales and Leasing has agreed to sponsor
the truck that is owned by Team Texas president Mike Starr. Team Texas
is one of the driving schools at TMS, and TMS officials are behind the
plan to debut the all-female team. - The Dallas Morning News
popular sport of NASCAR(R) and two of its top racing teams, Hendrick Motorsports(R)
and Joe Gibbs Racing(R). Under the license, multiple JAKKS Pacific divisions,
including Road Champs and Flying Colors, will develop, manufacture and
distribute a toy line which is slated to include radio control, infrared
and remote control vehicles, action figures, Tongue Tape(TM) candy, role
play, slumber bags, backpacks, lunch kits and kites.
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
FONTANA, Calif. -- If he has his way, Michael Waltrip's budding racing operation will compete in the complete Craftsman Truck Series next season.
Waltrip said his older brother Darrell's successful outing in the Advance
Auto Parts 250 at
Martinsville Speedway provided the final incentive for him to seek enough
sponsorship to field a driver next season in the Truck Series.
Darrell Waltrip drove a No. 17 Tide Chevrolet in the debut outing of Leroy's Boys Racing, which honors the pair's late father.
Darrell was quickest in the opening practice, qualified 12th and capped his weekend with a seventh place finish in the race, his third truck outing in the last two seasons after retiring as an active driver to enter the FOX Sports broadcast booth following the 2000 season.
"I was real proud for him and real proud of my team for providing him with such a great truck to race," Michael Waltrip said. "We're very interested in trying to run a full Truck Series season in 2004 with our team, to provide someone with an opportunity to run for a championship."
Waltrip, whose Michael Waltrip Racing also competes in a select schedule of NASCAR Busch Series races, said his brother's racing aspirations would dovetail well with a full program for another driver.
"I think a nice complement to that (full schedule) would be Darrell running in a second truck," Michael said. "That would be for as many races as he wants or as many as (wife) Stevie would let him -- so we'll have to see what develops."
Darrell Waltrip will drive the No. 17 truck, which Leroy's Boys purchased from Hendrick Motorsports, in August at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Michael's Busch Series crew chief Bobby Kennedy and veteran mechanic Buddy "Red Dog" Barnes lead Leroy's Boys' truck effort.
Houston SuperSpeedway says it had its official groundbreaking Tuesday for the 1.3-mile oval. Track officials told reporters they are 30 days away from the start of construction of what is planned to be a $100 million facility on 3,000 acres. The track is scheduled to open for races in the summer of 2005. Star State Investments Inc., which is building the speedway about eight miles north of Angleton, hopes to attract NASCAR and Indy Racing League events.
Great Barrier Reef has announced that it will sponsor Derrike Cope's No. 37 Chevrolet in Sunday's Auto Club 500 Winston Cup race at California Speedway. Terms of the sponsorship deal with the Internet service provider were not disclosed.
SONOMA, Calif. -- Mark Martin posted the top time Tuesday during the first day of a NASCAR Winston Cup test session at Infineon Raceway.
Martin, one of six Winston Cup drivers testing the 10-turn, 2-mile road course in preparation for the Dodge/Save Mart 350 (June 19-22), toured the circuit in 1 minute, 17.50 seconds. He was followed by road-course specialist Ron Fellows (1:17.86) and Matt Kenseth (1:17.95). Tony Stewart owns the track qualifying record of 1:16.640 set in 2002.
Martin has one victory and 12 top-10 finishes in 14 starts at Infineon Raceway. The two-day session will conclude on Wednesday.
"We brought two cars out here and we're shaking them both down. We're trying to decide which one we'll bring back with us in June," said Kenseth, the current Winston Cup points leader. "For me, I just need to get in as many laps as I can."
Other testers included rookies Jamie McMurray (1:18.30), Casey Mears (1:18.60) and Jack Sprague (1:19.05).
"I'm just trying to learn the racetrack," said McMurray. "I've never been here before and road courses are a pretty different deal, but we're doing the best we can."
