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Happy Monday everyone.
"I don't know what Kyle (Busch) was thinking because he hurt himself. Not as much as myself, but I don't know what sometimes these guys do or think."
-Michel Jourdain Jr. on his early ouster at Mexico City~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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News gathered from multiple sources, including but not limited to: Jayski.com, Cup Scene Daily, Thatsracin.com, catchfence.com, nascar.com, yahoo!, espn.com and others.
from Smilin Jack
Momma, keep your fingers crossed that the HOF goes to Charlotte!
Please say why Congress has to 'approve' or even become involved in minorities participating in anything, sports or whatever? JEEZ, go work on another pay raise for yourselves.
Smilin' Jack
from Momma's Boy
Hey, Momma!
Mark Zeske's "Blue print for the Hall" was Perfect! Wow! Particularly, his suggestion to have the Hall located in the middle of a test track. Fans can observe thier favorite drivers in action! Great call, Mark! His entire article was right on the money!!!
Momma's boy
Calif TV Ratings UPDATE: Fox's broadcast of Sunday's Auto Club 500 Nextel Cup race from California Speedway earned an overnight Nielsen Media Research rating of 6.2 and a 12 share, Street and Smith's SportsBusiness Daily reports. The overnight rating was 12.7% lower than the 7.1 Fox earned last year, when the race went on to record final figures of 7.9/16. The Daily notes that this year's race aired opposite NBC's final-day coverage of the Winter Olympics.(SceneDaily.com) (2-27-2006) UPDATE: The 2006 West Coast Premiere of NASCAR at California Speedway dominated the Nielsen Media Services television ratings for sports this weekend (February 24-26), with both the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series races scoring top finishes. According to data received from NASCAR, Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Auto Club 500 on Fox was number seven nationally for total households in primetime, and number four among adults, with a rating of 7.4 [last year was 7.9/16] and average viewership of 12.5 million. The race ranks as the fourth highest rated auto racing event (with the exception of Daytona 500 broadcasts) in broadcast history. It was the top-rated competitive sporting event for the week, finishing second only to the Winter Olympics closing ceremonies. Saturday's Busch Series Stater Bros. 300 was the No. 1 cable sporting event of the weekend, with a 2.1 rating and an average of two million households tuning in. The race finished ahead of cable broadcasts of both NBA and college basketball games (including the Celtics/Lakers game), and the PGA tour.(California Speedway PR)(3-3-2006)
Hall of Fame Racing Appeal Date set: Hall of Fame Racing's appeal of a fine and two points deductions meted out by NASCAR for infractions discovered at Daytona International Speedway will be heard Tuesday [March 7th] in Concord, NC. The start-up Nextel Cup Series team is co-owned by former Cowboys quarterbacks and Pro Football Hall of Famers Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. HOF Racing was hit with three penalties last week after an unapproved carburetor was found following qualifying for the Daytona 500 on the #96 DLP Chevy driven by Terry Labonte. NASCAR fined crew chief Philippe Lopez $25,000, even though the team's engines are supplied by Joe Gibbs Racing. Labonte, who finished 17th in the race, was docked 25 championship points. Dallasite Bill Saunders, managing partner of HOF Racing, was fined 25 owners points.(Fort Worth Star Telegram)
MEXICO CITY - Carl Edwards will have his Nextel Cup crew chief Bob Osborne calling the shots for him in the Telcel-Motorola 200 Busch Series race this weekend because immigration issues kept crew chief Pierre Kuttel at home.
"P.K. is a Canadian-born citizen, and he had to get his passport from Canada," Edwards said Friday before practice at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. "The story I got was that he sent in some picture that they took in Daytona, and he was all sunburned and red, and they sent it back saying that he was too sunburned and that can't be your passport photo.
"He's always sunburned, though. He's always out in the sun. So, Bob's here and that will be cool."
Osborne had a passport and was able to go to the race.
"Bob was looking forward to a weekend off, and it was so funny because I didn't know he was coming until we got on the plane yesterday," Edwards said. "I walked on the plane, and there he was, and I was so glad to see him.
"He tried to act like he didn't want to come, but he had a good time last night at dinner."
Sources say driver's focus an issue that may prevent long-term deal
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
MEXICO CITY -- Kevin Harvick got out of Mexico City in a hurry, leaving Sunday's Busch Series race without coming to the media center for post-race interviews as is customary for third-place finishers.
According to a NASCAR spokesperson, there were security issues with crowds leaving the garage and Harvick opted to catch a plane instead of dealing with them.
Whether Harvick returns to Richard Childress Racing next season will not be totally up to the 2001 Nextel Cup rookie of the year.
A source close to the organization said there is concern over whether Harvick is focused enough on his Cup career to be given a long-term contract.
Harvick already owns teams in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series, and is believed to be a target of Toyota as a driver and perhaps owner when the Japanese-based manufacturer enters NASCAR's top series in 2007.
Harvick and team owner Richard Childress have set an April deadline for determining whether they will remain together past this season. Childress has maintained he would like Harvick back.
He also admitted the decision is not one-sided.
"It's got to be right for both of us,'' said Childress, who attended Sunday's race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. "It can't be right for just one. It has to be a deal that both of us believe we can win races and win championships.
"If we believe in each other in that way it will be good for both of us.''
Harvick, the points leader in the Busch Series, is ranked 19th in Cup after two races. That places him third among RCR drivers, behind rookie Clint Bowyer (eighth) and Jeff Burton (14th).
Harvick has won only once in the past 89 Cup races, that a victory last spring at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has finished 14th in points the past two seasons since finishing fifth in 2003.
He was 21st in 2002 and ninth in 2001, when he took over the Goodwrench Chevrolet in the second week after Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500.
That fall, Kevin and his new bride, DeLana, ran their first race in the Craftsman Truck Series under the umbrellas of Kevin Harvick Inc.
In August of 2004, they opened a 70,000 square foot facility in Kernersville, N.C., where they field a full-time Busch and Truck Series team.
Harvick has proven to be more than formidable in the Busch Series, winning 17 races since 1999 and nine during the past three seasons while running a limited schedule.
He showed his talent in Sunday's race despite what almost was a costly mistake by NASCAR. Running third behind eventual winner Denny Hamlin and Todd Kluever on a restart with 23 laps remaining, NASCAR ruled that Harvick passed Kluever before crossing the start-finish line.
The replay showed Harvick clearly did not pass, which Childress argued to officials that already had penalized Harvick a pass-through penalty.
NASCAR officials finally admitted the mistake and put Harvick back in third place on the restart during an ensuing caution.
Now Harvick must convince Childress he wants a long-term deal at RCR.
"Hopefully, we'll get something put together,'' Childress said. "Kevin is one of the most talented drivers out there. I'd like to see him drive for us.''
