Racin'
& Different Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
08/08/2013
Racin’ & short’ stuff:
I’m starting on this on Sunday afternoon. Gave up watching the hapless Mets and caught
glimpses of the parade at “Poke In The Nose”. I don’t know, but there have always been
complaints about Pocono, but the crowd on Sunday looked pretty good – a helluva lot better than some of the other tracks NASCAR
puts on their “exhibition runs”. Even a decent crowd for the return of the Indy cars a month ago at
the place in the Poconos.
Son Eric & I took in the “Speed Show”
at OCFS last Saturday night. “Speed” is
correct for how fast the track is, and also how quickly the program was run off
– having the last checkered flag fly at 9:15 PM. A few red flag situations and some yellows
slowed down the show, but low car counts is what really helps – or does it? Attendance, in the stands, was so-so. One thing quite noticeable – a lack of dust while the races were
being run. There were some good
side-by-side “tussles” during the course of the evening, for a lap or two, but
mostly it was follow the car in front of ya, ‘cause ya just can’t pass him, unless he messes up, or there’s a
re-start.
When I first arrived, I sat at one of the
tables outside of the 31st lap, and waited for Eric to show up. Looking over at the stands, and seeing
everything closed is really quite saddening.
Now, only one place open to get eats.
Wondering – are the photos still under the main stands where the French
Fries and Maxi Dough were, or did someone “thief” ‘em?
On Tuesday, our daughter, Judy and I went
to Accord. Eric got there after work and
a shower, and was lucky to get a parking spot in the last row, by the fence
that separates the pit area and the parking area. Photographer Jeff Nicol
also sat with us, in a way - right in front of us. Next to me were the in-laws of Robbie
Green. One never knows if we would have been in-laws to
Robbie, since our daughter, Sandra, asked him to accompany her to a school
prom. Robbie had a race scheduled for
that date – Five Mile, I think, and asked Sandra if she’d like to go to the
race, instead. She opted for the
race. “Mother Nature” did her thing, and
the race was cancelled even before the race car was loaded up, I believe. They never did have that “date”.
But the racing at
Accord? Great!
Some good runners in the field, even with DIRTcar
having an SDS race out in
Maybe if this event is held again next
year, it can be scheduled when there is no DIRTcar
SDS race scheduled. That would be
awesome!
While in the stands at Accord, I happened
to be sitting in front of the sister of the late Joe Winne. At one time there was a “Joe Winne Memorial” race at Accord – always 55 laps. This past Tuesday, there was the “Joe Winne Memorial Dash for Cash” race – 5 laps and $555.00
going to the winner (Jerry Higbie won it). Joe Winne left us
in the year 2000 during Eastern States Weekend.
I had heard rumors, and decided to ask his sister – did Joe and/or his
family ever get the point monies he was due from that 2000 racing season. I had heard he had not. She confirmed that. Here, 13 years later, no 2000 point fun monies
have been received by the Winne family. Sad, huh? I’m not positive, but I believe monies were
due him from both OCFS and DIRT.
Found on Facebook
on Wednesday at around 10:15 PM:
Once again, I wanted to say
thank you to all who made last night's first
Sincerely yours,
Brett Deyo
I dunno, but it
sure as hell looked like Jeff Gordon was just about in tears after that race
last Sunday at Pocono, after his team mate, Kasey Kahne
blew past him with less than two laps to go, for the win.
I’ve been on friendly terms with a Brian
Caruso for some time now. Brian is a
grandson of the late Mike Caruso, the well known midget and sprint car owner
from here in the northeast. Brian has
been out in “Lost Wages” for about 20 years now. I called him the other day – basically about
Internet stuff. Then I had to send him
an email¸ busting on him about him still having a little “New Yawk” accent. I also
mentioned how the late Lenny Calinoff referred to
long Island as “Lawn Guyland”. Brian got back to me, saying that yes, he
still has some of the NY accent, and he, too also pronounces it as “Lawn Guyland” to this day.
Brian did something the other day – more
or less a favor to me – he took every one of my race reports and articles that
are on the New England Tractor/Race Report website and put them all on one of
my Facebook pages!
Yes, one of my two FB pages. Seems that when my computer
got hacked, I re-registered with Facebook using a
different email address. Now I
can go back and forth, as long as I don’t click on “keep me registered” I think
it is.
Remember this from my column last week?
“Man, maybe Tony Stewart should stick to
racing the “Taxicabs” instead of playing around with Sprint Cars? How many accidents in these
past few weeks?”
Well, those Sprint Cars can bite ya! Broken leg for Stewart on Monday night racing a sprinter.
From Jayski:
Stewart breaks leg in Sprint
Car race, will miss Watkins Glen: Three-time NASCAR champion #14-Tony Stewart
will miss this weekend's road course race at Watkins Glen after breaking his
right leg in a sprint car race Monday night at Southern Iowa Speedway. A
spokesman for Stewart said the 42-year-old driver broke his right tibia and
fibula and had surgery after he was transported to a local hospital. An update
was expected Tuesday afternoon, and Stewart-Haas Racing did not immediately announce
a replacement driver for Stewart's #14 Chevrolet at Watkins Glen, where Stewart
is a five-time winner. The team did cancel its scheduled Tuesday test at
Atlanta Motor Speedway. The sprint car accident came a day after Stewart
finished ninth in the NASCAR race at Pocono Raceway. He's 11th in the Sprint
Cup standings with five races to go until the Chase for the Cup field is set.
Missing the Watkins Glen race means Stewart likely will miss the Chase. Stewart
was leading the 30-lap feature in a 360 winged sprint car with five laps
remaining when a lapped car spun in Turn 4 and collected Stewart and two others.(ESPN/Associated Press)(8-6-2013)
UPDATE:
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
driver Tony Stewart underwent surgery on his right leg early Tuesday morning, Aug.
6 after suffering a broken tibia and fibula in a sprint car crash Monday night,
Aug. 5 at Southern Iowa Speedway in
AND Tony Stewart posted the
following message on Facebook, "I told someone
to go get my phone or else I was going to get up and get it myself. Finally got
reconnected to the world and just want to say thank you for all the prayers and
well wishes. My team will remain strong and I will be back."(8-6-2013)
MIKE HELTON, DALE JARRETT ON
STEWART'S INJURY
HARLOTTE, N.C.-- NASCAR
president Mike Helton and former NASCAR Cup champion Dale Jarrett made note of
Tony Stewart’s injury during their opening remarks of the Motorsports 2.0
program Tuesday at the Ritz-Carlton.
Jarrett served as host for
the “fireside chat” portion of the program, leading a question and answer session
with Helton before an audience of local business leaders.
“Right now our thoughts are
just on him getting all healed back up and back at it as soon as possible,”
Helton said. “We’ll see how all the details unfold today on what exactly that
means and how long it will take him to get back in the seat of the car.”
Stewart broke both the tibia
and fibula in his right leg Monday night while competing at Southern Iowa
Speedway in
On Tuesday night in
“The first reaction was
personal -- that you want Tony to be OK and heal up now that we know more
facts, and get back to racing pretty soon,” Helton said.
“Professionally, it’s still a
dangerous sport. We have things like this occur. We’ll work through all the
business elements of what Stewart-Haas does with the 14 car. They’ve already
announced what they’re doing at Watkins Glen with Max Papis,
but going down the road we’ll deal with all those things. The focus is going to
be on everybody wanting Tony to get well and healthy and back at it.”
