NASCAR Banks on Automakers' Survival |
![Manufacturer]( "Manufacturer") | Kennedy noted that Ford can trace its roots back to racing -- Henry Ford's winnings from a 1901 auto race helped him start the company.
But Kennedy said he couldn't rule out the possibility that Ford would have to leave racing -- and NASCAR -- someday.
"I don't think that company wants to, but you have to be realistic," he said. "You can never say never." (ABC News) |
Has the Chase format helped Sprint Cup racing? |
 | Brian France said, “As history will unfold, we’ll have a period of years where someone will be as dominant as Jimmie (Johnson) and it will go down in the history books. Then there will be other years where that won’t happen, and we’ll have a number of years with historically tight championship battles. That will be terrific, too.” (Rocky Mountain News) |
Takes a ton of people to win a race --in Cup |
| Red Bull Racing Team's Pete Wright, who's one of many Sprint Cup garage dwellers who epitomizes an era when teams -- and their personnel -- learned to do more with less, loves to tell the story of how Billy Hagan Racing's 1984 Winston Cup championship team with Terry Labonte had fewer than 20 full-time employees.
That was then. The large multi-car teams that currently dominate the sport, winning every championship since 1994 -- when current multi-team conglomerate Richard Childress Racing had just one team, albeit for the late seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt -- number anywhere from 200 to 600 employees. (Nascar.com) |
Montoya loses pole at Kansas Speedway |
 | “Performance, if 10 pounds is making us win races, I would hate to know what Jimmie (Johnson) is running,” Pattie said.
Pattie said he was not completely demoralized by Friday’s events. He said he still thinks his car is fast and could be a factor on race day.
Montoya was a happy driver immediately after the end of qualifying. His team, which is 24th in points, had been showing improvement lately.
“I think the whole organization is getting better,” Montoya said.
Montoya, a former Formula One driver from Colombia, called winning the pole at Kansas “huge”.
He said that one of the reasons for his team’s improvement has been the attention to details.
Then along came Darby. (KansasCity.com) |
Dale Jarrett doesn't miss driving |
| "I honestly don't (miss driving)," Jarrett said Friday. "There's really only been one place that I drove in the gate that I said, 'Wow, it would be cool (to race),' and that was Indianapolis. I love that place and I always knew every time that I went there that I had a good chance to win. It was just a different feel. (Topeka Capital Journal Online) |
On TV Saturday September 27, 2008 |
 | Motor sports: FIA Formula One World Championship, SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, pole qualifying, Speed, 10 a.m. NASCAR Nationwide Series, Kansas Lottery 300, pole qualifying, Speed, 11:30 a.m., race, ESPN2, 3:30 p.m. NASCAR Sprint Cup, Camping World RV 400, practice, Speed Channel, 12:30 p.m. (live), ESPN2, 6:30 p.m. (same-day tape). Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws, Morgan Hughes National Open, at Mechanicsburg, Pa., Speed, 8 p.m. (same-day tape). NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series, O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals, qualifying, at Memphis, ESPN2, 10:30 p.m. (same-day tape) (TV Sports Daily) |
Plane crash Settlement Reached With NASCAR |
| Reporter Saw Details Of $2.4 Million Agreement
A Florida newspaper has published what it claims are confidential details of the settlement of a lawsuit against NASCAR, related to the crash of the organization's Cessna 310R in Florida on July 10, 2007. (Aero-News.net) |
NASCAR fires 2 officials |
| NASCAR has fired two officials who had been suspended during an internal investigation into claims made in a $225 million racial discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against stock car racing's sanctioning body. |
Drag racing to roar into Famoso |
| Around 400 drivers are expected to compete Friday and Saturday at Auto Club Famoso Raceway as the NHRA Lucas Oil Pacific Division Racing Series rolls into town. (Bakersfiled Californian) |
Cost hard to justify...but he loves racing |
| View Larger Image View Larger Image
Dodge Charger driven by Greg Ratzlaff of Wetaskiwin catches fire in the early laps of the Border Challenge 150 at Race City Speedway on Saturday night. Ratzlaff escaped unharmed.
Ted Rhodes, Calgary Herald
Email to a friendEmail to a friendPrinter friendlyPrinter friendly
Font:
* *
* *
* *
* *
AddThis Social Bookmark Button
"That's what was holding me back. I never had any money," said Skelton prior to Saturday night's scheduled Border Challenge 150 at Race City Speedway.
"So as soon as I got any I started spending it all on racing. Still the case. I don't recommend it -- it's a stupid sport."
Skelton pleads the fifth when asked how many times he slaps down the Visa during the course of a race season. Some things are just better kept hidden. (Calgary Herald) |
You call a little bumping a rivalry? |
| “Forty years ago, there was not much media, no in-car cameras and no sponsors who were worried how you would represent them,” Petty said several years ago while addressing the subject of rivalries.
“If you had a problem with another driver, you'd settle it in the garage immediately after the race if it hadn't been settled during the race. It was a man-to-man thing, NASCAR never had to intervene.”
These days, a politically correct NASCAR moved immediately to place both Edwards and Busch on six-race probations.
No one knows exactly what that means, other than the fact that the hostilities at Bristol probably won't continue this evening on the 2-mile, D-shaped oval at Fontana. (San Diego Union-Tribune) |
Locals part of NASCAR crews |
 | Doug Newell had the same dream of working on a NASCAR crew. He grew up in Oxnard, worked on race cars at Saugus Speedway, raced at Ascot Park for a couple of years and was M.K. Kanke's crew chief for a decade on the old NASCAR Southwest Series.