First-ever Nextel Cup night race at desert track adds to history that includes Kulwicki's "Polish Victory Lap"
By John Close
Like the burning embers of a campfire rising into the evening sky, Phoenix International Raceway will shine brightly when the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series competes in the first-ever night race at the famed desert oval on Saturday, April 23.
The Subway Fresh 500 will take the green flag at 7:55 p.m. Eastern Time and will be the 18th Nextel Cup race held at the track. It will be the first of two Nextel Cup races at the track this year and the only one to be run at night.
The historic event is just the latest chapter in PIR's history, one that dates back to February 1964 when the facility opened with Davey McDonald winning on the track's road course. A.J. Foyt proved to be the winner of the track's first oval track event, a 100-mile Indy Car race later that year.
The stock car crowd didn't make it on to the new Phoenix racing surface until January 1968 when Don White captured a 250-mile event on the road course. It took 20 years for NASCAR's Cup division to return the desert oval raceway with the running of the Checker 500 in 1988. Long a hot bed of racing, NASCAR's top division had competed at the old Arizona State Fairgrounds track in the 1950s with top stars Buck Baker, Marshall Teague and Tim Flock all winning on the one-mile oval there.
The 1988 PIR event proved to be historic not only for the return of NASCAR to the Southwest, but also marked the first career NASCAR Cup victory for Alan Kulwicki.
Kulwicki, a mechanical engineer, apprenticed for his Cup career on the Wisconsin short tracks and the American Speed Association before running his first Cup event at Richmond, Virginia, in the fall of 1985.
Kulwicki competed in 5 of 28 Cup events in 1985 and collected $10,290 for his efforts. His season-best finish--13th--came at Charlotte (now Lowe's) Motor Speedway in the Miller High Life 500.
In 1986, Kulwicki gained notoriety for racing hard with significantly less funding than most of his competitors. Acting as both team owner and driver, Kulwicki made it through the season with using basically one car--the No. 35 Quincy's Steakhouse Ford Thunderbird dubbed "Old Sirloin"--and a couple of engines. For his efforts, Kulwicki was named Rookie of the Year in the Cup division.
With more funding in 1987, Kulwicki began to make waves on the Cup tour by winning three poles, including the top spot for both Richmond races. He finished a respectable 15th in the season championship chase and earned $369,889 in prize money.
The 1988 season proved to be Kulwicki's breakthrough year. Driving his own No. 7 Zerex-sponsored Ford Thunderbird, dubbed the "Underbird," Kulwicki scored six Top-5 finishes heading into the inaugural Phoenix Cup event. It seemed like just a matter of time before the driven Greenfield, Wisconsin, native would break into the win column.
In qualifying for the 1988 Checker 500, Geoff Bodine proved to be the class of the field by winning the pole position in his No. 5 Levi Garrett-sponsored Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a lap 123.203 miles per hour.
On race day, a crowd estimated at 60,000 looked on as Bodine, Kulwicki and 41 other drivers began competing for the first-ever Cup checkered flag at Phoenix. Kulwicki, who started 21st, was a distant second to race leader Ricky Rudd late in the event. Rudd, who dominated the race by leading a whopping 183 laps, saw the win slip away when the engine expired in his Kenny Bernstein-owned Buick. That gave Kulwicki, who led a total of 41 laps in the race, the top spot with just 12 laps remaining.
At the finish, it was Kulwicki by a wide margin--18.5 seconds over Terry Labonte, Davey Allison, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace. The event was slowed six times for cautions, totaling 52 of the 312 laps. Kulwicki's margin of victory is still the largest in the history of the Cup division at Phoenix. Ironically, his winning average speed of 90.457 miles per hour is still the slowest in the history of the division at the track.
Slow or fast, Kulwicki didn't care. After years of trying, the independent driver had won his first Cup race. He celebrated by initiating the "Polish Victory Lap" in which he circled the track in the opposite direction, window net down, while saluting the fans in the ceremonial ritual he would become famous for.
Eventually, Kulwicki won five Cup races in his short career. His life ended tragically, though, when his private plane crashed en route to the spring race at Bristol, Tennessee, on April 1, 1993.
In all, Kulwicki competed in 207 Cup events and finished in the Top-5 38 times and the Top-10 on 75 occasions. Always a good qualifier, Kulwicki scored 24 poles in his career, six of them in his 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup championship-winning season.
Since Kulwicki's win in the inaugural Cup race at Phoenix in 1988, 13 other drivers have visited Victory Lane at Phoenix. Included in that group are Davey Allison, Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Elliott, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Bobby Hamilton, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Earnhardt, Jr. etched his name into the record books last fall when he won the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway for the second-straight season. The two victories put Earnhardt, Jr. in the same company as Allison (1991-1992) and Burton (2000-2001) as the only drivers to win back-to-back Cup races at Phoenix.
Earnhardt Jr. started last year's Phoenix Cup clash from the 14th position and led 118 of the 312 circuits. He secured the victory when he roared by Jeff Gordon and into the lead for good with 11 laps remaining.
Earnhardt collected $274,503 for his winning effort, more than two-thirds the $368,630 total purse that was up for grabs in the first Cup race at Phoenix in 1988. A race-record 11 cautions slowed the 2004 event for 63 of the 315 laps with Earnhardt's average winning speed a leisurely 94.848 miles per hour.
Can Earnhardt, Jr. become the first driver to win three Cup races in a row at Phoenix? If not, who will become the first driver to win a NASCAR Nextel Cup night race at the Phoenix oval?
Whatever the outcome and despite the glitter and spectacle of the first-ever night race in the desert, the 2005 Subway Fresh 500 will be hard-pressed to match the excitement of the 1988 Phoenix Cup event when a hard-working, underdog racer from Wisconsin scored his first NASCAR Cup victory and burned the event into our racing consciousness forever with his "Polish Victory Lap."
Your
Momma
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"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 wins't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt – 1998
This list is authored by:
Sandra Monacelli
221 W. 57th Street 18B
Loveland, CO 80538
970/663-6967
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Quote of the Day"I don't know what Kyle (Busch) was thinking because he hurt himself. Not as much as myself, but I don't know what sometimes these guys do or think."
-Michel Jourdain Jr. on his early ouster at Mexico City
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Comments from the Peanut Galleryfrom Smilin Jack
Momma, keep your fingers crossed that the HOF goes to Charlotte!
Please say why Congress has to 'approve' or even become involved in minorities participating in anything, sports or whatever? JEEZ, go work on another pay raise for yourselves.
Smilin' Jack
from Momma's Boy
Hey, Momma!
Mark Zeske's "Blue print for the Hall" was Perfect! Wow! Particularly, his suggestion to have the Hall located in the middle of a test track. Fans can observe thier favorite drivers in action! Great call, Mark! His entire article was right on the money!!!
