Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
By Tom
Avenengo
Volume # 18
First:
OK, I admit it. In a good part of my columns, I get rather
“picky” about things – like certain racetracks, or what’s been happening in
racing, in general. Further down in this
week’s column, I get “picky” again.
Maybe it’s me, and my getting (more) grouchy,
in my old age? Doubt that. But usually when I voice my thoughts and/or
concerns, I’m doing it as a race fan first.
I had a nice little chat last Friday while I
was up at the Accord Speedway – a chat with Steve Pados. Steve does the announcing for Accord, along
with getting out their PR info. He also
does the same for the Hamlin Speedway.
One thing both he and I have in common – we
want racing to continue – even after we’re gone. We’ve both been around for quite some time,
that’s for sure.
Second:
Last week there was quite a lot said on the Internet about the Orange County Fair Speedway (OCFS) and some breaking news – to the extent that even the Area Auto Racing News (AARN) held off displaying their front page on their website until after 2:00 PM last Wednesday, so as to not say what might be the news coming out of OCFS. The AARN always shows their front page on Tuesday, in case you didn’t know that.
It was said at the News Conference that they were looking for “Investors”. I suppose by “Investors” they actually mean a BUYER for the property.
Here’s a link to an article that appeared in the Middletown Times Herald-Record, last Thursday, the day after the News Conference:
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100617/BIZ/6170327
Part
of what was said is this: “Yes, says
Mike Gurda, general manager of the fairgrounds and promoter of the speedway,
which is why the preservation of the fair and speedway will be a condition of
the sale, even if that limits the pool of prospective buyers.”
Now,
a little discrepancy on that, above:
From
a forum I frequent:
“The TH-R article says there is a stipulation
that the buyer of the property will be obligated to preserve the property as
fairground / speedway.
R.J. Smith (A realtor handling this deal) told me to my face
that the next owner isn't obligated to do any such thing. However, his
marketing scheme is directed at moneyed individuals and groups
who would, hopefully, invest in a potentially profitable speedway.”
Here’s a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrLmE0ND_SY&feature=player_embedded
Some
of my thoughts:
Last week, I had this, in my column about OCFS, the News Conference and the “Big Show II”:
“Rather
than return home after all the “BS”, I opted to stay at the track until the
“Big Show II” was ready. I’ll have
nothing about that event this week, but will give some of my thoughts about it
next week.”
Like
last year, weather was forecast to be wet, all day long, which really didn’t
pan out until later on in the evening.
The
crowd: Not a sell out, for sure, but a
lot better than a regular Saturday night – in the stands, anyway. The Drive-in section was about like a normal
Saturday night.
Problem
# 1:
Track
tires and the fuel used. Both are not
what are usually used at OCFS on a regular Saturday, so that limited the amount
of OCFS participants to only 9 drivers – Tim Hindley, Jeremy Markle, Tommy
Meier, Jerry Higbie, Chris Shultz, Danny Creeden, Jeff Heotzler, Sr., Kirk
Horton and Craig Mitchell.
Note: I had heard what it cost some of the OC
regulars to run this race. Talking to one of OC’s regulars, it seems that to
run that race, and to be competitive, it would cost about $2,500.00 – mainly
because of tires, fuel and possibly having to buy a DIRTcar “Temp”
license. That’s some of the reasons only
nine OC cars entered, I suppose?
Problem
# 2:
Time trials. What’s wrong with time
trials? Tell ya what I observed. With time trials, the faster cars start up
front – even with some stupid drawing of a number – very low numbers of course,
to see how they invert the lineup in certain races. OK, now maybe someone isn’t really good at
time trials but is better when racing.
On a big track, like OCFS, what you usually end up with, with the faster
drivers up front is what is commonly referred to as “Freight Train racing” –
cars just following each other around the track.
Example: As the first qualifying heat came out, and
got the green flag, by the time they were into the first turn, they were single
file. They remained that way the whole 8
laps. Same can be mostly said about the
other three heats – very limited “racing”, if ya know what I mean.
Problem
# 3:
Only
34 cars were entered for the nights racing.
All cars were going to run the 100 lap feature, so why even bother to
have a consolation race, or in this case, TWO of them? Just line them up as they finished the
heats. Don’t forget – weather was
forecast to be wet all day long. For the
second year in a row, “Mother Nature” cut the race short with some forecasted
rain finally falling.