Newell is the gas man for the No. 84 Toyota of Brian Vickers for Red Bull Racing. He doesn't
remember exactly when he started working on stock cars, some time back in the late 1970s at Saugus Speedway. A friend of his family worked on a car that raced at the tiny 1/3-mile oval, and they would go to the track on a regular basis to watch them race. (Dailey News (Los Angeles)) |
Humpy Wheeler's new business |
| Humpy (Wheeler) revealed that his new venture will make matches between corporate sponsors and drivers that fit their brands. He will also be investigating other ways that race tracks could be used, like developing a series that would be a mix of racing and monster trucks. (Bleacher Report) |
Former Cajon racer - Happy Nationwide Crew Chief |
| Jerry Baxter, who turns 50 with tonight's running of the Camping World 300 at Auto Club Speedway, happily remains a Nationwide Series crew chief. (San Diego Union-Tribune) |
Childress adds another Bakersfield Boy to his team |
| Bakersfield native, Casey Mears, will join fellow Bakersfield native, Kevin Havick as a Richard Childress Racing Team Mate. |
Crash prompts barrier addition at LVMS |
| he final panels of the new barrier were put in place last week, with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Brendan Gaughan on hand to see the changes firsthand. (International Herald Tribune) |
CHARLOTTE Not a Friendly City for Travelers |
| This city attracts its fair share of speed demons. In fact, it's moving full speed ahead to complete construction of the Nascar Hall of Fame, which will commemorate the professional stock-car racing association's history and its impact on the city's economy (a large number of Nascar's employees and racers call Charlotte home). Add to that a swiftly expanding financial industry, which is prompting construction citywide as companies such as Bank of America (BAC: 28.50, -0.46, -1.58%), Wachovia (WB: 13.68, -0.24, -1.72%) and lending web site LendingTree.com move more assets and operations into town. All of those projects, however, cost money. The city's tax burden on travelers averages $38.80 a day:
Hotels: 15.25%, including 2% for the Nascar Hall of Fame.
Car Rentals: 16%, of which 5% goes to cultural facilities and tourism. There's also a $3.96 fee for the museum.
Restaurants: 8.25%, including a 1% restaurant meals tax. (Smart Money) |
2 Dates for California Speedway |
| Despite anemic attendance, the smoggy 2-mile oval is back on the NASCAR schedule two times for 2009. If it can't sell out this time, with a race that puts it in the midst of NASCAR's gamy Chase for the Championship...maybe it is time to axe one of the dates and give it to say...Kentucky. (Anonymous) |
GIBBS NASCAR TEAM AWAITS PUNISHMENT |
 | The teams of Gibbs' No. 18 and No. 20 Toyotas deliberately tried to mask the true horsepower in their engines after Saturday's race at Michigan International Speedway. Inspectors found magnets under the gas pedals of both cars when they were sent to the chassis dyno for examination. (London Free Press) |
Local racing is still out there in post-Cajon era |
| The biggest complaint from local racing fans is the lack of local racing.
Since Cajon Speedway closed, fans have wasted a lot of time lamenting its passing and foolhardily believing another track was going to be opening in a year or two. (San Diego Union Tribune) |
Ex-NASCAR pit crew chief is accused in fatal wreck |
| Former NASCAR pit crew chief Tim Kohuth was jailed this morning and charged in connection with a fatal wreck Thursday in Iredell County that left one man dead and a woman hospitalized. (news-record.com) |
Intermediate tracks get grip on tire |
| "I think it's a slap in the face to Bruton Smith, our chairman, and to our company who have both been very supportive of the Indy Racing League since its inception," Gappens said.
He also said he disagreed with indications that the two SMI tracks were omitted because of concerns about added costs to race teams that will come from the two new races.
"I believe that the purse and the strength of adding the seventh-largest media market in the country would offset those costs and concerns," he said. |
NASCAR control of media |
| Per NASCAR policy, no Nationwide Series officials were able to discuss the pending litigation. Instead, all media inquiries were directed to NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston. (DBS 5) |
NASCAR is still pouring over dynomometer test data |
| Nationwide Series director Joe Balash said Friday at Gateway International Raceway that NASCAR is still pouring over data culled from dynomometer tests on 10 engines pulled from cars after last week’s race at Chicagoland Speedway. “That’s a lot of data to go through,” Balash said. “We’re disseminating the data to the teams right now, but as much information as we’ve gathered over 10 engines, it’s going to take us awhile to have our engineers go through and look at all the data before any decisions are made.” Balash wouldn’t say if NASCAR had found any patterns in the data and said the sanctioning body also needs to compare the latest data with dyno runs earlier this year after the Atlanta and Milwaukee races. (SceneDaily.com) |
Pacific Raceways shortens NHRA track |
| "We are fully behind their decision to shorten the track and feel it will enhance the safety and competitiveness of the sport," Pacific Raceways general manager Doug Greenfield said this week, even as he and track personnel were still making last-minute preparations for the event.
Pacific Raceways, which has one of the longest shutdown areas on the circuit anyway, moved the catch fence forward 39 feet, poured another 1,700 gallons of sand in the sand trap and put water barrels on the perimeter behind the sand. As a last line of defense, it also bolted tire barriers at the far end. (seattlepi.com) |