Momma's boy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bits and PiecesCalif TV Ratings UPDATE: Fox's broadcast of Sunday's Auto Club 500 Nextel Cup race from California Speedway earned an overnight Nielsen Media Research rating of 6.2 and a 12 share, Street and Smith's SportsBusiness Daily reports. The overnight rating was 12.7% lower than the 7.1 Fox earned last year, when the race went on to record final figures of 7.9/16. The Daily notes that this year's race aired opposite NBC's final-day coverage of the Winter Olympics.(SceneDaily.com) (2-27-2006) UPDATE: The 2006 West Coast Premiere of NASCAR at California Speedway dominated the Nielsen Media Services television ratings for sports this weekend (February 24-26), with both the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series races scoring top finishes. According to data received from NASCAR, Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Auto Club 500 on Fox was number seven nationally for total households in primetime, and number four among adults, with a rating of 7.4 [last year was 7.9/16] and average viewership of 12.5 million. The race ranks as the fourth highest rated auto racing event (with the exception of Daytona 500 broadcasts) in broadcast history. It was the top-rated competitive sporting event for the week, finishing second only to the Winter Olympics closing ceremonies. Saturday's Busch Series Stater Bros. 300 was the No. 1 cable sporting event of the weekend, with a 2.1 rating and an average of two million households tuning in. The race finished ahead of cable broadcasts of both NBA and college basketball games (including the Celtics/Lakers game), and the PGA tour.(California Speedway PR)(3-3-2006)
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Red Bull's technical director moves to NASCAR: Red Bull will use one of its first prominent figures to set-up its NASCAR team in the US. Their technical director for Red Bull Racing in Formula 1, Gunther Steiner, will more from Formula 1 to NASCAR starting April 1st. The forty-year-old South Tyrolean will also assume the function of Technical Director for the Red Bull Toyota NASCAR team, acting on a level with General Manager Marty Gaunt. Red Bull's NASCAR team will start preparing for their debut season in 2007 on the first of April. Gunther Steiner said about his career move inside Red Bull Racing: "It is a new and fascinating challenge. If as a European you are asked to help set up such an ambitious project you simply cannot say no. I'm really looking forward to working on my new task."(f1racing.net)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Ford Fusion 7th different Ford to win...and more: The Ford Fusion registered its first Nextel Cup victory at California Speedway on Sunday in only its second series start. ... Fusion is the seventh different Ford model in NASCAR history to win a Cup event, joining Taurus, Thunderbird, Torino, Galaxie, Fairlane and the original Ford. ... The last time Ford Racing swept a NASCAR Craftsman Truck, Busch and Nextel Cup Series weekend was when Roush Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton combined to win all three events at Phoenix in 2001. Biffle captured the Truck and Busch events, and Burton won the Cup feature.(FoxSports)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hamlin Brings FedEX Racing Excitement to Oakland: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Chevy and promising NASCAR Nextel Cup rookie made a pit stop on the way to the Fontana track in February, stopping at the FedEx Express hub in Oakland, California to meet employees of the facility. Hamlin, in California for the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway, spent two hours greeting hub employees, signing autographs and taking pictures with those in attendance. For Hamlin, it was his second visit to a FedEx Hub since taking the wheel of the #11 car. He visited the Memphis WorldHub in December of last year during the company's busiest week in history, and while it wasn't quite as busy Thursday in Oakland, Hamlin noted the importance of meeting employees face to face. The Oakland hub is the fourth largest FedEx Express hub in the U.S., and the 1700 employees handle an average of 238,000 packages a day. More and pictures from the event are available at FedExRacing.com.(FedEx Racing/Weber Shandwick PR)
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Rusty Wallace Tests IndyCar UPDATE: To prepare for his role as an analyst for ABC Sports' and ESPN's coverage of the 2006 IRL IndyCar Series season, Rusty Wallace will drive an IndyCar Series car on Thursday, March 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Wallace won the 1989 NASCAR championship and scored 55 NASCAR Cup Series victories in his racing career. He retired after the 2005 season and drove the past 15 years for Roger Penske, the winningest car owner in Indianapolis 500 history. The Indy Racing League kicks off its Open Test at Homestead-Miami Speedway March 2-6. The IRL returns to the Sunshine State for the IndyCar Series' Toyota Indy 300 and Indy Pro Series' Miami 100 at the 1.5-mile oval, both on March 26.(Homestead-Miami Speedway)(3-2-2006) UPDATE: While Rusty Wallace retired from NASCAR competition following last year's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he decided a little "track time" will help him in his new role as commentator on ABC and ESPN's IRL IndyCar Series telecasts which will begin with the March 26 Toyota Indy 300. Thursday, Wallace slid behind the wheel of Sam Hornish's Penske Racing Honda Dallara, and ran eight laps around the 2.21-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway road circuit. "I feel like I'm going on my first roller coaster ride," Wallace said before firing up the car. Wallace said that Team Penske teammates Hornish and Helio Castroneves gave him all the information he needed. "Then Helio said, 'It's not a qualifying lap. Go out and have fun.'" Wallace did just that - although he failed to heed Castroneves' final word of advice - "Don't stall." Wallace ran a best unofficial time of 1:18 - an impressive seven seconds slower than Castroneves' best lap of the day of 1:11.01 "I'll tell you, I never could have reported on this sport the way it needs to be reported without getting to drive this car," Wallace said. "I was really impressed with the brakes - they could stop on a dime. The acceleration was incredible. But the biggest surprise to me was how you go out and get such great speed, and as you turn down off the back straightaway, I can't believe how hard the wheel gets going into turn 10. As you ark off into there, the steering wheel's locked up. It's amazing. That was the only place that was spooky. The slow corners were fun, the upshifts were fun. These are incredible hot rods. I'm glad I did it." Asked how long it would have taken him to get up to speed, Wallace said, "If I started off in the morning, I think by the end of the day I would have been within a second and a half. I knew in my mind where I gave up stuff. The biggest thing I needed was the car to fit me better, and getting more seat time to build confidence that this car will stick. I don't know the operational envelop of these cars and how far you can take them." It was Wallace's first time around the 2.21-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway road course. "I've been coming to Homestead forever and ever, always running the oval, and I've never seen the road course before today," Wallace said. "It's a great road course. I can't believe how beautiful it is, and I never saw it before. Every time we came here it was covered with motorhomes." While Wallace joked about talking team owner Roger Penske into running a third car for him in the Indianapolis 500, he was serious about getting more track time in an open-wheel car this year. "I'm going to do it all year long in the two-seater, run all the tracks and get a good idea of what's going on," Wallace said.(HMS PR) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tire Leasing deal still questioned: After the first two races of the 2006 Nextel Cup season, questions still abound about NASCAR’s controversial tire-leasing program designed to help level competition. Instituted in conjunction with the rule limiting testing dates at Nextel Cup tracks, the tire-leasing plan is aimed at keeping teams from using Goodyear tires at non-NASCAR designated test sessions. Teams are now forced to lease tires rather than buying them as they have in the past. Supposedly this lessens the advantage multicar teams had enjoyed in testing. Last week at California Speedway, Goodyear leased each race team six sets of tires for practice and qualifying, but did not issue race tires (10 sets per team) until final practice was completed. To further eliminate any potential for unapproved use of Goodyears, the tire manufacturer has installed computer chips in each tire to keep track of inventory. In cutting back on the umpteen number of test sessions in previous years, Cup teams are now permitted to test just six times per season. So far, teams have tested at Daytona Beach and Las Vegas in January [see my Testing News page for other scheduled tests]. Some teams have found a way around the tire-leasing restriction by testing Hoosier tires at non-NASCAR designated testing venues. Hoosier radials aren’t at all similar to the Goodyear component used in Nextel Cup, but could give teams a slight advantage by allowing for additional testing.