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Countdown to Daytona
Daytona Countdown: '90
Earnhardt's last-lap hard luck becomes Cope's good fortune
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
A piece of debris punctured Dale Earnhardt's tire on the final lap of the 32nd Daytona 500 on Feb. 18, 1990, sending Earnhardt's No. 3 Chevrolet fish-tailing up the banking and handing an improbable victory to Derrike Cope.
Earnhardt led 155 laps and had a lead of 39 seconds at one point. However, a spin by Geoff Bodine with eight laps to go bunched the field for a five-lap dash to the checkered flag.
ALSO IN 1990 ...
• Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected black governor as he takes office in Richmond, Va. (Jan. 13)
• Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as Surgeon General, becoming the first female and Hispanic to serve in that position (March 9)
• The largest art theft in U.S. history: 12 paintings, collectively worth $100 million, are stolen by two thieves posing as police officers from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (March 18)
• Music legend Stevie Ray Vaughan killed in a helicopter crash along with four others near Elkhorn, Wis. (Aug. 27)
• Russian Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against countryman Anatoly Karpov (Dec. 31)
Courtesy: Wikipedia
On May 22, Microsoft released Windows 3.0. The full version was priced at $149.95 and the upgrade version was priced at $79.95. With his check for $188,150, Cope could have purchased 1,254 copies of Windows 3.0, not including sales tax.
If Cope had driven from his hometown of Spanaway, Wash., to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., to pick up his copies of Windows 3.0 from Bill Gates, the 55-mile trip would have taken about an hour on Interstate 5, not counting Seattle traffic -- or 19 minutes and 55 seconds at Cope's race-winning pace of 165.761 mph.
By 1990, Starbucks had been selling coffee from its Pike Place Market location for 19 years.
Tim Berners-Lee wrote the Hypertext Transfer Protocol in 1990. That is the language computers use to communicate hypertext documents over the Internet. He also designed a scheme to give documents addresses on the Internet, now known as a URL, or Uniform Resource Locator. By the end of the year he had also written a program to retrieve and view hypertext documents. He called this client "WorldWideWeb."
On Feb. 12, Super Mario Bros. 3 was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System console and promptly sold over 6 million copies worldwide.
On Jan. 7, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public for the first time in 800 years because of safety concerns. Computer models suggested the tower should have toppled once it reached a tilt of 5.44 degrees, but by 1990, it was leaning by 5.5 degrees. It was reopened in 2001, but engineers claim it will once again be in danger of falling over within the next 300 years.
On Jan. 3, former Panamanian president Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces. On Jan. 18, Washington, D.C. mayor Barion Berry surrended to FBI agents and was arrested on drug possession charges. On Feb. 11, Mike Tyson surrendered his world heavyweight boxing crown to Buster Douglas.
The collapse of the Soviet Union was big news in 1990, especially after the first McDonald's was opened in Moscow on Jan. 31. On Feb. 7, the central committee of the Soviet Communist Party agreed to give up its monopoly of power. On March 15, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
On June 1, President Bush and Gorbachev signed a treaty to end chemical weapon production and start destroying each of their nation's stockpiles. By November, Gorbachev had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
But while one threat diminished, another was looming. On Aug. 2, Iraq invaded Kuwait, setting in motion what would become the Gulf War. Four days later, the United Nations Security Council ordered a global trade embargo against Iraq.
On Sept. 11, President Bush delivered a nationally televised speech in which he threatened the use of force to remove Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait. Two months later, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation did not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by Jan. 15, 1991.
The Hubble Space Telescope was placed into orbit April 24 and became operational May 20. The telescope was repaired for the first time in 1993 to fix the focus of its primary mirror, then serviced again in '97 and '99. However, with the shuttles grounded because of the 2003 Columbia disaster, its future is as hazy as the first pictures it took in 1990.
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Top Ten NASCAR Predictions for 2005Mistie Bibbee
10. Kurt Busch will decide that he believes the Chase for the Championship was not a fair process and will turn his championship trophy over to Jeff Gordon.
9. Dale Jr will decide that his heart just isn't in NASCAR and he'll take up a career in ballet.
8. Elliott Sadler will legally change his name to Sampson Sadler because his strong runs comes from him letting his hair grow out.
