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Happy Monday all.
Today In Nascar History
04/03/1950 Lincoln collects its final Grand National victory when Tim Flock wins at Charlotte Speedway, a 0.75-mile dirt track. It was the first of Flock’s 39 career victories.
04/03/1955-Buck Baker wins at North Wilkesboro, win #1 of the season, and #10 of his career.
04/03/1960-John Rostek wins at Phoenix, win #1 of the season, and #1 of his career.
04/03/1961-Rex White wins at Winston-Salem, win #2 of the season, and #15 of his career.
04/03/1966-David Pearson wins at Hickory, win #1 of the season, and #14 of his career.
04/03/1969-Bobby Isaac wins at Columbia, win #2 of the season, and #6 of his career.
04/03/1977-Darrell Waltrip wins at Darlington, win #1 of the season, and #4 of his career.
"I couldn't wait to get here because I knew we had a shot at winning this race."
-- Tony Stewart after winning at Martinsville~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from HM
MOMMA,
HOW COME KENNSETH AND BUSCH GET HALF OF YOUR NEWSLETTER WHEN THEY WIN OR WHEN BIFFLE COMES IN 27th. AND JIMMIE JOHNSON GETS MAYBE TWO LINES WHEN HE WINS? YOU HAD MORE WHEN HE CAME IN WAY DOWN THE LINE THAN WHEN HE WON TWO AND CAME IN SECOND IN ONE. BY THE WAY I HATE ALL ROUSH DRIVERS. H.M IN TEXAS
Well HM, first off, I don't like any of the Roush drivers except Matt Kenseth. I met him several years ago, and he is a class guy. Unfortunately, I can't really play favorites in my list, other wise this would carry nothing but Dale Jr. and DEI, Tony Stewart and Gibbs Racing, Sterling Marlin, and just about anyone who drives a Chevy EXCEPT Hendrick Motorsports....
I post the news as I find it, and sometimes thats the way the cookie crumbles. If I had my way, snot nose (Jeff G), runny nose (Jimmie J), and Kyle Busch would crash out every race. Don't ask me why I don't like 'em, I just don't. But that is my opinion, and boy, there are days when I have to bite my tongue in two to stop myself from saying something I shouldn't!
But that is why all of us here on this list, and the countless millions out there love this sport. Love or hate a driver, they sure do bring out the best in all of us!!!!!!!
from Dennis S
Sandra,
NASCAR drivers are professional drivers and a cut above your local Hot Shoes! This knocking people out of the way to win is filtering down to the local Saturday Night Shows.....Monkey See - Monkey Do !! Race car drivers are as plentiful as guitar pickers in Nashville. Any body on any level of racing can knock out the car in front of them...no skill needed. NASCAR drivers are champions of stock car racing and should set an example for the rest of the racers below them. NASCAR drivers are the best and should conduct themselves as champions. Getting even is one thing, but taking people out to win is another. It makes for good TV and that's where it ends. It costs to much money and a lot of time to prepare a car to race. If you can't get around the guy in front of you clean, then you're no better than the knuckleheads who drive on Saturday night doing the same thing.. If you want the trophy - then drive like a champion and earn it !!
D. Sweet
from Pops
Thanks for the help in a full field at Sumter Speedway last nite. Lot of action on the track. And a lot of old timers were on hand meeting the fans. I will try to get a list of names for you later.
Pops
Not a problem. Any time I can get the news out there that other publications don't cover, I'm more than willing to help out. Everyone keep that in mind if you know of something, let me know, I'll put it in the list.
Like Father, Like Son
By Greg Engle
Cup Scene Daily
Dale Earnhardt Junior looked like his famous father at Martinsville Sunday.
The late Dale Earnhardt was known for taking a battered racecar, a car that some would park and bringing it home to a decent finish. Never more true was that then at Martinsville when on more than one occasion, the seven time champion would turn a miserable day into one for the highlight reels.
Sunday his equally popular son Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Dale Junior, who started 29th, twice worked his way through the field. The first time was after a multi-car pileup on lap 2 that sent him back to 39th. He tore the right-front fender off his Chevy in the incident and after his crew finished clearing the fender, Earnhardt began to plow his way back through the field.
The crew continued to work on the car during subsequent cautions, actually improving the cars performance with every stop.
“Beating and banging, man I was worried that my car was really tore up too bad to be competitive,” said Earnhardt. “I want to thank my team for working so hard to get me back on the race track, cutting everything away the way they did to be out of the way and working on it so the car still drove great.”
Then while running fifth on Lap 316 he was forced down into the inside wall coming out of Turn 4 when Ryan Newman cut him off. He dropped to 16th.
"What spot are you showing us in?" he asked crew chief Tony Eury Jr. over his radio during a caution on Lap 336. "Fifteenth? My goal for today is a top-10."
Earnhardt accomplished that mission and capped off his amazing run on the last corner of the last lap when passed Kyle Busch to claim fourth.
"That was a fun race, man," Earnhardt said. "We beat on it pretty hard, but it kept on coming back. It drove great all day. I couldn't hurt it. We bounced off a lot of things, but the wheels kept going straight."
Martinsville Speedway delivered 500 laps of incensed racing excitement in this weekend’s DIRECTV 500. Pushing, bumping and shoving were the norm at the half-mile bull ring, leaving the garage littered with numerous torn up vehicles by the event’s end. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. weren’t exempt from the action, as the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet was involved in two separate incidents on the race track, forcing lengthy pit stops to fix the damage after each episode. Still, with Eury Jr.’s guidance, Earnhardt Jr. was able to climb back and finish inside the top-five. Eury Jr.’s comeback earned him the WYPALL® Wipers Crew Chief of the Race.
Earnhardt Jr. suffered extensive damage to the right side of his Monte Carlo after getting collected in a multi-car accident during the opening stages of the DIRECTV 500. Eury Jr. ordered vast repairs to the No. 8 Chevy and worked his driver inside the top-10 following the maintenance, but contact wit the No. 12 car on lap 318 forced another unscheduled stop. Despite the two setbacks, the Earnhardt Jr. and Eury Jr. combination fought to a fourth-place finish.
A panel of voters; including Robbie Reiser, Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal and a WYPALL® Wipers representative; unanimously agreed that Eury Jr.’s comeback deserved Crew Chief of the Race accolades. “The No. 8 car looked like it had been in a demolition derby at the end of the race,” said Reiser. “I couldn’t believe how well it was running with all of the damage. Tony (Eury Jr.) did a great job getting everything repaired and getting it back on the track. To get a top-five when your car is that beat up says a lot about the crew chief.”
“We were really worried after the first incident, so we made a lot of pit stops to see where the car was,” said Eury Jr. after the race. “I was worried that we might have damaged a ball joint, but after a few laps of green, it was running as fast as we had it in practice. After the second wreck, we went to a different goal. I just wanted us to get a top-10. I didn’t know how much more damage was done. I was worried that we couldn’t get back up there. Here we’re fourth, so I couldn’t ask more than that. When you come back from the back twice, you’ve really done something.”
For winning the Crew Chief of the Race award, WYPALL® Wipers gave Eury Jr. $1,000. At the end of the season, the crew chief with the most weekly wins will receive $20,000 and be crowned the WYPALL® Wipers Crew Chief of the Year. This was Eury Jr.’s first Crew Chief of the Race award in 2006, which ties him with Darian Grubb, Kenny Francis and Roy McCauley for second-place in the standings. Robbie Reiser is in the lead with two wins.
Bobby Hamilton, two weeks into his cancer treatment, bounced into Martinsville Speedway yesterday to watch his son, Bobby Jr. - and to promote a charity event for the American Cancer Society.
"You don't realize how many people have been touched by something like this, only they don't want to talk about it," Hamilton said.
"I go in every morning and let them pour this crap into me, and feel pretty bad about it ... until I see some 17-year-old going through it all, too.
"So I'm just trying to raise money for the American Cancer Society and the Victory Junction Gang Camp."
Hamilton will host a four-hour fan festival on May 23 at NASCAR SpeedPark at Concord Mills.
His treatments? "Until two days ago, it was nothing," Hamilton said. "The first week was nothing, I just felt different. Like I'd drunk five gallons of mud. But I felt fine.
"So this week, me being the arrogant guy I am, I decided I'd go to the Kentucky track with my team testing, changing springs and gears, doing my merry thing. But after a while I was about ready to have them call the ambulance. It knocked all the steam out of me.
"I've learned I've got to take it easy on myself and not burn myself up.
"This is pretty bad stuff."
The past two Truck tour champions, Hamilton and Ted Musgrave, have both battled cancer.
Rookie Cries Foul Over Contact With Martin
By Hank Kurz Jr.
Associated Press
Mark Martin has a reputation for being one of the cleanest drivers in NASCAR, the kind of guy who never resorts to cheapshots to get something he couldn't otherwise earn and who is a mentor for up-and-coming talent. Good luck getting rookie Denny Hamlin to see it that way.
"I respect Mark Martin like no other," Hamlin said Sunday after contact with Martin took him out of the DirecTV 500 early and sent him to a 37th place finish.
Hamlin said he was running on the lead lap with Martin one lap down when Martin's Ford bounced off the wall and into Hamlin's Chevrolet, which spun out and crashed.