(in part from the Boston Herald)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wheldon to NASCAR? If Dan Wheldon has plans to head to NASCAR, he's keeping them private. Wheldon, the defending Indy Racing League champion who lives in St. Petersburg, has moved to Target Chip Ganassi Racing for 2006. He comes off a sensational 2005 season in which he won six races, including the 89th Indianapolis 500 and Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg for Andretti Green Racing. While it's widely believed Wheldon got a huge raise at Ganassi, there might have been another inducement. Michael Andretti told the Express-Times of Easton, Pa., that Chip Ganassi has promised Wheldon a ride in Nextel Cup as soon as next season. Asked whether that's true Saturday after a photo shoot at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Wheldon wouldn't answer directly. "Like anything in my contract, I'm not allowed to discuss it," he said. "That's between me and Chip." Wheldon expressed interest in NASCAR last year while he was considering his options for 2006.(Tampa Tribune)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cup in Mexico? UPDATE: Team owner Felix Sabates predicts that a track will be built in Mexico over the next five years to attract the Nextel Cup Series the way the Autrodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course has attracted the Busch Series to Mexico City. "There's some areas in Mexico, very wealthy areas in Mexico, with a huge population around it,'' Sabates said Saturday before qualifying for Sunday's Busch race. "I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see something there in the next four or five years.'' NASCAR chairman Brian France said last week at California that the Cup Series isn't looking at Mexico City for the near future. Sabates agrees as long as the only option is a road course, because the series doesn't want to add a third road course with Watkins Glen (N.Y.) and Infineon (Calif.) already on the schedule.(see more about this at NASCAR.com)(3-5-2006) UPDATE: Team owner Felix Sabates has admitted that he's had serious discussions with several influential and presumably wealthy Mexican associates about building a ¾-mile oval near Mexico City. Sabates thinks it could happen within five years. That could pave the way for a Cup event in Mexico.(Yahoo Sports) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stewart and Kyle Busch settle: Kyle Busch said he and Tony Stewart hashed out their differences last weekend prior to the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. Stewart had criticized Busch's driving ability after the Daytona 500. Busch said Saturday prior to qualifying for the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 that he and Stewart have cleared the air. "I was able to talk with him and get it over with and get it behind both of us," Busch said. "We were able to race against each other a little bit on Sunday and gave each other plenty of room, which was cool. We waved and said, 'Thank you' as we were passing each other. ... There's plenty more times throughout the year where I know we'll be racing and hopefully we can just keep it the way we did Sunday."(SceneDaily.com)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Schrader 2nd in Texas: Robert Litton, of Alexandria, Louisiana, captured the SUPR A Feature Late Model title and George White, of Fort Worth, won the Modified Championship on Saturday before the largest crowd in the three-year history of the Pro-Cuts Texas World Dirt Track Championship at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Litton staved off a fierce rally by Cup driver #21-Kenny Schrader, who opted to play in the Texas dirt during the Cup off weekend. Schrader, who needed a second-place finish in the Last Chance Qualifier just to advance into the feature, started 20th in the 22-car finale, but stormed to second in just two laps of the 40-lap event. Litton, however, never relinquished the lead at any point and held Schrader at bay for the final 38 laps.(TMS PR and Fort Worth Star Telegram)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sad News: "Bunkie" Blackburn: James Ronald "Bunkie" Blackburn, a former NASCAR driver who once won a race at Daytona International Speedway, has died. He was 69. Blackburn died Tuesday, Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home in Columbia [Tenn] announced. His cause of death was not available Thursday night. Blackburn drove in the Grand National and NASCAR circuits from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, driving for teams run by Smokey Yunick and Petty Enterprises. He had four top fives and 14 top 10s in the Grand National series, The Daily Herald in Columbia reported. Blackburn ran 71 races at 26 different tracks in his career. His top finish was in 1968, when he won the Permatex 300 at Daytona from the pole. He also won poles at Talladega and Bristol and was inducted into the Pure Darlington Record Club in 1964 after posting a record qualifying time. He finished in the top 10 twice in the Daytona Firecracker 400. Blackburn grew up surrounded by racing -- his father owned and operated a dirt track in his hometown of Fayetteville, N.C. Blackburn also competed throughout the Middle Tennessee area on dirt tracks and at Nashville Speedway against drivers like Darrell Waltrip, who lives in Franklin, and Coo Coo Marlin, the late father of current Nextel Cup driver Sterling Marlin, also of Columbia. He retired from racing after an injury and went to work for General Electric in Columbia for 20 years before retiring. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Nancy Hedrick Blackburn, three daughters, a son and 12 grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home. (ESPN.com/AP); Mr. James Ronald “Bunkie” Blackburn, 69, resident of Campbellsville Pike, died Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at Maury Regional Hospital. A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m., Saturday at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Dr. Jim Hughes officiating. The family will visit with friends Friday from 4-8 p.m. and Saturday from 10-11 a.m. at the funeral home. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at oakesandnichols.com.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darlington to get repaved: Darlington Raceway is slated to receive a new coat of asphalt sometime within the next two to four years. A centerpiece of Darlington's renaissance will be a repaving job, sorely needed for a grainy, worn surface marked by unsightly patches. But for track president Chris Browning, the challenge is to reinvigorate the old racetrack without changing its character; after all, the slick, slippery, tire-eating surface is a large part of Darlington's wicked reputation, and a large reason why so many drivers see it as the ultimate challenge on the NASCAR tour. "One of the things I've talked about with our asphalt and paving gurus down in Daytona, and one of the things I've challenged them with is, 'Look, guys, we've got a real racy place here. How can we repave this place and still keep it racy like it is now?' " said Browning, whose facility is owned by International Speedway Co., a company based in Daytona Beach, Fla., that operates 12 Nextel Cup venues. The repaving job, Browning said, will happen sometime in the next two to four years. There are no plans to alter the track's banking, which varies from 23 degrees in the narrow end to 25 degrees in the wider end. Repaving is but one part of an ongoing $6 million renovation project, which includes a new grandstand in Turn 1 that will increase Darlington's seating capacity by about 3,000 for the May 13 Dodge Charger 500. The infield tunnels have been refurbished, and plans are on the table to widen them when the track gets ripped up for repaving. Money has been set aside to improve the track's rest rooms, a project that may be completed before the 2007 race.(Charleston Post and Courier) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NASCAR expected to revisit Mexico in 2007: The return of the NASCAR Busch Series to Mexico City for the 2007 season is virtually a certainty, according to the race promoter. Federico Alaman Gonzalez, the director of sports events for race promoter OCESA, said Saturday that he expects to see the Busch Series back next season at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He said while the sanctioning agreement remains a one-year deal that must be negotiated annually, his company and NASCAR have a long-term contract to promote NASCAR events and a NASCAR-sanctioned stock-car series in Mexico. As long as there is that promotion agreement, it is likely that OCESA would want to have a race at the Mexico City track. "It definitely will be back next year," Alaman said. "It just all comes from the commitment and the trust that NASCAR has been putting in OCESA and the promoters locally. We're looking at having a very big sport in our country. NASCAR is going to be big in our country."(SceneDaily.com)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edwards crew chief misses raceMEXICO CITY - Carl Edwards will have his Nextel Cup crew chief Bob Osborne calling the shots for him in the Telcel-Motorola 200 Busch Series race this weekend because immigration issues kept crew chief Pierre Kuttel at home.