7. Rusty Wallace is offered a pension plan from NASCAR. It involves Rusty selling programs at the track next season.
6. In order to avoid some of the tough luck his teams faced last year, Richard Childress has replaced all his this teams' crew chiefs with psychics who will make all the calls during races each week.
5. NASCAR gets bored one weekend and decides to invert the field after the race ends- giving the win to the car that finished in the 43rd position.
4. After deciding to form the mega-super multi-car team, Roush Racing, DEI, and Hendrick Motorsports merge and fields Hyundais.
3. Bristol Motor Speedway decides it would like to attract a higher class audience and bans the sell of beer at the track. The only food/drink permitted to be sold now is wine and cheese.
2. Due to concerns about offending non-US nationals at the races- NASCAR has decided to replace the Star Spangled Banner with the Macarena.
1. The Supreme Court will deem the rule "Actions detrimental to the sport of stock car racing..." as unconstitutional and order NASCAR to pay back all fines to drivers that have been paid in the last 50 years.
And, even more top 10
Voices From the Heartland;
Might as well get a head start…
Jeff Meyer
Please Note: The voices expressed in this column reside solely in the mind of the writer, and are not necessarily heard by anyone/thing else on this planet. Should anyone find that they vehemently disagree with the voices in his head, PLEASE do not, rob a bank, kick your cat or send hate mail to the editors of Frontstretch.com. Simply send the writer a friendly little email saying something like “….you’re a complete idiot….”. The writer will understand. Now, on to the voices…..
With the start of 2005 Nextel Cup season so close I can taste it, (or is that the salami I had last night?) I figured I’d get a head start on a few of this years future ‘Voices’ columns.
From past experience, I just know in my heart that there are a few predictable things the voices in my head are going to make me write and or say in the coming year. So, instead of trying to fight it, I’m just gonna roll with it!
The following “Top Ten” list is by no means is intended to replace the great list my fellow colleague and editor, Mistie, produces each week, so I hope she grants me this special dispensation. I promise I won’t do it but this one time!
Top Ten things I know I’m gonna say or write this year:
10. “I told ya Dale Jarrett was gonna win Daytona!”
9. “Tony Stewart is whining again? Who’d have thunk it!?”
8. “I proved NAMRF was a farce last year. C’mon, give me a challenge!”
7. Ahem! Editors, I’m still waiting for confirmation of those Bristol credentials…
6. “Nanner! Nanner! Nanner!” (After I win the weekly race pool at my local tavern)
5. “I sure do miss Jimmy Spencer.”
4. “Robby was driving like he’d been using to much of his sponsor!”
3. “Help! I’ve lost my camper, my koozie is empty and I can’t get up!”
2. “NASCAR is running things perfectly this year!” (can you say sarcasm?)
1. “Ok, I’ll have ONE more, but then I gotta go!”
So there ya have it! Oh yeah, there is one more…
Stay off the wall,
Jeff
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Quote's of the WeekMark is the essential ingredient that built Roush Racing. To look at Mark and see what he's done. He's a true competitor. He inspires us to look at him and want to be like him."
-Kurt Busch speaking about teammate Mark Martin
"I'm gonna go with the Eagles. I don't really have a reason other than that our old tire guy "Twinkie" always cheered for the Eagles. So I hope they win."
-- Greg Biffle on his pick for the Super Bowl
"Please beat me to death if I ever own a Nextel Cup team. But I might consider a truck deal."
-- Mark Martin
``I won't predict a three-peat. I never thought we'd get our first championship.''
-- Team owner Jack Roush, on predicting a three-peat after Kenseth (2003) and Busch (2004) won titles for Roush Racing.
