Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
By Tom
Avenengo
Volume # 21
First:
I came across a rather interesting thread on
the Dirt Track Digest’s Forum the other day – a thread about stock car racing
today, and where it might be headed. Check it out, here: http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forums/topic/35459-state-of-the-union/
Second:
I’m not a New York Yankee fan. Loved the Brooklyn Dodgers and then when the Mets came to be, they took the place of the “Bums”. Some sad news for Yankee fans over these past couple of days. The Yankee public address announcer, Bob Sheppard, passed away last Sunday at the age of 99. Then, early on Tuesday, the day of the All-Star game, George Steinbrenner also passed on, at 80 years of age. So, as we all seem to acknowledge, these things always “come in threes” – who might be next, and when?
Some
of my thoughts:
“Catch 22” is the situation that almost every racing promoter has when the weather forecast calls for wet weather. Cancel? Hold off? What to do? This happened in our area last Saturday. The forecast was really crummy with a good percentage of rain being forecasted. In some areas, heavy rain did fall in the early morning hours. Where I live, it was hardly noticeable. Some tracks ran, others, cancelled. Can’t blame them in either case. Still, it hurts to figure on going to a track, reading they had to cancel, then be blessed with a beautiful day. How many times have you been at a track, then some showers move in, the races get cancelled, then on your way out of the track, “Mr. Sunshine” appears? Sure you get pizzed. But, I bet not as much as the food concessionaires do – especially if they operate independent of the track.
Going back, in time:
Note: Most of the following
information was found here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
Covering
the days of July 8th to July 14th.
JULY 8
1951
Jack Hewitt... Born ... A
former driver and two-time champion in the USAC Silver Crown Series. He raced
in the 1998
JULY 9
2000
Joe Sostilio ... Died ...
Sostilio raced both sprint cars and midgets. He won the
JULY 10
1955
Jerry Hoyt... Died ... AAA
driver. Killed in a crash during a sprint car race at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1962
Tommy Milton ... Died ...
Milton was blind in the right eye at birth and had poor vision in his left eye.
Yet he was the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 twice, in 1921 and
1923. He was also the first to win the national driving championship two years
in a row, in 1920 and 1921. He began racing on dirt tracks in the Midwest in
1914 and won his first major victory at Providence, RI, in 1917. Milton won
five of nine championship races in 1919 before suffering severe burns when his
car burst into flames during a race at Uniontown, NJ. In 1920, he not only won
the driving championship, he set a new land speed record of 156.046 mph in a
special 16-cylinder Duesenberg that he helped to design. He retired from
competition after the 1925 season. Milton became chief steward of the
Indianapolis 500 from 1949 to 1957, when he retired because of poor health.
Milton had 17 victories in 85 races on dirt tracks and finished in the top five
35 other times.
1980
Adam Petty ... Born ...
The son of Kyle Petty, he was widely expected to become the next great Petty,
following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather Richard, and
great-grandfather Lee. He was the first fourth generation athlete in all of of
sports to participate in the chosen profession of his generations. On May 12,
2000, Petty was practicing his Busch Series car at New Hampshire International
Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire for the next day's 200-lap event when the
throttle of his car stuck and sent him head-on into a wall. The impact killed
Petty immediately.
JULY 11
1911
Mel Hansen ... Born ...
AAA driver . In 21 starts between 1939 and 1949, he won twice (1948 Atlanta in
Ray Carter's '39 Wetteroth/Offenhauser, the 1941 Speedway winner, and 1949
Springfield in the '49 Bowes Lesovsky/Offenhauser), was second once (1949
Trenton) and fourth once (1947 Milwaukee). His best championship position was
9th in 1940. He was also a noted midget driver, and won the important Turkey
Night Grand Prix in 1939 and the URA (blue circuit) Midget Championship in
1945. His career ended in 1949 after a bad midget crash in Detroit.
1930
Buddy Cagle ... Born ...
AAA / USAC driver from the 1950's.
