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Ryan Newman Tops
Kentucky Stock Car Speed Record in Testing
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver Ryan Newman turned an
unofficial test lap of 186.851 mph (28.9 seconds) in his No.
12 ALLTEL Dodge to set an unofficial Kentucky Speedway stock
car speed record today. Newman joined Brian Vickers,
Chad Blount, Kerry Earnhardt and Mike Harmon in the test
session. NASCAR Busch Series driver Stacy Compton turned
Kentucky Speedway's fastest official stock car lap of 176.384
mph (30.615 seconds) on June 13, 2003 while winning the Bud
Pole for "The Meijer 300 Presented by Oreo."
The fastest official lap on record at the speedway was a
221.390 mph pole-winning effort by Indy Racing League IndyCar
Series driver Sarah Fisher on Aug. 11, 2002 during qualifying
for "The Belterra Casino Indy 300." Newman led
the Nextel Cup Series with eight wins and 11 Bud Pole Awards
in 2003 and has earned Bud Poles at Rockingham, N.C., Atlanta,
Ga., and Bristol, Tenn., this season. He enters this
week's NASCAR Nextel Cup tilt at Martinsville, Va., 10th in
the series points standings and has raced to a total two
top-five and four top-10 finishes through seven series starts
this season. (NASCAR)
Truck Driver
Stopped to Help Ward Burton
As a truck driver, Bill Waldron sees a lot of things on the
side of the road. A NASCAR Nextel Cup driver isn’t
usually one of them. Truck driver Bill Waldron, 41, a
Pittsylvania County resident who drives for TNC
Transportation, was hauling a load of coiled steel down
southbound U.S. 29 around 7:30am/et Monday, when he came upon
a man on the side of the road, waving his arms. What Waldron
didn’t know then was that the stranded motorist was Ward
Burton, a NASCAR driver who hails from South Boston [VA].
Burton had fallen asleep at the wheel of his 2004 Chevrolet
Suburban only minutes before. The brand-new vehicle hit a
guard rail and overturned several times before coming to rest
on its roof. “His truck was completely upside down, all four
tires pointing towards the sky,” Waldron said. “It looked
like it slid a good 40, 45 yards.” Waldron said no one else
had stopped to help the man, so he pulled over. “I asked him
if he was all right, and he said, ‘Yeah, I believe so,’”
Waldron said Tuesday. Waldron said Burton borrowed his cell
phone to phone his wife, Tabitha, who called the North
Carolina Highway Patrol to report the accident. After using
the phone, Burton told Waldron he could leave, but Waldron
opened up the cab of his truck so Burton wouldn’t have to
stand in the rain. After about 10 minutes of “small
chit-chat,” Waldron said authorities arrived at the scene
and examined Burton, who suffered only a bump on the head.
“Right before I left, he shook my hand. I told him my name
was Bill Waldron and he said his was Ward Burton,” said
Waldron, who said he doesn’t follow NASCAR enough to
recognize the sport’s famous faces. “I know drivers’
names and stuff like that. I knew of Ward, and his brother
Jeff, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and
some of the other guys. (Burton’s name) just didn’t
register with me at the time,” Waldron said. “Then the
next morning I was listening to John Boy and Billy (on the
radio), and they said Ward Burton had a wreck. I called my
wife and asked her to find out if that was the same guy I’d
helped out. Sure enough, it was.” Waldron said he is going
to start following Burton’s career more closely than he did
before. He also jokingly said he regrets not knowing at the
time of the accident who Burton was. “I could have gotten
his autograph,” Waldron said with a chuckle.(Danville
Register and Bee)
Matt Crafton Tests
for Waltrip's 99 Busch Team
Michael Waltrip's NASCAR Busch Series team didn't get too
much time to celebrate their victory in Saturday's Busch
Series race at Nashville, Tenn. With test driver Matt
Crafton, the No. 99 team participated in a one-day test
session at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for
both the upcoming Aaron's 312 Busch Series race on April 24 at
Talladega Superspeedway and the Winn-Dixie 250 presented by
PepsiCo Busch Series race on Friday night, July 2 at the
"World Center of Racing." "We had a good
time for a few minutes after the race (on Saturday),"
said crew chief Jerry Baxter. "We did our tear down and
inspection and made it back to the shop about 8 a.m. Sunday
morning. We switched out the cars from Nashville and put in
our Daytona test car. We sent it out (Sunday afternoon) and
flew down here 5 a.m. this morning." Most of the
crew completed their work at the shop by Sunday afternoon and
spent the rest of the Easter holiday with their
families. "I hate it that they couldn't spend all
day, but we needed to get (this test) in," Baxter said.