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Comments from the Peanut GalleryWow! Lots of replies on the comment made by Karen on the liquor sponsorships
from Bob
Oh yes. Lets ban those dreaded hard liquor manufacturers from sponsoring cars in NASCAR. Everyone knows you can only get drunk, or become an alcoholic by drinking hard liquor. Nobody ever got got a DUI after drinking beer. Bud, Coors Lite, Miller Lite and Smirnoff Ice are fine, but god forbid we advertise Jack Daniels. Wake up and smell the coffee. You can get drunk on beer or coolers just the same as on whisky, vodka or rum. If you don't want your kids to see that kind of advertising on the cars then there is a virtually fool proof way of preventing it. Monitor their TV watching and hit the on /off switch when the offending program comes on. Oh and by the way all the while you're pulling those important advertising dollars out of the teams pockets, be sure to whine and complain about the quality of the racing you're left with.
I for one love Nascar racing and I'm for anything legal that might improve racing. If we tie the hands of the team owners we can't expect them to offer up teams that are competitive on the track. Instead of asking Nascar to ban Liquor companies, take your kids aside and explain that drinking and driving is wrong. Instil some values in them, by positive reinforcement. Don't expect any sport or television show to do it for you. I say three cheers to Nascar for making the right decision this time.
Bob
from James
First and foremost NASCAR was started by hard liquor if you stop and remember where this whole sport started. If you want to say no to hard liquor you need to find a better excuse than the fact that it promotes under age drinking and drunk drivers. If this is the reason you want to use then Dale, Jr., Sterling Marlin and Rusty Wallace to name a few will need to seek new sponsors because these boys are promoting the same thing are they not? Winston should never have had to leave the sport either. Yes Winston and RJR Reynolds produce cigarettes but they did not put the cigarettes into peoples mouths and make them smoke them. There are many things that come into play before people pick up bad habits like drinking and smoking. I for one smoke and it was not because of a cigarette company sponsoring a sport. I also used to drink because I thought it made me look cool and all my friends did it. When I started drinking I was 16 or 17 and yes I was a NASCAR fan then but that did not influence me. People need to stop jumping on the whole you should not do this cause its bad bandwagon with out looking back at our history. Drinking was around long before NASCAR was even a thought and will be around long after they have done their last burn out.
I said to alot of my friends I was gonna sit on the sidelins this year and not say anything or pay much attention to the sport but there are times like this where someone says something without thinking that I have to stand up and wake them up to the real life.
And here is some information for you. My brother, his freind died because of a drunk driver. I myself almost lost my life in the accident and guess what. It had nothing to do with a beer sponsor on a race car.
James Wagner
from Bob S
Karen, I concur with the basis of your pique, but think it's hypocritical to pick on hard liquor while beer and wine are allowed as car and race sponsors. Gotta remember NASCAR had nothing to do with the dropping of tobacco. That was a legislative fiat.
Treatment Parsons received is the pits
Well, what with NASCAR trying to divorce itself from its heritage, and this "modern era' claptrap, what do they expect. They seem to be regarding folks like Dale Jarrett as the old timers now. If you ain't of the MTV generation, you don't count.
No Donlavey entry at Daytona..but he'll be there:
Things gotta change, but this is sad, sad, sad. A great gentleman, and the sport would be different without him.
from Lisa
although freedom of speech is one of our rights, .....Personally, I don't run out and purchase ANY product just because I see it advertised on the hood of a race car or anywhere else. As a parent, I accept the responsibility of teaching my family the difference between right and wrong and how not to be lead astray by any kind of advertising. For the record, I watched my grandmother die a horrible death from cancer caused by cigarettes so I find them just as dangerous!
Lisa (dj88bigfan)
from Larry
NA$CAR has been advertising BEER for years!!!! What's the difference? We need sponsors for ALL series and if hard liquor is the only one to offer it, LET IT BE!!!
Larry in Wisconsin
DE3FAN
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Bits and PiecesMartin, Busch: teammates and admirers
Roush Racing teammates Mark Martin and Kurt Buschboth visited the California media center during Thursday's lunch break and both waxed eloquent about teammates and chemistry.
Martin is anticipating his final fulltime season while Busch will try to defend his 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series title. Busch paid tribute to Martin.
"With Mark creating the identity for Roush Racing, it enabled me to jump into a competitive car and win races right away," said the 27-year-old Busch. "The same thing for Matt Kenseth. Mark is the essential ingredient that built Roush Racing. To look at Mark and see what he's done. He's a true competitor. He inspires us to look at him and want to be like him."