When asked whether he was
worried about drivers racing on the side in series that don’t have same safety
standards as NASCAR, Helton said, “Motorsports is motorsports, and we work hard
on making NASCAR inclusive to every group. Not exclusive.”
“We get the fact that drivers
and team owners have to make decisions on what they do beyond this racing with
NASCAR,” Helton continued. “I think the whole motorsports industry has gotten
better and safer. But it’s still a dangerous sport, and you have occurrences
like we’ve been reminded of.”
“A lot of drivers spend their
time in the gym … they’re all the time in the gym working out,” Jarrett told
the assembled crowd. “But that is Tony Stewart’s workout, behind the wheel of a
race car.”
Stewart, co-owner of
Stewart-Haas Racing, is 11th in the Sprint Cup Series points
standings and with one Cup win, leads the battle for the first of two Wild Card
spots in the Chase For The Sprint Cup.
The series travels to Watkins
Glen International this weekend for the Cheez-It 355
at the Glen, a race Stewart has won five times.
Team officials announce Max Papis as Stewart's replacement for the No. 14 Chevrolet.
NASCAR.com's David Caraviello
contributed to this article.
REACTION: DRIVERS CHIME IN ON
TONY STEWART WRECK
Danica Patrick (@DanicaPatrick):
Such a sad situation with tony. He was racing cars he loves. When he's healed,
it will be like he never missed beat! Heal fast big brother!
Ryan Newman (@RyanNewman39):
Can't blame a guy for doing what he loves. Hoping my buddy Tony has a fast
recovery.
Clint Bowyer (@ClintBowyer): Hate it for Tony, he does what he loves and
has single handedly sold out crowds at short tracks all across country for
years. That's impact
Kevin Harvick
(@KevinHarvick): Yesterday was strange, hopefully
today is a much better day. Thinking about my buddy Smoke.
#notasprintcarfan
Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch): Wishing Tony Stewart a speedy recovery. #GetWellSmoke
Kasey Kahne
(@kaseykahne): Thinking about Tony this morning. Heal
up quick buddy! Leading A-main when crash happened.
All smoke does is go fast #badass
Mark Martin: (@55MarkMartin):
I'm really sorry to hear about Tony Stewart's injury. But thankful it wasn't
worse. #getwellsoonTony
Elliott Sadler (@Elliott_Sadler): Wishing Tony a quick recovery...I hope
people don't 2nd guess him.That dude is a racer. Period.His support of Sprint car racing is unmatched
Juan Pablo Montoya (jpmontoya): heard about tony's
leg this morning. that sucks for him, specially having
the glen this weekend. hope he gets better soon.
Martin Truex
Jr. (@MartinTruexJr56): Sorry to hear about tony this morning.
Justin Allgaier
(@J_Allgaier): Really hate to hear about #Smoke....
Hope for a speedy recovery....Sprint cars this year have
been rough, but glad he is going to be ok...
Kenny Wallace (@Kenny_Wallace): We CANNOT go through life saying "If I
do this OR that I might get hurt" GET WELL #TonyStewart
Josh Wise (@Josh_Wise): Racing sprint cars my entire life I always
understood the risks. You can be sure Tony understood them as well. Praying for speedy recovery.
AJ Allmendinger
(@AJDinger): Hoping Smoke recovers quickly. One of
the best wheel man there is in the world doing what he
loves to do. #muchrespect
J.J. Yeley
(@jjyeley1): Just landed in
Aric Almirola (@aric_almirola): Just saw the news about Stewart. Man I hope
he heals up quick!
Michael Waltrip
(@mw55): Tony #smoke That dude loves sprint cars. Hope
he's ok.
Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin): Man I really hope Tony Is
ok.
Nelson Piquet Jr. (@NelsonPiquet): Sorry to hear about (Tony Stewart)! Hope he
recovers quickly! But a double duty for me this weekend would be a dream come true!
Tony Stewart saves sprint car
driver Josh Higday’s life in accident –
Published on August 7th, 2013
Since news of Tony Stewart’s
accident surfaced Tuesday morning the 3-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion
has received a lot of criticism for participating in sprint car racing, due to
the risks, however one sprint car driver is thanking Smoke for saving his life.
During Monday night’s feature
race at Southern Iowa Speedway Tony Stewart was leading the race when he plowed
into the back of Josh Higday’s sprint car. This
accident sent Tony Stewart to the hospital with a broken leg. The same accident
could have been a lot worse if Tony didn’t make a last second decision, says
Josh Higday via Twitter.
Josh Higday
@jhigday24
@tonystewart_rcg
Im really sorry smoke got injured. Im very thankful he tryed to
avoid my cockpit area he saved my life!! #trueracer
Josh Higday
was referring to a last second decision made by Tony Stewart to turn his sprint
car sideways in an attempt to avoid hitting Higday in
his cockpit, which Josh believes would have killed him.
Josh Higday’s
wife, Dawn, also made a comment on Twitter about the accident, thanking God
that her husband survived the incident, which if it wasn’t for Tony Stewart’s
split second decision could have ended a lot worse.
Dawn Higday
@DawnHigday
Just saw the video of the
crash last night. I’m just going to thank God that I still have a husband and
hope Tony recovers soon.
http://the5thturn.com/tony-stewart-saves-sprint-car-driver-josh-higdays-life-in-accident/
Stewart wreck brings
spotlight on sprint cars
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/stewart-wreck-brings-spotlight-sprint-013340951--spt.html
Again, not sure if this first
link will work, but there will be a Midget race honoring the late Jason Leffler on August 28, 2013, with 100% of the front gate and
50% of the back gate going to the Charlie Dean Leffler
Trust.
Do you remember the photo I had in my
column a week ago – the one with my granddaughter & her new Husband, Shane
Decker with the white Datsun? That car is owned by my grandson, John
Rizzo. He did all the work on restoring
it. He’s still up north (from Florida),
and this past Tuesday night, rather than go with me to Accord, he decided to
enter his car in the “Crusing Port” car show – a car
show held on the first Tuesday of the month in down town Port Jervis. When I arrive home from Accord, around 12:15
AM, there on our dining room table was the trophy he had won – “Best Sport
Compact”. Yes, it made his day – and mine,
too!
A few racing things picked up
on the Dirt Track Digest Forum:
It was $6,000 to win an SDS
race in 1996, and since then EVERYTHING has gone up but the purse!!!
I was listening in on the
driver's meeting last night and it was announced that both features at
It was a great night of
racing. There were no lengthy intermissions and they ran the modified feature
first which makes it easier for us die-hards to leave the parking lot after
racing is completed. Brett does a great job of promotion. There are drivers
that you never see for the SDS races and you don't see the same usual suspects
always drawing pole positions for heats or for features. The stands were fairly
filled up and I didn't hear any complaints. Hopefully there will be more Brett Deyo promoted events at more race tracks as we need more
racing excitement.
Great race! At halfway it
looked like any one of the top 4 cars could win it. The race between Creeden and Mahaney for the lead
was fun to watch then The battle that began to shape
up between Creeden and Brown was exciting too. the subsequent battle for second between Brown, Ricci and Bachetti was some of the best racing I've ever seen at
Accord. The sportsman race was painful to watch but overall the show was good.
Nice job to all involved and congratulations to the Creeden
crew!