"Michael is pretty darn good at these speedway races and
I like to be as good as we can possibly be. I didn't want to
pass up this opportunity." The Chevrolet Monte
Carlo being tested by Crafton was rebuilt after Speedweeks
2004. Waltrip was involved in an incident during "Happy
Hour" before the Hershey's Kisses 300 and the team was
forced to use a backup car in the race. The Chevrolet
damaged in "Happy Hour" has been rebuilt and the
team wanted to shake down the car before the Aaron's 312 at
Talladega Superspeedway. "It's all fresh, new
body," Baxter said. "It's a new car basically. You
have to shake them down and get the fenders to the clear the
tires and all that stuff." With Waltrip unable to
participate in the test, the team tapped Crafton, who wheels a
Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series. "He's just really consistent,"
Baxter said. "He's a good little driver. Michael was busy
with a deal today he had to do. Matt just works out well. He
can fit in the car and he's real consistent on his laps.
That's the thing you've got to have at these speedways --
somebody that hits the mark every time. He seems to do a
really good job." (NASCAR)
Brett Bodine Joins
NASCAR R&D Team
The newest member of NASCAR's Research & Development
team knows his sport well from behind the wheel. Now, he gets
the opportunity to contribute behind the scenes. NASCAR
president Mike Helton announced today that veteran driver
Brett Bodine has joined NASCAR's R&D staff as special
project engineer. Bodine, who holds a degree in mechanical
engineering from the State University of New York at Alfred,
will tackle several assignments. One project with priority is
the "Car of the Future," where Bodine will work on
costsaving initiatives. Operating out of NASCAR's
Concord, N.C.-based R&D Center, Bodine will work with Gary
Nelson, NASCAR's managing director of research and
development. A native of Chemung, N.Y., Bodine, 45,
competed at NASCAR's highest level for nearly 20 years. He has
one win (1990 at North Wilkesboro) and five poles in 480
career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series starts. His career-high finish
of 12th in the point standings also came in 1990. Bodine
was a driver/owner from 1996-2003. He became an owner in 1996,
buying the renowned No. 11 team from Junior Johnson prior to
that season. His last on-track action came in June, 2003, when
he qualified for the June 15 event at Michigan. Prior to 2003, Bodine had been a fulltime NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
Series competitor for 15 consecutive seasons (1988-2003).
During his career, he drove for some of NASCAR’s most
successful owners, including Bud Moore (1988-89), Kenny
Bernstein (1990-1994) and Junior Johnson (1995). Bodine’s
first race in NASCAR’s premier series came in 1986 for owner
Rick Hendrick (his only start that year). He drove 14 races
for Hoss Ellington in 1987 before beginning his fulltime
career in 1988. "We're delighted to have Brett on
board," Helton said. "He's been such a steadfast
member of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series garage over the years,
and he’s done it all - he's built race cars, he's worked on
race cars and he's driven race cars. He brings a new
perspective that we're glad to tap into." Bodine's
experience also extends back to the NASCAR Busch Series, where
he was the series runner-up in 1986. Before that, he enjoyed
success in northeastern modified circles, finishing second in
the 1984 track championship at Stafford (Conn.) Motor
Speedway, and winning the 1985 Modified Race of Champions at
Pocono Raceway. Overall, he has three career victories in the
NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series. In 1998, he was named one
of the Top-50 Modified drivers of all time. Bodine hails
from a racing family; older brother Geoffrey (54) and younger
brother Todd (40) also are veteran NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
drivers. Brett Bodine resides in Davidson, N.C. (RacingOne)
Tony Raines
Replaces Lusk in 74 Busch Ride
Tony Raines has replaced Damon Lusk behind the wheel of The
Outdoor Channel Chevrolet for BACE Motorsports, starting with
the O'Reilly 300 tomorrow at Texas Motor Speedway.
Raines has 143 career starts for owner Bill Baumgardner,
posting 13 top-5 and 35 top-10 finishes, including a
sixth-place finish at Bristol last week.
"Naturally, I'm anxious to get back to racing on a
consistent basis," Raines said. "We were able to
gather up some momentum last week in Bristol, and I'm looking
forward to extending that success over the balance of the
season. I'm excited to be working again with Mark Tutor (crew
chief), who is leading an extremely talented race team and am
confident in our ability to return BACE to Victory Lane."