Now I’ve been thinking – no consolation races (to save time) would more than likely have changed the whole outcome of the event – meaning that chances are almost 100% (in my way of thinking, at least) that the massive accident on lap 48 that turned some race cars into JUNK, might never have happened. “Time element”, ya know? Give that some thought.
Note: At times, strange things happen in racing. Further along in this column, there’s mention made of Dick Tobias being fatally injured while racing – racing in an event that really had no meaning or had any bearing on the races that night – kind of like the running of those two consolation races and, as I said, the “time element” and that big wreck might never had happened.
Problem
# 4:
The 50/50. Where in the heck were the
50/50 ticket sellers/ girls? Methinks I
saw two of them very early in the evening, when the stands were far from being
“full”. Once the racing started, they
were nowhere to be seen, unless you walked to the midway behind the main
grandstand, that is. Oh, and I think one
was in the half covered after they were calling the girls in. OK, so it was over $1,000.00. But I wonder – what if………….. You can see where I’m heading on this, too, I
take it?
Problem
5:
The announced run down after the race was ended due to rain was incorrect, as far as I’m concerned, and I made mention of it as soon as I heard it, especially with one driver – and my favorite, to boot! Hey, they have the ABM scoring system being used, folks. No need for them to announce a driver, even if he is the nights promoter, to be finishing ahead of others, when he lost so many laps in the pits, then came out onto the track after the “big one” on lap 48, to run an additional 19 laps. He originally went pit side on lap 20. Lap 20 to lap 48 looks to be 28 laps, to me, yet he only gained 19 more laps after the big wreck, meaning he had 39 laps total. I’ve been told that according to DIRTcar, he had 50 laps. Huh? Oh, and MyLaps shows him with more than 39, too.
The
reason – per an e-mail message from DIRTcar:
“New rule this year that you can't lose laps under yellow in
the pits, that should explain the difference”.
Note: Although this is a new rule in DIRTcar, it was not originated with DIRTcar, I’ve been told, but actually originated with the ROC Series as a safety feature when pits stops are made for changing flat tires – in hopes of keeping pit road speeds at a minimum. I’ll go along with that, AS LONG as it’s only to change a tire. Personally, I feel that once that green flag comes out - again, you no longer get scored on any further yellow flag laps, if you’re in the pits.
Hmm, one would think that once the green came back out that it would
nullify no losing laps under yellow. And just how many laps were run under yellow
from laps 20 to lap 48? How about from
lap 49 to the end? I really don’t know. So just how many laps could a car sit in the
pits? To me, it’s a dumb rule and I feel
that once the green comes out – no more remaining on the same laps when future
yellows come out.
I can just see NA$CAR picking up on this one – and yes, claiming
it’s something they came up with, too.
Note: OK, so I made mention
of this on one of the forums I frequent, and I had completely forgotten about
this:
“What no one has
pointed out is this: The last 7 laps of the race were run under caution.
Therefore, every car in the big wreck should have 7 laps added to their total,
which would give them 56 laps. This was not done.”
That would have
affected three of the DIRTcar regulars with a loss of about 8 positions. Yes, I inquired about that and why wasn’t
that done – adding those 7 laps to those that were eliminated in the wreck.
I received this, in response
as to why they were not given those laps:
“Your answer from
our chief scorer and handicapper Gary Spaid :
The
laps are only given back if they return. Any laps lost in the pits, under
yellow are recalculated and then added back. This happened to a number of
drivers, but they have to return to get the laps back. Hope this helps
you to better understand the circumstances”.
And from the forum I frequent about those yellow flag laps when a
car is in the pits:
“I hope that with 198
laps complete at
Problem 6:
How the night’s program was run.
This gets rather complicated, and comical, at the same time.
From what someone posted on a forum:
“Just havin' some fun
:-). Let's see if I can keep all this straight. First we draw for time trial
group? Then we run group time trials (timed hot laps). Then there is an invert
from time trials to heats I think? Then we run heats. Then we have a redraw for
the top 12. Then we run two consi's which are more like heats. And then we let
everybody start anyway. And then we line up and race. Whew!
And someone with a brain somewhere actually thinks an
average fan can or would even want to understand all this!
And this, too:
“Sad part is a new
racing fan would have no clue about this. Aren't we trying to attract newer
fans to this form of entertainment? Then again, it's stuff like this that makes
me not pay attention any more. Just my 2 cents worth.”
