Happy Tuesday everyone.
Countdown to Daytona 47 Something that is near and dear to my heart: Guardians of Animals is raffling a 2009 Shelby GT500KR, along with a trip for two to the Shelby Automobiles factory in Las Vegas and a Barrett-Jackson VIP package valued at $2,000. Raffle tickets are $50 and can be purchased online through Jan. 04, 2010. Guardians of Animals, based in Charlotte, N.C., is a registered non-profit organization run by volunteers who are deeply dedicated to the welfare of animals. The 501C3 organization's primary focus is to reduce "puppy mills", which are places where dogs are used solely for breeding purposes while being kept in small cages & abused. We hope the public will join our cause by purchasing a raffle ticket for this Racing to Save Animals Raffle! Guardians of Animals is a 100 percent volunteer organization, which means every dime goes directly to the care, maintenance, health, transporting and investigation of animals. To purchase your ticket, click here: www.racingtosaveani Bits and Pieces Schatz Wins, Stewart Seventh in Australia Greg Engle/nascarexamine Four-time World of Outlaws Champion Donny Schatz continued his winning ways with victory in the Valvoline Australian Sprintcar Grand Prix at Sydney's Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway Sunday evening. Services Set for RCR Crewman By Greg Engle/scenedaily. Services have been set for Richard Childress Racing pit crew member Donald "D.J." Richardson who died from severe complications due to the H1N1 virus Friday night (Christmas). Richardson, 37, had been in a Massachusetts hospital since late November. He contracted the H1N1 virus during a visit to Massachusetts over the Thanksgiving holiday. His condition worsened due to the onset of pneumonia before he went to Health Alliance Hospital in Leominster for evaluation. Doctors quickly admitted Richardson to the hospital's intensive care unit with acute respiratory distress syndrome. The news of his passing was announced on a Facebook group started by the RCR communications department for Richardson. "All of us at RCR are saddened by D.J.'s passing," Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Racing said in a statement. "D.J. was a gifted tire changer, one of the greatest team players in the business and a valued member of the RCR family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends." A native of Leominster, which is approximately 35 miles northwest of Boston, Richardson joined RCR in July 2009 and finished the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season as the rear-tire changer for the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS team. "I am shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and teammate," said Matt Clark, director of human performance and leadership development of Richard Childress Racing. "Anyone who knew D.J. realized that below the tough exterior was a caring father, friend and teammate. He had a huge heart and would do anything to help someone in need. D.J. loved changing tires and was recognized as one of the top pit athletes at the position. I want to extend my condolences to his family and friends." Richardson began his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career with Andy Petree Racing in 1999. He has also worked for Penske Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Braun Racing. Saturday, the following details were released about services: Viewing will be on Tuesday the 29th at Sailas F Richardson and son funeral home from 4-8 p.m. 106 West Street Leominster, MA 01453 phone 978-534-9137 The Funeral will be Wednesday Dec 30th at St. Marks Church at 11 a.m. 60 West Street Leominster MA 01453 phone 978-537-3560. "In lieu of flowers we ask that when his children's fund is set up please donate to that. The lawyers are working on the fund now and it should be running early January." Details of memorial services in North Carolina are pending and will be made available as soon as possible. Robby Gordon ready for Dakar Rally: Just days until the start of the highly anticipated 2010 Dakar Rally, Robby Gordon and Team Hummer are preparing to head south to Argentina. The HummerS are flying like always, except they are soaring above the clouds at 40,000 feet. The #302 of Robby Gordon and #326 of Carlo de Gavardo left the team's race shop in California on Saturday, December 19th to be transported to Argentina via airfreight while the team's support vehicles left the shop in late November to be shipped to Argentina by sea freight. With the support vehicles and the Vanguard Hummer shipping in early November, it allowed the team to focus on the final details of the Monster / Toyo Tires Hummer and the build of the Chile Hummer for arguably the most grueling event in motorsports. Following Gordon's first-in-class finish and third-place overall result in 2009, Gordon is more determined than ever to compete for the overall victory in his Monster Energy / Toyo Tires Hummer H3 in the 2010 edition of the Dakar Rally. 