"This ain't the first time," the Chesterfield native fumed. "At Las Vegas, he ran me into the wall. There's so many races I can say the 6 car didn't give me any room.
"I understand I'm the rookie and he's the veteran, but we're all on the same race track. You've got to give room. He crowded me every time I was around him."
Hamlin, who started 41st, was running 14th when his day ended.
"It's not the way it's supposed to end," he said.
"As professional racecar drivers and team owners, Michael and I are in a great position to encourage fans to make the right decisions when it comes to consuming alcohol responsibly," said Gordon. "We're very committed to helping spread the drink smart messages." For more information on drink smart, please visit www.drinksmart.com. Jim Beam is a primary sponsor of the #7 Chevy driven by team owner Robby Gordon of Robby Gordon Motorsports for a designated number of races in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. Jim Beam is an associate sponsor for an additional number of races. In addition to the Jim Beam logo, the company's drink smart logo is displayed on the car and Gordon's firesuit to communicate the importance of responsible drinking.(Jim Beam PR)
By DAVID POOLE
THe Charlotte Observer
Some thoughts while watching Martinsville Speedway disappear in the rear-view mirror ...
Tony Stewart said after climbing the fence again after his victory Sunday at Martinsville that as soon as he feels the fans are tired of him doing that, he'll stop. But until then, he said, the enjoyment he gets and the fun he feels the fans are having when he does that makes that ritual part of the anticipation of a victory for him. Good thing NASCAR isn't the NFL or a group of stuffed shirts might pass a rule outlawing it.
Sunday would have been Ricky Hendrick's birthday, so drivers on the Hendrick Motorsports team wanted a win to dedicate to the memory of their car owner's son who was killed in the October 2004 crash of a Hendrick team plane near this track. Remember, though, that another of the 10 people who died in that crash was Scott Latham, who had been Stewart's helicopter pilot. That tragedy touched a lot of lives in the Nextel Cup garage.
In October 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. saw his chances to win that year's championship all but dashed here when his day went from bad to worse after a problem in that race. He finished 33rd that day. Earnhardt Jr. was in a wreck on Lap 2 and in another one on Lap 316 on Sunday, and still he fought back to finish fourth. That is precisely the kind of improvement his fans should be encouraged by.
By Greg Engle
Cup Scene Daily
Climbing fences and winning races, that’s what Tony Stewart does best.
He’s also come oh so close at Martinsville in the past three race’s here having led the most laps, 818 of 1,500 with none of the those laps being the most important, the last.
Sunday however, Tony Stewart was finally able to seal the deal and win his first race of the season and his first since last August at Watkins Glen, the DIRECTV 500 at Martinsville.
Coming into the day, Stewart had led nearly 400 of the 1512 laps run this year without scoring a victory. He led the most laps at the race prior to Sunday at Bristol only to fade at the end. At California Stewart looked strong only to have an engine expire.
Sunday however, the racing gods smiled on the reigning champion who capped the day with his now famous fence climb at the start finish line.
"I'm still too old and still too fat, but as long as those people keep cheering like they do when I get up there, I'm going to keep doing it for them," Stewart said.
Stewart’s only other win here came in the Fall of 2000 when he finished 0.672 seconds ahead of the late Dale Earnhardt in what would turn out to be Earnhardt's last run at Martinsville.
The story of the race came down to one word: respect. Sure there was plenty of bumping and banging, but for the most part drivers seemed to keep their emotions in check and there were no hard feelings at least among the top finishers when the day ended.
The carnage began early when on lap 2 a multi-car crash in turn two set off by Clint Bowyer that also involved in with Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Also swept up were the cars of Kyle Petty, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin and Dale Jarrett.
All would continue however, Robby Gordon’s day would end soon after when his engine gave up the ghost on lap 9.
The second lap accident would set up an amazing run by Dale Earnhardt Junior who would battle back after a run in with Ryan Newman on lap 315 to finish fourth in a Chevy that looked more like a modified racer than a stock car. Three of the four corners of his Monte Carlo had significant damage with the right front having no fender at all.
Another driver who staged an astonishing run was Jeff Gordon who would lose a tire early, be penalized by NASCAR but would be in position at the end to contend for the win and score a runner up finish. A finish that helped take the sting out of last weeks 21st place run at Bristol.
Roush Racing’s Greg Biffle ended his day on lap 109 when he spun into the inside wall and out of the race after contact with Jeff Bruton. Biffle took responsibility for the mishap after it was over.
“It was totally my fault,” Biffle who finished the day 31st, said. “I screwed up. It’s the first good car I’ve ever had at Martinsville and I got underneath the No. 31 (Burton) and just couldn’t do anything.”
Biffle’s mishap characterized the entire day for the five-car Roush contingent. was led by Jamie McMurray who came home ninth, he was followed by Mark Martin, who ended the day 13th after being at least one lap down for most of the race. Carl Edwards was 16th and Matt Kenseth 24th after he brought out the final caution, one that turned into a 9-minute red flag in the waning laps when he hit the turn one wall hard after losing his brakes.
To add insult to injury, Kenseth the points leader when the day started, left Martinsville third in the points.
Another team who had a forgettable Sunday was Evernham Motorsports.
Two of the team’s three cars suffered engine failures. Kasey Kahne, who came into Martinsville second in points, ran solidly in the top five for the first half of the race until a valve spring apparently failed in his Evernham Dodge Charger, dropping him to 35th in the race. His teammate, Jeremy Mayfield, blew a motor later in the event, finishing 26th.
The team’s lone highlight was Scott Riggs, whose 10th-place run was his first top-10 finish of the season.
Petty Enterprises had hoped to stage a strong run Sunday but their hopes were dashed.
Bobby Labonte had the No. 43 Dodge in the top 15 for the first third of the race and looked strong until the transmission broke on lap 186.
Twelve laps later, teammate Kyle Petty coasted the No. 45 to a stop with rear gear problems.
Petty returned to the track on lap 241. Labonte rejoined the pack after another eight laps and quickly chased down and passed leader Jimmie Johnson. Labonte still finished 32nd, 71 laps down. Petty also returned to the track and finished 30th.
It seemed that the Hendrick Motorsports team would be the ones to beat in the latter stages of the race though. Just past halfway Johnson retook the lead and the battle for home improvement warehouse supremacy commenced.
Stewart began a dogged pursuit of Johnson and the duel continued until Stewart made his final move on lap 472 to stay in front for good as he drove his Home Depot sponsored Chevy along the inside of Johnson's Lowes Chevrolet on turn 2 and raced to the lead along the backstretch.
Jeff Gordon passed Johnson, his teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, after a restart with less than 10 laps to go and looked to threaten Stewart for the win. Johnson, now in third, was followed by Elliott Sadler and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kenseth, running eighth at the time, became the spoiler when he brought out a 9-minute red flag on lap 492 after he locked his brakes up and slammed hard into the first turn wall.
The restart set up a three-lap shootout and set the stage for a dramatic finish. In the end though Stewart got a good jump, Gordon slid in the speedy dry that had been laid down and was denied a second shot, while Johnson faded.
"The caution before the (last) restart, my car just took off," Gordon said. "I was like, 'Oh man, we've got something for them now.' I knew if I could get my nose in there, things were going to get interesting."
But Stewart actually gained ground on Gordon after the white flag waved.
"All I wanted to do was get two lengths on him getting into turn 1 to where I could get through clean, without him right behind me," Stewart said. "Then if we could get away a little bit, I could go back to driving my line without having to overdrive it getting into the corner.
Being able to hold that No. 24 car (Gordon) off is what really has made me happy today," Stewart added. "Jeff's so good here and especially late in a race like that."
Gordon finished second in a Chevrolet, followed by the Chevrolets of Johnson, Earnhardt and Kyle Busch.
"I was sliding all over the place," said Johnson, who led 195 laps overall. "The guys gave me a great race car, great pit stops. We just kind of ran out of stuff there late, and Tony's always really good here on the short runs."
As the sun set on NASCAR’s oldest speedway, Tony Stewart celebrated his 25th win and the first of the season.
“What an awesome way to get the first (victory) done," Stewart said. As good as we've run here the last two years, this one means a ton to us," he said. "We knew that we were going to be a contender this week and the anticipation of coming here - this was one of the places after the last few weeks, I couldn't wait to get here because I knew we had a shot at winning this race."
Stewart moved to eighth in the points standings. Johnson's finish moved him back into the points lead he held until last week's 30th-place finish at Bristol. He's 59 ahead of new second-place driver Mark Martin. Kenseth drops from first to third, one point behind Martin.
The series heads to the Lone Star State for the Samsung Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday before taking an Easter break.
By Mike Mulhern
JOURNAL REPORTER
MARTINSVILLE, Va.
A major shakeup appears under way in the Sprint-Nextel sports department with two top players leaving, and that has the NASCAR garage abuzz with questions about the company's future in NASCAR stock-car racing.
Jill Gregory, the director of NASCAR Nextel Series marketing since 2004, is leaving to join Bank of America's new NASCAR marketing operation. And Michael Robichaud, vice-president of sports marketing for Sprint-Nextel, and formerly Nextel's director of sports and entertainment marketing, is also leaving, though his next job is up in the air.