Going back, in time:
Note: The following
information was mostly found here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
Covering the days of June 18th to June 24th.
JUNE 18
1936
Denny Hulme... Born. A
1960
Al Herman... Died ...ARDC/
AAA /USAC driver from the 1950's and 60's
JUNE 19
1938
Charlie Glotzbach... Born
1940
Shirley Muldowney... Born
1960
Jimmy Bryan... Died. Bryan agreed to return to dirt track racing as a favor to two old
friends, the owners of the Langhorne, PA, track. His car flipped on the
first lap and he died immediately.
JUNE 20
1936
Rex Mays
won the AAA Championship race Goshen 100 on the 1 mile dirt Good Time Park in
Goshen,
Note: From what I could find, that 1936 race in
JUNE 21
1940
Al Loquasto ... Born
JUNE 22
1917
George Fonder... Born
1951
Phil Krueger ... Born
1961
Jeff Ward ... Born
1978
Dan Wheldon ... Born
JUNE 23
Ed "Dutch" Schaefer...
Born ... Eastern midget racer from the 1940's to the 1970's. Remembered
as the man who saved the ARDC from extinction. Schaefer was elected
President of the oldest midget racing club in the East in 1952. Near the point
of extinction, Dutch managed to hold together a small group of devoted ARDC car
owners and drivers, and brought the club and midget racing on the East Coast,
back into the limelight.
1930
Bob Harkey ... Born
1935
Bruce Jacobi... Born
1978
Dick Tobias ... Died. His career spanned 25 years, ending
tragically with his death in a USAC sprint car race at Flemington Speedway in
Note: While I was a writer for www.openwheelracing.com and www.openwheelracers.com, (neither
web site is around today), the late John LeVan told me that a “contract” was
written up between the promoter of Flemington and USAC for the events on that
day, and a certain amount of races were to be held. There was a shortage of cars, and all cars
there would have run the feature. So an
additional race was run – it might have been a trophy dash or a consolation
race, but “Toby” ran his last lap in that event.
JUNE 24
1911
Juan Manuel Fangio ...
Born ... A driver from Argentina, who dominated the
first decade of Formula One racing. He won five Formula One World Driver's Championships , a record which stood for 46 years, with four
different teams (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati), a feat that
has not been repeated since. Many still consider him to be the greatest driver
of all time.
1961
Wayman "Hut" Stricklin...
Born
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Friday,
June 25th:
8:00
AM to 9:30 AM on SPEED – Formula 1 practice from
10:30
AM to 11:30 AM on SPEED – Nationwide practice from
11:30
AM to 1:00 PM on SPEED – Cup practice from Loudon
1:30
PM to 3:00 PM on SPEED – Nationwide final practice
3:00
PM to 5:00 PM on SPEED – Cup qualifying from Loudon
Saturday,
June 26th:
8:00
AM to 9:30 AM on SPEED – Formula 1 qualifying from
9:30
AM to 10:30 AM on SPEED – FIM MotoGP from the
10:30
AM to 11:30 AM on SPEED – Nationwide qualifying
11:30
AM to 1:00 PM on SPEED – Cup final practice
12:30
PM to 4:00 PM on HDNet – Mazda Motorsports Festival, Day 1, from
3:30
PM to 6:00 PM on ESPN – Nationwide race
7:00
PM to 9:00 PM on ESPN2 – NHRA qualifying from
Sunday,
June 27th:
12:00
AM to 1:00 AM on SPEED – FIM Moto2 from the
12:00
PM to 2:00 PM on FOX – Formula 1 race from
12:30
PM to 4:00 PM on HDNet – Mazda Motorsports Festival, Day 2, from
1:00
PM to 4:30 PM on TNT – Cup race from Loudon
7:00
PM to 10:00 PM on ESPN2 – NHRA Eliminations from
11:00
PM to 12:00 AM on SPEED – FIM Superbike Race # 1 from
Monday,
June 28th:
12:00
AM to 1:00 AM on SPEED – FIM Superbike Race # 2 from
Track
news:
Accord
OCFS
has Big Brothers/Big Sisters night, King of the track part 2, and Fireworks
scheduled, for this coming Saturday night.