Boy there was some
unbelievable racing going on in the feature have to
say it was one of the best races I have seen this year. 3 out of the top 5 cars
came from the rear of the field. Great job Brett can't wait for the next one.
One more thing it goes to show that you don't need the big guns there to have a
"good" show. Pill draw worked just fine.
Wow!
At least 19 of our embassies are closed and will be until next
Saturday. All due to
some kind of Al Qaeda “activities”.
My thoughts – just another cover up so we put
Pretty sure we were told by our
“President” that Al Qaeda was all done and basically a thing of the past, in a
way? Interesting!
Found on the Internet on auto
racing:
By now it’s old news, still –
Kramer Williamson Dies From Injuries
In part:
"“URC lost the most
popular driver and accomplished driver in our storied history, “ said John
Zimmerman, who co-owns the United Racing Co. with his wife Cher and special
events promoter Bob Miller. “We are so saddened by the loss of an unforgettable
member of our URC Family.”
“Kramer was the sweetest and
funniest driver I have ever known in racing,” said Cher Zimmerman. “He made
racing a family affair and simply adored his wife and children. I know the
national racing community will join us in remembering Kramer and sending
prayers to his family at this very difficult moment.”
“Kramer had such a love for
this sport that included his competitors and race fans. He was an intense
driver that always found a win to bring some humor into any situation, it was
just who Kramer was,” said racing promoter Bob Miller. “Kramer will be sadly
missed and our sympathy goes out to his family, our thoughts are prayers are
with you.”
by NSSN Staff
In an unprecedented show of
unity and in recognition of one of the area’s all-time great racing
personalities, all four
Selinsgrove,
Other race tracks are
expected to participate and more information will be forthcoming.
This is an outstanding
showing of how the racing community comes together and in this case, to the
support the Williamson family.
Kramer is shown to have been
63 years old, per his obituary:
http://www.rothermelfuneralhome.com/obits/obituary.php?id=323726#.UgA40xN6tDM.facebook
From Facebook:
Monday, 8/5/13:
Please join us in extending a
comforting thought to the family and friends of Michael Sabiston,
who died in a North Carolina pit accident on Friday; Kramer Williamson who
suffered injury in a Pennsylvania sprint car crash on Saturday night and
succumbed on Sunday; and Robert Stevens who survived his crash, but perished
after releasing his belts in the upside-down car in Canada.
Above from Dick Berggren’s
Speedway Illustrated on Facebook
And this, too:
‘Dammit
I’m mad’ – is ‘Dammit I’m mad’ – spelled backwards!
More Racing things on Facebook - Wednesday, August 7th:
Effective immediately: News
from NYTP 55'S (Gary Mann)
ANTHONY PERREGO aka el misil mexicano will be running 1
of our new TEO's at accord speedway on Friday nights
for the rest of this season. and
RICK LAUBACH will be running
our ROC/TEO car for the rest of the ROC series races that are scheduled for
this year.
Note: TEO’s? I know that Gary Mann had some new Hig-fab cars. I’ve
also seen “For Sale” on some of his racing equipment on Facebook.
Danny Buccafusca
Today marks one year since
the best learning experience but the scariest moments of my life, the day I
flipped the 600 micro sprint over the wall and
destroyed my fingers. It was terrifying and still is to look back on, but the
amount of life lessons it taught me is insurmountable. After all these months,
I can say that things really do happen for a reason. I look back and will
always be grateful for my friends and people who supported me during that time,
it will forever be appreciated. I'm better than ever and have learned more than
anyone probably realizes at a maturity perspective. I'm excited to get back in
a 600 in a couple of weeks but this time I'll probably take a different
approach haha thanks to everyone that's been there
for me, you always gotta look at it like someone has
it worse. There's some pretty bad moments in life but there's always one's out
there that love you, and through the darkest moments of your life, the
brightest happiness comes out and I'm speaking from this experience. I'm better
than ever, and if you're going through something right now, someday you will be
too.
When they said the Camping
World Truck Series race at Eldora created a lot of attention, they weren't
joking around about it.
For the first time in 43
years, asphalt modifieds are making their way to dirt
racing. Robbie Brewer happened to come out to 311
In fact, this has been such a
huge hit that on September 21st, they're having an asphalt modified race at the
311 Motor
-Article contributed by
Nathan Pickering.
Note: My question:
"Whatever happened to that supposed practice session at OCFS with
the Asphalt Modifieds, anyway?
Imagine this --- Dick Gaines
led only one lap ever at the Knoxville Nationals. It was the only one that
mattered as it gave him the win over Jan Opperman in
1974. By contrast, Steve Kinser has led 302 laps and
Donny Schatz 168.
Bubba Raceway Park – down in
Florida – has put photos up on Facebook that shows
that they are now covering their track with blue tarps in order to keep rain
water off of the surface. What with all
the rain they get down there – read that
Coming up:
A return of the “Racing Expo”
at the Hinchliffe Stadium in
ACME Extreme Downhill is
coming to where I live, in Port Jervis, NY on 8/31 & 9/1. Check out the video in the link, below:
http://www.freerides.org/events/acme-extreme-downhill/
Note: I thought this was all “cut & dried”, but
an article in our local paper says that the one running this event is looking
for sponsors for various things, like hay bales, porta-johns,
insurance etc etc.
Hopefully he’ll be able to get them.
From Jayski:
FOX Sports extends and
expands NASCAR agreement: FOX Sports and NASCAR solidified their future
together last October when they announced a multi-platform, multi-series media
rights agreement through 2022. Today, less than 10 months later, the two
organizations announced they have extended that agreement, which begins in 2015
and runs through 2024. In addition, FOX Sports has added exclusive rights to
three additional NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events and the first 14 NASCAR
Nationwide Series events of each season. FOX Sports secured exclusive rights to
the entire NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season through 2022 last fall and
that part of the agreement also has been extended through 2024. Financial terms
of the extended agreement were not disclosed.
NASCAR's media rights package
for 2015 and beyond is now complete with FOX Sports holding rights to the first
16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, first 14 NASCAR Nationwide Series races and
entire NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. NBC, which last broadcast
NASCAR events in 2006, will televise the final 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
races, final 19 NASCAR Nationwide Series races and the NASCAR K&N Pro
Series and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events
beginning in 2015.
In total, NASCAR will have
the same number of NASCAR Sprint Cup races on network television 16
as it does in the current television package. FOX Sports will broadcast nine
races and NBC will show seven.
Summary of FOX Sports'
Exclusive Rights (2015-2024):
• First 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series points races of each season, including the Daytona 500
• Nine on FOX Sports and seven on FOX
Sports 1
• First 14 NASCAR Nationwide
Series points races of each season
• Fourteen races on FOX Sports 1
• NASCAR Sprint Unlimited,
Budweiser Duel and NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
• All NASCAR Camping World
Truck Series races
(NASCAR)(8-1-2014)
Hamlin calls Kyle Petty a
moron:
Add #11-Denny Hamlin to the
list of Sprint Cup drivers not happy with television analyst and former driver
Kyle Petty. Petty suggested during Sunday's RaceDay
show on Fox Sports "SPEED" that Hamlin should end his 2013 season and
focus on healing his lower back that was injured during an early season crash
at Auto Club Speedway in California. He also said Hamlin suggested he was the
face of Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin lashed out on Twitter, saying the son of Hall
of Famer Richard Petty "is a moron.''