2010 will mark Gordon's sixth appearance in the rally endurance race, and just the fifth appearance for Team Hummer. McMurray & Allmendinger to run Karts at Daytona: Hundreds of go-kart racers from across the country will spend their holidays at the Daytona International Speedway participating in World Karting Association races on three different courses. The Speedway's three-ring circus includes its famous 3.56-mile road course, the Sprint track in Turns 3 and 4 and the newly constructed quarter-mile dirt track outside Turns 1 and 2. For the third straight year, Jamie McMurray, is expected to return to his racing roots during Daytona KartWeek. AJ Allmendinger, who drives a Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, is also expected to compete in the karts. Meanwhile, Volusia Speedway Park is hosting the second day of its Christmas In Dixie dirt racing program. Those races are sanctioned by the American Kart Racing Association. (Daytona Beach News Journal) Hendrick Motorsports VP receives honorary degree: Doug Duchardt, a 1987 graduate of Missouri University of Science and Technology, will be one of 10 alumnae awarded an honorary professional degree on Saturday during the school's winter commencement ceremonies. Currently the Vice President of Development for Hendrick Motorsports, Duchardt earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the university in 1987. During his undergraduate career, he joined General Motors as a co-op student. That relationship grew over time, and after achieving a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue in 1992, Duchardt went on to become the director of GM Racing in 2003 and work closely with NASCAR teams. In 2005, he was named a vice president at Hendrick Motorsports, where he currently oversees race car design, engineering and production in the chassis, body and engine areas. "I appreciate my alma mater recognizing what's happened in my career, but it's really the result of being surrounded by talented people at General Motors and Hendrick Motorsports, 'Super' helmets a Victory this holiday season: Al Pearce, the former racing writer for the Hampton Daily Press and NASCAR correspondent for Autoweek, is an avid supporter of the Victory Junction. He's been on most if not all of the charity rides. He believes in the camp so much that a few years ago he came up with the idea of having all the Sprint Cup champions living at that time to sign a helmet and then auctioned off each of the mementos, with all the proceeds going to the camp. Since then, he's done the same with helmets signed by Cup champion car owners, Daytona 500 winners, Indy 500 winners, Formula One champions and Chase for the Championship drivers. Driver from India hopes to run NASCAR: Starbeast Motorsports wants to be a startup team plucking talent from around-the-world to tap into the interest of the international market. In doing so they've entered a technical alliance with JTG-Daughtery [#47 Toyota], which is, itself, aligned with Michael Waltrip Racing [#00, #55, #56 Toyota's]. Last weekend at the ARCA test at Daytona International Speedway, Starbeast imported two stars of its' own from Asia. Narain Karthikeyan from India and Darryl O'Young from Hong Kong. Narain Karthikeyan, a veteran of Formula One, the 24 Hours of LeMans (which feels to him like a single seater) and A1GP, had a blast adapting to the closed cockpit cars on Daytona International Speedway's high banks. The first shock was climbing in through the window to get seated. "The weird thing, it was difficult getting into the car -- literally. Putting your legs inside the car and twisting your body. A couple of times I had my helmet on and it got battered and scratched. When we come here it's a daunting task you have to start from scratch," said Narain. "The only thing in common (to his experience) is the high speeds. You need to get a good feel of the car, honestly I think after three for laps I was okay and I got the hang of it. It's quite bumpy and the car moves around a lot." He said adding the most important aspect is "leeping it flat and hang on to it." He added "there's no downforce and it's comparatively slow," to the cars he's driven. He's hoping to get a shot at a NASCAR-type ride saying it's "one of the options for next year if these guys can put it together. I'd love to have a go at it.(Auto123. Clint Bowyer honored: NASCAR driver #33-Clint Bowyer has donated and raised thousands of dollars for good causes in his Kansas hometown in recent years, and now Emporia has shown its gratitude. Bowyer's racing career began on a practice track at Flint Hills Towing on Emporia's Graham Street. He was on hand Wednesday as the city unveiled a sign adding the honorary label "Clint Bowyer Boulevard" to Graham Street. "It's very gratifying, very humbling to think back where this was where it all started, and to see your name on top of Graham Street," Bowyer said. "It's such an important street to me and my family, it means a lot to me." Two years ago, Bowyer established the 79 Fund with the Emporia Community Foundation to aid the city and people in need. The fund has helped a city clean-up project and the city Arts Council's building fund, and this month provided 20 Christmas trees to Emporia families and shoes for 85 children enrolled in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. "I love this town," Bowyer said. "There's no better people than right here in Emporia. We're taking baby steps and looking at getting more money raised to put into the programs, and I'm looking forward to making (the fund) a bigger and better thing for the children and making the community a better place," he said. Although Bowyer is famed as a driver, he has looked to another sport golf to help build the 79 Fund. A charity golf event and auction he hosted in 2008 brought in about $160,000; this year, the event raised $250,000. Bowyer and the 79 Fund's board of directors are looking to the future and planning to make sure the fund can help as many people as possible. "We're looking forward to building on what I consider a good first two years," Bowyer said. "That's the thing, you want to be able to give back and you want to make sure it goes to a good cause that people are getting a lot of good things out of."