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Six Chevrolet NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams focused on aerodynamics during two days and evenings of testing Monday and Tuesday at Texas Motor Speedway in preparation for the O'Reilly 400k on Friday night, June 6.
Two-time 2003 race winner Dennis Setzer was among the participants along with David Starr, Travis Kvapil, Shawna Robinson, Eric Jones and Ken Weaver. Intermittent showers interrupted Tuesday's activities.
The main focus of the test sessions was gathering data using the new 2003 nose configuration on the Chevrolet Silverados. Unofficial speeds were in the 180 mph range. The information collected during the sessions will be put to use in the O'Reilly 400k and also at the next series race, the Hardee's 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway May 16.
"We are working on the new 2003 Chevrolet Silverado nose," said Acxiom Racing driver Setzer. "We are trying to gain some information to make it better at speedways like Texas and Charlotte. It is a new nose we are starting to work with."
Spears Manufacturing driver Starr was also seeking answers during the sessions at his home speedway. "It has been a great test. We are learning a great deal about the 2003 nose. We learned it is definitely not as good as last year's truck (2002 nose), there is less downforce.
"Right now we have less downforce than we had last year. You can see it on the clock and you can feel it behind the steering wheel. It has been a big challenge trying to get that downforce back."
"We came here with two trucks, one is a brand new 2003 Silverado Truck with the other being a 2002 Silverado that Xpress Motorsports sat on the pole here with Mike Bliss," said Kvapil. "We are baselining the new truck against the old truck that has proven itself here at Texas.
"I feel good about our chances for a championship. I can see how they had so much success last year with Mike. This is a team that can win races and win championships."
Former NASCAR Winston Cup driver Robinson was testing the Team Texas Silverado for owner Mike Starr. "I'm just happy to be here. Obviously Mike knows the race track well. We are just here testing and doing the best that we can do."
Jones and Weaver rounded out the testers. Jones is the new driver for EJP Racing and was using the Texas test to get comfortable with the team. Local driver Weaver, from Duncanville, Texas, was getting seat time in the 1-800-4-A-Phone Silverado. Weaver was driving Trucks used last year by the Joe Gibbs team and driver Coy Gibbs.
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- NASCAR is testing a device designed to reduce or eliminate dangerous carbon monoxide fumes being inhaled by drivers.
Gary Nelson, NASCAR's managing director of competition, called it a "catalyst system," and said Tuesday that it was used two weeks ago in Martinsville, Virginia, by Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart during practice and the race.
Stewart was sickened by carbon monoxide fumes during a race last fall at Martinsville Speedway, and the Joe Gibbs Racing team volunteered to be the first to test the new system.
"We have a system we have been developing in our laboratory and thought it was time to try it at the track," Nelson said.
Stewart was supposed to try the device only in practice, but chose to use it in the race as well.
"I felt better than I probably had after any of the Martinsville races I remember," Stewart said. "I still did have a headache after the race was over, which is typical of a Martinsville race, but not nearly as severe as it was in the past."
Stewart said he told Nelson he would like to try the device again in the fall race at Martinsville "to be certain it wasn't just a good day. But I'm somewhat encouraged the filter did its job."
Gibbs is enthusiastic about the development of the device.
"Our biggest problem last year was when Tony got a pretty heavy dose and didn't feel very good," Gibbs said. "They gave him a test and it wasn't to a level where he needed to go to a decompression chamber. But it was fairly substantial."
It is on the tracks under a mile (1.6 kilometer) in length where the carbon monoxide problem is the most severe because of the close proximity of the cars during a race.
"We wanted to see if the results we had in the laboratory could be repeated in the car," Nelson said. "This is obviously a big milestone in our study, which is being done by a doctor, one of our engineers and myself."
Nelson, who heads up NASCAR's new research and development facility in Concord, North Carolina, said the device that Stewart described as a filter "is a catalyst that sits on the floor in the car next to the driver. The system sends (clean) air to the driver's helmet."
