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| Sunday, April 29, 2007 |
Jeff Gordon got his 77th win today at Talladega, passing Dale Earnhardt on the career victories list.
 As beer cans bounced around his car, Jeff Gordon crossed the finish line Sunday for win No. 77 — breaking a tie with the late Dale Earnhardt on NASCAR’s career victory list. It was only fitting that it happened at Talladega Superspeedway, where Earnhardt — who would have been 56 on Sunday — won 10 times in his Cup career.
But it was anticlimactic and confusing, ending under caution to leave Gordon unsure if he’d actually won and taken over sixth place on the wins list. “Is it over?” he radioed his crew. “Is it over? Is it official?”
Nobody knew after two separate accidents on the first lap of a three-lap shootout to the finish froze the field and had NASCAR scrambling to make sense of the finish.
Gordon, who was 14th on a restart with 10 laps to go, stormed to the lead a second before NASCAR called a caution after David Reutimann’s engine failed and dumped oil all over the track. It set up a three-lap sprint to the finish, but NASCAR makes only one attempt to complete it. If caution comes out, the race instantly ends. So when Elliott Sadler bumped the back of Greg Biffle to trigger a wreck, the race was effectively over.
But Tony Stewart was knocked into the wall far ahead of that accident and went spinning down the track into the inside wall. He was fuming as the field passed by him under caution, angrily gesturing at Jamie McMurray.
The fans, meanwhile, figured out that Gordon, who tied Earnhardt last week in Phoenix, was the victor and reacted with the shower of beer cans.
It’s an impressive achievement but NASCAR needs to fix this rule, pronto. The same thing happened at Daytona this year
The big race is only a few days away but there is already lots of news coming out of Northern Florida
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael Waltrip’s team became the fifth caught cheating before the Daytona 500, a scandal that tarnished NASCAR’s biggest race of the season and Toyota’s highly anticipated debut. In all, six crew members have been thrown out of Daytona as NASCAR made it known cheating will not be tolerated.
“We’ve got people’s attention now,” NASCAR competition director Robin Pemberton said Wednesday.
Waltrip, a two-time Daytona winner, lost his crew chief and team director right before the biggest race of the year. The two were suspended indefinitely after an illegal substance was found during inspection for the season-opener.
Waltrip, docked 100 points, will be allowed to participate in Thursday’s races that determine the field for the 500.
David Hyder, his crew chief, was thrown out of the garage and fined $100,000. Team director Bobby Kennedy also was kicked out.
Waltrip said he was “so sad and embarrassed” but tried to shift blame to an unnamed individual within his team.
“This is not the action of an organization, a manufacturer or a sponsor,” Waltrip said in a statement. “This was an independent act done without consent or authorization from me or any of my executive management team.”
It’s just my opinion, but I don’t believe Waltrip didn’t know what is going on. You’re going to tell me you’re racing a car at 200 MPH but don’t know what is under the hood?
A crackdown on cheating is underway and this isn’t pleasing either the drivers or team owners.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Driver Matt Kenseth and car owner Jack Roush expressed outrage Wednesday over NASCAR’s decision to dock the team 50 championship points before the season-opener Daytona 500.
Fellow car owner Ray Evernham was equally frustrated by the sport’s tough stance on rule-breakers.
Even drivers not involved in NASCAR’s cheating crackdown were concerned about whether the governing body was going too far by suspending four crew chiefs Tuesday for failed inspections.
“They are creating a deterrence right now,” driver Jeff Burton said. “That’s what they are doing. … I’d be willing to bet that if everybody had to do the same thing over again, they wouldn’t do the same thing. We have to be careful not to create a penalty so large that it’s not fair.
“I think the message is really clear in the garage right now that they aren’t going to put up with anything.”
NASCAR suspended Kenseth’s crew chief and three of Evernham’s crew chiefs Tuesday for violations discovered during qualifying inspections two days earlier.
As I see it, you break the rules and you pay the consequences. It don’t matter if others do it, you’re the one who got caught.
Let’s hope the next headline out of Daytona is who wins the big race.
Cross posted to Poliblog’s Deportes
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PoliBlog’s Deportes: A PoliBlog Sideblog linked with Michael Waltrip’s crew chief, director suspended
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| Tuesday, January 16, 2007 |
Benny Parson died this morning.
NASCAR lost its second champion in less than two weeks when Benny Parsons died Tuesday. He was 65.