He continued to take shots at
Petty after hitting the wall to end his day early at Pocono Raceway. "He's
an analyst, but not a very informative one because he doesn't know anything,''
Hamlin said. "My beef with Kyle is he has a lot
of opinions about a lot of drivers, but he never once talked to any of them. To
be an analyst you've got to be in the trenches to find out the stories.''
Asked what Petty said that
upset him, Hamlin said, "It's just saying I
thought I was the face of JGR. What I really said was I was the face of
[primary sponsor] FedEx and the #11 team."(ESPN)(8-5-20130)
UPDATE:
Kyle Petty, the
driver-turned-analyst with the unfiltered opinions, has angered someone new.
Petty didn't mean to make Denny Hamlin mad with his televised comments before
Sunday's race at Pocono. Turns out, Hamlin had every right to be upset. Petty
admitted on Monday he had misinterpreted previous statements made by Hamlin,
and the opinion Petty presented pre-race about Hamlin was incorrect. "If
you are going to run your mouth, if you are going to dish it out, you gotta take it, and the bone of contention here is that
Denny is 100 percent right," Petty said. "I can take it, I can say that I'm wrong and that I misinterpreted what
Denny said." Petty would have reached out to Hamlin or apologized for
making a mistake, but then came the "moron" tweet. "Denny's
argument was a typical Twitter argument, he calls me a moron and then he goes
personal," Petty said. "So I'm just not going to acknowledge it."(Associated
Press)(8-6-2013)
Kvapil not happy with Patrick after accident:
Just when it looked like
#10-Danica Patrick had figured out NASCAR's big superspeedways, she was
involved in another wreck at Pocono Raceway. Patrick was running 18th and
racing #93-Travis Kvapil when she appeared to get
loose and drift into Kvapil's car on Lap 110. Patrick
said she simply got loose and lost control of her car. This wasn't the first
time Patrick and Kvapil have gotten together on the
track as she took the blame for a wreck at
2013 Sprint Cup Driver
Championship Points Standings:
[after
Pocono, race 21 of 36]
1) #48-Jimmie Johnson [4
wins], 772
2) #15-Clint Bowyer, 695, -77
3) #99-Carl Edwards [1 win],
688, -84
4) #29-Kevin Harvick [2 wins], 675, -97
5) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.,
656, -116
6) #18-Kyle Busch [2 wins],
646, -126
7) #20-Matt Kenseth [4 wins], 638, -134
8) #5-Kasey Kahne [2 wins], 612, -160
9) #24-Jeff Gordon, 602, -170
10) #16-Greg Biffle [1 win], 599, -173
Wild Cards:
WC1) #14-Tony Stewart [1
win], 11th in points (5 points out fo
10th)
WC2) #56-Martin Truex Jr. [1 win], 14th in points (15 points out of 10th)
#39-Ryan Newman is 15th in
points with a win, 9 points behind Truex, Jr., but is
not currently in the Chase.
2012 Chase drivers out of top
12
#2-Brad Keselowski,
12th, 7 points out of 10th
#11-Denny Hamlin, 25th
[missed 4 races with injury], -118 out of 20th
(ties
broken by 1sts, 2nds, 3rd, etc)
Teams compromising on test
sessions:
If anything fosters
cooperation between race teams in a single organization, it's the testing
policy NASCAR instituted this season. With four tests available at tracks that
host NASCAR events, drivers and crew chiefs must agree on which four tracks are
optimum for testing, and that involves no small degree of give and take. With two
drivers solidly in the Chase field--#48-Jimmie Johnson and #88-Dale Earnhardt
Jr.--and two on the bubble--#5-Kasey Kahne and
#24-Jeff Gordon--Hendrick Motorsports has opted to
use one of its tests at a track the Sprint Cup will visit before the Chase (Richmond)
and three that are Chase tracks (New Hampshire, Texas and Homestead). According
to Gordon, the choice of tracks was a collaborative decision. "We discuss
it in our Tuesday meetings, and I think all the crew chiefs get together in
Monday meetings, and they come up with the race tracks they would like to go
to," Gordon said. "They talk to their drivers and get that kind of
information, and then on Tuesday, we come up with the best scenario that works
for all of us. For me, I think we have a good game plan that works for all of
us. Again, I said earlier that it's a compromise with the organization. When
you have four teams, not everybody is going to be perfectly suited. But in this
case, I think it suits our needs to get ourselves in the Chase, and if we get
in the Chase, then it suits our teammates to be very competitive in the
Chase."(NASCAR Wire Service)(8-4-2013)
NASCAR stars getting older:
#24-Jeff Gordon turns 42 on
Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Good for him, showing he's still got what it takes to
compete for a Sprint Cup championship. Maybe not so good for
NASCAR. As the sport tries to attract a younger fan base, the top talent
keeps getting older with no signs of that changing. The average age of drivers
in the top 10 in the standings is 36.5, four years older than in 2008. Led by
#16-Greg Biffle, who will turn 44 in December, four
drivers in the top 12 who would make the Chase if it started today are over 40
and 11 are 33 or older. #18-Kyle Busch, 28, is the baby of the bunch, no pun
intended. Not since Jimmie #48-Johnson came onto the scene in 2002 has there
been a young driver who successfully and consistently challenged the old guard
for championships. He was 26 and arrived with little to no fanfare. Before that
it was #14-Tony Stewart, who was 26 at the start of the 1998 season. Not since
a 21-year-old Gordon entered NASCAR's top series in 1993 has a driver in his
early 20s become dominant.(ESPN)(8-4-2013)
John Henry buys Boston Globe:
New York Times Co., which put
its Boston Globe newspaper up for sale this year, agreed to sell the
publication to John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, for $70
million in cash. The deal is $40 million short of the $110 million in pension
liabilities said to be owed by the Globe properties collectively known as the
New England Media Group, and is expected to close in 30 to 60 days. The sale
also includes the Globe website, the Boston.com website, the Worcester Telegram
& Gazette, a 49 percent stake in Metro Boston, and the Globe's direct-mail
marketing company GlobeDirect, the New York Times
said in a statement.
Henry is also the principal
owner of Fenway Sports Group, one of the largest sports, media and
entertainment companies in the world. In 2010, FSG bought Liverpool Football
Club, the 18-time English soccer champion, and its Anfield
stadium. The company also owns the New England Sports Network and a 50 percent
share in Roush Fenway Racing, a NASCAR racing team.(Bloomberg)(8-4-2013)
Newman says nothing new on
job search after Indy win:
Friday, #39-Ryan Newman was
asked about his search for a new ride for 2014:
HOW HAS THE INDY WIN HAD AN
EFFECT ON YOUR FUTURE AND DO YOU HAVE ANY SPONSORS TO TAKE TO A TEAM NEXT YEAR?