And there is intense speculation here that Sprint-Nextel's chairman, Tim Donahue, who made the original deal with NASCAR before last year's merger, may be leaving, too.
All that increases speculation that officials on the Sprint side of the company are taking control from all the key Nextel people. Sources here say that might not be good for NASCAR, because they say Sprint executives generally aren't fond of NASCAR and might try to unload the $70 million a year, 10-year sponsorship, perhaps by selling it to another company.
This is the third season Nextel has sponsored NASCAR's top series. The company took over in 2004 when R. J. Reynolds, the tour's sponsor for 33 years, decided on new marketing strategies.
Robichaud has been Nextel's version of R. J. Reynolds' sports marketing bosses Ralph Seagraves and T. Wayne Robertson, though without the outgoing flair, pizzazz and arm-twisting.
Robichaud's departure is raising red flags that something big may be changing.
However Robichaud, one of the key architects of the Nextel-NASCAR marriage three years ago, downplays the speculation: "Tim Donohue is the chairman of the board, and he's very active. His primary role is focusing on the integration of the two companies. He sits 20 feet from (CEO) Gary Forsee.
"And my boss, Mark Schweitzer (chief marketing officer), is still there and very engaged.
"The creative, the engineering, the marketing budget is bigger this year than last year. So, if anything, it's new personalities. And people have to get comfortable with new people. And it's just a matter of letting that take time."
Robichaud said that his departure and Gregory's are only coincidentally at the same time. "Jill got a great opportunity with Bank of America, and a lot of people are watching their activation into the sport," Robichaud said. "For me, it had to do with some corporate reorganization that's going on, some career growth things for me.
"I'll be staying on for a while. We're looking to find someone to fill the role Jill occupied. I'm here for another few months. I'm not rushing out the door; I'll be at every race between now and the all-star, except for Texas. This will be my full-time job. I mean I helped build this team, and these are people I care about; this is a program I care about.
"I hope to still be in this sport, in some capacity.
"I understand what this program means. We've made a commitment to NASCAR, and they've made a commitment to us. We both work very well together, especially these last 18 months where we've really got to settle into a good rhythm. To let it go away, no one is interested in that."
But given Robichaud's stature as a big cheese in this part of the sports-business, many are reading more into his departure.
"The way the new company works, you still have Mark Schweitzer, as chief marketing officer, and Tom Murphy as the vice president of sponsorships, who occupies something of the role I had at Nextel," Robichaud said. "It's just a bigger company (now), and things are managed a little differently."
And what are Robichaud's new career plans? "I'm not sure yet," he said. "I'd love to stay in this sport. It's been great. And I'm actively looking."
Robichaud has been with Nextel for nearly nine years, "a long run for a company as young as we are," he said. "Four years of new product launches, then moved into the sports side, with hockey and baseball for 21/2 years. Then the NASCAR deal came along, and we've added football. It's been great."
In fact Robichaud played a significant role in helping hammer out the NASCAR agreement, negotiations that moved surprisingly fast for such a big deal. "It started three weeks before the April (2003) California race, and we hunkered down and figured it out, and then hammered it out with NASCAR. We spent a lot of time over six weeks to get it right," he said.
Sprint-Nextel pays NASCAR $70 million a year for the naming rights to the Nextel Cup series, which could become the Sprint Cup next season, or something similar. And Sprint-Nextel has to pay all its own marketing and promotions on top of that; the rule of thumb in this sport that a company must spend at least as much more as its official sponsorship in order to market successfully.
Now, though, there are a lot of questions about the future. Of course the telcom/cellphone industry itself is changing rapidly - as the just announced AT&T-BellSouth-Cingular deal shows - and that may make some NASCAR types nervous, since they're used to dealing with more mature industries, like Detroit and tobacco.
By Dustin Long
The Roanoke Times
MARTINSVILLE -- A week after Kurt Busch bumped Matt Kenseth out of the lead to win at Bristol, a Kenseth bump sent Busch spinning Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Kenseth sent Busch into the wall on lap 467 as they raced for eighth.
"Guess we're even with the 17 car,'' Busch said. "We'd gotten around him. He bumped me up the track. We came in and got four fresh tires there at the end, but we were just so darn loose that we couldn't use them to our advantage.''
Busch finished 11th. Kenseth crashed late and finished 24th.
Also angry
Rookie Denny Hamlin wasn't pleased with how Mark Martin raced him. It wasn't the first time, according to Hamlin, he's had problems with Martin, who is considered one of the cleanest drivers.
"I respect Mark Martin like no other,'' said Hamlin, who finished 37th.
"I understand he's trying to get his lap back, but gosh, you've got to give room to the lead-lap cars. This is what happens. [Martin] was a lap down and he bounced off the wall and came into me. This ain't the first time.
"At Las Vegas he ran me into the wall. There's so many races that I can say that [Martin] didn't give me any room.
"I understand I'm the rookie and he's the veteran, but we're all on the same race track. You've got to give room. He just crowded me every time I was around him."
New leader
Kenseth's woes helped Jimmie Johnson retake the points lead.
Kenseth entered as the leader but a late crash dropped him to 24th. He fell to third in the points.
Johnson, who finished third, leads Mark Martin by 59 points heading into next weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Lost opportunity
Greg Biffle watched his chances for a good run end early after contact with Jeff Burton. They were racing in the top 10 when they collided on lap 109.
"It's the first good Martinsville car I've ever had here and it looked like I was going to have a top-10 day for sure,'' Biffle said.
Biffle finished 31st. He's never placed better than 17th in seven career Martinsville starts.
Tough lesson
Only one of the six rookies who competed Sunday had raced at Martinsville Speedway before. That was Hamlin, who finished 37th.
Reed Sorenson was the top rookie. He placed 12th.
"Today is the toughest race I've ever been in as far as lapped cars go,'' Sorenson said.
"It seemed like some people were more willing to give a little bit. Then you'd get them the next time and they would be more aggressive."
On track today
NASCAR's testing of its car of the future continues today at Martinsville Speedway.
The car, which will debut next year at the Bristol spring race, also will run at Martinsville as the car is phased in over a three-year period.
Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR are each scheduled to test the car today. Kevin Harvick is expected to drive for Childress with Brett Bodine driving the NASCAR vehicle.
The test will be open to the public.
Pit stops
Tony Raines finished 21st in his first race of the season for Hall of Fame Racing. He took over after Terry Labonte ran the first five races. ... Brian Vickers' eighth-place finish meant all four Hendrick Motorsports cars placed in the top eight. ... Johnson's third-place finish was his eighth top-10 finish in nine Martinsville races. ... This is only the second time in Stewart's career he's won a race before May. He won at Atlanta in March 2002.
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
Today In Nascar History
04/03/1950 Lincoln collects its final Grand National victory when Tim Flock wins at Charlotte Speedway, a 0.75-mile dirt track. It was the first of Flock’s 39 career victories.
04/03/1955-Buck Baker wins at North Wilkesboro, win #1 of the season, and #10 of his career.
04/03/1960-John Rostek wins at Phoenix, win #1 of the season, and #1 of his career.
04/03/1961-Rex White wins at Winston-Salem, win #2 of the season, and #15 of his career.
04/03/1966-David Pearson wins at Hickory, win #1 of the season, and #14 of his career.
04/03/1969-Bobby Isaac wins at Columbia, win #2 of the season, and #6 of his career.
04/03/1977-Darrell Waltrip wins at Darlington, win #1 of the season, and #4 of his career.
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Quote of the Day"I couldn't wait to get here because I knew we had a shot at winning this race."
-- Tony Stewart after winning at Martinsville
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.
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Comments from the Peanut Galleryfrom HM
MOMMA,
HOW COME KENNSETH AND BUSCH GET HALF OF YOUR NEWSLETTER WHEN THEY WIN OR WHEN BIFFLE COMES IN 27th. AND JIMMIE JOHNSON GETS MAYBE TWO LINES WHEN HE WINS? YOU HAD MORE WHEN HE CAME IN WAY DOWN THE LINE THAN WHEN HE WON TWO AND CAME IN SECOND IN ONE. BY THE WAY I HATE ALL ROUSH DRIVERS. H.M IN TEXAS
Well HM, first off, I don't like any of the Roush drivers except Matt Kenseth. I met him several years ago, and he is a class guy. Unfortunately, I can't really play favorites in my list, other wise this would carry nothing but Dale Jr. and DEI, Tony Stewart and Gibbs Racing, Sterling Marlin, and just about anyone who drives a Chevy EXCEPT Hendrick Motorsports....
I post the news as I find it, and sometimes thats the way the cookie crumbles. If I had my way, snot nose (Jeff G), runny nose (Jimmie J), and Kyle Busch would crash out every race. Don't ask me why I don't like 'em, I just don't. But that is my opinion, and boy, there are days when I have to bite my tongue in two to stop myself from saying something I shouldn't!