"P.K. is a Canadian-born citizen, and he had to get his passport from Canada," Edwards said Friday before practice at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. "The story I got was that he sent in some picture that they took in Daytona, and he was all sunburned and red, and they sent it back saying that he was too sunburned and that can't be your passport photo.
"He's always sunburned, though. He's always out in the sun. So, Bob's here and that will be cool."
Osborne had a passport and was able to go to the race.
"Bob was looking forward to a weekend off, and it was so funny because I didn't know he was coming until we got on the plane yesterday," Edwards said. "I walked on the plane, and there he was, and I was so glad to see him.
"He tried to act like he didn't want to come, but he had a good time last night at dinner."
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Two sides to story of Harvick's RCR futureSources say driver's focus an issue that may prevent long-term deal
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
MEXICO CITY -- Kevin Harvick got out of Mexico City in a hurry, leaving Sunday's Busch Series race without coming to the media center for post-race interviews as is customary for third-place finishers.
According to a NASCAR spokesperson, there were security issues with crowds leaving the garage and Harvick opted to catch a plane instead of dealing with them.
Whether Harvick returns to Richard Childress Racing next season will not be totally up to the 2001 Nextel Cup rookie of the year.
A source close to the organization said there is concern over whether Harvick is focused enough on his Cup career to be given a long-term contract.
Harvick already owns teams in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series, and is believed to be a target of Toyota as a driver and perhaps owner when the Japanese-based manufacturer enters NASCAR's top series in 2007.
Harvick and team owner Richard Childress have set an April deadline for determining whether they will remain together past this season. Childress has maintained he would like Harvick back.
He also admitted the decision is not one-sided.
"It's got to be right for both of us,'' said Childress, who attended Sunday's race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. "It can't be right for just one. It has to be a deal that both of us believe we can win races and win championships.
"If we believe in each other in that way it will be good for both of us.''
Harvick, the points leader in the Busch Series, is ranked 19th in Cup after two races. That places him third among RCR drivers, behind rookie Clint Bowyer (eighth) and Jeff Burton (14th).
Harvick has won only once in the past 89 Cup races, that a victory last spring at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has finished 14th in points the past two seasons since finishing fifth in 2003.
He was 21st in 2002 and ninth in 2001, when he took over the Goodwrench Chevrolet in the second week after Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500.
That fall, Kevin and his new bride, DeLana, ran their first race in the Craftsman Truck Series under the umbrellas of Kevin Harvick Inc.
In August of 2004, they opened a 70,000 square foot facility in Kernersville, N.C., where they field a full-time Busch and Truck Series team.
Harvick has proven to be more than formidable in the Busch Series, winning 17 races since 1999 and nine during the past three seasons while running a limited schedule.
He showed his talent in Sunday's race despite what almost was a costly mistake by NASCAR. Running third behind eventual winner Denny Hamlin and Todd Kluever on a restart with 23 laps remaining, NASCAR ruled that Harvick passed Kluever before crossing the start-finish line.
The replay showed Harvick clearly did not pass, which Childress argued to officials that already had penalized Harvick a pass-through penalty.
NASCAR officials finally admitted the mistake and put Harvick back in third place on the restart during an ensuing caution.
Now Harvick must convince Childress he wants a long-term deal at RCR.
"Hopefully, we'll get something put together,'' Childress said. "Kevin is one of the most talented drivers out there. I'd like to see him drive for us.''
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Nationalism takes center stage with accidents
Busch-Jourdain late-race collision results in fan outrage
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
MEXICO CITY -- It's a good thing Kyle Busch doesn't understand Spanish.
The fans at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course had a few choice words for him after an accident with local star Michel Jourdain Jr. while going for the lead with 26 laps remaining in Sunday's Busch Series race.
"I'm sure there were a few bad words out there,'' said Busch, who rallied to finish seventh after falling to 34th. "It's all good. I get it everywhere I go, so it doesn't much matter to me; it doesn't much bother me.
"Race fans have their opinions, and we're the ones behind the seat driving the racecars.''
Busch, 20, was a target for criticism from Nextel Cup drivers for his aggressive driving during Speedweeks in the opener at Daytona. Reigning Cup champion Tony Stewart said he was out of control.
Many of the 72,428 Mexican fans apparently thought that was the case after Busch and Jourdain collided and spun out coming off the final turn before the front straightaway.
A member of the Mexican press who speaks fluent Spanish said the fans shouted several choice expletives, along with the word "stupid.'' The shouts and hand gestures continued as Busch pitted for fresh tires and later made a passthrough for speeding on pit road.
Busch, a rising star in the Cup Series, understood their frustration and took responsibility for the accident.
"It was a real, real, real bad mistake on my part,'' he said. "I'll take a hundred percent of the blame, but he also should take a little bit of it as well.''
Busch had quickly moved from fourth to second on a Lap 52 restart following the fifth caution. Jourdain blocked his first attempt at a pass entering the next-to-last turn.
"So I went back to the outside and we were rolling through there and he washed back up,'' Busch said. "I went back to his inside and he came back across the exit of the corner. We hit there. There's no reason for him to block as much as he did.''
Jourdain was obviously upset as he surveyed his wreckage while fans shouted, "Jourdain! Jourdain!''
"I don't know what Kyle was thinking, because he hurt himself,'' Jourdain said. "He went to the outside like it was the last lap. There were still 20-something laps to go. I don't know what he was thinking. He put me into the wall.