(RacingOne)
NASCAR Reshuffles
Senior Leaders
NASCAR has reshuffled a
number of its senior figures in a bid to boost its
regional touring and weekly competitions – and enhance
its public relations efforts. Jim Hunter, formerly
vice president of corporate communications, has been
given the new title of vice president of corporate
communications/regional touring/NASCAR Dodge Weekly
Series. Returning to an area where he has worked
earlier in his career, Hunter will work closely with new
hire Don Hawk, who has been named director of regional
racing development, and Chris Boals, who remains the
director of regional touring/NASCAR Dodge Weekly
Series. Said NASCAR chairman/CEO Brian France:
“This revamped approach illustrates our commitment to
grassroots racing, which is the bedrock in our sport’s
foundation. “We’re going to put more focus on
our regional and weekly racing. The experience that both
Jim Hunter and Don Hawk bring to the table will be
invaluable. “It’s especially significant that
we’re involving Jim more with the regional and weekly
competition. He has been around this sport for more than
30 years and many of those years were spent working at
those levels.” Chris Britcher chrisb@sportbusiness.com
(SportBusiness)
Brickyard to be
Repaved
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval will be
repaved after the 2004 Brickyard 400, track officials
announced March 31. The historic oval was last repaved in the fall of 1995. The
2004 repaving will mark the first time the warm-up lanes and
current pit lane, which were constructed in 1993 and 1994,
respectively, receive new asphalt. The Speedway's
2.605-mile road course, which was built in 1999, will not be
paved. According to Kevin Forbes, IMS director of
engineering and construction, 36,500 tons of asphalt will be
laid in two or three layers, covering 1,085,085 square feet
per layer. The height of the racetrack, and the track's
SAFER Barriers - the energy-absorbing system located on the
outside walls in each of the four turns - will not be
affected, as 4 inches of the surface will be milled and
replaced with an identical amount of new asphalt. The 9
degrees, 12 minutes of banking in the turns will remain the
same. The Speedway oval's banking and overall configuration
will not be altered. Preliminary work is scheduled to
begin Aug. 9, the day after the 11th Brickyard 400, and paving
should be completed by mid- to late October, Forbes said.
Formal private testing among teams will not likely resume
until spring 2005 to allow the new surface to cure over the
winter, Forbes said. Hall of Fame Museum track tours will
resume within days of the completion of paving. The
Indianapolis Motor Speedway's racing surface has taken several
forms since the track's construction. The original coal-tar
emulsion and crushed stone surface proved dangerous
immediately upon the inaugural weekend of racing in August
1909, and 3.2-million paving bricks were laid down in late
1909, giving the track its venerable nickname, "The
Brickyard." Patches of asphalt were placed on rough portions of the turns
in 1936, and by 1939 all but the middle portion of the main
straightaway was covered with asphalt. In 1961, the main
straightaway was finally covered with asphalt. The track
did not receive its first comprehensive repaving until summer
1976, and the process was repeated in the summer of 1988 and
again in the fall of 1995. (RacingOne)
2004 Daytona 500
Second Highest Rated in History of Race
The 2004 Daytona 500 lived up to its billing
as the most watched race in America as NBC's coverage of
this year's "Great American Race" was watched by
33.5 million viewers and earned a 10.6 national rating/24
share - second-highest rated Daytona 500 in history.
In 2002, NBC's inaugural Daytona 500 broadcast set a Daytona
500 record with 35 million viewers and a 10.9/26 national
rating. NBC's two Daytona 500 broadcasts are now the two
most-viewed and highest-rated in history. "Having
more than 200,000 fans on site as well as the second highest
television rating in the history of the Daytona 500 just
continues to prove that the 'Great American Race' is
NASCAR's biggest and most prestigious race of the
year," Speedway President Robin Braig said. This
year's Daytona 500 broadcast ratings represents an
improvement of 8 percent over the 9.8/21 rating for FOX's
rain-shortened Daytona 500 broadcast last year. The rating
also surpasses the third highest-rated Daytona 500 (10.5)
for CBS' coverage of the 1979 race, the first time the
Daytona 500 was broadcast live from start to finish. (NASCAR)
Evernham
Motorsports Loses Engine Tuner
Engine tuner Mike Hawkins parted with
Evernham Motorsports last week. Considering that Kasey
Kahne's engine failed Sunday on lap 43, it was obvious that
Hawkins was missed. Hawkins is rumored to be headed for
Toyota. Coupled with Jon Dennison's earlier departure at
Richard Childress Racing, there now are tuner openings on
the Nos. 9 and 29 teams. But the head engine builder's job
at DEI -- vacant after Richie Gilmore's move to director of
motorsports -- will be the hardest to fill. The company has
been very secretive with the construction of its engines.
The concern is that an engine specialist could come in, stay
a few years and take the information elsewhere. If that's
not enough, the pressure of maintaining a record that
includes winning 10 of the last 13 restrictor-plate races
will be intense. (Yahoo
Sports)
Shane Hmiel
Reinstated by NASCAR
Shane Hmiel has been cleared to return to NASCAR
competition. NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo told NASCAR.com
Friday that Hmiel, suspended from the sport since last
September after failing a post-race drug test in Richmond,
Va., has reapplied for his NASCAR license and paid his
fine. Zizzo said all that remains between Hmiel and a
NASCAR license is the formal paperwork required for
reinstatement. "Shane met all the criteria set
forth by our consultant in this process, who recommended to us
that Shane be allowed to return to competition," Zizzo
said. "He is all set to be reinstated." Zizzo
also said that Hmiel's reinstatement carries several
conditions, among them random drug testing at NASCAR's
discretion. Hmiel, 23, could not be reached for comment.