The
History of the Sport:
Nothing
this week from Peter Kessler on OCFS, so look forward to something next week
from the “bearded” one. So I’ll do this,
this week:
Looking
at the book by Crocky Wright about the racing at Hinchliffe Stadium in
Before
the 1946 season, the track was paved, and speeds were somewhat faster. As an example, on June 9, 1946, in a 3 lap
match race, Johnny Ritter beat Ed “Dutch” Schaefer. Total time:
43.26 seconds.
From
what I can recall in 1946, Ritter would have been in his Outboard powered
midget and “Dutch” in a Cycle powered midget.
September
20, 1946 – Here’s what Al Keller did that Friday night:
He won
the first heat and won the second heat.
He won both Semi-final races, and topped off the night with a feature
win. In the first heat he drove an
Outboard - # 11. In the third heat, he
drove the Chesbaugh V8. He turned over
the # 11 car to Charlie Miller for the feature.
Miller had previously crashed his blue # 2 Outboard
in the first heat, and the car was done for the night.
September
30, 1947 – a National record is set:
Bill
Schindler won his 8th feature of the year at Hinchliffe and that was
his 48th win of the year.
That’s the first time a driver has ever won 48 feature races in a
season. By the end of the season,
Schindler had a total of 53 feature wins.
However, he was not the ARDC’s driving champion, believe it or not. George Rice won the championship by a rather
healthy margin, too. Something else
happened on that day – September 30, 1947 little Johnny Ritter debuted his Canary Yellow # 3 Offy. Some 12 years later that Offy, while owned by
Ken Brenn, and driven by Rodger Ward, won the Formula Libra race that was held
on the mile and half road course at Lime Rock,
August 24, 1948 – Problems arrive.
The
management at Hinchliffe
has always insisted that there be a minimum of 24 cars per race
meet. On this date there were only 18
cars signed in. After two heats, the
racing was cancelled. The owners of the
Ford powered cars felt that the number of Offy powered cars should be limited
to a certain number at each program. Not
only that, but some drivers were receiving “guarantees” from other tracks to
not appear at Hinchliffe, but at those other tracks.
January
1, 1950 – The final midget race at Hinchliffe.
It was
called the “Gasoline Bowl”, and yes it was run outdoors, too. The midgets shared the race program with
“stock” cars. Art Cross won the midget
feature, with Hawley Kight second and Nick Fornoro 3rd.
June 5,
2010 – The Hinchliffe Stadium Racing Expo is scheduled. I was going to attend this show with Peter
Kessler, up until Tuesday morning that is.
Pete won’t be able to make it that day, and right now, I’m not sure if
I’ll be attending. But, one never
knows. The stadium is located on
Former Dirt Oval (
Note: In most cases, the names that appear in this section are names of those that have run at the Dirt Oval for an extended period of time. And, in some cases, maybe some only had occasional appearances at the Dirt Oval, too. And, yes, some I’m not even sure about!
Last week I forgot to put in that David Webb was 16th
in the SK Light feature at
In the “Big Show II” SDS race at OCFS last Wednesday, Michael Storms was 5th, Tim Hndley 6th and Danny Creeden 28th.
At Accord – Danny was 9th, Greg Hastie 10th and Clinton Mills 16th in the Modified feature. In the Sportsman feature, Anthony Perrego was 1st, Brian Krummeel 3rd, Mike Ruggiero 18th and Brad Szulewski 20th in his very first attempt in a Sportsman car. A problem with the cars distributor was the culprit for him only running a few laps in the feature. In the Spec Sportsman feature, Jason Roe was 6th Kyle Rohner 10th and Kayla Smykla 13th.
Roger Coss was 6th in the Modified feature at Wall Stadium.
At New Egypt, Johnny Guarino was 20th in the Modified feature and Jeff Gallup 13th in the SpeedSTR feature.
Davie Franek had a 2nd place finish in the 358 Sprint Car feature at Selinsgrove.
At Hamlin, in the 270 Micro feature, Rick Casario was 5th and Jacob Hendershot 16th. In the Wingless 600 Micro feature, Geordan Farry was 5th, Molly Chambers 17th, Brittany Tresch 18th, Luke Shotstkewitz 21st and Cait Chambers 23rd. In the 600 Rookie feature, Joe Kata was 3rd and in the held over 600 Rookie feature from May 8th Joe was the feature winner.
Mike Mammana was 9th in the Sportsman feature at Big Diamond.