"He went outside, inside, and I don't know how guys like this sometimes win races when they drive like this. He had a good chance at winning the race, and he killed it.''
On that Busch agreed.
"It's his home state, it's his hometown, and he had a great race going for himself,'' he said. "It probably could have ended up if not one-two ... I will say this, we had the best car out there. We could have won that race.''
Had it not been for a couple of late cautions, Busch might have finished in the top five -- possibly top three. He moved from 34th to 21st with 21 laps remaining.
He was 11th with nine laps remaining and picking up one to three positions a lap.
"We definitely had the best car out there,'' Busch said. "It was unbelievable. I knew we had a really great racecar in practice, but I didn't think I was going to be capable of driving it the way that we did today.''
Sunday was only Busch's third road-course race in either Busch or Cup. He finished 40th at Infineon (Calif.) and 33rd at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) a year ago in Cup.
Busch credited another local favorite, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Adrian Fernandez, for speeding up his learning curve.
"We went through the first practice session [Friday] and I was about a second and a half off,'' Busch said. "I talked with Adrian, and just being able to talk to him we picked up a second and a half in the rookie practice.
"I ran my fastest lap today. I'm not sure it was the fastest of the race or not. It was like a 88.90 [seconds]. We were hauling around.''
Fernandez had a fast car as well, but it was damaged early in an accident by Jamie McMurray coming through the chicane.
Fernandez wound up with a 12th-place finish and a hand injury. Some fans had a few choice words for McMurray, who finished 10th. But they weren't nearly as vocal as they were for Busch, crew chief Chad Walter and his crew.
"Chad was telling me that after the deal was done they were all having a bad time at the pits and giving those guys grief,'' Busch said. "But they're not the ones driving the racecars. If they're going to have a problem, they have a problem with the driver.
"And they did. They kind of showed it a little bit.''
But Busch, who is 12th in the Busch Series standings, didn't let that spoil his day.
"As far as me being able to be a road racer now, I'm not quite sure,'' he said with a big smile. "We'll have to see when we get to Infineon and Watkins Glen.''
Busch-Jourdain late-race collision results in fan outrage
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
MEXICO CITY -- It's a good thing Kyle Busch doesn't understand Spanish.
The fans at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course had a few choice words for him after an accident with local star Michel Jourdain Jr. while going for the lead with 26 laps remaining in Sunday's Busch Series race.
"I'm sure there were a few bad words out there,'' said Busch, who rallied to finish seventh after falling to 34th. "It's all good. I get it everywhere I go, so it doesn't much matter to me; it doesn't much bother me.
"Race fans have their opinions, and we're the ones behind the seat driving the racecars.''
Busch, 20, was a target for criticism from Nextel Cup drivers for his aggressive driving during Speedweeks in the opener at Daytona. Reigning Cup champion Tony Stewart said he was out of control.
Many of the 72,428 Mexican fans apparently thought that was the case after Busch and Jourdain collided and spun out coming off the final turn before the front straightaway.
A member of the Mexican press who speaks fluent Spanish said the fans shouted several choice expletives, along with the word "stupid.'' The shouts and hand gestures continued as Busch pitted for fresh tires and later made a passthrough for speeding on pit road.
Busch, a rising star in the Cup Series, understood their frustration and took responsibility for the accident.
"It was a real, real, real bad mistake on my part,'' he said. "I'll take a hundred percent of the blame, but he also should take a little bit of it as well.''
Busch had quickly moved from fourth to second on a Lap 52 restart following the fifth caution. Jourdain blocked his first attempt at a pass entering the next-to-last turn.
"So I went back to the outside and we were rolling through there and he washed back up,'' Busch said. "I went back to his inside and he came back across the exit of the corner. We hit there. There's no reason for him to block as much as he did.''
Jourdain was obviously upset as he surveyed his wreckage while fans shouted, "Jourdain! Jourdain!''
"I don't know what Kyle was thinking, because he hurt himself,'' Jourdain said. "He went to the outside like it was the last lap. There were still 20-something laps to go. I don't know what he was thinking. He put me into the wall.
"He went outside, inside, and I don't know how guys like this sometimes win races when they drive like this. He had a good chance at winning the race, and he killed it.''
On that Busch agreed.
"It's his home state, it's his hometown, and he had a great race going for himself,'' he said. "It probably could have ended up if not one-two ... I will say this, we had the best car out there. We could have won that race.''
Had it not been for a couple of late cautions, Busch might have finished in the top five -- possibly top three. He moved from 34th to 21st with 21 laps remaining.
He was 11th with nine laps remaining and picking up one to three positions a lap.
"We definitely had the best car out there,'' Busch said. "It was unbelievable. I knew we had a really great racecar in practice, but I didn't think I was going to be capable of driving it the way that we did today.''
Sunday was only Busch's third road-course race in either Busch or Cup. He finished 40th at Infineon (Calif.) and 33rd at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) a year ago in Cup.
Busch credited another local favorite, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Adrian Fernandez, for speeding up his learning curve.
"We went through the first practice session [Friday] and I was about a second and a half off,'' Busch said. "I talked with Adrian, and just being able to talk to him we picked up a second and a half in the rookie practice.
"I ran my fastest lap today. I'm not sure it was the fastest of the race or not. It was like a 88.90 [seconds]. We were hauling around.''
Fernandez had a fast car as well, but it was damaged early in an accident by Jamie McMurray coming through the chicane.
Fernandez wound up with a 12th-place finish and a hand injury. Some fans had a few choice words for McMurray, who finished 10th. But they weren't nearly as vocal as they were for Busch, crew chief Chad Walter and his crew.
"Chad was telling me that after the deal was done they were all having a bad time at the pits and giving those guys grief,'' Busch said. "But they're not the ones driving the racecars. If they're going to have a problem, they have a problem with the driver.
"And they did. They kind of showed it a little bit.''
But Busch, who is 12th in the Busch Series standings, didn't let that spoil his day.
"As far as me being able to be a road racer now, I'm not quite sure,'' he said with a big smile. "We'll have to see when we get to Infineon and Watkins Glen.''
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hamlin holds on for victory in Mexico City
By Will Weissert, The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY -- Denny Hamlin pitted early, then stayed out of trouble Sunday to hold on and win the second Busch Series race in Mexico.
It was the first career Busch win in 39 starts for the 25-year-old Hamlin, who started second and pitted during the first caution, then outdueled pole-sitter and road-course ace Boris Said by 1.53 seconds in the Telcel-Motorola 200.
Said planned to pit late and his No. 9 Dodge was the last car in the field to leave the track, finally pulling off during a caution on Lap 25. He changed four tires and was out in 17.5 seconds, but was held to the back because of heavy traffic on the track. He climbed back to second, but fell behind and never really challenged Hamlin as a flurry of cautions marred the race's last laps.