"I don't know. You can
sit there and talk to somebody but until the writing is on the paper and the
ink is dried, you really don't know. But I am in a situation where the phone
has not rung off the hook with sponsors, or car owners, or manufacturers or any
of that. I didn't expect it to and I think some people kind of expect it to. I
am working on what I need to work on I feel to be in a good, competitive
position next year. The win helps, but it's not a light switch. It doesn't turn
everything on bright. It helps and gives you a vision, but there is more to it
than that. The $20 million sponsor just doesn't jump right after you. I wish it
did, but it doesn't."(Chevy PR)(8-3-2013)
ISC sell
International Speedway
Corporation announced that it sold its 676-acre parcel of property located in
Zipadelli talks about Stewart:
Greg Zipadelli,
Competition Director, Stewart-Haas Racing discussed
#14-Tony Stewart's condition with the media Wednesday morning. A few notes:
• There currently is no
timeline for Stewart's recovery or return. They will know more after the second
surgery is completed;
• The team will
"absolutely" need a substitute driver for at least the next 2-3
races;
• They are talking to
candidates to fill in, but don't have a timeline for an announcement; possibly
in the next day or so;
• Zipadelli
says that as many races as Tony runs the team is lucky that this is the first
time they are having to deal with this issue;
• Stewart Haas will evaluate
what races Stewart competes in going forward, but there will not necessarily be
any changes.
• Stewart's sponsors:
"They're all disappointed and we understand that."(8-7-2013)
Owen Kelly working with
fellow Aussie at Phoenix Racing:
When Owen Kelly achieves his
goal of being the eighth Australian to start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup this
weekend at Watkins Glen, he won't be the only Aussie in the #51-Phoenix Racing
garage. Joining Kelly in his NASCAR Premier Division debut at the Cheez-It 355 will be the team's engineer, Andrew Dickeson, born and raised in Melbourne (
McDowell in the #35 at
Watkins Glen:
Michael McDowell will bring
his extensive road course-racing background to Front Row Motorsports for the
Watkins Glen International race weekend, as he'll get the nod to pilot the #35
Dockside Logistics Ford in the Sprint Cup Series' second road race of the
season. McDowell, whose racing career was built on twist-and-turn tracks in the
open-wheel and sports-car ranks before moving to stock cars, will compete under
the Front Row banner for the first time. Dockside Logistics' return to the #35
Ford comes as the company expands with a new shipping facility in
Pocono TV Ratings:
ESPN’s live telecast of the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, Aug. 4, earned a 3.2
Former OVRP Dirt Oval racers:
Paul Quear was 5th
in the Wingless 600’s at Borgers.
At Accord, last Friday, Danny Creeden was 4th, Andrew Reeves 14th
and Tyler Dippel 16th in the modified
feature.
Anthony Perrego
won the Sportsman feature
Tyler Boniface won the Spec Sportsman
feature with Mike Traver 6th and LJ
Lombardo 9th.
At OCFS, Mike Ruggiero won the modified
feature, with Tim Hindley 2nd, Billy V 5th
and Clinton Mills 9th.
LJ Lombardo won his first ever feature in
the Sportsman class, with Perrego 2nd,
Brian Krummel 4th, Joe Conklin 6th,
Andrew Reeves 8th, Matt Janiak 9th,
Joe Falanga 15th and Tyler Boniface 18th.
Jimmy Johnson ran in the Vintage race car
event, but for some unknown reasons, the track sees fit not to publish any of
the Vintage races for the season – so far.
Kolby Schroder was 4th, Kyle Armstrong 5th
and Bobby Hackel, IV 14th in the modified
feature at
Alex Bell was 11th in the Small
Block modified feature.
Tyler Dippel was
3rd and John Virgilio 26th in
the Sportsman feature.
Josh Pieniazek
was 9th in the ESS 360 Sprint Car feature at Albany/Saratoga
Joe Morris, Sr. was 13th in the
4 Cylinder Advanced feature at
Danny Creeden
was 8th at Five Mile on Saturday and 19th on
Wednesday. Anthony Perrego
is shown as a DNS in the Wednesday Sportsman feature.
Roger Coss was 8th
in the modified feature at
Kenney Johnson was 9th in the
NEMA Lights feature at Airborne.
Brian Sobus was
17th in the Small Block Super Modified feature at
Kyle Rohner was
11th in the Sportsman feature at Penn Can.
AJ Filbeck was 3rd
in the Sportsman feature at Utica/Rome.
Danny Creeden
won the Modified feature a the Accord Speedway on
Tuesday. Anthony Perrego
was 10th, Tyler Dippel 12th,
while Andrew Reeves was a DNQ.
Perrego won the Sportsman featue
with Brian Krummel 2nd, Tyler Boniface 4th,
Brad Szulewski 16th and Dippel 25th.
Nick Pecko was 5th
in the RoC Asphalt Modified featue
at Shangri-la.
Molly Chambers was 4th in the
wingless 600 feature at Kutztown.
Danny Buccafusca
was 3rd in the All Star Slingshot feature.
Davie Franek was 22nd in the
URC feature at Lincoln Speedway. A photo
in the AARN shows his car, out of the ball park, and entangled in the cables
that surround the track.
In the DIRTcar
SDS Series, Billy V was 24th at Merrittville
and 16th at I-96 Speedway, in
37 names this week.
From the AARN:
From their August 6th
issue:
Note: The front page was a full page photo of the
late Kramer Williamson.
Lenny Sammons:
He leads off with news about
driver Ron John Koczon parking his Modified, and
putting everything up for sale. Koczon has raced weekly at the New Egypt Speedway ever
since it went back to dirt – 1998. “I’ve
had enough” he said via a phone call to the AARN. “I don’t have any help, and I don’t like the
way things are going over there. It’s
not the way racing used to be”. Ron John
goes on to say how things are in racing today, (which would include almost 100%
of those that race locally) as more reasons why he has decided to sell
out. $24,000.00 will buy the car –
including the Small Block engine.
Another thing that Lenny
touches on is about a new track prep – “Posi Clean”. Al
Wilcox, co-promoter of Penn Can started using the product late last year and it
has had positive results.
Posi Clean is now sold by Wilcox at Trackside Products in
Ernie Saxton:
Ernie leads off with his
thoughts on the Truck race at Eldora. To
him (and to me, too) it was not a dirt track that they raced on – more like
asphalt.
In the future, IF they hold
another race on dirt – more than likely another Truck race, they should soften
up the surface (again, I’m with him on this), and maybe do away with the
guaranteed starters (again 100% in agreement).
The show was too long (agreed).
It lasted almost five hours. The
trucks looked slow, and in fact, they were slow. The TV ratings were good, but still they were
not in the top ten of all the Truck races on SPEED, over the years.
No idea if this will work, or
not, but I’m giving it a try – the link to the digital AARN and a page about
Kramer Williamson:
http://digital.turn-page.com/t/30678
Note: Looks like all it will do is taking you to
the AARN. Not sure if you can click on
the proper page or not. Page 16 is the
one you’d want to get to.
John Snyder:
Mr. Snyder tells us of an letter he received that was asking about the mile track
in
Note: There was a 100 mile Midget race on the
Goshen mile in September of 1947 which was won by Henry Renard,
with Chet Gibbons second and Dutch Schaefer third. Dutch had a two lap lead with two to go when
he pitted for fuel. It was a strange set
of circumstances that led to him losing those two laps and not winning. Can you say “fuel pressure”? Can you say “Fuel tank cap not on
tightly”? Add a loose tank cap to what
was used to put pressure into the fuel tank (air) and there ya
have it. As much as Dutch pumped air
into his fuel tank, it escaped through the loose fuel tank cap. Dutch made contact with the inner fence while
furiously pumping that air into his tank!