Tiffany Wambold had a 2nd and a 3rd in the two 270 Rookie Micro Sprint features, at Borgers.
At
Michael Storms was 5th in the Modified feature
at
At OCFS on Saturday, in the hold over Sportsman feature, Joe Conklin was the winner, with Brian Krummel 7th, Matt Janiak 9th, Keith Still 10th and Bobby Hassenmayer a DNS. In the regular nights feature, Keith was 5th, Joe 6th, Matt Janiak 8th, Bobby 14th, Matt Hitchcock 19th and Brian 22nd.
In the nights Modifed feature, Clinton Mills was 4th, Tim Hidley 5th, Billy VanInwegen 17th, Danny Creeden 21st and Mike Ruggiero was a DNQ.
Last night – Wednesday, June 23rd, at Kutztown, in the 600 Wingless 600 Micro Sprint feature, Cait Chambers was 21st and Molly Chambers was a DNS. In the 270 Micro Sprints, Tiffany Wambold was 14th.
More
racin’ stuff:
Well I guess it’s racin’ stuff in a way, but here’s something that is a little troubling, in my way of thinking:
Pro
Stock car counts:
Last
Friday I was at Accord and they had 7 cars in the class. On Saturday, at OCFS, 12 cars were in action.
Meanwhile,
at
Now as you might recall, I made mention of my son having a Modified
race car for sale, a few weeks ago (still is, too – as of now). The other day he got a call from someone in the
OK,
I’m not exactly sure just how much a Pro Stock would cost compared to a
Sportsman – say with a “Crate” engine.
And I’m not sure just how the purses are for the Pro Stocks compared to
the Sportsman, but I’ve heard rumors on both, and I can see why, in some cases,
the car counts are so low – BUT, wouldn’t the Accord and OCFS tracks be in
somewhat better (financial) areas of the state, than say, Lebanon Valley? If so, then why the big
discrepancy in car counts, then?
Other forums/message boards and websites:
Track
Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
This was linked to on Track Forum: IndyCar returning to
Interested?
Then go here: http://www.indystar.com/article/20100620/SPORTS0107/100620004/1004/SPORTS/IndyCar-returning-to-New-Hampshire
Also, this:
http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/autoracing/articles/2010/06/22/irl_is_returning_to_loudon_in_2011/
And this rather interesting topic about four time
winners of the indy 500:
Frontstretch.com:
http://www.frontstretch.com/
I always like what Matt McLaughlin has to say, but there was this message when I went to the Frontstretch website:
Editor’s Note: Matt’s on vacation for the next two
weeks. For this edition, good buddy and
our Voices Fom The Hearland writer Jeff Meyer fills
in, with Tom Bowles adding a few odds ‘n’ ends to round things out.
These, below, were found here: http://www.frontstretch.com/jmeyer/29999/
Despite the disappointing ending, Marcos Ambrose (sixth) had his best finish this season. He also led laps for the first time all year.
Swede Mattias Ekstrom has now led more laps (seven) than Carl Edwards (two) in Sprint Cup this season.
Both Penske Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing had all three of their entrees finish outside the top 30. For Gibbs, it was their worst day on paper since the team expanded to three cars before the start of the 2005 season; Joey Logano, Hamlin and Kyle Busch ran 33rd, 34th and 39th, respectively.
Jayski:
- http://www.jayski.com/
New Hampshire could move race date and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, police
at impasse – read
about those items here: http://jayski.com/pages/tracks/nhms.htm
Daytona race on July 3rd will be 3D for the First Time in
NASCAR's history, Fuel mystery at Infineon UPDATE, Hamlin doesn't back off on
comments about cautions, Could Kahne stay in a Ford
for 2011, Hendrick says many options for Kahne in 2011 and TNT's
Chase
format could change? Check it out, here: http://jayski.com/teams/chase2010.htm
And:
Bobby Labonte to Drive for Robby Gordon Motorsports at
Loudon, New crew chief for Kenseth UPDATE, Analyst LaJoie suspended
indefinitely and Impact Racing allowed to sell to
NASCAR teams.
Read about the above by going here: http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news7wed
Dirt
Track Digest’s Forum: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forums/index
Some
interesting thoughts about Modified racing here in the Northeast can be read if
you go here: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forums/topic/35030-modified-summit/
A
while back I had read that DIRTcar was thinking of some body changes for the
Modified class. I’ve asked quite a few
what they thought might get changed, and most don’t really have an idea. I can see them going with Sail Panels for the
Big Block Modifieds. I’d rather see
thinner bodies and a lot less down force, too.