1971
Pedro Rodriguez died when
his Ferrari 512M crashed while leading the Interseries race at the Norisring in
West Germany. He became the two-time world champion driver in the fearsome
Porsche 917. He developed into one of the sport's greatest all-rounders, racing
F1, CanAm, NASCAR, rallies and even becoming North American Ice Racing champion
in 1970. In his NASCAR career, Rodríguez earned two top tens, including a 5th
in the 1965 World 600.
JULY 12
1949
Rick Hendrick... Born ...
NASCAR team owner. Rick Hendrick drove in the 1987 and 1988 Winston Cup races
at Riverside International Raceway, finishing 33rd (out with transmission
problems after racing to the Top 10) and 15th. He also had a single start in
the Busch Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. He had been a pit crew member
for Flying 11 that Ray Hendrick drove in the 1960s. Rick Hendrick is an owner
of several NASCAR stock cars and teams, as well as Hendrick Automotive Group,
one of the largest automotive chains in the United States. Hendrick
Motorsports, founded in 1984, is one of the most successful teams in NASCAR
racing, with Sprint Cup championships won in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001,
2006, and 2007.
JULY 13
1914
Sam Hanks ... Born ... He
won his first championship in 1937 on the West Coast in the AMA. He barnstormed
the country, racing on the board tracks at Soldier Field in Chicago and the Los
Angeles Coliseum Motordome. Hanks reportedly won the first two board track
races at Soldier Field in 1939. Hanks won the 1940 VFW Motor City Speedway
championship. After World War II, he captured the 1946 URA Blue Circuit
Championship. He won the 1947 Night before the 500 midget car race. He was the
1949 AAA National Midget champion. He won the 1956 Pacific Coast championship
in the USAC Stock cars. He won the 1957 Indianapolis 500 at his thirteenth
attempt at the race, the most tries of any Indy winner, and announced his
retirement from racing in Victory Circle. Hanks was inducted in the National
Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1984, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame
in 1998 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2000. He drove the pace
car at the Indianapolis 500 from 1958 to 1963.
1993
Davey Allison ... Died ...
A NASCAR race car driver, best known as the driver of the Robert Yates Racing
#28 Texaco-Havoline Ford. Born in Hollywood, Florida, he was the eldest of four
children born to NASCAR driver Bobby Allison and wife Judy. The family moved to
Hueytown, Alabama and along with Bobby's brother Donnie Allison, family friend
Red Farmer, and Neil Bonnett, became known in racing circles as the Alabama
Gang. Davey Allison died as a result of a helicopter crash at Talladega
Superspeedway on July 13, 1993. Racing legend Red Farmer was a passenger in the
helicopter and survived the crash.
JULY 14
1957
Marvin Panch drove the
Herb Thomas Pontiac to victory in the 200 mile NASCAR Grand National race on
the 1.5 mile dirt Memph-Ark Speedway in Lehi, Arkansas. Paul Goldsmith led the
first 36 laps before Curtis Turner took over in a convertible (the race was
open to both Grand National and Convertible division entries) and Goldsmith's
Yunick Ford blew the engine on lap 38. Turner's Holman-Moody Ford led until
Jack Smith moved by on lap 72. Smith had the race well in hand until his Chevy
blew it's engine, prompting a disgusted Smith to announce his retirement after
the race (he would return within a couple of weeks!). Panch held off the
challenge of Oregon's Bill Amick to take the win. Blinding dust caused many in
the estimated crowd of 9,500 to leave half-way through and caused two caution
periods that lasted a total of 56 minutes while the track was watered. The dust
cautions were the only yellow flags. The race proved to be the finale for the
track, which still sits idle in the Arkansas countryside, near an Interstate
highway.
Racing
on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Friday,
July 16th:
7:00
PM to 8:30 PM on SPEED – NASCAR Truck qualifying from St. Louis, MO.
9:00
PM to 11:30 PM on SPEED – Truck race from St. Louis.
Saturday,
July 17th:
4:30
PM to 6:00 PM on ESPN2 – Nationwide qualifying from St. Louis, MO.