He is scheduled to run the ARCA race Saturday at Daytona
International Speedway. (NASCAR)
Brendan Gaughan
Sets Production Truck Speed Record
It's 7 a.m. Pitch-black outside. You're in Michigan, which
means its 19 degrees. For the locals, the morning is
warm. Except you can't feel your feet. The possibility of
slipping on ice and falling on your butt is extremely high.
And Brendan Gaughan is giddy. Absolutely ready to go outside.
Getting to drive a stock production truck at 160 mph will do
it to you. The road will be open, the show will be his.
No Michigan state troopers ready to do battle -- just a flock
of birds. Before the day is over, one of those birds will be
dead. Impact with a Dodge Ram at 155 mph tends to keep them
from flying another day. The day is Groundhog Day, but
someone forgot to ask Brendan Gaughan if he saw his shadow
when he got up in the morning. Like he cares. He hasn't
complained about the cold one bit, and he doesn't care if
winter lasts six more weeks since he'll be in Daytona anyway.
But on this day, he's at the Chelsea Proving Grounds in
Michigan, where Dodge has set him up with a 500-horsepower
Dodge SRT-10. Gaughan's job is simple -- go faster than
147.54 mph, which is what a Ford F-150 Lightning ran last
summer. Dodge has countered by dropping a Dodge Viper
motor into their short-bed production truck, and Gaughan flew
to Michigan to drive it. The truck has been properly
broken in. It has 2,400 miles on it, but only 9.42 of those
are going to matter. The 9.42 miles is two laps around
Chelsea. Obviously, at 4.71 miles around, it's huge. Most of
the mileage is in the turns. "This thing goes
forever," Gaughan says. (NASCAR)
How New Points
System Will Work
The biggest barometer of how a NASCAR team determines its
success or failure during a season is the number of series
points it earns. The winner of each NASCAR race receives
180 points. The runner-up in each event scores 170. From
there, the point total declines in five-point increments for
places two through six, points awarded drop four points per
driver for positions seven through 11 and three-point
increments separate drivers' points for finishers in 12th
place or lower. The 43rd, or last-place driver, gets 34
points. There are also bonus points up for grabs at each
event. Drivers receive five points for leading a lap and an
additional five points for leading the most laps. In
Nextel Cup racing, following the 26th race of the season, all
drivers in the NASCAR Top 10 and any others within 400 points
of the leader will earn a berth in the "Chase for the
Championship." All drivers in the "chase"
will have their point totals adjusted. The first-place driver
in the standings will begin the chase with 5,050 points; the
second-place driver will start with 5,045, etc. Incremental
five-point drops will continue through the list of title
contenders. Owners are rewarded in the points race in
much the same fashion but, unlike drivers, they earn points
for merely attempting to make a race. If an owner shows up
with a pair of drivers, and one fails to qualify, the owner
still receives points for the non-qualifying effort. The
fastest non-qualifier on race day earns 31 points for his
owner, three down from the 43rd-place points. The scale
continues downward from there for all non-qualifiers, with the
lowest possible point(s) awarded being one.
Manufacturers have a points race of their own. The car maker
who has a driver take first place in a race earns nine points
for that race. Second-best performance by a manufacturer gets
six points, third place earns four points and fourth place,
three points. (NASCAR)
An Earnhardt Back
With RCR in 2004
An Earnhardt is back in a Richard Childress
Racing car. And it'll carry the No. 3 -- twice.
Kerry Earnhardt, the oldest son of the late Dale Earnhardt,
will compete in five NASCAR Nextel Cup events in 2004, driving
the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, the team
announced during the UAW/GM Motorsports Media Tour hosted by
Lowe's Motor Speedway. Sponsorship will come from Bass
Pro Shops. Dale Earnhardt won six of his seven NASCAR
championships driving for RCR, making the No. 3 famous.
Earnhardt started Dale Earnhardt Inc. to help his son, Dale
Jr., compete in NASCAR, and he also wanted to help
Kerry. But Kerry never got to drive for his father in
NASCAR's top series, but Childress has picked up Earnhardt's
dream. "I know what Dale wanted to do with Kerry
and how he wanted to see him race," Childress said.
"His dream would have been to see both he and Dale Jr.
race under the DEI banner. The way it is today, we've got an
opportunity to give Kerry an opportunity to race. We want to
do our best here to help him get his confidence
back." Childress said Earnhardt would be doing
research and development for RCR in those events.
Earnhardt will drive in four points-paying events, starting at
Talladega on April 25. He'll also drive at Daytona on July 3,
Talladega on Oct. 3 and Atlanta on Oct. 31. RCR will also
enter him in the Nextel All-Star Challenge preliminary race at
Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 22. Childress said the
thought of having an Earnhardt in one of his cars, with a No.