And Martin doesn't want the commitment of his No. 6 crew to be lost in the hubbub of his final season.
"We're focused pretty intensely on 2005, the whole team," Martin said. "They paid me a great compliment and honor. It will be the first time that I've had such a successful season, that I can remember and not lost team members to other races teams, and it wasn't because people didn't try to get them. It was because they knew that we had a championship caliber team and they wanted to give me a shot."
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NASCAR's newest Hollywood star: Jamie McMurray is having a big time as NASCAR's newest Hollywood star. He just filmed a bit in "E! True Hollywood Story" Wednesday, while testing at the California Speedway. And McMurray and teammate Casey Mears will appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Feb. 22, for airing Feb. 23. - The Winston-Salem Journal ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Agajanian Motorsports adds sponsorYou can bid through Feb. 11 for lunch with NASCAR legend Richard Petty along with such national stars as R&B diva Patti LaBelle, Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden and rap artist Ja Rule. Channellock Inc. will sponsor Curb Agajanian Motorsports No. 43 Dodge for A.J. Fike and Jeff Green in 12 Busch Series races this season. Green, the 1994 series champion, will drive the car in both races at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The team says additional sponsorship will be announced later.
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Michigan International Speedway Nextel Cup Tickets On Sale Saturday, February 12 - Renovation Project Reaches New Heights: With the largest renovation in the history of the track underway and exciting enhancements to the race weekend schedule, the 2005 season will be one of the most anticipated seasons in the history of Michigan International Speedway. Fans wanting to be a part of this year’s action at MIS will need to mark Saturday, February 12, on their calendars, as tickets to both NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events will be available to the general public. Tickets to both NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events at Michigan International Speedway, the June 19 Michigan 400 and the August 21 GFS Marketplace 400, will go on sale at 8:00 AM EST on Saturday, February 12, at MIS’ newly redesigned official website, www.MISpeedway.com, or by calling the MIS ticket hotline at 1-800-354-1010. In addition to tickets being available at www.MISpeedway.com 24 hours a day, seven days a week, starting February 12, the MIS ticket hotline will be open from 9 A.M. until 9 P.M. seven days a week for fan’s convenience.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Trucks hit the track at Atlanta Five Craftsman Truck Series drivers were at Atlanta Motor Speedway this week to prepare for their March 18 event.
Ricky Craven, who is moving to Jack Roush's No. 99 Ford on the truck circuit after 10 seasons in Cup, spent much of the session getting used to a new vehicle.
"While it's still racing, it's a really different form of racing," Craven said. "We're trying to get acclimated to a new environment, different people, learning everyone's personality and the vehicles themselves. They drive so much different than Cup cars."
Veteran Rick Crawford turned the fastest lap at 174.58 mph. He seemed pleased with the performance of his No. 14 Ford. Terry Cook, Ted Musgrave and rookie Todd Kluever also tested.
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Interesting stat from Big: Bill Elliott’s Daytona track record is 210.364. Last year, Greg Biffle sat on the pole with a speed of 188.387. Did you know if those two cars were in the same race, Elliott would go by Biffle every 8.57 laps? In a 500-lap race Biffle would get lapped 23 times. And you thought some of the backmarkers were slow.(Caledonian Record)~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Talladega testing up next for trucks Talladega Superspeedway will have four Toyota drivers test their Craftsman Truck Series entries today and tomorrow.
Those expected to take part were David Reutimann in Darrell Waltrip Motorsports' No. 17, Chad Chaffin in Germain/Arnold Racing's No. 30, Shigeaki Hatori in Germain/Arnold's No. 9 and Brandon Whitt in Clean Line Motorsports' No. 38.