7:30
PM to 11:00 PM on SPEED – Legends Million from Charlotte, N.C.
8:00
PM to 11:00 PM on ESPN2 – Nationwide race from St. Louis, MO
11:00
PM to 1:00 AM on ESPN2 – NHRA qualifying from Sonoma, CA.
11:00
PM to 12:00 AM on SPEED – AMA Superbikes from Lexington, OH.
Sunday,
July 18th:
12:00
AM to 1:00 AM on SPEED – AMA Sportbike and Supersport highlights from
Lexington, OH.
8:00
AM to 9:00 AM on SPEED – FIM MotoGP from Germany
12:30
PM to 3:00 PM on ABC – Indycar race from Toronto
1:00
PM to 4:00 PM on SPEED – Grand Am Rolex Series from Millville, N.J.
6:00
PM to 9:00 PM on ESPN2 – NHRA Eliminations from Sonoma, CA
Monday,
July 19th:
12:00
AM to 1:00 AM on SPEED – AMA Daytona Sportbike from Lexington, OH.
1:00
AM to 2:00 AM on SPEED – AMA Superbike and Sportbike highlights from Lexington
Track
news – (for tracks in my area):
This coming Friday:
A regular show plus the addition of the ARDC midgets and, from what I can see, a “Still” date for the Atlantic Coast Old Timers (ACOT) – meaning no on track exhibition runs for the restored older cars. I hope that one-day, before I go, that I’ll be able to hear and smell an Outboard powered midget one more time!
Former ARDC President, Ken Brenn, Jimmy Maguire, former ARDC President Ron Lauer, and well known race driver Johnny Heydenreich, who will be the “Grand Marshall” for the night, and will also compete with the ARDC, are scheduled to be in attendance.
Speaking of Johnny Heydenreich, the last time I saw him race was a few years ago in the PRA sanctioned Silver Crown race at USA International Speedway in Florida. We had a great time there, until Johnny and I believe it was Tracy Hines got together then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq6NYS58Ihc&eurl
Yes, it was Johnny in that blue car. Tracy can be seen bailing out of his car and falling onto the track surface. Jimmy Kite can be seen stopping his car on the inside of the track, getting out, and getting help pushing his car back, away from the burning fuel. It was remarkable that Heydenreich didn’t get some serious burns, since he was actually rolling in the fuel once he was able to exit the burning car. Prior to that race I was able to get a good photo of John and my daughter, Sarah. At the same time, Rich Golardi, who accompanied us, also got a shot of those two.
I found this, on the ARDC’s message board:
OCFS:
The CRSA 305 Sprint Cars will be at OC on July 17th.
The Orange County Fair will run from July 21st to August 1st.
A 100 lap Enduro is scheduled for July 22nd.
On July 25th, it’s Demo Derby time.
The Sportsman class has a 50-lap feature on July 28th, and that will also be a qualifier for the Sportsman race on Eastern States Weekend.
The 358 Small Block Modifieds headline the racing on July 31st. That is also a qualifier for the Small Block race on Eastern States Weekend. The Big Blocks will not be racing on the 31st at OC. I’m wondering how many Small Blocks they might get for that show on the 31st, since OC has, in effect, dropped that class for 2010.
Also, I’m not sure just what days/nights the drive-in section is open during the fair. Probably not for the Demo Derby.
Last week I gave the purse breakdown for the 358 Challenge that’s coming up on Thursday, August 5th. This week I was hoping to show you some of the names that are already entered, then decided not to, since there are only 9 names shown, as was the case, last week, then decided, what the hey – show who has entered. So, here are the 9 names that are listed, so far:
1) Rich Scagliotta
2)
Rick Laubach
3)
Ronnie Johnson
4)
Billy Decker
5)
Pat Ward
6)
Larry Wight
7)
Kirk Horton
8)
Tim Hindley
9)
Jeff Heotzler
With this event only three weeks from
the date of publication – July 15th, of this column, I’m rather
surprised that Brett Hearn doesn’t have it listed on his schedule – yet. And, I’m rather surprised to see no
Pennsylvania drivers listed – yet.