But that is why all of us here on this list, and the countless millions out there love this sport. Love or hate a driver, they sure do bring out the best in all of us!!!!!!!
from Dennis S
Sandra,
NASCAR drivers are professional drivers and a cut above your local Hot Shoes! This knocking people out of the way to win is filtering down to the local Saturday Night Shows.....Monkey See - Monkey Do !! Race car drivers are as plentiful as guitar pickers in Nashville. Any body on any level of racing can knock out the car in front of them...no skill needed. NASCAR drivers are champions of stock car racing and should set an example for the rest of the racers below them. NASCAR drivers are the best and should conduct themselves as champions. Getting even is one thing, but taking people out to win is another. It makes for good TV and that's where it ends. It costs to much money and a lot of time to prepare a car to race. If you can't get around the guy in front of you clean, then you're no better than the knuckleheads who drive on Saturday night doing the same thing.. If you want the trophy - then drive like a champion and earn it !!
D. Sweet
from Pops
Thanks for the help in a full field at Sumter Speedway last nite. Lot of action on the track. And a lot of old timers were on hand meeting the fans. I will try to get a list of names for you later.
Pops
Not a problem. Any time I can get the news out there that other publications don't cover, I'm more than willing to help out. Everyone keep that in mind if you know of something, let me know, I'll put it in the list.
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Bits and PiecesLike Father, Like Son
By Greg Engle
Cup Scene Daily
Dale Earnhardt Junior looked like his famous father at Martinsville Sunday.
The late Dale Earnhardt was known for taking a battered racecar, a car that some would park and bringing it home to a decent finish. Never more true was that then at Martinsville when on more than one occasion, the seven time champion would turn a miserable day into one for the highlight reels.
Sunday his equally popular son Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Dale Junior, who started 29th, twice worked his way through the field. The first time was after a multi-car pileup on lap 2 that sent him back to 39th. He tore the right-front fender off his Chevy in the incident and after his crew finished clearing the fender, Earnhardt began to plow his way back through the field.
The crew continued to work on the car during subsequent cautions, actually improving the cars performance with every stop.
“Beating and banging, man I was worried that my car was really tore up too bad to be competitive,” said Earnhardt. “I want to thank my team for working so hard to get me back on the race track, cutting everything away the way they did to be out of the way and working on it so the car still drove great.”
Then while running fifth on Lap 316 he was forced down into the inside wall coming out of Turn 4 when Ryan Newman cut him off. He dropped to 16th.
"What spot are you showing us in?" he asked crew chief Tony Eury Jr. over his radio during a caution on Lap 336. "Fifteenth? My goal for today is a top-10."
Earnhardt accomplished that mission and capped off his amazing run on the last corner of the last lap when passed Kyle Busch to claim fourth.
"That was a fun race, man," Earnhardt said. "We beat on it pretty hard, but it kept on coming back. It drove great all day. I couldn't hurt it. We bounced off a lot of things, but the wheels kept going straight."
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Eury Jr. Wins WYPALL® Wipers Crew Chief of the Race AwardMartinsville Speedway delivered 500 laps of incensed racing excitement in this weekend’s DIRECTV 500. Pushing, bumping and shoving were the norm at the half-mile bull ring, leaving the garage littered with numerous torn up vehicles by the event’s end. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. weren’t exempt from the action, as the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet was involved in two separate incidents on the race track, forcing lengthy pit stops to fix the damage after each episode. Still, with Eury Jr.’s guidance, Earnhardt Jr. was able to climb back and finish inside the top-five. Eury Jr.’s comeback earned him the WYPALL® Wipers Crew Chief of the Race.
Earnhardt Jr. suffered extensive damage to the right side of his Monte Carlo after getting collected in a multi-car accident during the opening stages of the DIRECTV 500. Eury Jr. ordered vast repairs to the No. 8 Chevy and worked his driver inside the top-10 following the maintenance, but contact wit the No. 12 car on lap 318 forced another unscheduled stop. Despite the two setbacks, the Earnhardt Jr. and Eury Jr. combination fought to a fourth-place finish.
A panel of voters; including Robbie Reiser, Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal and a WYPALL® Wipers representative; unanimously agreed that Eury Jr.’s comeback deserved Crew Chief of the Race accolades. “The No. 8 car looked like it had been in a demolition derby at the end of the race,” said Reiser. “I couldn’t believe how well it was running with all of the damage. Tony (Eury Jr.) did a great job getting everything repaired and getting it back on the track. To get a top-five when your car is that beat up says a lot about the crew chief.”
“We were really worried after the first incident, so we made a lot of pit stops to see where the car was,” said Eury Jr. after the race. “I was worried that we might have damaged a ball joint, but after a few laps of green, it was running as fast as we had it in practice. After the second wreck, we went to a different goal. I just wanted us to get a top-10. I didn’t know how much more damage was done. I was worried that we couldn’t get back up there. Here we’re fourth, so I couldn’t ask more than that. When you come back from the back twice, you’ve really done something.”
For winning the Crew Chief of the Race award, WYPALL® Wipers gave Eury Jr. $1,000. At the end of the season, the crew chief with the most weekly wins will receive $20,000 and be crowned the WYPALL® Wipers Crew Chief of the Year. This was Eury Jr.’s first Crew Chief of the Race award in 2006, which ties him with Darian Grubb, Kenny Francis and Roy McCauley for second-place in the standings. Robbie Reiser is in the lead with two wins.
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Hamilton visits track to help charity event Bobby Hamilton, two weeks into his cancer treatment, bounced into Martinsville Speedway yesterday to watch his son, Bobby Jr. - and to promote a charity event for the American Cancer Society.
"You don't realize how many people have been touched by something like this, only they don't want to talk about it," Hamilton said.
"I go in every morning and let them pour this crap into me, and feel pretty bad about it ... until I see some 17-year-old going through it all, too.
"So I'm just trying to raise money for the American Cancer Society and the Victory Junction Gang Camp."
Hamilton will host a four-hour fan festival on May 23 at NASCAR SpeedPark at Concord Mills.
His treatments? "Until two days ago, it was nothing," Hamilton said. "The first week was nothing, I just felt different. Like I'd drunk five gallons of mud. But I felt fine.
"So this week, me being the arrogant guy I am, I decided I'd go to the Kentucky track with my team testing, changing springs and gears, doing my merry thing. But after a while I was about ready to have them call the ambulance. It knocked all the steam out of me.
"I've learned I've got to take it easy on myself and not burn myself up.
"This is pretty bad stuff."
The past two Truck tour champions, Hamilton and Ted Musgrave, have both battled cancer.
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By Hank Kurz Jr.
Associated Press
Mark Martin has a reputation for being one of the cleanest drivers in NASCAR, the kind of guy who never resorts to cheapshots to get something he couldn't otherwise earn and who is a mentor for up-and-coming talent. Good luck getting rookie Denny Hamlin to see it that way.
"I respect Mark Martin like no other," Hamlin said Sunday after contact with Martin took him out of the DirecTV 500 early and sent him to a 37th place finish.
Hamlin said he was running on the lead lap with Martin one lap down when Martin's Ford bounced off the wall and into Hamlin's Chevrolet, which spun out and crashed.
"This ain't the first time," the Chesterfield native fumed. "At Las Vegas, he ran me into the wall. There's so many races I can say the 6 car didn't give me any room.
"I understand I'm the rookie and he's the veteran, but we're all on the same race track. You've got to give room. He crowded me every time I was around him."
Hamlin, who started 41st, was running 14th when his day ended.
"It's not the way it's supposed to end," he said.