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Jim France Honored: France, vice chairman/executive vice president of NASCAR and CEO of International Speedway Corp., has been presented with the Road Racing Drivers Club’s annual Phil Hill Award. France received the award, given “for outstanding service to road racing,” from RRDC President Bobby Rahal, the 1981 co-winner of this weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. The Road Racing Drivers Club was created in 1962 with a goal of serving the future of road racing, on both amateur and professional levels, by mentoring new drivers. The RRDC now has more than 150 active members. Rahal is also co-owner of the 2004 Indianapolis 500 winning team, along with David Letterman, and the 1986 Indy 500” winner. Phil Hill, in 1961, became the first American to win the Formula 1 World Championship. Among his international wins is the 1964 Daytona 2000Km race, precursor to the Rolex 24. Jim France is a son of William H. G. France who founded NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway, seeing both grow into the headliners of American auto racing.(NASCAR PR)~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Pruett guides Ganassi's No. 01 to another poleWinning the Rolex 24 at Daytona pole is tricky business -- a driver has to run quick, but not fast enough to damage the team's Daytona Prototype for the race.
Scott Pruett, a veteran of these road racing battles, walked that fine line between speed and disaster to capture the No. 1 starting position for Saturday's sportscar marathon.
"You're dealing with close to 30 prototypes out there this year. That's nearly double last year and you have to find an open space to run in," Pruett said. "It's a new element and good for the sport to have so many prototypes, but it means you're trying to find that one lap where you can really lay one down."
Pruett, who was co-champion of the prototype series in 2004 with Italy's Max Papis, did just that, with time running out in the qualifying session. He turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 46.928 seconds moments before the checkered flag.
Pruett averaged 119.856 mph on the 3.56-mile road course that uses about three-fourths of the 2½-mile NASCAR oval and also winds through the infield of the famed Daytona track.
That was just a bit slower than the 1:45.783 (121.154 mph) Pruett ran while winning the Daytona pole last year in the debut of the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus. He went on to finish 10th in the race.
"Quite frankly, I think this is the toughest race in the world to win," said Pruett, who will co-drive with Daytona rookies Luis Diaz of Mexico and Australian-born Ryan Briscoe. "I know Chip has brought three very strong teams here to try to add this race to all the accomplishments he has in racing. It would be great to win it again."
The three-time Trans-Am champion and race winner in both Champ Car and IROC, now has five poles in 13 Rolex Grand Am Series races.
Pruett, part of the winning team here in 1994 and a five-time class champion at Daytona, barely beat a Pontiac Riley driven by Max Angelelli of Italy for this latest pole. Angelelli, the veteran endurance racer who will share the cockpit with Wayne Taylor and Emmanuel Collard, turned a lap of 1:46.945 (119.837).
"Before qualifying, I was very sure I would win the pole," Angelelli said with a shrug. "Scott just had a little better lap at the end. But it's a very long race and anything can happen."
Last season, overall, the Ganassi team won 11 poles in 12 events and finished the season with seven in a row.
Papis, now co-driving a Pontiac Riley with German's Jorg Bergmeister and Oliver Gavin of England, was third at 1:47.260 (119.590), followed by the other two Ganassi entries. Stefan Johansson, who will share a Lexus Riley with NASCAR's Jamie McMurray and Cort Wagner, was fourth at 1:47.260 (119.485), while New Zealander Scott Dixon was next at 1:47.480 (119.241) in the Lexus Riley. He will co-drive with fellow IRL star Darren Manning of England and NASCAR's Casey Mears.
NASCAR will be well represented in the race that starts at noon on Saturday, with former champions Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte and Terry Labonte and last year's Nextel Cup runner-up Jimmie Johnson all part of teams that qualified in the top 10.
Reigning Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais of France, who will co-drive with 80-year-old actor-racer Paul Newman, former Champ Car champion Cristiano da Matta of Brazil and car owner Michael Brockman, qualified a Ford Crawford prototype 13th on Thursday.
Kurt Busch, the Nextel Cup champion, was not even at the track Thursday, but the Ford Multimatic prototype he will share with fellow NASCAR stars Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle was qualified 16th by Canadian sports car ace Scott Maxwell.
The race, which used to be known as the Daytona 24-Hours, remains America's most prestigious sports car endurance event.
This year, it will include only two classes, the prototypes and the generally less powerful GT cars. For the start of the twice-around-the-clock event, the prototypes will start ahead of the GT entries, regardless of qualifying position.