Nelson said the new system runs on "the same theory" as catalytic converters used in street cars to diminish pollutants in the exhaust, "but this is a low-temperature catalyst."
NASCAR has been working since last fall on systems to filter the air a driver breathes during a race, a project that drew increased focus after Rick Mast announced in January he was retiring because years of exposure to toxic fumes had given him acute and chronic carbon monoxide poisoning.
The effects of carbon monoxide are cumulative, building in a driver's body each time he or she is exposed to it. Since last year, some drivers have been undergoing heavy oxygen treatments after races to decrease the effects of breathing carbon monoxide.
Nelson said NASCAR is being conservative in its approach, doing a thorough study. He said the new system, if it's eventually recommended to the NASCAR teams, is just one part of a three-part plan for keeping drivers from becoming sick.
"The first thing is to look to the car itself to see there are no exhaust leaks and the car is properly sealed against fumes coming in," Nelson said. "Second, the driver must be hydrated and ready to compete.
"Third, the catalyst system can help to see the driver uses air as fresh as possible."
He said the next step is for drivers to run it in practice.
"We don't want them to use it in the race, yet," Nelson said. "It is a developmental item and, if we keep getting a positive response, we would recommend it be used."
Mark Martin has four runner-up finishes in the Winston Cup Series. Credit: Autostock
Martin still looking ahead despite
rocky start
By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive
Mark Martin has just about seen it all during his long driving career. To say he's at the twilight of that career wouldn't be a stretch.
Martin is 44 years old and has been driving NASCAR Winston Cup cars since 1981, including the last 15 with car owner Jack Roush. His career has been stellar, as he's won 33 races, 41 poles and finished second in the points standings four times. In the modern era, no one has more second-place finishes.
In this age of technology and engineering, the veteran Martin has been
able to keep up with the
younger crowd. Heck, he's outrun them, too. Last year's runner-up finish
to Tony Stewart was a testament to Martin's tenacity and commitment to
his career.
His driving days are far from over.
"I've started over twice in the last six years," Martin said. "Both times, out of the box, were fantastic. But I don't expect that to happen every time. I'm not going to stand around with tears in my eyes wishing I could do this stuff.
"I have done this stuff. I love winning races. It's been really good to me, and I plan to continue to do it. I have some unfinished business, I have a terrific race team, and I've got more years of my time than a lot of the guys in the garage. It's not time to be worrying about 2006 yet."
No, Martin's focus isn't on the future, isn't on sponsorships, isn't on car owners. It's on here and now and what it takes to win. Martin has been with Jack Roush since 1988, and there's no reason to change that.
"I have a real comfortable relationship with Jack," Martin said. "As long as I want to race, Jack will break his back to make that happen, whatever it might be. And he's made the same kind of commitment to help me with (son) Matt. Jack and I are partners in life, as well as an in racing. We're real comfortable with where we're at right now, with the race team, with Pfizer and Viagra. We're just working on taking care of that unfinished business."
Martin didn't say what his unfinished business is, but he hasn't won a Winston Cup championship yet. Nor has he won the Daytona 500.
And he hasn't won in 2003, either. Coming off the near-championship run of last season, Martin stands 15th in the points standings. That's obviously now where he wants to be.
"We've been more competitive on the racetrack so far this year than we were last year," Martin said. "Golly, in 50 percent of the races, we've been wrecked or blown up. I couldn't help the wrecks, and I couldn't help the parts breaking. And neither could my guys. Those are things that for the most part we can't control, and we have to roll with the flow.
"If nothing, nothing, went wrong the whole rest of the year, we'd probably win the championship by 500 points. But we're not done having trouble. We would be very happy if the huge majority of it is behind us."
But that's not realistic either, Martin said.
“I believe that, for me, I had an average year on luck last year," Martin said. "Average. Or probably better than average for me and average for everyone else. I think I'm paying for that this year so far. We'll just see how things play out."