Parsons entered the Intensive Care Unit of the Carolinas Medial Center in Charlotte on Dec. 26 due to complications stemming from his battle with lung cancer. Parsons, the 1973 Winston Cup champion, learned six months ago that he had cancer. He continued to work as a color analyst for NBC after learning about his condition, but missed a couple of races while undergoing treatment.
His death comes only nine days after NASCAR driver Bobby Hamilton, the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series champion, succumbed to cancer.
Sad news.
From AP-
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jimmie Johnson was “horsing around” on top of a moving golf cart when he fell off and broke his left wrist, his team told The Associated Press on Monday.
The version clarifies what happened during the celebrity tournament in Lecanto, Fla., one day after the initial account from Hendrick Motorsports implied that the Nextel Cup champion had fallen out of the cart.
Although Hendrick officials gave no details of the accident, Johnson released a statement that said he was “in” the cart when he fell out.
******
That account differed from one in Monday’s edition of The Citrus County (Fla.) Chronicle, which had a reporter at the Black Diamond Ranch who witnessed Johnson horsing around during the Mike Hampton Pitching In Celebrity tournament.
The newspaper said Johnson was sprawled across the top of the cart Friday as it headed toward the 16th hole when his playing partner hit a berm, throwing Johnson several feet.
Johnson was unavailable for comment Monday, but a spokeswoman for the driver confirmed he was on top of the cart when The AP asked for clarification.
*****
The injury, which was to his non-shifting hand, will prevent him from driving for at least four weeks. He is expected to participate in preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway next month and should be fine for the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.
Racing cars at high speeds has to make the men or women who do it feel almost invinvible. Johnson had to think he’d be safe on a golf cart. What’s life without a few crackups?
BTW I like this AP reporter. You don’t see the word ‘berm’ used too often.
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| Wednesday, October 11, 2006 |
Heath Shuler is taking his Congressional campaign to NASCAR’s minor leagues.
Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler hopes to inject some horsepower into his U.S. House bid by renting advertising space on a racing car.
The campaign is spending $10,000 to put the Democrat’s name on the No. 23 Chevrolet driven by Brad Keselowski during the NASCAR Busch Series event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Friday night, spokesman Andrew Whalen said.
“It’s an opportunity to reach out to voters in a different way,” Whalen said. “Heath and the rest of the campaign staff are big NASCAR fans, so we’re excited about this.”
You’d think he’d advertise on the #21 car.
At any rate, his NASCAR gambit can’t be any less successful than his NFL run. Perhaps it’s fitting he’s sticking to the Busch league this time.
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| Wednesday, September 6, 2006 |
Formula One superstar Michael Schumacher is reportedly ready to call it quits.
One of Formula One’s all-time greats reportedly is ready to vacate his ride permanently. Michael Schumacher will announce his retirement at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, the German newspaper Bild reported. The newspaper gave no source for its report.
The seven-time champion, who holds every major record in Formula One, had previously said he would announce a decision on his future at the race. “We can’t comment on everything. As we said, there will be more on Sunday,” Schumacher spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told Bild.
Schumacher’s contract with Ferrari expires at the end of this season. He trails defending F1 champion and current leader Fernando Alonso by 12 points in the standings with four races remaining.
While I personally have zero interest in Formula One racing, Schumacher is nonetheless a household name. He’s that sport’s Richard Petty, Mario Andretti, and Tiger Woods all rolled into one. He has won more world championships (7), races (89), pole positions (68), and races in a single season (13) than any other driver in Formula One history. See Wikipedia for his many other records.
From AP-
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Former NASCAR champion Benny Parsons has been diagnosed with lung cancer and began chemotherapy treatments Wednesday.
Parsons, the 1973 Cup champion and currently a NASCAR commentator on NBC and TNT, was diagnosed two weeks ago after he had trouble breathing.
*****
The 65-year-old Parsons will undergo chemotherapy three days a week for three weeks, and also will receive radiation five days a week. He’s seeing Dr. Steven Limenpani, who treated NASCAR car owner Rick Hendrick during his battle with leukemia in the early 1990s.
*****
Parsons, chosen as one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers in 1998, made 526 starts from 1964 until his 1988 retirement. He won 21 races, including the 1975 Daytona 500, and 20 poles.
He also had 283 top 10 finishes, led at least one lap in 192 races and finished no lower than fifth in the points from 1972 to 1980 while earning more than $4 million.