(Kansan/ Fancar ceases: fancar.com has officially closed its doors as of December 7, 2009. Matt Ferguson, a fan who wanted to sponsor a Sprint Cup car, and devised a plan where all fans would have an opportunity to sponsor a car. He started FanCar, and thew fans sponsored the #08 Toyota that Terry Labonte drove at Homestead in November 2009. TRT helps out during the holidays: What started as a small project - Triad Racing Technologies owners Marty Gaunt and Mike Held decided to help out a family in North Carolina by providing them with a dinner and presents for the holiday season - blossomed into a charitable effort within the shop. TRT is a supplier of Toyota body parts for teams in NASCAR's top three series. Working through a local charity group, it was soon discovered that there were quite a few families in need. After all, this has been a tough year for many, with people losing their jobs or taking cuts in pay in order to maintain the ones that they have. The news has been filled with reports of increased needs by groups like Toys for Tots and others that provide for children over the holidays. So as most things do, it started with a simple question. Are there many others who need help? Turns out there were. So it was mentioned during a staff meeting that there were others on the list. And soon, the people in the shop were lining up to participate in the program. It seems the project became the talk of the shop. People with and without children lined up to get a gift list for families in their area. They brought in presents, discussed what and why they purchased each one. Some weren't sure what to buy, so they gave money and allowed others to do the shopping. They came together, though, and perhaps found that they received far more than they gave through the experience. This week, 22 kids will benefit from Triad's effort.(SceneDaily) Gibbs working on contact extension for Busch UPDATE: J.D. Gibbs say he's close to re-signing #18-Kyle Busch and hopes to have the contract completed before the 2010 season. (FoxSports) UPDATE: a high-ranking source has confirmed Kyle Busch is off the market. The source would not confirm when the extension was signed, but has knowledge of one that ties him to both Gibbs and M&M's through 2011. Sources at Joe Gibbs Racing could not be reached for comment by press time, but it appears that they have addressed the top priority on their Christmas wish list by stabilizing Busch's contract and by rebuilding the #18 Toyota this offseason. Busch can now focus on establishing a positive relationship with crew chief Dave Rogers and launching himself back into Chase contention -- although a one-year extension isn't exactly the type of deal that screams long-term association. Tony Stewart fourth in race at Australia's Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway By SceneDaily Staff NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Tony Stewart finished fourth in the Hogs Breath Café International Sprint Car race at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway on Monday night. Stewart finished two spots behind runnerup Donny Schatz, a four-time World of Outlaws champion who competes for Stewart in the World of Outlaws. "I've got a good car to drive and a great teacher with Donny here, so I'm learning a little bit more each night and felt a lot more comfortable tonight compared to the first night I was here," said Stewart. "The track was definitely a little difficult tonight, the weather over the last couple of days has really made the track a little trickier than what I'm used to. I'm not used to them being quite as 'ledgey' as it was and cars kind of banging the right rear off the cushion, but it makes it fun. "You have to work hard at getting into a rhythm and make consistent laps. I felt like over the last 15 laps of tonight's main [event], I got a lot better and my lap times didn't fall off as much as the cars in front of me and I was making time." Stewart finished seventh in the previous night's Valvoline Australian Sprint Car Grand Prix at Sydney's Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway, where Schatz took the win. "I'm learning a lot," said Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Cup champion. "In saying that though, for a guy who only runs three or four Sprint Car races a year I've been pretty pleased with the last couple of nights." Action resumes at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway on Saturday night with the Scott Darley Memorial race followed by the final night on Sunday. Joining the American trio of Stewart, Schatz and Tim Shaffer at the event will be fellow American Jason Johnson and Australian drivers Brooke Tatnell, Robbie Farr, Max Dumesny and Ryan Farrell. Stewart is driving a car fielded by Australian Sprint Car champion Garry Rush in each of the four events he's running in Australia. DECADE IN REVIEW By SceneDaily Staff NASCAR's most exciting finishes 2000-2009 Race fans and drivers love a good finish. Any race where the winner isn't clear entering the final lap, one where someone makes a daring move or pass to take the lead, catches their attention. This decade certainly offered its share of tight finishes and ones where the win appeared to slip away from someone. Here's NASCAR Scene's take on the most exciting finishes of the decade: 1. Darlington, 2003: Ricky Craven edges Kurt Busch by 0.002 second in the closest finish in NASCAR history. A fender-banging, tire-smoking