"If I see someone else doing something I start to panic and I wonder 'What's going on? Why are they doing that?'" Hamlin said. "When Boris stayed out there for as long as he did, I was wondering 'What is he doing? Is there something that he doesn't know or something that we don't know?'"
While he was faster than Hamlin around the main turn, Said conceded he couldn't keep up. It was Said's third top-five finish in just six career Busch Series races.
"We just got beat," he said. "Denny Hamlin's the real deal."
Kevin Harvick, who finished second at the first Busch Series race outside the United States here a year ago, appealed a late penalty for improper passing and was able to regain third position, ahead of J.J. Yeley. Paul Menard was fifth.
Kyle Busch started ninth, but used a smooth early pit stop to move up, overtaking Hamlin on a turn around the tightest part of the course. Hamlin pitted for the second time on the 42nd lap, as did Busch, giving the lead briefly to Mexico's Michel Jourdain, who had only pulled off once.
He appeared headed for a sizable lead when, trying to pass Jourdain on the inside around tight turn eight, Busch didn't make it. The cars collided, ending Jourdain's day. Busch kept going, finishing seventh.
The crowd, enraged that one of its favorite drivers was out, began catcalls and chanted jeers at Busch. Because Jourdain was on well-worn tires, Busch probably could have waited him out instead of trying the risky pass.
"I don't know what Kyle was thinking," said an obviously miffed Jourdain.
The curve-filled, 2.518-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course featured eight tight turns and was especially tough for many Busch Series regulars used to negotiating oval tracks. The first caution came just five laps in, when Stacy Compton, driving his backup No. 59 Ford after a crash in qualifying, blew the engine, sending white smoke billowing in all directions and causing a back-end collision.
Mexico's most famous driver, Adrian Fernandez, began in fourth and moved up a spot early, but ran into problems when Jamie McMurray hit a chicane NASCAR inserted into the long front straightaway to reduce accidents at the sharp first turn, and careened off the track.
McMurray pulled back on in front of Fernandez, causing a minor crash that injured Fernandez's thumb. Fernandez finished 12th.
Busch regular Michael Waltrip had the day's biggest crash, crushing his No. 99 Dodge after hitting a tire wall on Lap 35. He was unhurt.
A total of eight Mexican drivers took a track they were very familiar with in front of a hometown crowd. Jorge Goeters, who grabbed the pole here in 2005 and led for 24 laps, started in fifth and finished 15th.
Carlos Contreras, the first Mexican to compete in a Busch Series race, topped all of his countrymen, finishing 11th.
Sunday's second NASCAR points race outside the United States is part of officials' push to promote stock car racing south of the border, where open-wheel formats such as Formula One and Champ Car have long ruled. Hermanos Rodriguez was built for open-wheel and only slightly modified to make braking easier for less-agile NASCAR vehicles.
Attendance was not immediately announced, but the grandstands looked emptier than last year, when a total 135,000 fans came out for qualifying and the race.
Robbie Weiss, NASCAR's international managing director, said no contract had been signed for a Busch Series event in Mexico City next year, but that all NASCAR venues have annual agreements that are not usually re-negotiated until the following spring. He said officials expect to be back for many years to come.
"We're doing pretty good here," he said. "This is such a passionate country."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~By Will Weissert, The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY -- Denny Hamlin pitted early, then stayed out of trouble Sunday to hold on and win the second Busch Series race in Mexico.
It was the first career Busch win in 39 starts for the 25-year-old Hamlin, who started second and pitted during the first caution, then outdueled pole-sitter and road-course ace Boris Said by 1.53 seconds in the Telcel-Motorola 200.
Said planned to pit late and his No. 9 Dodge was the last car in the field to leave the track, finally pulling off during a caution on Lap 25. He changed four tires and was out in 17.5 seconds, but was held to the back because of heavy traffic on the track. He climbed back to second, but fell behind and never really challenged Hamlin as a flurry of cautions marred the race's last laps.
"If I see someone else doing something I start to panic and I wonder 'What's going on? Why are they doing that?'" Hamlin said. "When Boris stayed out there for as long as he did, I was wondering 'What is he doing? Is there something that he doesn't know or something that we don't know?'"
While he was faster than Hamlin around the main turn, Said conceded he couldn't keep up. It was Said's third top-five finish in just six career Busch Series races.
"We just got beat," he said. "Denny Hamlin's the real deal."
Kevin Harvick, who finished second at the first Busch Series race outside the United States here a year ago, appealed a late penalty for improper passing and was able to regain third position, ahead of J.J. Yeley. Paul Menard was fifth.
Kyle Busch started ninth, but used a smooth early pit stop to move up, overtaking Hamlin on a turn around the tightest part of the course. Hamlin pitted for the second time on the 42nd lap, as did Busch, giving the lead briefly to Mexico's Michel Jourdain, who had only pulled off once.
He appeared headed for a sizable lead when, trying to pass Jourdain on the inside around tight turn eight, Busch didn't make it. The cars collided, ending Jourdain's day. Busch kept going, finishing seventh.
The crowd, enraged that one of its favorite drivers was out, began catcalls and chanted jeers at Busch. Because Jourdain was on well-worn tires, Busch probably could have waited him out instead of trying the risky pass.
"I don't know what Kyle was thinking," said an obviously miffed Jourdain.
The curve-filled, 2.518-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course featured eight tight turns and was especially tough for many Busch Series regulars used to negotiating oval tracks. The first caution came just five laps in, when Stacy Compton, driving his backup No. 59 Ford after a crash in qualifying, blew the engine, sending white smoke billowing in all directions and causing a back-end collision.
Mexico's most famous driver, Adrian Fernandez, began in fourth and moved up a spot early, but ran into problems when Jamie McMurray hit a chicane NASCAR inserted into the long front straightaway to reduce accidents at the sharp first turn, and careened off the track.
McMurray pulled back on in front of Fernandez, causing a minor crash that injured Fernandez's thumb. Fernandez finished 12th.
Busch regular Michael Waltrip had the day's biggest crash, crushing his No. 99 Dodge after hitting a tire wall on Lap 35. He was unhurt.
A total of eight Mexican drivers took a track they were very familiar with in front of a hometown crowd. Jorge Goeters, who grabbed the pole here in 2005 and led for 24 laps, started in fifth and finished 15th.
Carlos Contreras, the first Mexican to compete in a Busch Series race, topped all of his countrymen, finishing 11th.
Sunday's second NASCAR points race outside the United States is part of officials' push to promote stock car racing south of the border, where open-wheel formats such as Formula One and Champ Car have long ruled. Hermanos Rodriguez was built for open-wheel and only slightly modified to make braking easier for less-agile NASCAR vehicles.
Attendance was not immediately announced, but the grandstands looked emptier than last year, when a total 135,000 fans came out for qualifying and the race.