3 on the side, sent chills up his spine. "I wanted
the 3's in there," Childress said. "I thought it
would be pretty cool to have two 3's on it. Andy Petree was
nice enough to let us take that number." Andy
Petree Racing previously used the No. 33. Earnhardt
started 2003 with FitzBradshaw Racing but was replaced late in
the season after crashing six times in 19 races. His best
finish was 14th, four times. "Driving for my dad
was obviously my first choice, but driving for Richard was
always my second choice," Earnhardt said. "I know
that Richard is look at me as a talent and not just my name.
It's just five races, but I'm looking at it as an opportunity
to be associated with a competitive team again, and RCR is all
about winning." (NASCAR)
Hall of Fame Racing
Forms Alliance With Hendrick Motorsports
Hall of Fame Racing has formed an alliance with Hendrick
Motorsports, and plans to run the entire 2005 Nextel Cup
Series season, team owner Troy Aikman announced Sunday at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway. Aikman and fellow former Dallas
Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach partnered with veteran
Trans-Am driver Bill Saunders to form the team in January
2003, but lack of sponsor interest temporarily shelved the
deal. But the alliance with HMS, winner of five series
championships, has once again jump-started the effort. HMS
will provide Hall of Fame Racing with equipment, resources and
technological assistance. "We made the announcement
a year ago that we were going to get into NASCAR, and like a
lot of people in the sport currently, we found that it's
difficult to get a sponsor," Aikman told NASCAR.com
Sunday. "We realized, also, we needed help on the
racing side of things, so we had visits with Rick Hendrick
about becoming a sister team to his operation and we feel real
strongly about it. Obviously, Rick wouldn't get involved with
this if he didn't feel it would be successful. "We
think it's another step for us. It gives us an opportunity to
go in and talk to people and say, hey, we're for
real." Hendrick is elated with the partnership, as
well, knowing the importance of such established sporting
icons having a vested interest in NASCAR. "It's a
great opportunity not only for Hendrick Motorsports, but also
for NASCAR, to have two widely recognized and respected NFL
greats come into our arena and chase another prestigious
championship in sports," Hendrick said. "We
are extremely optimistic that our resources ... provide Hall
of Fame Racing with a strong overall package to attract
sponsorship and be competitive from the outset." No
driver or team personnel have been hired, and won't be until a
sponsor is secured. Aikman said Hall of Fame Racing has been
close to attracting sponsorship partners, but never could
complete the deal. "I sincerely believe that now we
are offering a sponsor as good a package as there is,"
Aikman said. "I hope all this translates into us racing
in 2005." (NASCAR)
360
Degree Cameras Going on Top of All Cars
Crew
chiefs, worried about new aerodynamics issues, are upset with
NASCAR's surprising decision yesterday morning to order all
teams to cut holes in the roof of their cars and install
360-degree TV cameras, quickly dubbed submarine cams. (Winston
Salem Journal)
Carl Long
Receiving Much Appreciated Support From Fans
It has been one of this week's most amazing sports
stories, and a quite emotional one - dozens of NASCAR fans
have nearly inundated Carl Long with checks for $25 or $50
to help him rebuild his race car from the remains of
Sunday's crash as he tries to continue one of stock-car
racing's most improbable quests. Long, a driver from
Roxboro now living in Troutman, is trying again to put his
racing life back together after the off-season sponsorship
collapse of the Travis Carter operation. "It's
something I never thought would happen," Long said in
amazement. "The fans have been going to my web site and
sending in money, close to $4,000 now. "That
means more to me.... I'm going to try to send 'em all
something, a postcard or something, maybe with a
before-and-after shot of the car. "The fans have
been incredible. It's been unreal." Long is the
kind of rugged, never-say-die independent racer who helped
create the sport, the type of racer who has long been only
dusty legend, in this era of multi-million-dollar mega-teams
that have all but crushed the breed. But last weekend,
with NASCAR facing a short field at Rockingham, Long took
his lone stock car out of mothballs - an old Petty
Enterprises car, PE No. 32 - and made the field. Then,
midway through the race, he got tagged from behind and
knocked into the wall and went flying. "If it
hadn't been such a spectacular wreck, it would have been
just another wreck," Long said. But the dramatic
flipping incident made the highlights film. The crash
appeared to doom Long's comeback bid. But then Hermie Sadler
jumped into the deal and is loaning Long his car for next
week's Las Vegas race and the Atlanta race the week
after. "There was a lot of talk at Rockingham
about 'field fillers.' Well, I am not a field filler. I
always go to race," Long said. "And I was there to
be like an undertaker - to take advantage of all the guys
who had bad luck and finish in front of them and maybe pick
up an extra $10,000, to help update my equipment.