OVRP’s
Dirt Oval:
They have a practice session scheduled for Friday night, and regular racing for Karts and Slingshots on Saturday. Quads and Bikes are scheduled for Sunday.
Hamlin:
Looks like a regular show at Hamlin – Junior and Senior Slingshots, Rookie 270 and 600 Micro Sprints, with regular 270 and 600 Micros on the schedule. Also Johnny Heydenreich is scheduled to appear at Hamlin, too. I wonder if he’ll land a ride in a 600 or 270?
Bethel:
A regular show at Bethel is scheduled. Regular show consists of:
Dirt
Sportsman, Pro Stock, BMS Modified, Street Stock, 4 Cylinder
Note: As of 4:00 PM on Wednesday, the forecast for this general area is basically the same for each track, above.
Friday: Some clouds and possibly an isolated
thunderstorm in the afternoon. Hot. High 91F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance
of rain 30%.
Saturday: Slight chance of a thunderstorm. Highs
in the low 90s and lows in the low 70s.
Sunday: A few thunderstorms possible. Highs in
the upper 80s and lows in the upper 60s.
The
History of the Sport:
From
last week: “Note: More by Peter Kessler over then next two
weeks!”
A
change in plans. Since what I put on
here is what Peter has in the “Hard Clay” racing program for OCFS, and since
they rained out last Saturday, it will be another week before more from Peter.
So,
from the book about Langhorne:
October
12, 1947 – 100 mile ARDC Midget race:
If I’m
not mistaken, this race was held the day after George Rice clinched the ARDC’s
driving championship at the Danbury track.
This information, below, was obtained from
the book about Langhorne by L. Spencer Riggs.
For
those of you that do not know about the Langhorne track, it was just about a
perfect circle and was one mile in length, per lap. The whole track was built at an angle, with
the lowest part being what one could call the first turn. That part of the track, mostly due to it
being lower, was usually the dampest part of the track, and also the roughest. It had a name – “Puke Hollow”. Over the years, “Puke Hollow” claimed the
lives of many drivers – some well known and some not so. On October 12, 1947, “Puke Hollow” didn’t
claim anyone, thank God.
Keep
in mind – back in 1947 there was no Interstate Highway system. Midgets of the day ran on smaller and skinnier
tires than what you see them using today.
Safety features that we know of, today, were practically non existent
back then. Open face helmets, with
goggles, uniforms that consisted of “T” shirts, regular pants, underwear and
shoes were the order of the day.
Gloves? Maybe some wore
them. I’m willing to think that a
majority didn’t.
It’s
reported that there were 39,722 fans in the stands back on that day. The starting field would be similar to the
Indy 500 – eleven rows with three cars per row.
Over 90 cars were entered, from all over the country, and from five
major sanctioning race bodies, to boot.
Today, that might be hard to duplicate.
The
track record for midgets was broken that day by Don Brennan. He turned the mile track in 35.048 seconds,
for an average speed of 102.716 MPH.
Next to him on the first row were Troy Ruttman and Mike O’Halloran. Henry Banks, Paul Russo and Neal Carter made
up row two. The third row consisted of
Bernie Kelly, Chet Gibbons and Eddie Johnson.
Bill Schindler, Lee Wallard and Bill Randall, were in the 4th
row. Ted Tappett (Phil Walters), George Fonder and defending race winner Al
Bonnell made up the fifth row. Names
similar to those, like George Rice, Lloyd Christopher, Johnny Mantz, Jimmy
Caris, Henry Renard, Dee Toran, George Marshman, Vernon Land and Mack
Hellings filled out the remaining
rows. The car of Troy Ruttman failed to
start, and he was replaced with Ernie McCoy in his Ford powered midget.
O’Halloran,
in the Johnny Pawl Off took the lead at the start. The whole field stayed glued together over
the first few laps, finally spreading out some after the third lap. The fans could see that Rice and Schindler
were on the move by the 10th lap.