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Earthquake in California: A California 3.2 earthquake that occurred Wednesday evening did not go unnoticed by several members of the NASCAR community who aren’t used to such events. Ricky Rudd was in his hotel room when...“I heard a bang…like someone took a baseball bat and hit your bed with it. It wasn’t shaking…it was one time, like one big boom. It was kind of odd…didn’t know exactly what it was and didn’t think too much about it then. When I woke up this morning (Thursday) I found out it was an earthquake 15 miles away.(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Doran, Labontes add 2 more races in 2005Bobby Labonte, the only driver to win NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series championships and the head of Bobby Labonte Enterprises, and Kevin Doran, president of Doran Racing, plan to jointly field a car in three Grand American Rolex Series races in 2005.
Doran Labonte Racing's first event will be this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona International Raceway here, the most prestigious endurance sports car race in North America and an event that Doran Racing has already won twice.
The other two races will be the Paul Revere 250 at Daytona June 29-30 and the August 11-12 event at Watkins Glen, N.Y. Both of those races will be held in conjunction with NASCAR NEXTEL Cup events. Bobby Labonte drives the Interstate Batteries Chevy for Joe Gibbs Racing in NASCAR. His older brother, Terry Labonte, a two-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion, is doing a limited NASCAR schedule in 2005 and 2006 with Hendrick Motorsports in the Kelloggs Chevy.
The Rolex Series Daytona Prototype will officially be registered as a Doran Labonte Racing entry. It is a bright red DORAN JE4 powered by a Pontiac engine, and carries No. 44. Doran Racing also fields the gold Crown Royal Special Reserve DORAN JE4 Lexus No. 77 of Didier Theys, Matteo Bobbi and Fabrizio Gollin.
Joining Bobby and Terry Labonte behind the wheel of the No. 44 in this weekend's twice-around-the-clock classic will be endurance sports car superstar Jan Magnussen and Indy Racing League IndyCar standout Bryan Herta.
The Labonte brothers and Magnussen will comprise the driver roster for the two shorter races this summer.
Doran said that he and the Labontes were looking at the possibility of adding a few more events too.
The primary sponsor of the No. 44 car will be announced soon. Associate sponsors include Lista, the worldwide leader in modular storage units, and MOMO, the world's premier manufacturer of high-performance products such as steering wheels, shift knobs and road wheels.
Magnussen, Herta and Bobby Labonte will be making their first Rolex 24 starts this weekend. Terry Labonte will be making his eighth start in the race, winning the GTO class in 1984. The car's number, 44, is significant because it was the number he drove in winning his first NASCAR championship in 1984 and the number he'll use in NEXTEL Cup races this year and next.
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Two Thursday Fontana testing notes: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #8 car blew a motor about two hours prior to the end of the session. Eariler in the day #31-Jeff Burton scrubbed the wall in turn four after his car got too tight.(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Wallace keeps TV close, but heart is on the trackBy Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
LAS VEGAS -- In between test sessions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kenny Wallace took some Polaroids with a couple of adoring fans.
"You're the funniest guy in NASCAR," one of them said after the impromptu photo session.
Wallace just smiled, comfortable with his image in the sport. It's an image Wallace said has been helped by his growing television career, particularly appearances on the FX reality program NASCAR Drivers: 360.
"When people saw me on that show, spending $15,000 of my own money to rent a car after we had the problems in Rockingham last year that we had, I think it told people that 'yeah, he's funny ... but holy (crap), is he serious about his racing.' "
While some drivers shunned away from the idea of having cameras follow them around all day, Wallace said he was quick to sign up.
"They were looking for drivers to do it and all the drivers were very busy being famous, so they asked me."
Then Wallace asked his family, letting them know what doing the show would entail.
"Because I had watched so much of The Osbournes on MTV, I had an idea what it would be like," he said. "But you have control. If you don't like something that they shoot, you tell them and they work around it.
"Other guys saw that and now they all want to be a part of it."
This year's version of 360 is scheduled to begin shooting next week at Daytona. Wallace says his brother Rusty and Mark Martin will join him on the show this season.
Wallace said the exposure the show gave him was more than a bit surprising.
"I am humble when I say this," Wallace said, choosing his words carefully. "If my popularity was at 70 percent before 360, it's at about 90 percent now."