"Some of these top teams, on average, get $300,000 for
each Cup race. "You've got to pay $50,000 to the
engine guy to rent an engine for the weekend. You've got
another $50,000 or more in your car. Then there's the
$10,000 tire bill. So when you're at the track, you're
sitting there with a $300,000 investment, including salaries
and expenses. And it don't take long to shut a business down
like that. "But I can't get sponsorship. I had a
total of $3,000 in sponsors for that race," Long said.
"I had a decal on the hood from another company that
had given me money to go racing a couple of years ago, and
when I tried to pull that decal off it about pulled all the
paint off, and I didn't have time to repaint my car, so I
told them I'd leave their name on the hood and maybe they
could help me out somewhere down the road, maybe with a
rental car or something. "The only help I got the
night before the race came from a friend who cut all the
decals Saturday night and drove up from Charlotte and put
them on the car Sunday morning." Long wasn't even
thinking about racing at Rockingham until the topic of short
fields became the buzz at Daytona. "Some of the
... drivers told me there were only 38 entries for
Rockingham," Long said. "I didn't even know if my
car would be acceptable, within the rules changes. So I
talked with NASCAR's John Darby and he explained all that to
me, and I decided 'Shoot, with no income since Thanksgiving,
and with all those charges on my credit card, if I can go to
Rockingham and make money and pay off those charges, I can
recover and get my engine and car back together.'
"Man, I've got 10 grand on my credit card right now, so
I had to make some money at Rockingham. "Now, to
turn that negative into a positive ... Sunday evening I was
thinking 'Man, I don't know now when I'll be able to race
Cup again.'" So Long, 36, has to make his hay
while the sun shines. "My goal years ago, (was)
when I turned 35 ... if I didn't have a full-time deal
driving I needed to find something," Long said. "I
once managed a Domino's Pizza, though I don't know that's
where I want my career to be. "I'd thought about
becoming a crew chief, car chief, team manager, whatever I
could do to build myself back up. I've been talking to
drivers in NASCAR's diversity program, because I can see an
opportunity there, though none of them has ever developed.
And in the meantime you've got to do what you've got to do
to make a living. "But what did happen was I
wound up here with David Spears' truck team, a good group of
guys, and I've told them I'll do all I can do to help David
Starr win the championship. "However, I never
wanted to give up on driving. And now I've had some
corporate people who have seen my interviews, not so much
the wreck. But they want to be part of NASCAR racing and
they've been researching. More than anything, in today's
NASCAR you're not a race driver first, you're a salesman.
Because you're so much a celebrity by being a NASCAR driver
you've got to be a really good spokesperson, and hopefully
you can back it up with your driving. "Who knows
what will come out of it?" Long's biggest claim
to fame had been when he made the field in Charlotte for a
Winston Cup race, and Darrell Waltrip didn't. Long wound up
selling his ride to Waltrip, and Long parlayed the publicity
into an R&D deal with Petty Enterprises in 2001. But
things didn't go quite the way he planned. "I
thought I was going to run for rookie of the year against
Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman, and I had three different
teams put together for that effort," he said. "But
egos got in the way. The engine guy bought enough engines
for all three teams, and Mike Ege was going to keep them up,
but it didn't work out. "We had a sponsor, but
they got bombarded by all the other race teams. The sponsor
wanted to spend $3 million.... But every race team in the
world all called him and told him how much better a job they
could do than I could do. And he got so overwhelmed he just
decided he wasn't going to do anything." So, he
wound up with Carter and Hideo Fukiyama. "And
when Hideo's deal ended and Travis shut down that side,
Travis left me there because he had some guys coming over
from England (Torquespeed) buying in," Long said.
"There are some nice cars there - but that sponsorship
never materialized, either. "So Thanksgiving I
became unemployed. And I stayed unemployed until two weeks
before Daytona, when Spears gave me this opportunity.
"I'm like everybody else, I've got house payments to
make, phone bills to pay. Unlike most of those elite drivers
I can't just go retire right now." • Mike
Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com
(Winston
Salem Journal)
Diversity at
Work: Milka Duno Shared Winning Driving Duties With Andy
Wallace in Sports Car Race
Englishman Andy Wallace and Venezuelan Milka Duno gave
Howard-Boss Motorsports its first win in the Grand American
Rolex Sports Car Series on Saturday, taking the checkered flag
in the Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The
victory was a milestone, as Duno became the first female
driver to ever take the overall victory in a Rolex Series
race. Duno started the No. 2 CITGO Pontiac Crawford in
the 15th position and handed the reigns over to co-driver
Wallace on lap 43 of the 109-lap race. The Englishman then
bullied his way through the field to move into the top
three. A late-race caution set up at 14-lap sprint to
the checkered flag. The CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing No. 02
Lexus Riley XI led the field back to the green flag, but
driver Luis Diaz slid into the grass in turn two on the
restart, bringing out the double yellows yet again and
resulting in a 10-lap shootout to the checkered. When it
returned to green again, it was Max Papis in the CompUSA Chip
Ganassi Racing No. 01 Lexus Daytona Prototype at the front.