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Who's Calling? Changes at Sprint-Nextel could have impact on NASCAR circuit: A major shakeup appears under way in the Sprint-Nextel sports department with two top players leaving, and that has the NASCAR garage abuzz with questions about the company's future in NASCAR stock-car racing. Jill Gregory, the director of NASCAR Nextel Series marketing since 2004, is leaving to join Bank of America's new NASCAR marketing operation. And Michael Robichaud, vice-president of sports marketing for Sprint-Nextel, and formerly Nextel's director of sports and entertainment marketing, is also leaving, though his next job is up in the air. And there is intense speculation here that Sprint-Nextel's chairman, Tim Donahue, who made the original deal with NASCAR before last year's merger, may be leaving, too. All that increases speculation that officials on the Sprint side of the company are taking control from all the key Nextel people. Sources here say that might not be good for NASCAR, because they say Sprint executives generally aren't fond of NASCAR and might try to unload the $70 million a year, 10-year sponsorship, perhaps by selling it to another company. - The Winston-Salem Journal See full story below~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Smaller fuel cells at LMS and road courses? UPDATE: hearing that NASCAR is looking at putting the smaller fuel cells in the cars at Lowe's Motor Speedway to force cars to pit somewhere between 35-40 laps, due to the tire wear with the new surface. NASCAR may also due this in the future at all road races to break up the pit strategies and could also use the smaller fuel cells when they return to Atlanta in the Fall.(4-1-2006) UPDATE: Smaller fuel tanks might be a way to deal with excessive tire wear at tracks like Atlanta Motor Speedway and the newly paved Lowe's Motor Speedway. The idea is that if drivers ran out of fuel after 30 laps or so, they'd make pit stops before tires could wear to a dangerous point. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said it's too soon to tell whether the smaller tanks, which are used at Daytona and Talladega to add pit stops and therefore break up big packs of cars, will be used elsewhere. "Our primary focus in preparing for the upcoming races at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May is testing the tires and getting them right," he said.(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Robby and Andretti in Jim Beam PSA commercial: Jim Beam bourbon announced the launch of its 2006 Public Service Announcement (PSA) to raise awareness of the company's drink smart social responsibility platform. Through drink smart, the company reminds consumers of the basic principles for making responsible decisions concerning alcohol: 1) if you're under 21, don't drink; 2) if you're of legal purchase age and choose to drink, do so in moderation; 3) and never drive drunk. The television PSA, featuring NASCAR Nextel Cup driver and owner Robby Gordon of Robby Gordon Motorsports and Indy Racing League (IRL) driver and co-owner Michael Andretti of Andretti Green Racing, reinforces the drink smart messages and the importance of making smart decisions about alcohol. Using a victory lane backdrop, both Gordon and Andretti reinforce the Jim Beam drink smart messages of making smart choices "on and off the track.""As professional racecar drivers and team owners, Michael and I are in a great position to encourage fans to make the right decisions when it comes to consuming alcohol responsibly," said Gordon. "We're very committed to helping spread the drink smart messages." For more information on drink smart, please visit www.drinksmart.com. Jim Beam is a primary sponsor of the #7 Chevy driven by team owner Robby Gordon of Robby Gordon Motorsports for a designated number of races in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. Jim Beam is an associate sponsor for an additional number of races. In addition to the Jim Beam logo, the company's drink smart logo is displayed on the car and Gordon's firesuit to communicate the importance of responsible drinking.(Jim Beam PR)
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Ward looking to race again: Ward Burton was back in the garage at Martinsville Speedway on Friday wishing he were wearing a driving suit instead of jeans. "I've been carrying on some communication, seeing what kind of dominoes need to fall to get back in," he said, adding that he no longer is as insistent on getting a Nextel Cup ride as he was last year. "I'm getting a little more open-minded to the possibility of another series," he said, indicating that he'd be willing to make a comeback in the Craftsman Truck or Busch series. Burton, a five-time Cup winner who hasn't raced since the fall race at Phoenix in 2004, said he enjoyed his year layoff, but he's ready for it to end. "I had a whole year to get a good breather, and I probably needed it," he said. "But when it got close to Daytona and I wasn't testing and doing appearances, I started having a longing, like I had lost a friend in my heart."(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stewart plans to keep climbing to celebrate his NASCAR winsBy DAVID POOLE
THe Charlotte Observer
Some thoughts while watching Martinsville Speedway disappear in the rear-view mirror ...
Tony Stewart said after climbing the fence again after his victory Sunday at Martinsville that as soon as he feels the fans are tired of him doing that, he'll stop. But until then, he said, the enjoyment he gets and the fun he feels the fans are having when he does that makes that ritual part of the anticipation of a victory for him. Good thing NASCAR isn't the NFL or a group of stuffed shirts might pass a rule outlawing it.
Sunday would have been Ricky Hendrick's birthday, so drivers on the Hendrick Motorsports team wanted a win to dedicate to the memory of their car owner's son who was killed in the October 2004 crash of a Hendrick team plane near this track. Remember, though, that another of the 10 people who died in that crash was Scott Latham, who had been Stewart's helicopter pilot. That tragedy touched a lot of lives in the Nextel Cup garage.
In October 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. saw his chances to win that year's championship all but dashed here when his day went from bad to worse after a problem in that race. He finished 33rd that day. Earnhardt Jr. was in a wreck on Lap 2 and in another one on Lap 316 on Sunday, and still he fought back to finish fourth. That is precisely the kind of improvement his fans should be encouraged by.
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Stewart Scores a Hard Fought win at MartinsvilleBy Greg Engle
Cup Scene Daily
Climbing fences and winning races, that’s what Tony Stewart does best.
He’s also come oh so close at Martinsville in the past three race’s here having led the most laps, 818 of 1,500 with none of the those laps being the most important, the last.
Sunday however, Tony Stewart was finally able to seal the deal and win his first race of the season and his first since last August at Watkins Glen, the DIRECTV 500 at Martinsville.
Coming into the day, Stewart had led nearly 400 of the 1512 laps run this year without scoring a victory. He led the most laps at the race prior to Sunday at Bristol only to fade at the end. At California Stewart looked strong only to have an engine expire.
Sunday however, the racing gods smiled on the reigning champion who capped the day with his now famous fence climb at the start finish line.
"I'm still too old and still too fat, but as long as those people keep cheering like they do when I get up there, I'm going to keep doing it for them," Stewart said.
Stewart’s only other win here came in the Fall of 2000 when he finished 0.672 seconds ahead of the late Dale Earnhardt in what would turn out to be Earnhardt's last run at Martinsville.
The story of the race came down to one word: respect. Sure there was plenty of bumping and banging, but for the most part drivers seemed to keep their emotions in check and there were no hard feelings at least among the top finishers when the day ended.
The carnage began early when on lap 2 a multi-car crash in turn two set off by Clint Bowyer that also involved in with Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Also swept up were the cars of Kyle Petty, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin and Dale Jarrett.
All would continue however, Robby Gordon’s day would end soon after when his engine gave up the ghost on lap 9.
The second lap accident would set up an amazing run by Dale Earnhardt Junior who would battle back after a run in with Ryan Newman on lap 315 to finish fourth in a Chevy that looked more like a modified racer than a stock car. Three of the four corners of his Monte Carlo had significant damage with the right front having no fender at all.
Another driver who staged an astonishing run was Jeff Gordon who would lose a tire early, be penalized by NASCAR but would be in position at the end to contend for the win and score a runner up finish. A finish that helped take the sting out of last weeks 21st place run at Bristol.
Roush Racing’s Greg Biffle ended his day on lap 109 when he spun into the inside wall and out of the race after contact with Jeff Bruton. Biffle took responsibility for the mishap after it was over.
“It was totally my fault,” Biffle who finished the day 31st, said. “I screwed up. It’s the first good car I’ve ever had at Martinsville and I got underneath the No. 31 (Burton) and just couldn’t do anything.”
Biffle’s mishap characterized the entire day for the five-car Roush contingent. was led by Jamie McMurray who came home ninth, he was followed by Mark Martin, who ended the day 13th after being at least one lap down for most of the race. Carl Edwards was 16th and Matt Kenseth 24th after he brought out the final caution, one that turned into a 9-minute red flag in the waning laps when he hit the turn one wall hard after losing his brakes.
To add insult to injury, Kenseth the points leader when the day started, left Martinsville third in the points.
Another team who had a forgettable Sunday was Evernham Motorsports.
Two of the team’s three cars suffered engine failures. Kasey Kahne, who came into Martinsville second in points, ran solidly in the top five for the first half of the race until a valve spring apparently failed in his Evernham Dodge Charger, dropping him to 35th in the race. His teammate, Jeremy Mayfield, blew a motor later in the event, finishing 26th.
The team’s lone highlight was Scott Riggs, whose 10th-place run was his first top-10 finish of the season.
Petty Enterprises had hoped to stage a strong run Sunday but their hopes were dashed.
Bobby Labonte had the No. 43 Dodge in the top 15 for the first third of the race and looked strong until the transmission broke on lap 186.
Twelve laps later, teammate Kyle Petty coasted the No. 45 to a stop with rear gear problems.
Petty returned to the track on lap 241. Labonte rejoined the pack after another eight laps and quickly chased down and passed leader Jimmie Johnson. Labonte still finished 32nd, 71 laps down. Petty also returned to the track and finished 30th.
It seemed that the Hendrick Motorsports team would be the ones to beat in the latter stages of the race though. Just past halfway Johnson retook the lead and the battle for home improvement warehouse supremacy commenced.
Stewart began a dogged pursuit of Johnson and the duel continued until Stewart made his final move on lap 472 to stay in front for good as he drove his Home Depot sponsored Chevy along the inside of Johnson's Lowes Chevrolet on turn 2 and raced to the lead along the backstretch.
Jeff Gordon passed Johnson, his teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, after a restart with less than 10 laps to go and looked to threaten Stewart for the win. Johnson, now in third, was followed by Elliott Sadler and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kenseth, running eighth at the time, became the spoiler when he brought out a 9-minute red flag on lap 492 after he locked his brakes up and slammed hard into the first turn wall.
The restart set up a three-lap shootout and set the stage for a dramatic finish. In the end though Stewart got a good jump, Gordon slid in the speedy dry that had been laid down and was denied a second shot, while Johnson faded.
"The caution before the (last) restart, my car just took off," Gordon said. "I was like, 'Oh man, we've got something for them now.' I knew if I could get my nose in there, things were going to get interesting."
But Stewart actually gained ground on Gordon after the white flag waved.
"All I wanted to do was get two lengths on him getting into turn 1 to where I could get through clean, without him right behind me," Stewart said. "Then if we could get away a little bit, I could go back to driving my line without having to overdrive it getting into the corner.
Being able to hold that No. 24 car (Gordon) off is what really has made me happy today," Stewart added. "Jeff's so good here and especially late in a race like that."
Gordon finished second in a Chevrolet, followed by the Chevrolets of Johnson, Earnhardt and Kyle Busch.
"I was sliding all over the place," said Johnson, who led 195 laps overall. "The guys gave me a great race car, great pit stops. We just kind of ran out of stuff there late, and Tony's always really good here on the short runs."
As the sun set on NASCAR’s oldest speedway, Tony Stewart celebrated his 25th win and the first of the season.