classic. The reaction: "I'll be 65 years old, I'll be sitting on the porch with my wife, and I'll tell this 100,000 times about how we won. It'll probably be a thousandth of a second at that point." – Craven "My arms are numb; my brain is numb. When you're out there digging for the lead, it kind of camouflages some of the hurt." – Busch 2. Talladega, 2000: Dale Earnhardt charges from 18th to first in the final four laps for what would be his final victory. The reaction: "It was wild. I didn't have any thought that I had a chance to win this race starting where I did on that restart. … It's one of the great, if not the greatest, Talladega races I've probably ever run." – Earnhardt 3. Atlanta, 2001: Kevin Harvick beats Jeff Gordon by 0.006 second in an emotional victory for grief-stricken Richard Childress Racing, three weeks after Earnhardt's death. The reaction: "I think there was a higher power who wanted to see that outcome." – Harvick "I just looked up in the sky and said, 'I need your help, old buddy,' and he was there. I could see his mustache break out in that big old smile." – team owner Richard Childress 4. Talladega, 2009: Rookie Brad Keselowski pulls the upset of the year when he hits Carl Edwards on the final lap, sending Edwards' car flying through the air and into the frontstretch fence. The reaction: "I was here to win, and I've got no other reason to be here than to win and put these guys in victory lane." – Keselowski "I guess we'll race like this until somebody gets killed, and then we'll change it." – Edwards 5. Daytona 500, 2007: Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin take the checkered flag side by side, with Harvick winning by inches as teammate Clint Bowyer slides across the finish line on his roof. The reaction: "It's a great win. … It gives me thoughts back to our win here [with Earnhardt] in '98." – team owner Richard Childress "Kind of cool, huh? It would have been a lot better if I was in the lead." – Bowyer 6. Pocono 500, 2000: Dale Earnhardt gets a dose of his own medicine when Jeremy Mayfield punts him on the final lap. The reaction: "I never intentionally tried to wreck him or nothing; we just wanted to rattle his cage a little bit." – Mayfield, mimicking a comment Earnhardt made after wrecking Terry Labonte at Bristol a year earlier. "I told him he was No. 1." – Earnhardt, on his postrace gesture 7. Daytona, 2007: Jamie McMurray wins a photo finish over Kyle Busch in the Pepsi 400 for his second career victory and first in 166 races. The reaction: "There was so much screaming on the radio I couldn't tell [if I won]. I didn't know if we were screaming because we were happy or because we didn't know if we won." – McMurray 8. Talladega, 2006: Brian Vickers, who had already been given his release from Hendrick Motorsports, scores his first career win by wrecking teammate Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap. The reaction: "I hate it. The last thing I wanted to do was get into Jimmie and wreck either one of those guys. … It's definitely going to be mixed emotions." – Vickers "I know he's trying to get his first win, but … he gave me one hell of a push from behind. He pushed me into the 8 [of Earnhardt Jr.] and off we went." – Johnson 9. Daytona 500, 2008: Kurt Busch pushes Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman past Tony Stewart on the final lap, helping Newman snap his 81-race winless streak. The reaction: "I don't have the words. It's awesome. It's probably one of the most awesome things that has ever happened to me." – Newman "To have Newman jump up in front of me, I thought that was the most beautiful thing in the world because I knew one of us Penske cars was going to win." – Busch 10. Atlanta, 2000: Dale Earnhardt beats Bobby Labonte by a nose – literally – in one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history (0.010 second). The reaction: "I didn't know if I could hold him off or not. I just went after it as hard as I could. It's just awesome." – Earnhardt "That's what racing is all about right there." – team owner Richard Childress Jimmie Johnson's streak of consecutive titles will end at four By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer Call me crazy, ignorant or just plain out of my mind, but here goes: Jimmie Johnson won't win a fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup title in 2010. You read correctly. I meant what I said. There's no turning back now. Of course, knowing Johnson, I'll probably look pretty silly about this time next year. Doubts and doubters have never stopped him from winning championships. But here's predicting that Johnson's extended reign atop the NASCAR world will end, at least temporarily, at four consecutive championships. That's certainly not to say that the Hendrick Motorsports driver won't claim a fifth, sixth, seventh or, yes, even eighth crown at some point in the future. It just won't happen in 2010. And there are a few reasons why. For starters, no driver or team is perfect. If Johnson were perfect, the 34-year-old would be the defending eight-time Cup champion rather than a defending four-time series champ. As you might recall, Johnson did not win the championship in any of his first four seasons in the Cup series. Yes, he finished in the top five in the point standings in each of those campaigns and was a legitimate championship contender from the outset, but it took him five years to actually be a champion. While it's understandable that an aura of invincibility has surrounded Johnson the last couple seasons in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup, the