However, Jan Magnussen was nipping at his heels in the Doran-Lista
Racing No. 27 Lexus Doran JE4. The pair of Lexus-powered
Daytona Prototypes fought for the lead, while Wallace sat back
in third place watching the battle in front of him. On lap
101, the No. 27 and No. 01 cars began running door-to-door,
banging into each other as they came onto the front stretch.
As the two went into turn one, they finally spun each other
out due to contact, allowing Wallace to breeze by and take the
lead. Magnussen and Papis met with Grand American
officials following the race and were informed that penalties
will be assessed following review of video footage of the race
early next week. In its debut race, the G&W
Motorsports No. 81 Rx.com BMW Doran of Cort Wagner and Brent
Martini took second place overall, while local drivers Oswaldo
Negri and Burt Frisselle brought home third-place honors in
the Michael Shank Racing No. 6 Lexus Doran. After a
disappointing finish at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Performance
Technology Group swept the top-two spots in the GT class.
Boris Said and Bill Auberlen took top honors in the No. 21 BMW
M3, while their teammates Joey Hand and Justin Marks finished
second in the No. 22 BMW. The win by the No. 21 car, coupled
with its fast qualifying time, earned the team a $5,000 bonus
check in the Acxiom Grand Touring Challenge. The Racer's
Group No. 67 Porsche GT3 RS of Kevin Buckler and Liz Halliday
finished third in the GT class. Craig Stanton and David
Murry overtook the entire SGS field to take the class win in
the AASCO Motorsports No. 16 Porsche GT3 Cup. The pair was
forced to start at the back of the grid after failing
technical inspection following qualifying. However, Murry was
able to maneuver his way to the front of the class, and
Stanton took it to the checkered. TPC Racing rounded out the
SGS podium with Randy Pobst and Michael Levitas taking second
in the team's No. 36 Porsche and Marc Bunting and Andy Lally
finishing third in the No. 38 Porsche. The Grand Prix of
Miami will be aired on SPEED Channel on Saturday, March 7 at 4
p.m. ET. (Homestead
Miami Speedway Site)
*Logo
Property of NASCAR*
NASCAR Announces
2004 Craftsman Truck Schedule
The 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule, which
opens with the series' first night race at Daytona
International Speedway, will consist of 25 events and includes
new races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Mansfield (Ohio)
Motorsports Speedway, NASCAR officials announced Thursday.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' 10th season will kick off
Friday night, Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway as
part of a national series tripleheader that also will include
the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the NASCAR Busch Series. The
NASCAR Craftsman Truck season will end Friday, Nov. 19, at
Homestead-Miami Speedway as part of another tripleheader
weekend. In next year's schedule, the series will
partner with the NASCAR Nextel Cup for 12 race weekends. The
series will visit Atlanta Motor Speedway for the first time on
Saturday, March 13. Darlington Raceway's event moves from
March to Friday, Nov. 12 and will be the first event run under
the lights at the legendary "Track Too Tough To
Tame." The schedule again will feature two weekend
events partnered with the NASCAR Busch Series, at The
Milwaukee Mile on Saturday, June 26 and Indianapolis Raceway
Park on Friday, Aug. 6. Eleven stand-alone events,
including seven on short tracks (tracks less than a mile in
length), complete the schedule. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series will visit the State of Ohio for the first time on
Sunday, May 16 for a 250-lap event at Mansfield Motorsports
Speedway, a half-mile track. Two tracks, Martinsville
Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, will host two races in
2004. The schedule lists 23 different tracks in 19
states. The initial 2004 on-track preview of the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series teams and drivers will begin with
NASCAR Preseason Thunder, scheduled for Jan. 10-12 at Daytona
International Speedway. (NASCAR)
Craftsman Truck Series 2004
Schedule
Feb. 13: Florida Dodge Dealers
250, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Mar. 13: Atlanta 200, Atlanta
Motor Speedway, Atlanta, Ga.
Nov. 19: Ford 200,
Homestead-Miami Speedway, Miami, Fla.
*Logo
Property of NASCAR*
NASCAR
Releases Official 2004 Nextel Cup Schedule
NASCAR released its
official 2004 schedule Tuesday, with no surprises evident, as
most had pieced together the calendar from track releases and
other reports. The major difference, of course, is the second
date for California Speedway, the Labor Day event moved from
Darlington. The summer Darlington race has been bumped to
fall, Nov. 14 to be exact. As 2003 winds down and NASCAR
and its constituents look increasingly to next year, the term
Nextel Cup has become current. This year is the last of
RJR/Winston's stewardship of NASCAR's top series, with a
31-year partnership coming to an end. The championship trophy
at the end of this season will be the last Winston Cup.
The finish run next year will count 18 events, down two from
20 this season and last. The final break will come in July,
between the races at Joliet, Ill., and New Hampshire.