This Week
In AARN:
Sprint Car Racing Legend
Kramer Williamson Loses Life
In
Otto Sitterly
Is
Mr. Supermodified
At
Tim McCreadie
Wins $50,000
Race Of
Champions
Lap Money Payouts
Top $17,000
Gregg Satterlee
Gets First Outlaws LM Score
Legends Shootout
At
Goes To Tyler Green
Shane Stewart
Gets Fourth Straight
Denny Hamlin, Kyle Petty
Escalate Their NASCAR Tiff
New
To Stick With 358 Mod Rules
Ryan Taylor Lives 'The Dream'
With
This date in racing history:
Just some of the events on
August 8th in:
1929
Jimmy Davies... Born ... AAA / USAC driver from the 1940's - 1960's. He was
the second man to win three USAC National Midget Championships. When Davies won
the 100 mile AAA Championship race at
1948
Paul Russo won the AAA Midget
race on the 1-mile dirt Wisconsin State Fairgrounds,
1953
Nigel Mansell...
Born ... A British racing driver from
Joe Sostilio
won the AAA Eastern Sprint Car race over Tommy Hinnershitz
at the Morristown Speedway,
Mike Nazaruk
won the AAA Midget race at the Soldier Field,
1958
Johnny Kay won the ARDC
Midget race at the Freeport Speedway,
1963
Al Tasnady
won the Modified_Sportsman Stock Car race at the
Harmony Speedway, Harmony, NJ.
1964
Billy Cantrell won the USAC
Midget race at the Ascot Park Speedway,
Larry Dickson won the Sprint
Car race at the Debo Speedway,
Red Riegel
won the ARDC Midget race at the Hatfield Speedway,
1965
Jim McElreath
won the USAC Langhorne 125 Indy car race on the 1 mile paved oval Langhorne
Speedway in
Ed "Dutch"
Schaeffer won the ARDC Midget race on the 1/2 mile asphalt Old Bridge Speedway
in
1976
Dave Marcis
won the NASCAR Winston Cup Talladega 500 over Buddy Baker at the Talladega
Superspeedway,
Press releases:
NEWS FROM
Orange County Fair
CONTACT
Mike Gurda
845-342-2573
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HOT WEATHER AND HOT RACES AT
ORANGE COUNTY FAIR
August stretch drive towards
track point championships
MIDDLETOWN, NY (Aug.
04)……..Like August wea the r, racing at Orange County
Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York is heating up as drivers and the ir teams battle each o the r for supremacy at the historic
five-eighths-mile Hard Clay oval. Just five Saturday nights of racing remain to
settle this year’s track point championships. The next round in the stretch
drive is on tap this coming Saturday, August 10 as Goldenarena
Furniture and The Beer King present the evening’s racing excitement.
In addition to the Mighty
Big-block DIRTcar Modifieds
with the ir 800 horse power earth-shaking engines,
Orange County ’s o the r racing divisions---Small-Block Modifieds.
Sportsman, and Street Stocks---will also see action in a full program of
exciting dirt track racing.
With point races in all
divisions still to be settled, drivers will be fighting for every position in
the ir respective feature races. And no doubt, sparks will fly!
In the headline Big-Block DIRTcar Modified division, Tim Hindley,
of
The point season ends on
“Champions’ Night,” Saturday, September 7.
Admission prices for the
August 10 race meet remain at $14 adults, $12 seniors, and free for children 12
and under. The full night of racing begins promptly at 6:30 pm.
Advance ticket sales and
track information for all remaining Orange County Fair Speedway race dates,
including the spectacular September 21 “Eve of Destruction” and the
season-ending 52nd Annual Eastern States Weekend, October 25-27, can be found
at the
From John Snyder:
BRETT HEARN – CAREER
Flemington
Speedway
New
Albany-Saratoga
Black Rock
Brewerton
International
Canandaigua
Speedway
Can-Am
International
Five Mile Point
Speedway
Fonda
Frogtown International
New Venture
(New Utica-Rome)
Orange
County Fair
Ransomville Speedway
Rolling
Wheels Raceway
Eldora
Speedway
Merrittville Speedway
Autodrome Granby
Moc-a-Tek
Penn National
Susquehanna
Tri-City
Williams Grove
WINS AT 49 SPEEDWAYS IN 11
STATES AND 2
Racing video:
USAC’s Indiana Speed week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0BNWSGBNors
Photo of the week:
Note: Not available on DTD. To see the photo, you have to go to:
http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/
Kramer
Williamson in his # 73 “Pink Panther” Sprint Car. RIP, Mr.
Williamson!
From Facebook
– racing stuff:
Some things said on Facebook about the Tony Stewart “deal”:
I never saw one newspaper
article that said jack roush had to
many people counting on him and he should quit flying — with Anthony Stewart.
There you go using logic to
argue with a do-gooder, Roy.
I'll bet NASCAR is going to
try and force him to quit. It puts the light on something other than NASCRAP.
Yeah
Television owners and
executives run the world. They get to say what everybody can or cannot do.
Don't forget they created this farce called "The Chase" so as to
create a situation where a certain 1/3 of the season is more valuable (in
advertising rates) than the other 2/3's; like the playoffs or the world series. Up until "The Chase" they all had to
fight over broadcast rights (and ad revenues) for the Daytona 500 - it was the
only NASCAR race they gave a shit about. They didn't give a rip about the other
20 or so races. Ask yourself, do you think that TV viewership (which is what
television advertisers buy) will drop for the Watkin's
Glen race because Tony Stewart himself will not be in it? Actually, come to think
about it, viewership might be up after all the bullshit "The Media"
has ginned up about Tony Stewart's situation. The kind of fans they gain with
this kind of controversy bullshit are the same fans that are not filling half
the seats at the tracks right now but as far as Television is concerned they
don't care how many people come to the track anyway. TV is destroying NASCAR
just as they destroyed the old USAC.
Guess we'd better keep Foyt off his bulldozer - and away from the killer bees
Never heard a word when AJ
raced in anything week end week out.
NASCAR
can't force a driver to not race in other series or types of cars.
Racing is racing and any
driver can get hurt in any type of car. The press on the other hand....likes to
create drama or talk only about the wrecks.
I'm sure the way Kyle Petty
has been popping off lately...he'll have some comment. (but
Kyle was never a racer)
NAPCAR SUCKS
!! That's all I gotta say bout that!!!
Maybe Santa shouldn't deliver
packages at Christmas time since he sleigh might crash and it could affect the
elves back at the North Pole.
I get emails:
Some interesting facts
brought up on the Yahoo! Race History Group via emails regarding drivers that were
handicapped.
In commenting on Charlie
Kimball's IndyCar win today, Speed's Robin Miller
mentioned that Don Branson also was a diabetic but kept that info to himself
because he didn't think he could get or keep a ride if it became public
knowledge.
Do any other drivers over the
years come to mind as succeeding on track despite severe handicaps? I'm aware
of Mel Kenyon's inspiring story, but am sure there are others. Given the scope
of this group, I'm mostly interested in pre-1970s racers but it's also
important to note those also were days when disabilities weren't so accepted or
readily identifiable.
Red Byron was wounded in his
bomber during WWII and after a 1 year in
bed his left leg was saved but not very usable. He raced
post war AAA
events (e.g. Langhorne) and made attempts at Indy in '47 -
'48 but DNQ.
He became the NASCAR champion
several times after that.