Wallace says he actually had an offer to take a much more high-profile position when FOX Sports asked him in 2000 to serve as analyst for its budding coverage of NASCAR beginning in 2001.
Wallace said he passed on the offer because he still had some on-track things that he wanted to achieve.
"I race," he said. "I'd rather be racing. That's what I do."
But while Wallace is a racer, he's also a realist.
"I'm 41 years old and I still can win a Cup race easily, but when you're 40 nowadays it's like you're 50, because people like Jeff Gordon and Tiger Woods started achieving things so young.
"If a Cup team hires me now, I'm a band-aid and I had to realize that, also."
So the FOX networks found him things to do that are more conducive to his racing schedule. In addition to the reality show, Wallace serves as a panelist on NASCAR Victory Lane and NASCAR This Morning, both which will be seen on SPEED this year.
Rather than filming the shows at the SPEED studios in Charlotte this season, both will be shot on the SPEED stage at the track each weekend. Wallace says while that may make things challenging for him when the Busch Series races at another location, it was the right call.
"I think if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it right," he said.
Wallace believes NASCAR is on the right track when it comes to marketing itself on television, but he said there's also more work to be done.
"I hear so much negative talk on TV," he said. "I think I'm opinionated, but I know how to fix things. I'll tell you how to make things right.
"I think we understand that our sport is pretty new," Wallace said. "NASCAR's only been around for about the last 50 years and baseball's been around since the 1800s.
"We're up against something that kids can do in their backyard," Wallace said. "You can't really race cars in your backyard."
He said the solution comes from showing personalities, something he think TV is getting better at when it comes to NASCAR.
"We're trying to catch up to the ball-and-stick sports and we need to show personalities," he said.
At the end of the day, Wallace feels pretty good about his.
"We're not robots," he said. "We have families. I make food for my dogs. I'm not made up. I make a good living, but I'm not Jeff Gordon. I'm not a gazillionaire."
Cue the trademark cackle.
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Experience a plus in NASCAR's changing world Veteran drivers seek to draw an edge from new rules package
By Benny Parsons
NBC Sports
In effort to increase the competitiveness of its races, NASCAR has made some key changes in its rules package for 2005. These modifications would seem to be handled better by the more experienced drivers whose considerable seat time may end up giving them an edge over younger, less experienced Cup drivers.
Emphasis on ability
Two of the changes for this year involve rear spoilers and tires.
The rear spoilers will be reduced by an inch in height to 4½ inches high on all non-restrictor-plate tracks, and Goodyear has introduced softer-compound tires.
What NASCAR is trying to do is create less of a dependence on downforce while placing more of an emphasis on a driver's ability to race his car, especially through corners.
Whether or not the desired results will be achieved only time will tell, but if the moves do in fact put more of the car into the driver's hands, those competitors with significant racing experience could be at an advantage.
Cup veteran Rusty Wallace has for some time been calling for NASCAR to go to shorter rear spoilers and softer tires to give the drivers more control on the racetrack.
And in preseason testing, Wallace was pleased with the new package.
Another veteran, Mark Martin, has said that any trepidation over the changes now seems to have been unnecessary as his car basically feels just about how it did last season.
Down on downforce
For those unfamiliar with a rear spoiler, it's a piece of aluminum that bolts on the back of a car's deck lid and serves to create downforce when air moves across a car.
Rear spoilers serve to help push a car's back end down on the track.
If a team can balance the downforce on a car between its front and its back, it will handle so much better.
But NASCAR doesn't want the cars so dependent on downforce that they just fly through the corners, making it very difficult for passing to take place.
The aim is for more passing in the corners, and by making these changes it looks like the cars are going to be a third of a second slower on average this season.
The theory is that the slower the cars go through the corners, the better the racing is going to be because the passing will increase.
Goodyear has made a new tire to compensate for the lost downforce resulting from the reduction of the rear spoiler.
And this new compound seems to have compensated a great deal for the loss of downforce in the rear.
But once a car gets around other cars, and the air around it gets disturbed, it can lose its handling no matter what tire compound is being used.
So will the shorter rear spoiler make a major difference when the cars run in traffic?