thought that Johnson is invincible is mere myth. Even Richard Petty, David Pearson and Dale Earnhardt missed out on a few championships in their heyday. Are we really to believe that Johnson is in such a league of his own that he's immune from falling short in a championship battle? If it can happen to Petty, Pearson, Earnhardt and other NASCAR greats, it can absolutely happen to Johnson. Of course, that doesn't mean it will happen next season. But when you consider just how hungry and tired of losing Johnson's top challengers are, there's good reason to believe he'll go down in 2010. If you watched any or all of the 2009 season, you'll know that there were times – albeit most of them before the Chase – when Johnson looked very beatable. How did teammate Mark Martin, Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart, Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch and JGR's Denny Hamlin combine for 17 wins if Johnson wasn't beatable? Clearly, he was. As usual, though, he happened to peak at the right time – in the Chase. With all due respect for Johnson, his ultrasavvy crew chief, Chad Knaus, and the entire No. 48 team, it's impossible for any group to be at its best at crunch time EVERY single year. Even if Johnson is as strong as ever in the 2010 Chase, you've got to figure there's going to be at least a few others guys who do the same. And Johnson, despite his knack for avoiding trouble on the track, is still not immune to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. His crash on lap 3 of the November race at Texas Motor Speedway proved that Johnson is as prone to getting caught up in someone else's mess as the next guy. Just as it's impossible for a driver and team to bat 1.000 every season in terms of performance and speed, it's also impossible to always have luck on your side. Just as easily as Hamlin missed out on a shot at the championship because of three DNFs to Johnson's zero in the 2009 Chase, fortunes could be reversed in 2010. Johnson's luck could finally run out. If nothing else, just the sheer level of competition in the Sprint Cup Series right now doesn't bode well for Johnson keeping his championship streak alive another year. Contrary to what some people will tell you, the Cup series is more competitive now than it has ever been. Just because the racing itself may not be as exciting as in years gone by, it's harder than ever to be the best … and stay the best. The 2010 season will also mark the third full campaign with the current model Sprint Cup car, which Johnson's team clearly needed less time to master than others. As other top organizations such as Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Childress Racing learn more about the car, the gap between Hendrick Motorsports and its competition is destined to shrink. The only question is whether it will be enough for someone to dethrone the reigning champ in 2010. After all, no one is perfect. Not even Jimmie Johnson. The Woods Of Virginia – Part 2: DJ Gets 1st Win By Rick Minter | Senior Writer The Wood Brothers Racing Team has been one of the backbones of NASCAR since the sport was founded. The Woods, from Stuart, Va., have been racing continuously in the division now known as Sprint Cup since 1953 and have 96 wins to their credit. In a RacinToday exclusive series, Eddie Wood, one of the second-generation members of the team, will discuss what he considers the top 10 wins in Wood Brothers history. The wins aren't ranked in any particular order, but Wood began with Kyle Petty's win in the Miller High Life 400 at Richmond International Raceway on Feb. 23, 1986. — Michigan was the 19th race of the season in 1991 but it was one of the first races that year in which the Woods were on equal footing engine-wise with Robert Yates' Ford and the rest of the competition. "For most of that season we had been down on power," Eddie Wood said. "But we'd just gotten the new Ford cylinder heads, and all of a sudden we had really, really good power." That power was evident the week before when Jarrett finished a strong fifth at Watkins Glen. When it came down to the closing laps at Michigan that day, the race boiled down to a contest between Jarrett, who'd never before won a Cup race, and Davey Allison, who was in Yates's powerful No. 28 Ford. While Yates had years of experience in making strategy decisions in situations like that, Eddie and his brother Len were virtual greenhorns. "We'd been racing a long time, but that was really the first year that Len and I were calling the shots," Eddie said. A caution flag late in the race offered the contenders a chance to head to the pits and give it their best shot. Allison took four new tires. The Woods went with gas only on the final stop, and they decided to take their chances with the used rubber that was on their car from the previous stop. This was in the days when Cup cars still ran bias-ply tires. "We had a set of tires on the car that we'd run earlier in the race," Wood said. "They were really, really good, so we just put them back on." The Woods also had taken a different approach in the effort to gain downforce, back in the day when teams weren't as limited in what they could do to the cars. The Woods chose to use a wider rear deck lid and spoiler, whereas other teams, including Yates, simply tried to get the rear of the car as high in the air as reasonably possible. "There were two different theories, and neither one was against the rules," Wood said. "But as things went forward the trend was to build cars with the back end up high." But