Pawl had O’Halloran pit on his 25th lap for tires and fuel. Rice took over the lead, followed by
Schindler. The night before, at Danbury,
Rice clinched the 1947 ARDC driving championship over Schindler, despite
Schindler having won 53 features.
Brennan,
Fonder, Christopher and Harry Eckert also pitted – following O’Hollaran. Ten laps later, Schindler blew a right rear
tire. That put Bonnell behind Rice, with
Banks in third and Gibbons fourth. Eckert
was exhausted and had to be pulled from his car.
Shortly
thereafter, Eddie Johnson flipped s car, going end over end, a few times. There’s a photo in the book showing Eddie
sitting on the guard rail, looking at his car, as it sat, on all four wheels,
on the track. It says that when the tow
truck hooked up to the car, then engine fell out.
At
fifty laps it was still Rice leading, and both he and Bonnell pitted, giving
the lead to Banks. As he took the lead,
Banks had a right rear tire blow on his car.
Gibbons then took the lead, only to have his right rear let go,
too. Schindler and Randall both had
another blow out on their right rears.
O’Halloran took over the lead before Gibbons could get out of the pits.
Rice
passed O’Halloran, unlapping himself.
Wallard and Tappett pitted for tires.
Dee Toran relieved Caris. Rice
was turning the track faster than the rest of the field, and was gaining on the
leader. Bonnell started to pick up the
pace and Mantz was right with him, although while in third and fourth place,
they were four laps behind O’Halloran and Rice.
Bonnell lost his engine with three laps to go. With two laps to go, Rice ran out of
gas. O’Halloran ended up winning the
race which took him 1:04:54.22 to run the 100 miles. His average speed: over 95 MPH.
Behind
him came Mantz, Gibbons, Brennan, Schindler, Toran, Rice, Randall, Marshman,
Elmer Wilson, Renard, Bonnell, Land, Hellings and Dinsmore.
The
book – Langhorne! No Man’s Land is available, and I know it’s available at
Coastal 181 http://www.coastal181.com/
And: http://www.coastal181.com/nlm-working-April-2005/shorttrack-2.htm#LANGHORNE!__No_Mans_Land
And
also at the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing
http://www.emmr.org/
Are
you a fan of midget racing, or know of someone that is? How about from the Buffalo, N.Y. area? Did you know that there is a book about the
midget racing in Buffalo, from “Back in the day”? It’s called “Daredevils of the
Frontier” and was written by a close friend of mine, the late Keith
Herbst. That’s also available, now at a
reduced price, I should add, at Coastal 181, and can be found If you go to this
link, then scroll down:
http://www.coastal181.com/nlm-working-April-2005/sale_books.htm
Former Dirt Oval (Oakland Valley Speedway) runners:
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!
At Penn Can in the Crate Sportsman feature I see the name Corey Ziegler in 10th place. Might there be two Corey Zieglers? I doubt it.
Mike Mammana was 2nd in the Sportsman feature at Big Diamond.
Tiffany Wambold was 8th in the 270 Micro Sprint make up feature from May 29th, and was 3rd in the Rookie 270 feature. Kyle Rohner was 7th in the Stage One Modifieds.
At Lebanon Valley, Kolby Schroder was 3rd, Kyle Armstrong 8th and Alex Bell 10th in the Sportsman feature.
David Webb had a 6th place finish in the SK Light feature at Stafford.
Nick Pecko was 10th in the Modified feature at the Sundance Vacations track.
At Hamlin, in the 270 Micro Sprints, Rick Casario was 6th. In the 600 Micro feature, Geordan Farry was 5th, Brittany Tresch 11th, Luke Schostkewitz 20th, Molly Chambers 25th and Cait Chambers was a DNS. In the Rookie 600’s Joe Kata was 1st in their feature.
At 5 Mile Point in the ROC events, Danny Creeden was 15th in the Modified feature while Anthony Perrego was 10th and Brad Szulewski 12th in the Sportsman feature.