Martin's team took advantage of last weekend's time off to catch up on cars and to prepare for some upcoming test sessions. Martin tested at the Infineon Raceway road course this week and will test at Lowe's Motor Speedway after he gets back from racing at California Speedway.
"It's very important to all of us, but especially to the guys who work on these cars," Martin said of the time off. "We're getting in position to test two weeks in a row. ... It's kind of hard to do that if we were racing (last) weekend as well. It puts us in a position to just do more. Nobody gets a chance to lay down and rest. We just do more."
That's the way Winston Cup racing is. You hardly have the time to look back, and if you do, you might get passed.
That's the way Martin has approached his career. Always look forward. The most important race is the next one. That means the most important race is this weekend's Auto Club 500 at California Speedway.
Martin won there in 1998 and has two other top-10 finishes on the 2-mile track. But he also has three DNFs, including the inaugural race there in 1997 when he ran out of gas but still ended up 10th.
That's a little bit like his 2003 season. He runs well, but something happens to keep him from finishing better.
No worries. There's always next week.
"We've got a great race team, we've done really well," Martin said. "We ran so good at several races this year, better than we did last year. If we can keep doing that, everything will be all right."
By-Michael (Bigdog) King
As almost weekly controversy envelopes our sport let's take a step back and have a look at what the sport is all about, the basics , the essence.
Since the very beginning of the sport, auto racing has been about one thing, and one thing only ... winning.
From the first time, many years ago, that two automobiles chanced upon one another, contests of speed were the chosen method of determining whose machine was the more dominant, and what driver was more skilled. To that end a tactic was employed called 'passing'.
Lately, this maneuver seems to be the focus of increasing legislation and consternation among those in racing. Be it rules to define how this is accomplished, to arguments over if it should be done at all , it detracts from the essence of the sport.
Why a pass cannot be completed on the left on a re-start has its basis in the way a re-start looks to a television audience.
Several years ago, a high ranking NASCAR official of that era believed
that re-starts didn't look 'neat' enough on TV and lobbied the NASCAR rule
makers for change. Those changes were made, and today we have the passing
on the right side only rule to contend with on re-starts. Most fans believe
that this rule is in place for safety, when in fact, it is in place purely
for the sake of appearances to the viewing audience. Time for a change
to this rule that takes away yet another way of accomplishing the basic
pass? Yes, I would think so.
We also have a line drawn in the sand known as the 'yellow line' rule.
Its basis is rooted in safety, but this rule is as clear as mud in its
vagueness and aggravating in its seemingly constant state of flux.
What caused this rule to be enacted? Passing, or rather, attempting to pass, and the actions of the driver in front to keep the driver behind from doing this. Well, isn't that what's supposed to happen?
Racing is not high tea with the Queen, nor should it be. Racing is a down and dirty backroom poker game with the highest of stakes. It's a knife fight at 200 mph. It's all about passing ... and winning. The essence of the sport.
I am not suggesting that we allow the sport to become a Roman chariot race, where anything goes , but the cars are equipped with brakes , and the drivers are supposed to be equipped with some measure of common sense. If it is paved, let them use it. If they want to take the race for the win down to the campers on the infield, so be it. Pass, or be passed. If you happen to crash one another out ... that's racin'.
Instead of making rules on how you can't pass. Might I suggest that they try to make the rules on how you CAN pass, and please spare us the mud, ok?
Just my 2 cents, and if you disagree ... leave my Momma out of it.
Bigdog
Bigdog@...
RACING PERSPECTIVES
Build It. You’ll Get a Date
by Jeff Alan - Staff Writer
Once again, chatter has arisen from the abyss over a proposed speedway in the New York City-Metro area. The Big Apple remains the only major Television market in America without a NASCAR-sanctioned track. And there have been skirmishes behind the scene for over two years in an effort to build such a facility in the Meadowlands. Private investors, as well as the ISC have been spending voluminous amounts of cash and handing out freebies like penny candy to woo county commissions, and local officials (and perhaps, in some cases, their relatives), to approve their plans.