In preparing his cars for
Indy, my Father welded a leg brace to the
clutch pedal and Red would be strapped onto the pedal in
order to
operate it.
Photo's of his NASCAR
victories show him sitting in the car, because he
was unable to get out.
Byron was NASCAR Modified
Champion in 1948 and NASCAR Strictly Stock Champion in 1949 with 2 wins. For
some reason, NASCAR does not feel the 1948 season was real and all their stats
say 1949 was their first season.
Red Byron was also the First
Daytona 500 Winner. I am guessing that NASCAR did not make itself official
until that race.
1932 Indy 500 rookie, Howdy
Wilcox II, also had diabetes, which upon discovery by officials,
disqualified him from participating in the '33 race. Three-time Indy 500 starter, Cal Niday, lost a leg soon after finishing high school. Merle Bettenhausen
and Allen Heath both continued their careers in midgets despite each losing an
arm.
Bill Schindler lost a leg in
a 1936 "Big Car" crash. Ed
"Dutch" Schaefer lost an eye in the 100 mile Midget race in
Kinda off topic, but the winner of today's Indycar race also has diabetes - type 1.
How about Dean Thompson? He had one arm considerably shorter than the
other from birth. Pretty amazing
Archie Scott Brown
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Scott_Brown), was
a Brit who raced in the 50s and achieved a good deal of success despite a birth
defect that left his legs and right arm quite disfigured.
Also, having grown up in
upstate
(http://www.catamountstadium.com/crescent_hillbilly_pete_corey.htm). He lost a leg in 1959 in a crash at Fonda
Speedway (http://www.vintagemodifieds.com/pete_corey/) but kept racing. I watched him race from 1962 until 1965. He was a character as were many of those
guys. I was a fan of Bill Wimble, #33, a
dairy farmer from upstate NY.
To be honest, ol' Pete had a reputation as a driver who would do anything
to win, but he sure made the stands interesting on a Saturday night.
Wes Saegesser
(1910-1958) was born with a deformed left arm that left him without a hand. In
spite of this handicap Wes had a successful driving career. One of his most
noted rides was Floyd Trevis’ No. 3 Offy midget. He drove with one hand and worked the fuel
pump and brake handle with the deformed arm. Quite a remarkable feat when one
considers that most of the midget racing was conducted on quarter-mile tracks.
Wes is shown giving a demonstration of working the fuel pump and brake handle
in my soon to be available DVD on midget racing.
Sir Jackie Stewart, Buddy
Lazier and Stan Wattles, Indy drivers with moderate to severe dyslexia.
I forgot about that. Stewart’s is particular severe. All the books he wrote, he actually dictated
into a recorder. He said the last book
he “wrote” he never even read the final manuscript. It was too difficult.
Of course, he was also a top
notch skeet shooter, almost made the Olympic team. So, obviously dyslexia was no handicap to his
sporting endeavors.
Jim Hurtubise
had the surgeons form his hand to fit a steering wheel after he was seriously
burned.
From my not-always trusty
memory:
First two-time Indy 500
winner Tommy Milton was completely blind from one eye by birth and partially
blurred vision from the other.
Tommy Milton was blind in one
eye, but never told anyone until he retired from driving.
Mike Little of Johnstown,
Pennsylvania was a midget driver who had no vision in one eye.
Let's not forget Allen heath who lost his hand and drove sprints and midgets with a hook,
and he was as fast as the best of them. Tony Simon did the same when he lost
his hand. (Heath won a 500 mile midget race on the Riverside Road Course in a
midget – Ford powered one, at that).
My dad told me at one time
that
A very successful
NASCAR doesn’t deny nor
ignore their birth year as being 1948.
So, your hat is perfectly appropriate.
NASCAR just doesn’t count the
actual racing in 1948 in their statistical compilations and historical
discussions.
Oh, well, I still like my hat! Still, '48 was a vintage year for lots of
racing stuff: Watkins Glen, Porsche,
etc.
I have that same hat!!!
The late Allen Heath can be
remembered as coming back after losing a hand, fitted with a hook, then kept on winning. Tony Simon is still racing with a
right hand missing due to a bad crash, which was instrumental in requiring arm
restraints on roll caged cars.
Byron was NASCAR Modified
Champion in 1948 and NASCAR Strictly Stock Champion in 1949 with 2 wins. For
some reason, NASCAR does
not feel the 1948 season was real and all their stats say
1949 was their first season.
I think that it less that
NASCAR "abandoned" 1948 as the year it was formally organized and
established as a corporate entity and more a case that NASCAR -- along with
those who follow it as either fans or journalists -- prefers to shift the focus
to the 1949 season given that the current Sprint Cup Series can trace its
lineage directly to its origin ( the Strictly Stock
Division) during that season. Today, the 1948 NASCAR season seems to almost
exist in a kind of limbo for most with an interest in NASCAR. I might suggest
that very few today are all that interested in a season that consisted of
primarily of a large number of relatively low-key modified events on numerous,
obscure short tracks.
So, I do not think that you
are missing anything, simply that in the grand scheme
of things, the racing that happened during the 1948 season takes a backseat to
the story regarding the efforts of Bill France to establish the organization
and deal with the opposition.
As an aside, I have often
wondered if NASCAR even has the (complete) records for that season in its
archives.
The reason for 1948 being
ignored by NASCAR seems to be, of course, that NASCAR wants the focus to be on
its premier division, what began as "Strictly Stock" then became
"Grand National" the following year before becoming the various
"cups" beginning with the 1971 season. One could also suggest that
given that 1948 season began with the beach race in February a few days prior
to the incorporation papers being approved as well as being for modifieds on a seemingly endless procession of bullrings,
there is a tendency for those at Daytona Beach to dismiss the season and view
it as a place-holding year as the organization (Bill France) set up both its relatonship with the promoters and the strictly stock
division for the following season; I would suggest the priority was in that
order.
Speaking of stats, it could
be suggested that there is a definite tendency by NASCAR to basically ignore or
at least downplay its modified and other divisions during the first decade or
so of the organization. It is easy to overlook the role of the modified
division in the early years of NASCAR where it was realy
the backbone of the organization. However, very little has been written about
that division and its early after NASCAR was formed or even the 1948 season for
that matter, except in passing, of course. Again, I would suggest that 1948 was
a very important season for NASCAR for a variery of
reasons.
Red Byron was certainly a
major factor on the track during NASCAR's formative years, yet seems very much
overlooked in recent years.
Bill Schindler, my neighbor
when I was growing up in
And i
read that the only way Milton got caught was when instead of an eye chart the
doctor made him read a part of a page in
a book with one eye and had him turn to a different page to read with the other
eye.
How would everyone consider
Jimmy Carruthers who battled cancer while
racing to one last championship?
An unusual handicap as a
driver was the famous driver "Cockeyed Brown." He had an eye that was
somewhat towed out several degrees, and coming down the straightway, he would
have to turn his head 90 degrees to see ahead. This would unnerve many drivers
as they could see him looking at them while at full speed. He was also a very
talented machinist and built successful racing engines.
Found on the Internet – non
racing:
An interesting read on the
decay of our country from one town’s authors perspective:
Crumbling American Dreams
http://news.yahoo.com/u-lawmaker-says-qaeda-threat-most-serious-years-141738874.html
Some of the comments under
the article:
"If this is so serious
why did they all go on vacation?"