“What an awesome way to get the first (victory) done," Stewart said. As good as we've run here the last two years, this one means a ton to us," he said. "We knew that we were going to be a contender this week and the anticipation of coming here - this was one of the places after the last few weeks, I couldn't wait to get here because I knew we had a shot at winning this race."
Stewart moved to eighth in the points standings. Johnson's finish moved him back into the points lead he held until last week's 30th-place finish at Bristol. He's 59 ahead of new second-place driver Mark Martin. Kenseth drops from first to third, one point behind Martin.
The series heads to the Lone Star State for the Samsung Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday before taking an Easter break.
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Who's Calling? Changes at Sprint-Nextel could have impact on NASCAR circuitBy Mike Mulhern
JOURNAL REPORTER
MARTINSVILLE, Va.
A major shakeup appears under way in the Sprint-Nextel sports department with two top players leaving, and that has the NASCAR garage abuzz with questions about the company's future in NASCAR stock-car racing.
Jill Gregory, the director of NASCAR Nextel Series marketing since 2004, is leaving to join Bank of America's new NASCAR marketing operation. And Michael Robichaud, vice-president of sports marketing for Sprint-Nextel, and formerly Nextel's director of sports and entertainment marketing, is also leaving, though his next job is up in the air.
And there is intense speculation here that Sprint-Nextel's chairman, Tim Donahue, who made the original deal with NASCAR before last year's merger, may be leaving, too.
All that increases speculation that officials on the Sprint side of the company are taking control from all the key Nextel people. Sources here say that might not be good for NASCAR, because they say Sprint executives generally aren't fond of NASCAR and might try to unload the $70 million a year, 10-year sponsorship, perhaps by selling it to another company.
This is the third season Nextel has sponsored NASCAR's top series. The company took over in 2004 when R. J. Reynolds, the tour's sponsor for 33 years, decided on new marketing strategies.
Robichaud has been Nextel's version of R. J. Reynolds' sports marketing bosses Ralph Seagraves and T. Wayne Robertson, though without the outgoing flair, pizzazz and arm-twisting.
Robichaud's departure is raising red flags that something big may be changing.
However Robichaud, one of the key architects of the Nextel-NASCAR marriage three years ago, downplays the speculation: "Tim Donohue is the chairman of the board, and he's very active. His primary role is focusing on the integration of the two companies. He sits 20 feet from (CEO) Gary Forsee.
"And my boss, Mark Schweitzer (chief marketing officer), is still there and very engaged.
"The creative, the engineering, the marketing budget is bigger this year than last year. So, if anything, it's new personalities. And people have to get comfortable with new people. And it's just a matter of letting that take time."
Robichaud said that his departure and Gregory's are only coincidentally at the same time. "Jill got a great opportunity with Bank of America, and a lot of people are watching their activation into the sport," Robichaud said. "For me, it had to do with some corporate reorganization that's going on, some career growth things for me.
"I'll be staying on for a while. We're looking to find someone to fill the role Jill occupied. I'm here for another few months. I'm not rushing out the door; I'll be at every race between now and the all-star, except for Texas. This will be my full-time job. I mean I helped build this team, and these are people I care about; this is a program I care about.
"I hope to still be in this sport, in some capacity.
"I understand what this program means. We've made a commitment to NASCAR, and they've made a commitment to us. We both work very well together, especially these last 18 months where we've really got to settle into a good rhythm. To let it go away, no one is interested in that."
But given Robichaud's stature as a big cheese in this part of the sports-business, many are reading more into his departure.
"The way the new company works, you still have Mark Schweitzer, as chief marketing officer, and Tom Murphy as the vice president of sponsorships, who occupies something of the role I had at Nextel," Robichaud said. "It's just a bigger company (now), and things are managed a little differently."
And what are Robichaud's new career plans? "I'm not sure yet," he said. "I'd love to stay in this sport. It's been great. And I'm actively looking."
Robichaud has been with Nextel for nearly nine years, "a long run for a company as young as we are," he said. "Four years of new product launches, then moved into the sports side, with hockey and baseball for 21/2 years. Then the NASCAR deal came along, and we've added football. It's been great."
In fact Robichaud played a significant role in helping hammer out the NASCAR agreement, negotiations that moved surprisingly fast for such a big deal. "It started three weeks before the April (2003) California race, and we hunkered down and figured it out, and then hammered it out with NASCAR. We spent a lot of time over six weeks to get it right," he said.
Sprint-Nextel pays NASCAR $70 million a year for the naming rights to the Nextel Cup series, which could become the Sprint Cup next season, or something similar. And Sprint-Nextel has to pay all its own marketing and promotions on top of that; the rule of thumb in this sport that a company must spend at least as much more as its official sponsorship in order to market successfully.
Now, though, there are a lot of questions about the future. Of course the telcom/cellphone industry itself is changing rapidly - as the just announced AT&T-BellSouth-Cingular deal shows - and that may make some NASCAR types nervous, since they're used to dealing with more mature industries, like Detroit and tobacco.
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Busch, Kenseth continue to bangBy Dustin Long
The Roanoke Times
MARTINSVILLE -- A week after Kurt Busch bumped Matt Kenseth out of the lead to win at Bristol, a Kenseth bump sent Busch spinning Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Kenseth sent Busch into the wall on lap 467 as they raced for eighth.
"Guess we're even with the 17 car,'' Busch said. "We'd gotten around him. He bumped me up the track. We came in and got four fresh tires there at the end, but we were just so darn loose that we couldn't use them to our advantage.''
Busch finished 11th. Kenseth crashed late and finished 24th.
Also angry
Rookie Denny Hamlin wasn't pleased with how Mark Martin raced him. It wasn't the first time, according to Hamlin, he's had problems with Martin, who is considered one of the cleanest drivers.
"I respect Mark Martin like no other,'' said Hamlin, who finished 37th.
"I understand he's trying to get his lap back, but gosh, you've got to give room to the lead-lap cars. This is what happens. [Martin] was a lap down and he bounced off the wall and came into me. This ain't the first time.
"At Las Vegas he ran me into the wall. There's so many races that I can say that [Martin] didn't give me any room.
"I understand I'm the rookie and he's the veteran, but we're all on the same race track. You've got to give room. He just crowded me every time I was around him."
New leader
Kenseth's woes helped Jimmie Johnson retake the points lead.
Kenseth entered as the leader but a late crash dropped him to 24th. He fell to third in the points.
Johnson, who finished third, leads Mark Martin by 59 points heading into next weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Lost opportunity
Greg Biffle watched his chances for a good run end early after contact with Jeff Burton. They were racing in the top 10 when they collided on lap 109.
"It's the first good Martinsville car I've ever had here and it looked like I was going to have a top-10 day for sure,'' Biffle said.
Biffle finished 31st. He's never placed better than 17th in seven career Martinsville starts.
Tough lesson
Only one of the six rookies who competed Sunday had raced at Martinsville Speedway before. That was Hamlin, who finished 37th.
Reed Sorenson was the top rookie. He placed 12th.
"Today is the toughest race I've ever been in as far as lapped cars go,'' Sorenson said.
"It seemed like some people were more willing to give a little bit. Then you'd get them the next time and they would be more aggressive."
On track today
NASCAR's testing of its car of the future continues today at Martinsville Speedway.
The car, which will debut next year at the Bristol spring race, also will run at Martinsville as the car is phased in over a three-year period.
Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR are each scheduled to test the car today. Kevin Harvick is expected to drive for Childress with Brett Bodine driving the NASCAR vehicle.
The test will be open to the public.
Pit stops
Tony Raines finished 21st in his first race of the season for Hall of Fame Racing. He took over after Terry Labonte ran the first five races. ... Brian Vickers' eighth-place finish meant all four Hendrick Motorsports cars placed in the top eight. ... Johnson's third-place finish was his eighth top-10 finish in nine Martinsville races. ... This is only the second time in Stewart's career he's won a race before May. He won at Atlanta in March 2002.
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We Wonder...
Another weekend on a short track serves up plenty of inquires
By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
... as impressive as his performance,, wasn't Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Sunday at Martinsville just a little bit funny?
There's no doubt that Junior's fourth-place run Sunday may have been at least as impressive as his 16 Cup victories, but if you weren't laughing by the end, you just weren't trying to have a good time.
By the closing laps, Earnhardt's No. 8 Chevy looked less like a racecar and more like Buford T. Justice's squad car in the late scenes of Smokey and the Bandit. The only thing missing was some lackey in a passenger's seat with a rented tux holding on Junior's helmet.
... who was the sponsor of Sunday's race, again?
Oh, that's right, it was DirecTV, wasn't it? I guess the 4,921 times it was mentioned on FOX's broadcast just wasn't enough for me to make it sink in.
I, along with an increasing number of unfortunate souls, are becoming all too familiar with corporate buzzwords like "synergy." We get that DirecTV and FOX are "sister companies." The problem is that many of these corporations don't get that drilling things into people's heads is not only annoying, but insulting.
Is there a person in America today that doesn't know what DirecTV is? Do they think for one moment that there was someone sitting on their couch Sunday and after the 2,000th mention said to themselves, "Maybe I've been looking at this whole TV thing wrong. Honey, give me the phone."