Three other breaks also are built in, the first coming after
the Rockingham race in February, on leap year weekend (Feb.
29). The Easter break falls between Texas and Martinsville
(April 11), and dear old Mothers Day comes between first
California and first Richmond, May 9. The Charlotte
all-star race, formerly The Winston, will remain on a weekend
of its own, being scheduled for May 22, the week before
Charlotte's Memorial Day Coca-Cola 600. The official new name
of the race is the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge.
Discussions as to the format are on-going. Aside from
the California/Darlington displacement, only one other switch
is shown. April Martinsville, run for several years after the
April Talladega race, will be moved back to the week before
Talladega, where it had been formerly. Preseason testing
at Daytona will again be held in two sessions, presumably
odd-even as has been done the past three years. The two blocks
are Jan. 6-9 and Jan. 13-16. NBC/TNT will carry the
SpeedWeeks events at Daytona, as per contract, with Fox
picking up at Rockingham and running through the Pepsi at
Daytona in July. NBC then takes over from there to the finish.
The 2004 Nextel Cup schedule:
02/07/04 Budweiser Shootout Daytona Int'l Speedway
02/12/04 Gatorade 125s Daytona
02/15/04 Daytona 500 Daytona Int'l Speedway
02/22/04 North Carolina Speedway
03/07/04 Las Vegas Motor Speedway
03/14/04 Atlanta Motor Speedway
03/21/04 400 Darlington Raceway
03/28/04 Bristol Motor Speedway
04/04/04 Texas Motor Speedway
04/18/04 Martinsville Speedway
04/25/04 Talladega Superspeedway
05/02/04 California Speedway
05/15/04 Richmond Int'l Raceway
05/22/04 NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge
05/30/04 Coca-Cola 600 Lowe's Motor Speedway
06/06/04 Dover Int'l Speedway
06/13/04 Pocono Raceway
06/20/04 Michigan Int'l Speedway
06/27/04 Infineon Raceway
07/03/04 Daytona Int'l Speedway
07/11/04 Chicagoland Speedway
07/25/04 New Hampshire Int'l Speedway
8/01/04 Pocono
08/08/04 Indianapolis Motor Speedway
08/15/04 Watkins Glen Int'l
08/22/04 Michigan Int'l Speedway
08/28/04 Bristol Motor Speedway
09/05/04 California Speedway
09/11/04 Richmond Int'l Raceway
09/19/04 New Hampshire Int'l Speedway
09/26/04 Dover Int'l Speedway
10/03/04 Talladega Superspeedway
10/10/04 Kansas Speedway
10/16/04 Lowe's Motor Speedway
10/24/04 Martinsville Speedway
10/31/04 Atlanta Motor Speedway
11/07/04 Phoenix Int'l Raceway
11/14/04 Darlington Raceway
11/21/04 Homestead-Miami Speedway
NASCAR
Releases 2004 Busch Series Schedule
Next year's NASCAR
Busch Series schedule will look very similar to this year's
version. The 34-race slate kicks off at Daytona in February
and will wrap up at Homestead in November. The only
modifications to the schedule come with the changes to the
Nextel Cup 2004 slate. Rockingham will host only one Busch
Series race in February and California Speedway adds another
in conjunction with the new Labor Day weekend event.
Darlington Raceway shifts its Fall Busch race to November as
part of the new Southern 500 weekend.
2004
NASCAR BUSCH SERIES SCHEDULE
02/14/04 Daytona Int'l Speedway
02/21/04 North Carolina Speedway
03/06/04 Las Vegas Motor Speedway
03/20/04 Darlington Raceway
03/27/04 Bristol Motor Speedway
04/03/04 Texas Motor Speedway
04/10/04 Nashville Superspeedway
04/24/04 Talladega Superspeedway
05/01/04 California Speedway
05/08/04 Gateway Int'l Raceway
05/14/04 Richmond Int'l Raceway
05/23/04 Nazareth Speedway
05/29/04 Lowe's Motor Speedway
06/05/04 Dover Int'l Speedway
06/12/04 Nashville Superspeedway
06/19/04 Kentucky Speedway
06/27/04 The Milwaukee Mile
07/02/04 Daytona Int'l Speedway
07/10/04 Chicagoland Speedway
07/24/04 New Hampshire Int'l Speedway
07/31/04 Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway
08/07/04 Indianapolis Raceway Park
08/21/04 Michigan Int'l Speedway
08/27/04 Bristol Motor Speedway
09/04/04 California Speedway
09/10/04 Richmond Int'l Raceway
09/25/04 Dover Int'l Speedway
10/09/04 Kansas Speedway
10/15/04 Lowe's Motor Speedway
10/23/04 Memphis Motorsports Park
10/30/04 Atlanta Motor Speedway
11/06/04 Phoenix International Raceway
11/13/04 Darlington Raceway
11/20/04 Homestead-Miami Speedway