I remember the 75 Daytona 500. A David Pearson spinout on the back stretch will less than 10 laps left put Benny in the lead. Parsons finished 3rd the next year when another spinout or collission involving Pearson and Richard Petty occured only feet from the finish line. Pearson getting a push got across the line just in time.
Good luck Benny and get well.
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| Monday, July 10, 2006 |
Indy hottie Danica Patrick might be taking her show to NASCAR next season, if her family gets its way.
Danica Patrick’s father is exploring the possibility of the popular Indy Racing League driver moving to NASCAR as soon as next year, the Orlando Sentinel reported Monday. The Sentinel reported that T.J. Patrick, who has managed Danica Patrick’s career since childhood, was in exploratory talks with some NASCAR teams at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday. “I’m trying to get her here [into NASCAR],” T.J. Patrick told the Sentinel.
T.J. and Bev Patrick, who formerly lived in Roscoe, Ill., attended NASCAR’s USG Sheetrock 400 because “we’ve had some inquiries” from NASCAR teams, T.J. Patrick told the newspaper. The Sentinel reported the couple was in the Nextel Cup garage area as guests of Roush Racing, which fields drivers Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray and runs Fords on the Nextel Cup circuit.
Danica Patrick’s contract with Rahal-Letterman Racing team ends after this season and the Patricks are negotiating with other IRL teams as well as NASCAR teams, the Sentinel reported. The newspaper said team co-owner Bobby Rahal declined comment through a spokesman.
NASCAR is far more popular than Indy these days, so it would seem like a no brainer. John Oreovicz isn’t so sure.
She’d rather be road racing open-wheelers, and short of Formula One — which is an unrealistic goal — the best fit for Danica would seem to be the Champ Car World Series. But the downfall of American open-wheel racing over the past decade has devastated the sponsor market and the money to entice her just isn’t there. Ultimately, money is what it’s all about, which is why T.J. Patrick, Danica’s father and business manager, was hanging around the NASCAR garage area at Chicagoland Speedway over the weekend.
[...]
Could Patrick adapt to stock car racing? Absolutely. She wouldn’t have any problems driving the cars, which with power steering and a cushy ride like a Maybach are actually much less physically demanding to drive than an IRL car.
Where I think she would struggle is with the mental grind of racing 38 weekends a year, most of which are spent pounding around unrelentingly similar ovals. And if she’s frustrated running 12th in the IRL, imagine the toll that fighting to make the top 20 every week would take on her psyche.
Only one way to find out. The bottom line, though, is NASCAR’s where it’s at for American racing. She can capitalize on her looks on either circuit but, unless she gets the F-1 gig, she might as well race with the best.
Gone Hollywood
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| Sunday, May 28, 2006 |
 The 2006 Indy 500 is over. Danica Patrick did not win. Mario Andretti’s grandson finished second and some guy I’ve never heard of won.
Unlike golf reporters, who at least have the sense to tell us where Tiger Woods finished when he doesn’t win an event, the story does not mention where Patrick finished. She placed 4th last year.
Update: She finished 8th. Not a bad first two Indy 500′s. Incidentally, the winner was Sam Hornish, Jr., who was the 2001 and 2002 IRL champion. That I’ve never heard of him says something about how far this sport has fallen from its heyday. There’s not a pre-1996 CART Champion whose name I’m unfamiliar with; most are household names.
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Related:
OTB
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| Friday, April 28, 2006 |
Dale Earnhardt is now officially a Hall of Famer.
Dale Earnhardt was already the most popular driver stock car racing has ever known. Now he’s a Hall of Famer, too.The seven-time NASCAR champion, who died in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500, was inducted Thursday night into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. There was never any doubt that The Intimidator would be a part of the Hall of Fame as soon as the five-year waiting period was up, and he was finally inducted Thursday night with the appropriate fanfare, in front of family, friends, competitors and fans.
Richard Childress, who fielded cars for six of Earnhardt’s championships and was also one of his closest friends, made a special presentation before the induction of Earnhardt, who would have been 55 on Saturday. “It was an honor and a privilege for me to work with the late Dale Earnhardt for 20 years and, more important, to be his friend,” said Childress, who presented one of Earnhardt’s famed No. 3 Chevrolets to the Hall of Fame.
Obviously, this was a slam dunk choice. It’s hardly clear that Earnhardt was “the most popular driver stock car racing has ever known.” Certainly, “King” Richard Petty might have some claim on that title. But Earnhardt was the most important figure in the period during which NASCAR became a major American sport rather than a niche regional one.
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