With the Meadowlands location in doubt, attention has now focused to Linden, New Jersey, where only three Mob families live. There is prime real estate there, with easy access to the Jersey Turnpike. Additionally, unlike their counterparts at the Meadowlands, local officials would actually like to see the property developed into a speedway and entertainment complex. And they like the ideas that have been offered.
When the ISC was pressuring local officials who governed the Meadowlands site, they proposed a plan that would require the State of New Jersey put up more than $400 million dollars in taxpayer money to help pay for the track. But to be fair, asking taxpayers to fund a sporting arena that you intend to profit from is nothing new.
However, a developer (who still has his original plan for a Meadowlands development on the negotiating table) and former state legislator, Mort Salkind, has taken the vanguard. He comes to the table with a plan for funding the project using money from private investors ---- the American way. And to help him spread the cheer, Salkind has surrounded himself with major celebrities like Paul Newman, Mario Andretti, and James Carville to help him sell his concept.
Wait. Let me see that again.
James Carville?
OK, I’ll keep my mouth shut. It’s tough, though.
These celebrities, of course, are there to attract publicity. But there is nothing wrong with that unless you are a stockholder or officer of the International Speedway Corporation. Those people are shaking in their boots.
It is no secret that the ISC desperately --- and I mean desperately --- want to own and operate a speedway in the Big Apple. They have spent untold (and we’ll probably never find out where all the money went --- or how much of it was paid to who) millions of dollars in attorney fees, feasibility studies, or maybe even gratuities to local officials, in their quest to own a track and casino in the #1 television market in America.
But now, somebody may actually beat them to the punch. And if this developer has his way and wins, the blow to the ISC will be financially staggering. The ISC is literally banking their long-term, financial future on a speedway and casino project in the Big Apple.
This isn’t going to be no run-of-the-mill speedway, folks. At .92 mile in length, the talk is that it would be a ‘Richmond-style' track with similar or higher banking. Additionally, plans call for a 20-story luxury hotel and conference center, and feature 400,000 square feet of “entertainment” area, which in New Jersey can be interpreted as a Casino.
A damned big Casino at that.
While most speedways come to life two weekends a year, the Linden proposal would be a cash cow, generating millions of dollars a month, every month of the year, in good times and bad. Naturally, the ISC would be pleased to reap the rewards of that 365-day a year cash flow, too. Ditto the stockholders. My guess is that they will now spare no expense to thwart the Linden, NJ effort. It may even get ugly. Lots of ISC stockholders are fidgeting in their leather recliners.
With Mort Salkind’s plan getting attention, NASCAR has already fired the first shot in what will soon be a war of words. Jim Hunter, that sly old guy who tells us that NASCAR has no problem giving money to Jessie Jackson, says “All of our dates are taken. We just could not put any races down on that (New Jersey) track."
This, my friends, at the same time that two other ISC tracks are appealing to NASCAR for a second date.
Now, common sense would say that, if NASCAR didn’t have any more dates, the ISC, and all its track management would know about it, and two of their tracks wouldn’t even be raising such an absurd request.
Gee, Mister Hunter, if the ISC got the bid to develop that Meadowlands site, do you think NASCAR would be able to find one of those dates you claim they “don’t have?”
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
You see, folks, NASCAR does have dates. They know what tracks draw crowds and TV ratings. Those tracks that don’t make the grade lose dates, just like Rockingham did. Such tracks are expendable to NASCAR. And I can assure you that NASCAR will have no problem flushing a date from another track to get their product within artillery range of downtown Manhattan.
I bid a hearty ‘good luck’ to Mort Salkind. I hope he lands that deal. If he can come up with the money to build it without having to reach into the pockets of taxpayers, I’ll be the first to go online and reserve a ticket or two.
Go ahead, Mort. Build It. You’ll get a date.
You can reach Jeff Alan at: Jalan@...
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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