on this day, the Woods had just enough downforce, and a winning game plan to boot. As Jarrett battled Allison, Eddie Wood's voice was the one he heard over the radio. Knowing a driver in a door-to-door battle doesn't need the distractions of lengthy chatter, Wood kept his advice simple: "Remember Richard and Cale at Daytona." What Wood was referring to was a battle in the not-too-distant past in which Richard Petty used a side-draft-like move to overcome Cale Yarborough and get his 200th win, in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona. It was a move that Jarrett and Wood had discussed more than once up to that point. Sure enough, on the final lap, Jarrett caught Allison just right and got the boost he needed to score a win by a razor-thin margin. The record book lists it at 10 inches. The tire mark on the door of the No. 21 Ford showed that Jarrett indeed had perfected the Petty move. "It was Dale's first win, and [father Ned Jarrett] was calling the race on ESPN, so it was a really special deal," Wood said. But there also was the element of ironic that often accompanies a memorable moment. By that point, the Woods were already aware that Jarrett was leaving at the end of the season to drive for a start-up team, Joe Gibbs Racing. Wood said that if the cylinder heads and the added speed had come along a little sooner, things might have been different with them and Jarrett. "Unfortunately for us, we got fast about 30 days too late," Wood said. "But Dale had already made his decision to go to Joe Gibbs. We tried to save it, but things had gone too far down the road. But it was the right decision for Dale." Wood said that the whole matter was handled as diplomatically as it could have been. "We got a nice letter from Joe thanking us for being OK with it," he said. Even with the changes looming, the Woods and Jarrett ran strong the rest of the season. In fact they almost won the very next week. "We were going to win at Bristol, but we ended up breaking a wheel," Wood said. "And we were close to winning a couple of other times." Craven win at Darlington in '03 top Cup race of decade Nationwide: ORP in '03; Truck: Daytona opener in '05 By Official Release DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Media members have selected the top races of the decade for all three national series. The list of races for the poll was compiled following discussions with the three series directors, other longtime observers in the industry and from direct input from NASCAR fans. Cup Series 1. The March 16, 2003, race at Darlington Raceway. In what is the closest Margin of Victory -- .002 seconds -- since the advent of electronic scoring in May 1993, Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch to the finish line in that thriller. 2. The Oct. 14, 2000, race at Talladega Superspeedway, which marked Dale Earnhardt's final career victory, came in second. 3. March 11, 2001, event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with Kevin Harvick getting his first Cup victory in a narrow defeat of Jeff Gordon. Busch/Nationwide Series 1. The Aug. 2, 2003, event at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Brian Vickers battled Shane Hmiel in some closely contested, side-by-side racing to pick up his first career series victory. 2. The July 2, 2004, race at Daytona International Speedway, which saw Mike Wallace navigate his way down the frontstretch to claim his first series win in 10 years, came in second. 3. The Aug. 2, 2008, event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, where Canadian Ron Fellows won NASCAR's first national series points race on rain tires, was voted third. Truck Series 1. The Feb. 18, 2005, event at Daytona International Speedway. The 2004 series champion, Bobby Hamilton, won by leading the last 2 feet. Jimmy Spencer mistakenly thought he had won the race and came to Victory Lane, when he, in fact, had finished second. 2. The Nov. 14, 2003, race at Homestead-Miami Speedway came in second. Heading into the season finale, any one of the top four drivers in the point standings -- Brendan Gaughan, Ted Musgrave, Travis Kvapil and Dennis Setzer -- had a shot to win the championship. Kvapil took home his first NASCAR title after Gaughan was involved in an early wreck and Musgrave jumped a restart. 3. The Feb. 16, 2007, race at Daytona, when three-time series champion Jack Sprague won following a three-wide race to the checkered flag. Road project threatens historic racetrack site By Jesse James DeConto/newsobserve HILLSBOROUGH -- As a young stock car driver in 1965, Apex resident Gene Hobby had a ball joint fail, dropping the front end into the dirt and rolling his Carolina Blue Dodge 330 sedan over five times. "It's about like rolling in a 55-gallon drum down the side of a mountain," he said. Fortunately, it was the year NASCAR began requiring seat belts, and Hobby had tightened his during the national anthem. He escaped with a couple of bruises and a cut on his finger. His friend Frank Craig, though, was 12 years old and spilled his snowcone all over himself. "I was scared to death," Craig said. "You still owe me a snowcone." Forty-five-years later, the N.C. Department of Transportation is considering a new road that would bisect the Occoneechee- "This is sacred ground," said Hobby, 72, touring the speedway on Wednesday. "DOT better not come through here." Crossing the track is one of three DOT alternatives for routing traffic from N.C. 86 around downtown Hillsborough. All start near its junction with U.S. 70A and run north to U.S. 70 near St. Mary's Road. Boards oppose options The speedway route would also pass within 100 feet of the historic house at Ayr Mount, a plantation that turns 200 years old in 2015. Another route would knock out about 20 homes, and the third would pave Poplar Ridge overlooking the Eno River. The Hillsborough Town Board and the Orange County Board of Commissioners have opposed all three options. The boards prefer other means of relieving congestion along N.C. 86, the town's main north-south corridor, which passes directly through the quaint downtown. Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens calls DOT's alternatives "20th-century solutions for a 21st-century problem." He wants to improve public transit and create multiple routes around downtown with minor realignments of existing roads. "They've got 100 ways to go around town without coming through here," Hobby said of the speedway. Vince Rhea, a DOT project planning engineer, said the Federal Highway Administration and the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office will scrutinize the speedway crossing because of its impact on the national landmarks. "If you've got another alternative that's feasible and prudent, you're going to have a hard time going through a protected property," he said. "They're not likely to do that." Rhea said the DOT and other state and federal agencies will decide by the end of March whether to proceed with the bypass. Construction would be unlikely to start for at least five years, he said. Hobby and his partners in the Historic Speedway Group have spent the past two years restoring the track. They've cleared trees that had overgrown the dirt track and rebuilt the ticket booth, flag stand and corrugated metal fence around the grounds. Craig, now the HSG president, figures they've spent around $70,000 and thousands of volunteer hours on the project. The Orange Speedway is one of three racetracks on the National Register of Historic Places. The others are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. "God built that," Craig said. "Can you imagine them putting a bypass through the Salt Flats or Indianapolis? The last of a kind The Occoneechee Speedway was named for the Native American tribe that populated North Carolina's Piedmont until the 17th century. It borrowed a straightaway from an old horse racing track on the site, and is the last remaining speedway from NASCAR's first season, 1949. NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. changed the name to Orange Speedway in 1955. "Nobody could spell Occoneechee, A 52-year-old Hillsborough native, Craig said NASCAR king Richard Petty's Plymouth HEMI engine would echo through the town when he raced. "It'd give you chills," Hobby added. Hobby recalled spectators who climbed trees for a better view of the track. Once, he said, a car rolled off the track, hit a tree and knocked three people to the ground. The speedway also tells the story of integration: The ruins of separate bathrooms remain even as Craig told the story of Wendell Scott, the only African-American to win a NASCAR Cup race. "He ran here," Craig said. "He was a self-made man. ... He would sometimes get out of the car and change tires himself." Hobbled by the washboard ruts that marred the turns on the dirt track, Hobby ended up losing the 1965 race to two-time NASCAR champion Ned Jarrett. He was just happy France had mandated seat belts that year. Now, Hobby likes to show off a model of his No. 99 Dodge. "Turn it upside down like it was," Craig urged him. "It turns into No. 66." Waid's World A NASCAR BLOG BY Steve Waid 10 items of interest for 2010 OK, the slate has been wiped clean and we're all anticipating the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Anything could happen. The one solid truth about racing is that it is unpredictable. However, there are people and issues that have already drawn our attention and we'll be eager to see how everything plays out. 1. Danica Patrick. OK, let's get her out of the way first. Certainly she is going to receive a huge amount of attention as she makes her first entry into stock-car racing on the Nationwide Series with JR Motorsports. She's already received a huge amount of hype – not unexpected because of her star power – but the real issue will be how she performs. Will she succeed or be a flop? 2. Jimmie Johnson. Hey, to use the old cliché, the 2010 season will be the "drive for five" for him and his Hendrick Motorsports team. He's already made history with four consecutive titles and since there have been no major changes on the No. 48 team, it would appear it is well-equipped for a fifth. Will it make history again or will another team claim the crown? 3. Mark Martin. He was the sentimental favorite to win the championship in 2009. Instead he finished second for the fifth time in his career. He didn't seem to mind. He won races and, as he told us many times, had a lot of fun. In 2010 can he continue to win races, have fun and – finally – reach the summit that has eluded him throughout his career? 