Put the racing more into what the driver feels in the seat of his
pants. Less down force would put less of
a strain on engines and drive lines and the tracks wouldn’t get as hard as they
do, too. I grimace every time I see a
photo of cars racing on a dirt track and you can see their reflections on the
tracks surface – like it was a mirror.
Race
Pro Weekly: - http://raceproweekly.com/
Check
this one out:
MIKE FELTENBERGER: Can Racing Win Back
Minor League Baseball Fans?
Note:
Sorry, but when I clicked on the link I was taken to it, but it still
showed this: http://raceproweekly.com/ on top of the
page, so no direct link to the article was available.
Video
time:
First, my apologies for what follows – a video from OCFS last Saturday night that was taken from inside the third turn. Unfortunately the enclosed trailers that are in the pit area block off much of the view. But since there’s been so much talk about the fairgrounds and track now being for sale, I thought I’d let ya see what it’s like, in a way, as to how the racing looks, to an extent on the big 5/8 mile oval.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLlyCjnrUGc
Is this true?:
Inmate claims
Madoff stowed $9 billion out of feds' reach
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100621/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2740
Note: I can see this happening, for sure.
And, what if this
is true – your employer contributes monies to your health care benefits, which
is good – or is it? What if what he
contributes gets added to your 2010 or 2011 as taxable income? Since it’s supposed to start in 2011, I have
to figure it MIGHT be for the 2010 taxable year? Not so good, maybe?
From an e-mail I
received:
Subject: Be informed, this starts next year...
And here we go...aren't
those people that thought this would be "FREE", going to be
surprised.
You
really need to read this……starts next year
This is supposed to be
part of the new Health Care Bill.
I
contacted my Congressman about House bill HR3590 the health care bill
that passed. I asked for a summary of changes.
The aid directed me to go to www: thomas.gov ;
enter HR3590 in the search
Box and look for summaries.
Starting in 2011
(next year folks) your W 2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to
show the value of what ever health insurance you are given by the company. It
does not matter if that's a private concern or governmental body of some sort.
If you're retired ? So what; your gross will go up by
the amount of insurance you get.
The dollar value (cost of what the company pays for your insurance) will be
considered income
and added to your gross pay. You will be taxed on the total
You will be required to pay taxes on a
large sum of money that you have
Never seen.
Take your tax form you just finished and see what $15,000 or $20,000
Additional gross does to your tax debt. That's what you'll pay next year.
For many it also puts you into a new higher bracket so it's even worse.
This is how the government is going to buy insurance for 15 % that don't
Have insurance and it's only part of the tax
increases.
Not believing this I researched the summaries and here's what I'm reading:
On page 25 of 29 :
TITLE IX REVENUE PROVISIONS- SUBTITLE A: REVENUE OFFSET PROVISIONS-(sec .
9001 , as modified by sec. 10901)
Sec.9002. "requires employers to include in
the W-2 form of each employee
The aggregate cost of applicable employer sponsored group health coverage
That is excludable from the employees gross income."
Joan Pryde is the senior tax editor for the Kiplinger letters. Go to
Kiplingers and read about 13 tax changes that could affect you. Number 3 is
What I just told you about.
Why am I sending you this ?. The same reason I hope
you forward this to
Every single person in your address book.
Other
(non racing) news:
Borrowers
exit troubled Obama mortgage program.
More
than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion
mortgage modification program have dropped
out.
As more people
leave the program, a new wave of foreclosures could occur. If that happens, it
could weaken the housing market and hold back the broader economic recovery.
Read all about
this, here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100621/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mortgage_aid
Closing with this:
A young boy enters
a barbershop and the barber whispers to his customer, "This is the dumbest
kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you."
The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then
calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?
The boy takes the quarters and leaves.
"What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never
learns!"
Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the
ice cream store.
"Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead
of the dollar bill?"
The boy licked his cone and replied, "Because the day I take the dollar
the game's over!"
May “Guardian Angels” sit on the shoulders of all of our race drivers and race fans, and guide them safely around the tracks!
Drive safe!
As usual, you can reach me
at: ygordad@yahoo.com