Enough, already. We get it. You rule the planet and all we can do is bow in your general direction. Now go away -- please.
... was anyone else insulted by Darrell Waltrip's little comment?
Do we, Darrell? In my mind, fans are passionate about their sport. If they weren't, you, me, Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and the guy selling hot dogs outside of Turn 3 would all be looking for something else to do.
And the "dream machine" you'd be driving in July would be your lawn mower.
... how funny was Waltrip when he made fun of his broadcast partners?
As enraging as D.W. was at the start of Sunday's broadcast, his comment near the end of the race had me rolling.
In one of the last race breaks of the afternoon, Chris Myers had made a reference to the old '60s comedy show Laugh-In. When they went back to the booth, Joy kept it going by saying something about "sock it to me time" and how the last few laps would be "veeeery interesting."
Waltrip shot back, "verrrry interesting -- but not very funny."
Ha!
... does Carl Edwards have a political career in his future?
Seeing Edwards walk around in that suit and his "aw, shucks" smile made him look a lot like a future six-term congressman from Missouri. Think it can't happen? What about Bill Bradley? Hey, even Gopher from The Love Boat got elected. Heck, Minnesota named Jesse "The Body" Ventura governor.
To say nothing of the guy with the heavy accent who's currently running California.
... who's the crew chief for that Richard Petty Driving Experience car that Waltrip and Jeff Hammond drive around?
Maybe that guy needs to get hit in the head with a guitar instead of Hammond. That segment Sunday looked like Atlanta rush hour traffic on I-75, only there was no one else on the track.
If ever a car needed four tires and adjustments, it's that thing.
... where was all the fighting?
Martinsville's a short-track, right? Everyone was mad at each other all week, right? So where was all the pushing and shoving? No one threw helmets. No one threw heat shields. Sure, there were a few squished racecars, but there was nary a discouraging word.
So ...
... was Sunday's race a good race?
We have this debate in the office often: What makes a good race? Personally, I think it depends on the individual watching it. Some folks can tolerate a less-than-thrilling race if there's sufficient drama, i.e., people calling each other names, a little pushing and shoving and a few curse words.
Others say that all that bravado makes it feel a bit too much like wrestling. Me, I like a little bit of both.
... how much free time does this guy have?
Below is an actual e-mail sent to my inbox after I asked what a "peep" was in last week's column:
The term is a regional 19th century colloquialism that probably originated in the Southern Highlands of Virginia, North Carolina, and northern Georgia. The word is an onomatopoeic word, i.e., one that mimics the sound it describes (e.g. buzz), and the "peep" is the first sound a pippin (a newly hatched baby chick) makes when it first breaks out of the shell. To say that you don't want to hear a peep out of someone is to say that they are too new or experienced in the world to comment on it.
OK, terrific.
The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
... as impressive as his performance,, wasn't Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Sunday at Martinsville just a little bit funny?
There's no doubt that Junior's fourth-place run Sunday may have been at least as impressive as his 16 Cup victories, but if you weren't laughing by the end, you just weren't trying to have a good time.
By the closing laps, Earnhardt's No. 8 Chevy looked less like a racecar and more like Buford T. Justice's squad car in the late scenes of Smokey and the Bandit. The only thing missing was some lackey in a passenger's seat with a rented tux holding on Junior's helmet.
... who was the sponsor of Sunday's race, again?
Oh, that's right, it was DirecTV, wasn't it? I guess the 4,921 times it was mentioned on FOX's broadcast just wasn't enough for me to make it sink in.
I, along with an increasing number of unfortunate souls, are becoming all too familiar with corporate buzzwords like "synergy." We get that DirecTV and FOX are "sister companies." The problem is that many of these corporations don't get that drilling things into people's heads is not only annoying, but insulting.
Is there a person in America today that doesn't know what DirecTV is? Do they think for one moment that there was someone sitting on their couch Sunday and after the 2,000th mention said to themselves, "Maybe I've been looking at this whole TV thing wrong. Honey, give me the phone."
Enough, already. We get it. You rule the planet and all we can do is bow in your general direction. Now go away -- please.
... was anyone else insulted by Darrell Waltrip's little comment?
Do we, Darrell? In my mind, fans are passionate about their sport. If they weren't, you, me, Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and the guy selling hot dogs outside of Turn 3 would all be looking for something else to do.
And the "dream machine" you'd be driving in July would be your lawn mower.
... how funny was Waltrip when he made fun of his broadcast partners?
As enraging as D.W. was at the start of Sunday's broadcast, his comment near the end of the race had me rolling.
In one of the last race breaks of the afternoon, Chris Myers had made a reference to the old '60s comedy show Laugh-In. When they went back to the booth, Joy kept it going by saying something about "sock it to me time" and how the last few laps would be "veeeery interesting."
Waltrip shot back, "verrrry interesting -- but not very funny."
Ha!
... does Carl Edwards have a political career in his future?
Seeing Edwards walk around in that suit and his "aw, shucks" smile made him look a lot like a future six-term congressman from Missouri. Think it can't happen? What about Bill Bradley? Hey, even Gopher from The Love Boat got elected. Heck, Minnesota named Jesse "The Body" Ventura governor.
To say nothing of the guy with the heavy accent who's currently running California.
... who's the crew chief for that Richard Petty Driving Experience car that Waltrip and Jeff Hammond drive around?
Maybe that guy needs to get hit in the head with a guitar instead of Hammond. That segment Sunday looked like Atlanta rush hour traffic on I-75, only there was no one else on the track.
If ever a car needed four tires and adjustments, it's that thing.
... where was all the fighting?
Martinsville's a short-track, right? Everyone was mad at each other all week, right? So where was all the pushing and shoving? No one threw helmets. No one threw heat shields. Sure, there were a few squished racecars, but there was nary a discouraging word.
So ...
... was Sunday's race a good race?
We have this debate in the office often: What makes a good race? Personally, I think it depends on the individual watching it. Some folks can tolerate a less-than-thrilling race if there's sufficient drama, i.e., people calling each other names, a little pushing and shoving and a few curse words.
Others say that all that bravado makes it feel a bit too much like wrestling. Me, I like a little bit of both.
... how much free time does this guy have?
Below is an actual e-mail sent to my inbox after I asked what a "peep" was in last week's column:
The term is a regional 19th century colloquialism that probably originated in the Southern Highlands of Virginia, North Carolina, and northern Georgia. The word is an onomatopoeic word, i.e., one that mimics the sound it describes (e.g. buzz), and the "peep" is the first sound a pippin (a newly hatched baby chick) makes when it first breaks out of the shell. To say that you don't want to hear a peep out of someone is to say that they are too new or experienced in the world to comment on it.
OK, terrific.
The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.
Engine failure ruins Kahne's promising start
Mayfield's hard luck continues; Riggs has top-10 run for Evernham
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- For more than half of Sunday's DirecTV 500, Kasey Kahne had designs on a top-five finish as he engaged in a scintillating battle for the Nextel Cup point lead with Jimmie Johnson.
But after the engine failed in his No. 9 Dodge Charger after 374 laps, Kahne was left with only visions of what might have been, and a disappointing 35th-place finish.
"We had a great racecar and we were having a lot of fun," Kahne said. "We finished second in this race last year, but this was the best car I'd ever had here at Martinsville.
"We were looking good and it was a lot of fun -- it just wasn't our day."
For 275 laps, Kahne was never listed lower than sixth in the scoring rundowns. But after that his car started acting up.
"It looks like it might have been a valve spring -- something that wasn't too bad, but it ended up getting worse and worse and we couldn't run up front any more," Kahne said. "It happened just like that [with no warning].
"We ran in the top three the first half of the race. We got it a little too loose and fell back to fourth, but we were just one or two adjustments away from being a top-three car."
At Lap 281, Kahne reported to his team that his car had lost a cylinder and the slide was on.
He fell back to the last car on the lead lap and was lapped by race winner Tony Stewart just after Lap 330. Kahne was the free-pass car on the 11th of 16 cautions at Lap 336, but it was the day's final bright spot.
Adding further injury to Evernham Motorsports' woes, teammate Jeremy Mayfield, whose No. 19 Dodge moved into the top 10 as Kahne fell back after his engine dropped a cylinder, fell victim to the same failure some 90 laps later, and Mayfield was on the sidelines after Lap 462.
"We're not exactly sure but it was something in the valve train that we think was similar to what happened to Kasey's car earlier in the race," Mayfield's crew chief, Chris Andrews, said. "It started showing the same symptoms so we tried to nurse it along as long as we could."
Scott Riggs, driving the third Evernham car, the No. 10 Dodge, saved the team's day with a 10th-place finish -- his best of the season as he continued a comeback in the standings.
By the time the 500-lap race was over, Kahne had fallen to fourth in the standings, 101 points behind Johnson, who finished third and retook the lead from Matt Kenseth.
But with the series heading to Texas Motor Speedway, the latest 1.5-mile venue on the schedule following Kahne's victory two weeks ago at the similar Atlanta Motor Speedway, that was some consolation.
"We've got our Atlanta car that we're taking to Texas, and it should run well," Kahne said. "These guys are doing an awesome job and our engines run great each week.