"Obama has only been in
office for 2-1/2 years. The rest of the time was spent golfing, vacationing,
campaigning, and attending lavish parties for sports figures and rap artists.
Oh yeah, and sleeping during the
"So why are the
"I guess Al Qaeda did
not get the memo that they were decimated and on the run."
"A NATION OF SHEEP
BREEDS A GOVERNMENT OF
WOLVES"
"21 embassies closed. Wow, that must be one heck of an offensive video out there
on YouTube."
"Here is a question. Why
would we tell anyone this? Doesn't this give any terrorist group in any area
the opportunity to wipe out each and every consulate with explosives or fire?
Or, since everyone in the world knows we are listening to chatter, could they
have planted false information so this would happen and get us out? Very curious."
"If they can detect the
"chatter", why can't they chase it down and arrest/eliminate those
people?"
"Who elects these
baboons?"
"We the people..."
"Apparently
"So all the threats, the
chatters come from the
RNC threatens to shut out CNN
and NBC from presidential debate partnerships
In part:
"The Republican National
Committee is threatening not to partner with NBC and CNN on future presidential
debates unless they halt production of recently announced programs about
Hillary Clinton, according to letters RNC Chairman Reince
Priebus sent to network heads."
Obama asks public schools to
ignore bad behavior by black students
http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-asks-public-schools-to-ingore-bad-behavoir-by-black-students
Really? You gotta be sh*tting
me!
In part:
"On July 26th Obama
signed an executive order titled the "African American Education
Initiative." The order essentially gives a green light for black students
to misbehave in public schools. In two places, Obama's
executive order calls on schools to reduce the number disciplinary actions
taken against blacks students. The order specifically calls on schools
too "not rely on methods that result in disparate use of disciplinary
tools."
Black children taught to hate
white people in
To comply, public schools
would have to engage in a racial quota system of discipline. The executive
order will create a new Federal bureaucracy to pressure school systems to
comply with the president's demands. The executive order makes no mention of
any effort to get black students to improve behavior.
There is a reason why blacks
are more likely to be disciplined in school. Black students are more likely to
misbehave. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics
reports that there is a huge crime rate disparity between blacks and other
racial groups.
Based on those disparities,
one should expect that there would be a disparity in frequency of bad behavior
between black and white school students in the public schools.
The DOJ reports that the
homicide rate in the black community is nine times greater than in the white
community. Between 1976 and 2005, the DOJ reported that blacks averaged 13
percent of the population, but accounted for 59 percent of felony homicide
charges and 53 percent of non-felony manslaughter charges. It also might come
as no surprise that 93-95 percent of black homicides victims are killed by a
black perpetrator. Most of the rest are killed by a Latino perpetrator.
In reality, blacks are
already less likely to be suspended for bad behavior than whites. Often, white
teachers and administrators are afraid to discipline black students for fear of
being called “racists.” Even some black school officials are afraid of being
labeled a “sell-out” by black students.
The executive order also
states that black students "lack equal access" to education. This
statement, by the White House, is outrageous and easily disproved. Across the
nation, majority black public schools routinely receive more funding per pupil
than majority white public schools.
http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-asks-public-schools-to-ingore-bad-behavoir-by-black-students
And in Baseball:
Antonio Bastardo,
Jordany Valdespin and
Sergio Escalona among 13 suspended MLB players
In part:
"Each will receive a
penalty of 50 games. Players who the league believe lied during interviews
pertaining to Biogenesis could receive additional discipline. The league will
announce the suspensions for them, along with around 10 other players,
including a ban through 2014 for New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, on
Monday afternoon."
And:
Alex Rodriguez, 12 other
players suspended by MLB for Biogenesis ties
In part:
"Alex Rodriguez has been
suspended through the end of the 2014 season after a Major League Baseball
investigation determined he used and possessed testosterone and human-growth
hormone over multiple years, for attempting to hide his violations and for
"a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the
Commissioner," MLB announced Monday afternoon.
The 211-game suspension is to
go into effect Thursday. Rodriguez, who was scheduled to play for the first
time this season Monday night in
From Facebook
– non racing stuff:
9/11 MUST SEE: “I can prove
that it was not an airplane” that hit the Pentagon – Major General Albert N. Stubblebine (updated 7/24/2013)
Some parts:
Physical Evidence and
Eyewitness Testimony That A Missile Hit The Pentagon –
NOT a Boeing 757
You Can’t Fit a Boeing 757 into
Hole that is Only 16 Feet Wide
11:30 “Let me go back to the
next very important piece of information.
The amount of energy to melt the girders – the steel in the tower –
cannot be gotten to a melt point with the fuel that was in the airplane. Not possible!
So, any melting did not occur as a result of the hit from the
airplane. Point.
I call it dot. OK? DOT.”
12:10 “When you look at the
tower coming down, what you see at each floor is successive puffs of smoke:
puff, puff, puff, puff… all the way down. What are the
puffs of smoke coming from? Well, they claim that they are from the collapsing
floors… No. No. No. Those puffs of smoke are controlled demolitions. That’s
exactly what they are, because that’s exactly how they work. And so, the fact
that the airplane hit, it did, it did not cause that collapse of the
building. The collapse of the building
was caused by controlled demolition.”
Note: This article is quite long and does contain
videos.
Non racin’
stuff:
CNN Bombshell: Dozens of CIA
Agents at
From CNN.com:
CNN has uncovered exclusive
new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA, in the wake of
the deadly
Four Americans, including
Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the assault by armed militants
last September 11 in eastern
Sources now tell CNN dozens
of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the
agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a
secret.
CNN has learned the CIA is
involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy
agency’s
Since January, some CIA
operatives involved in the agency’s missions in
The goal of the questioning,
according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or
Congress.
It is being described as pure
intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks
information could face the end of his or her career.
In exclusive communications
obtained by CNN, one insider writes, “You don’t jeopardize yourself,
you jeopardize your family as well.”
Another says, “You have no
idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of
this operation.”
“Agency employees typically
are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more
than that,” said former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer.
In other words, the rate of
the kind of polygraphs alleged by sources is rare.
This means that CIA agents
are being threatened — along with their families — if they leak what really
happened at
http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/benghazi-whistle-blowers/
http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/truth-about-benghazi/
http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/the-benghazi-cover-rup/
http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/susan-rice-lied/
http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/msnbc-benghazi/
Obama “Changed Names” of
http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/changed-names/
CNN bombshell: Dozens of CIA
operatives were on the ground during the
Obama Forced 5
http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/obama-silences-benghazi/
Music video:
One of the reasons I’ve
always liked Country Music – how they sound in person.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7wflHaxFko
And even as they age a
little:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGOHKcsWq5c
Joke of the week:
A couple of them, this week:
WHY SENIORS STILL NEED
NEWSPAPERS
I was visiting my daughter
last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.
"This is the 21st
century, Dad" she said. "We don't waste money on newspapers.
Here, use my iPad."
I can tell you this..that fly never knew what hit
him.
A wife asks her husband,
"Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk, and if
they have avocados, get 6.
A short time later the
husband comes back with 6 cartons of milk.
The wife asks him, "Why
did you buy 6 cartons of milk?"
He replied, "Because
they had avocados."
If you're a woman, I'm sure
you're going back to read it again!
Men will get it the first
time.
My work is done here.
Until the next column!
I can be reached, via e-mail, at: ygordad@yahoo.com