Robbie Weiss, NASCAR's international managing director, said no contract had been signed for a Busch Series event in Mexico City next year, but that all NASCAR venues have annual agreements that are not usually re-negotiated until the following spring. He said officials expect to be back for many years to come.
"We're doing pretty good here," he said. "This is such a passionate country."
A Look Back
Alan Kulwicki's Phoenix LinkFirst-ever Nextel Cup night race at desert track adds to history that includes Kulwicki's "Polish Victory Lap"
By John Close
Like the burning embers of a campfire rising into the evening sky, Phoenix International Raceway will shine brightly when the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series competes in the first-ever night race at the famed desert oval on Saturday, April 23.
The Subway Fresh 500 will take the green flag at 7:55 p.m. Eastern Time and will be the 18th Nextel Cup race held at the track. It will be the first of two Nextel Cup races at the track this year and the only one to be run at night.
The historic event is just the latest chapter in PIR's history, one that dates back to February 1964 when the facility opened with Davey McDonald winning on the track's road course. A.J. Foyt proved to be the winner of the track's first oval track event, a 100-mile Indy Car race later that year.
The stock car crowd didn't make it on to the new Phoenix racing surface until January 1968 when Don White captured a 250-mile event on the road course. It took 20 years for NASCAR's Cup division to return the desert oval raceway with the running of the Checker 500 in 1988. Long a hot bed of racing, NASCAR's top division had competed at the old Arizona State Fairgrounds track in the 1950s with top stars Buck Baker, Marshall Teague and Tim Flock all winning on the one-mile oval there.
The 1988 PIR event proved to be historic not only for the return of NASCAR to the Southwest, but also marked the first career NASCAR Cup victory for Alan Kulwicki.
Kulwicki, a mechanical engineer, apprenticed for his Cup career on the Wisconsin short tracks and the American Speed Association before running his first Cup event at Richmond, Virginia, in the fall of 1985.
Kulwicki competed in 5 of 28 Cup events in 1985 and collected $10,290 for his efforts. His season-best finish--13th--came at Charlotte (now Lowe's) Motor Speedway in the Miller High Life 500.
In 1986, Kulwicki gained notoriety for racing hard with significantly less funding than most of his competitors. Acting as both team owner and driver, Kulwicki made it through the season with using basically one car--the No. 35 Quincy's Steakhouse Ford Thunderbird dubbed "Old Sirloin"--and a couple of engines. For his efforts, Kulwicki was named Rookie of the Year in the Cup division.
With more funding in 1987, Kulwicki began to make waves on the Cup tour by winning three poles, including the top spot for both Richmond races. He finished a respectable 15th in the season championship chase and earned $369,889 in prize money.
The 1988 season proved to be Kulwicki's breakthrough year. Driving his own No. 7 Zerex-sponsored Ford Thunderbird, dubbed the "Underbird," Kulwicki scored six Top-5 finishes heading into the inaugural Phoenix Cup event. It seemed like just a matter of time before the driven Greenfield, Wisconsin, native would break into the win column.
In qualifying for the 1988 Checker 500, Geoff Bodine proved to be the class of the field by winning the pole position in his No. 5 Levi Garrett-sponsored Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a lap 123.203 miles per hour.
On race day, a crowd estimated at 60,000 looked on as Bodine, Kulwicki and 41 other drivers began competing for the first-ever Cup checkered flag at Phoenix. Kulwicki, who started 21st, was a distant second to race leader Ricky Rudd late in the event. Rudd, who dominated the race by leading a whopping 183 laps, saw the win slip away when the engine expired in his Kenny Bernstein-owned Buick. That gave Kulwicki, who led a total of 41 laps in the race, the top spot with just 12 laps remaining.
At the finish, it was Kulwicki by a wide margin--18.5 seconds over Terry Labonte, Davey Allison, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace. The event was slowed six times for cautions, totaling 52 of the 312 laps. Kulwicki's margin of victory is still the largest in the history of the Cup division at Phoenix. Ironically, his winning average speed of 90.457 miles per hour is still the slowest in the history of the division at the track.
Slow or fast, Kulwicki didn't care. After years of trying, the independent driver had won his first Cup race. He celebrated by initiating the "Polish Victory Lap" in which he circled the track in the opposite direction, window net down, while saluting the fans in the ceremonial ritual he would become famous for.
Eventually, Kulwicki won five Cup races in his short career. His life ended tragically, though, when his private plane crashed en route to the spring race at Bristol, Tennessee, on April 1, 1993.
In all, Kulwicki competed in 207 Cup events and finished in the Top-5 38 times and the Top-10 on 75 occasions. Always a good qualifier, Kulwicki scored 24 poles in his career, six of them in his 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup championship-winning season.
Since Kulwicki's win in the inaugural Cup race at Phoenix in 1988, 13 other drivers have visited Victory Lane at Phoenix. Included in that group are Davey Allison, Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Elliott, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Bobby Hamilton, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Earnhardt, Jr. etched his name into the record books last fall when he won the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway for the second-straight season. The two victories put Earnhardt, Jr. in the same company as Allison (1991-1992) and Burton (2000-2001) as the only drivers to win back-to-back Cup races at Phoenix.
Earnhardt Jr. started last year's Phoenix Cup clash from the 14th position and led 118 of the 312 circuits. He secured the victory when he roared by Jeff Gordon and into the lead for good with 11 laps remaining.
Earnhardt collected $274,503 for his winning effort, more than two-thirds the $368,630 total purse that was up for grabs in the first Cup race at Phoenix in 1988. A race-record 11 cautions slowed the 2004 event for 63 of the 315 laps with Earnhardt's average winning speed a leisurely 94.848 miles per hour.
Can Earnhardt, Jr. become the first driver to win three Cup races in a row at Phoenix? If not, who will become the first driver to win a NASCAR Nextel Cup night race at the Phoenix oval?
Whatever the outcome and despite the glitter and spectacle of the first-ever night race in the desert, the 2005 Subway Fresh 500 will be hard-pressed to match the excitement of the 1988 Phoenix Cup event when a hard-working, underdog racer from Wisconsin scored his first NASCAR Cup victory and burned the event into our racing consciousness forever with his "Polish Victory Lap."
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"I'll apologize to them after they get me to the front!"
-Dale Earnhardt back to pit when warned he was hurting his tires and told to save them during an early race charge
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Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain,Your
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"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 wins't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt – 1998
"It's nothin' personal, it's just racin'
-Dale Earnhardt Sr.
This list is authored by:
Sandra Monacelli
221 W. 57th Street 18B
Loveland, CO 80538
970/663-6967
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**This e-mail is sent by The Hain Celestial Group, Inc and/or one of its subsidiaries. The information and attachments contained in this e-mail message may contain privileged and confidential information and is for the exclusive and confidential use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby requested not to read, distribute, copy or take action in reliance upon this communication. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone or return e-mail and delete this e-mail and any attachments from your computer system.**
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