"We just had a small problem [Sunday], we'll regroup and bounce back next week at Texas. I'm really looking forward to that race."
With his finish, Riggs unofficially moved up to 30th in both the driver and owner point standings. Even after finishing 26th -- his fifth finish worse than 22nd in six races this season -- Mayfield's team remained 34th in the owner standings, and is still locked into a guaranteed starting position.
"We were good all day," Mayfield said. "We've just got a monkey on our back and can't get it off for some reason -- I don't know why.
"We had the car working good all day until right there at the end. The guys worked hard, and you can't really complain. We've just dug ourselves in a hole, and we've got to figure out how to dig out."
"It was another weekend where we've run strong [and something crazy happens]," Andrews said. "But that's what keeps us getting out of bed every day.
"We've run on the edge of the top 10 in a lot of races this year, and we've not finished a lot of races, but we'll be in Texas."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mayfield's hard luck continues; Riggs has top-10 run for Evernham
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- For more than half of Sunday's DirecTV 500, Kasey Kahne had designs on a top-five finish as he engaged in a scintillating battle for the Nextel Cup point lead with Jimmie Johnson.
But after the engine failed in his No. 9 Dodge Charger after 374 laps, Kahne was left with only visions of what might have been, and a disappointing 35th-place finish.
"We had a great racecar and we were having a lot of fun," Kahne said. "We finished second in this race last year, but this was the best car I'd ever had here at Martinsville.
"We were looking good and it was a lot of fun -- it just wasn't our day."
For 275 laps, Kahne was never listed lower than sixth in the scoring rundowns. But after that his car started acting up.
"It looks like it might have been a valve spring -- something that wasn't too bad, but it ended up getting worse and worse and we couldn't run up front any more," Kahne said. "It happened just like that [with no warning].
"We ran in the top three the first half of the race. We got it a little too loose and fell back to fourth, but we were just one or two adjustments away from being a top-three car."
At Lap 281, Kahne reported to his team that his car had lost a cylinder and the slide was on.
He fell back to the last car on the lead lap and was lapped by race winner Tony Stewart just after Lap 330. Kahne was the free-pass car on the 11th of 16 cautions at Lap 336, but it was the day's final bright spot.
Adding further injury to Evernham Motorsports' woes, teammate Jeremy Mayfield, whose No. 19 Dodge moved into the top 10 as Kahne fell back after his engine dropped a cylinder, fell victim to the same failure some 90 laps later, and Mayfield was on the sidelines after Lap 462.
"We're not exactly sure but it was something in the valve train that we think was similar to what happened to Kasey's car earlier in the race," Mayfield's crew chief, Chris Andrews, said. "It started showing the same symptoms so we tried to nurse it along as long as we could."
Scott Riggs, driving the third Evernham car, the No. 10 Dodge, saved the team's day with a 10th-place finish -- his best of the season as he continued a comeback in the standings.
By the time the 500-lap race was over, Kahne had fallen to fourth in the standings, 101 points behind Johnson, who finished third and retook the lead from Matt Kenseth.
But with the series heading to Texas Motor Speedway, the latest 1.5-mile venue on the schedule following Kahne's victory two weeks ago at the similar Atlanta Motor Speedway, that was some consolation.
"We've got our Atlanta car that we're taking to Texas, and it should run well," Kahne said. "These guys are doing an awesome job and our engines run great each week.
"We just had a small problem [Sunday], we'll regroup and bounce back next week at Texas. I'm really looking forward to that race."
With his finish, Riggs unofficially moved up to 30th in both the driver and owner point standings. Even after finishing 26th -- his fifth finish worse than 22nd in six races this season -- Mayfield's team remained 34th in the owner standings, and is still locked into a guaranteed starting position.
"We were good all day," Mayfield said. "We've just got a monkey on our back and can't get it off for some reason -- I don't know why.
"We had the car working good all day until right there at the end. The guys worked hard, and you can't really complain. We've just dug ourselves in a hole, and we've got to figure out how to dig out."
"It was another weekend where we've run strong [and something crazy happens]," Andrews said. "But that's what keeps us getting out of bed every day.
"We've run on the edge of the top 10 in a lot of races this year, and we've not finished a lot of races, but we'll be in Texas."
All in all, fans here are the best
by Monte Dutton
Gazette Sports Writer
For some reason, the fans are just more into it at Martinsville Speedway. Or maybe they’re more a part of it. Don’t know why. It’s just always been my perception, from the first time I saw a race here until the dusk was settling on Tony Stewart’s victory Sunday.
Maybe it’s the perspective. From the press box at Martinsville, there are fans below, beside and above. The press-box looks down on the little paper-clip-shaped track from above turns one and two, which isn’t much different from Bristol a week earlier because there the press box overlooks turns three and four.
Bristol is, however, to Martinsville what the Georgia Dome is to Fenway Park. The Bristol grandstands are yawning; awe-inspiring, even.
That track looks like some alien mother ship landed in the Tennessee mountains. This one looks like someone just started with a few bleachers and kept on piling them on for decades.
Which, by the way, is exactly what happened.
Martinsville has been around longer than Darlington, though it hasn’t been paved as long. NASCAR has been racing here since 1949, and the fans who gather here are more generationally descended from the originals than those anywhere else.
At most tracks, the sound and the fury obliterate the crowd roars, making them mere whimpers by comparison. The cheers are more discernible here, though, and not because the engines roar any less.
The racing citizenry of Martinsville seems less likely to wave its arms like Cameron Crazies but more inclined to stand in unison and clap heartily. These folks know their racing. They appreciate the doggedness it takes to win here.
Talladega fans are the most rowdy. Bristol drives the partisans nuts. Darlington’s infield may still be the most crowded. In Richmond, they jam the tunnel exits and beg the truck drivers to toot their horns. Watkins Glen is kind of Woodstock without the bands. The circuit really has more than its share of uniqueness, though not as much as it once did.
Most, but certainly not all, of the fans here are local. Some make annual pilgrimages from distant outposts. Las Vegas is a tourist destination for the fans.
Martinsville is a mecca.
By their actions, it seems likely that many fans are descended from the ones who cheered Red Byron to victory back in ‘49. When they judge the worthiness of the affluent jet set of today, they match them up not against others in their income brackets but against the founding fathers of this sport. If these folks didn’t see Curtis Turner and Junior Johnson and Lee Petty and Buck Baker, they certainly “heard tell” of them.
So they don’t get all carried away when Driver X debuts a new brand of cologne. They’re more interested in black doughnuts on the sides of the cars and the red-pepper glow of worn brakes shining through the rims. They prefer those who race the old-fashioned way.
Besides, no one ever wins at Martinsville who didn’t earn it.
by Monte Dutton
Gazette Sports Writer
For some reason, the fans are just more into it at Martinsville Speedway. Or maybe they’re more a part of it. Don’t know why. It’s just always been my perception, from the first time I saw a race here until the dusk was settling on Tony Stewart’s victory Sunday.
Maybe it’s the perspective. From the press box at Martinsville, there are fans below, beside and above. The press-box looks down on the little paper-clip-shaped track from above turns one and two, which isn’t much different from Bristol a week earlier because there the press box overlooks turns three and four.
Bristol is, however, to Martinsville what the Georgia Dome is to Fenway Park. The Bristol grandstands are yawning; awe-inspiring, even.
That track looks like some alien mother ship landed in the Tennessee mountains. This one looks like someone just started with a few bleachers and kept on piling them on for decades.
Which, by the way, is exactly what happened.
Martinsville has been around longer than Darlington, though it hasn’t been paved as long. NASCAR has been racing here since 1949, and the fans who gather here are more generationally descended from the originals than those anywhere else.
At most tracks, the sound and the fury obliterate the crowd roars, making them mere whimpers by comparison. The cheers are more discernible here, though, and not because the engines roar any less.
The racing citizenry of Martinsville seems less likely to wave its arms like Cameron Crazies but more inclined to stand in unison and clap heartily. These folks know their racing. They appreciate the doggedness it takes to win here.
Talladega fans are the most rowdy. Bristol drives the partisans nuts. Darlington’s infield may still be the most crowded. In Richmond, they jam the tunnel exits and beg the truck drivers to toot their horns. Watkins Glen is kind of Woodstock without the bands. The circuit really has more than its share of uniqueness, though not as much as it once did.
Most, but certainly not all, of the fans here are local. Some make annual pilgrimages from distant outposts. Las Vegas is a tourist destination for the fans.
Martinsville is a mecca.
By their actions, it seems likely that many fans are descended from the ones who cheered Red Byron to victory back in ‘49. When they judge the worthiness of the affluent jet set of today, they match them up not against others in their income brackets but against the founding fathers of this sport. If these folks didn’t see Curtis Turner and Junior Johnson and Lee Petty and Buck Baker, they certainly “heard tell” of them.
So they don’t get all carried away when Driver X debuts a new brand of cologne. They’re more interested in black doughnuts on the sides of the cars and the red-pepper glow of worn brakes shining through the rims. They prefer those who race the old-fashioned way.
Besides, no one ever wins at Martinsville who didn’t earn it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Championships have always driven me to win races. That 3 car pulling into the track would cause people to look around and wonder what we were doing, to see how to beat us."
-Dale Earnhardt
-Dale Earnhardt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
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