Since all teams are cautious during testing wanting to avoid a wreck at all costs, we won't know the answer to this until we get into the teeth of the regular-season schedule.
Seeking answers
I can't say that preseason testing has revealed any major advantage to any of the teams in the way that each has tackled adjusting to the shorter spoiler and new tires.
The teams look to be pretty much all in the same boat at this point.
I know some drivers did come away from the testing feeling their cars were looser than in the past.
Jimmie Johnson said there was a lot of movement in his car, and he like other drivers is wondering what he'll find when he gets a chance to race in a pack to see what his car will be like in traffic.
Jeff Gordon, Johnson’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, said he expected the cars to be a lot looser in preseason practice so he came to the test sessions with a really tight setup and was pretty happy with the results.
Gordon noticed that there is not as big a difference as what he and others expected, but there could still be some surprises once the season gets rolling.
If slow, avoid tow
The changes slowing the cars down by an average of a third of a second seems to be the norm, but there will be exceptions.
What's going to happen is some teams will end up being a third of a second slower, and some teams will be three quarters of a second slower.
And in stock car racing, teams spend millions of dollars trying to become just a tenth of a second faster.
So the cars that have slowed more than the norm after the changes really need to get through races without crashing.
This will enable their teams to keep working to find more speed, instead of having to repair a wrecked car.
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Preview: Mark Martin
Getting off to good start at Daytona key for title run, says veteran
By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
LAS VEGAS -- Mark Martin enters his final full-time Cup season with the same goal that he's had since he began racing in NASCAR's top series in 1981: win his first series championship.
He came close again in 2004, finishing fourth in the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup. Martin said he learned a valuable lesson after his first time in the 10-race "playoff."
"If there's anything I learned, it's not to wreck in the Daytona 500," Martin said.
Martin's engine blew just seven laps into the 2004 season opener, relegating him to a 43rd-place finish and an early hole, something Martin says you can't fall into if you want to win a championship under NASCAR's new system.
"You have to play the hand you're dealt," Martin said. "It'd be nice to start well. Then you're dealt a good hand.
"It's how the chips fall more than anything else."
To start well means having a strong finish in season opener, something that has been tough for Martin to do in recent memory. He's posted four finishes outside the top 30 in the past seven Great American Races.
"There's no special place in my heart for that joint and there's definitely no special place in that place's heart for Mark," he said.
There is, however, a special place in Martin's heart for everyone involved with racing. That love is the motivation behind something Martin is calling the "Salute to You" tour that will mark his final full-time campaign.
"Contending for that championship is probably number one on the agenda," Martin said, "but right behind that is the opportunity to thank the fans, give the respect to the media that they deserve and that we've not always had time to do throughout the years, and my sponsors and the people in this sport that really made the memories."
To make more memories in 2005, Martin and his team must deal with a couple of rule changes. NASCAR took an inch away from the spoiler and Goodyear responded with a new tire compound.
"It really hasn't had a dramatic effect," said Martin. "There's been a lot of hysteria built around these changes, but I can't tell any difference. It doesn't feel any different to me.
"They (teams) act like they're the only ones losing an inch off the spoiler," he said. "It's the same for everyone.
"Guys say you won't be able to race side-by-side," Martin said. "I don't plan on running side-by-side. I plan on passing."
It's not a stretch to wonder why the fiercely competitive Martin has chosen to scale back after this season. After all, he's still in great shape and he's still not only a force on the racetrack, but a legitimate championship contender.
"It is very important to me to get out with my dignity and not hang onto something that I can't hang on to," Martin said. "It is incredibly important to me to go as close to the top of my game as I can.
"I'm not 26, I'm 46," Martin said. "I made the supreme commitment to this sport and everything else came second in my life -- for 30 years. That's enough."
But that doesn't mean Martin is going to dog it in his final season.
"I look forward to 2005," Martin said. "I realize it's gonna be the most challenging year of my career. I've made that commitment to go at it with all the ferocity that I have and my family has made the same commitment.
"They realize that they're gonna see less of me this year than ever before, but my team and all the people in this sport are gonna get every ounce that I have and I look forward to it."
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Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain, 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
"It's nothin' personal, it's just racin'
-Dale Earnhardt
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