4. Hendrick Motorsports. Unquestionably it is the strongest team in NASCAR. With Johnson, Martin and Jeff Gordon, it swept the top three positions in the final point standings – something that had never been done. There's no question it will be the team to beat in 2010. Will that happen? There's no reason to think Hendrick will be any less strong than it was last season. But other organizations may well step it up. 5. Denny Hamlin. He might have given Johnson a real challenge if he had established a better record of consistency during the Chase For The Sprint Cup. Three DNFs did him in – something he knows well and that disappointed him. Late in the Chase he and his Joe Gibbs Racing team were intensely competitive, so much so that Hamlin told us he thought 2010 could be his season. Will it? 6. Carl Edwards. It seems an eternity ago that he was proclaimed as the man who would unseat Johnson in 2009. There were nine good reasons for that since he won that many times in 2008. Trouble is, he didn't scratch last season. He finished 11th in points, 534 behind Johnson. Come to think of it, 2009 wasn't a particularly good year for Roush Fenway Racing. Greg Biffle didn't win either and Matt Kenseth won the season's two opening races but failed to make the Chase. Edwards, however, was the team's biggest disappointment. Does he turn it around in 2010? 7. Juan Pablo Montoya. He was very likely no one's pick to make the Chase in 2009. But he told us that he and his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team intended to do just that. It happened as Montoya finish eighth in points. Was that a fluke? Montoya doesn't think so since it was his team's goal since the start of the season. Can Montoya make it back into the Chase? More important, will 2010 be the season in which he wins his first oval-track race? 8. Richard Childress Racing. This team struggled throughout 2010. None of its drivers made the Chase. In fact, the highest it could get was 15th with Clint Bowyer, even after midseason crew chief realignments. There have been more changes at RCR and certainly the team's goal is not to relive the disappointments of 2009. RCR showed significant improvement late in the season and that could indicate things could be better in 2010. The question is, will they? 9. Kyle Busch. Seems he was always in the headlines in 2009 – plenty of victories. He won the Nationwide Series title, his first-ever national championship. He won four times in Cup competition but, rather unexpectedly, he did not make the Chase, which obviously disappointed him. It's one reason why crew chief Steve Addington was given the heave-ho and that Dave Rogers is now Busch's crew chief. How will this combination work out? It's likely Busch will continue to win but it remains to be seen if he can race his way into the Chase in 2010 – or even challenge for the title. 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. You just knew he'd show up here. Yes, he didn't win with Hendrick Motorsports in 2009. Yes, his cousin Tony Eury Jr. was replaced as crew chief by Lance McGrew. Yes, he's not done much on a team with which he said he had his best chance to win races and a championship. Yes, it was said he lost his edge and his confidence was shaken. Yes, Hendrick said it would do all it could to make Earnhardt Jr. more competitive in 2010. If that doesn't happen what will that say about Earnhardt Jr.? We will definitely be watching him in the coming season. The are many more subjects of interest in 2010 – how will Richard Petty Motorsports perform after a merger and a switch to Ford, will the new safer car finally race better, who will be first-time winners – but these 10 people should certainly pique our curiosity over the coming season. Unrestricted A NASCAR BLOG BY Art Weinstein Real news surfaces during normally quiet offseason This is the toughest time of the year for NASCAR fans. We're still closer to the end of the just-completed season than we are to the start of the next season. So for those who love to read the latest news about their favorite sport, this is the time of year when the biggest news story each day is usually headlined something like, "Speedway Honors Volunteers For Holding Christmas Toy Drive." Not exactly the type of news that gets your motor racing. Yet this offseason, we've seen several big stories develop. Without question, the news that Kentucky Speedway will likely land a Sprint Cup race for 2011 has the biggest impact on the sport. If you've been following the story the past several years, Kentucky Speedway's founders filed an antitrust suit in 2005 against NASCAR and International Speedway Corp., which they lost. In the meantime, they sold the track to Speedway Motorsports Inc. SMI Chairman Bruton Smith announced his desire to move one of his company's existing Sprint Cup race dates to Kentucky Speedway, but had to wait for the speedway's antitrust suit to play out in the U.S. Court of Appeals. The court announced Dec. 11 it had denied that appeal, opening the door for Smith to move a date. Which SMI track will yield a race date to Kentucky? Atlanta Motor Speedway seems to be the most likely source, but that decision won't be announced until later next year. Beyond the transfer of a race date, the fact that the U.S. Court of Appeals sided with NASCAR and ISC in the antitrust suit further validated NASCAR's business model, likely shutting the door on any further such suits (remember the similar Ferko vs. NASCAR suit from a few years ago?). "NASCAR is pleased with the court's ruling, which supports our case, that like other sports such as the NFL, MLB and the NBA, NASCAR can host its events where it decides is best for the sport and its fans," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said in a statement after the court's ruling. That's big news, usually quite a rarity in NASCAR this time of year.
Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain, Your Nascar 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 won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." -Dale Earnhardt - 1998 |
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