Kenney Johnson had a rather rude welcome to the racing wars with his Tobias SpeedSTR car, this past weekend. He was 15th at Shangri La II, after an on track incident, which was not of his doing, while Jeff Gallup finished 9th. At Dunn Hill, another on track incident – another case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and reading on Facebook, this time he rolled the car. I couldn’t find results for the Dunn Hill race, either on the Dunn Hill website or on SpeedSTR’s results on their website, as of midnight, Wednesday.
The ARDC was at Williams Grove for two features, one from May 8th, plus their regular show for the night. Justin Grosz had a 17th in the held over feature and a 16th in the regular.
On Saturday, with OC rained out, Matt Hitchcock venture out to 5 Mile and had a 9th place finish in the Sportsman feature.
The CRSA 305 Sprint Cars were in action at the I-88 Speedway – formerly called Afton, and Josh Pieniazek was 6th and Chuck Alessi 8th in the feature.
Accord had Clinton Mills 9th, Danny Creeden 10th, Tom Hindley 13th and Jimmy Johnson 25th in their Modified feature. Brian Krummel was 2nd, Anthony Perrego 3rd, Mike Ruggiero 6th and Brad Szulewski 14th in the Sportsman feature. The Spec Sportsman feature had Jason Roe 5th, RJ Smykla 8th, Kayla Smykla 11th and Kyle Rohner 12th.
More
racin’ stuff:
Jimmy Garrison. That name might nor ring a bell to most of you readers. Jimmy races 600 Micro Sprints, mostly out in PA. A couple of weeks ago, he was involved in a serious crash during the “Speed Week” series of races.
This, from the Micro Sprint message board:
“Newmanstown, Pa. - July 3 -
With two laps complete in the 600cc C-Main, Jim Garrison was involved in a
violent crash into the turn three guardrail during Saturday night's Micromania
at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
Garrison's injuries were serious enough to warrant transportation to the
Hershey Medical Center via the Life Lion helicopter. Reports from those who
traveled to the hospital indicated that Garrison suffered broken bones in his
face, along with a severe concussion. He was being taken into surgery in the
early morning hours on Sunday, but doctors felt certain that he would make a
full recovery.
After the crash, all of the drivers and car owners were called to a meeting,
and the decision was made to cancel the remainder of the racing program. The
drivers and owners unanimously voted to donate the entire purse, totaling more
than $26,000, to the Garrison family. "That was the most incredible and
classiest thing I've ever seen," stated Trip Kone, one of the PA 600
Speedweek organizers.”
Wow! Racing people sure
are great, aren’t they – turning all those monies over to Jimmy! I had also read that Jimmy had some vertebrae
problems also.
The latest, as of July 8th:
“Jimmy is up and awake today
he has read all of the posts that everyone has posted he said to make sure that
everyone knows he is ok and he appreicates all of your thoughts and prayers. He
said that he will be back at the track as soon as they let him. But he will be
back in a car racing next season.”
Note: I made a post on the
Micro Sprint message board about insurance that’s available for race drivers,
and here is the link, again, for you to check out, if you’re a racer and are in
search of insurance. Must tell you
though, it’s only for those that race with cars that have roll cages – which
does include Champ Karts, etc etc. http://www.stida.com/
Even more stuff:
Racecar numbers – have you noticed how almost 100% of the
numbers are of “block” design? Why?
How many “fancy” numbers do you get to see? Why so few?
I’ll not get into the way they slant the numbers today,
especially on stock cars – completely opposite of how they were “back in the
day”.
Other forums/message boards and websites:
You might find some interesting reading if you go to the links below.
Track
Forum: - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
Frontstretch.com:
http://www.frontstretch.com/
Jayski:
- http://www.jayski.com/
Open
Wheel Racers3: http://www.openwheelracers3.com/
Race
Pro Weekly: http://raceproweekly.com/
Video
time:
OK, how
about another music video. This one with
Waylon Jennings and Cheryl Ladd. Cheryl
just turned 59 this past Monday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7rhYe6sMtY&feature=related
Is this true?:
Maybe you’ve received and e-mail that, in part, contains what I’ve copied
and pasted, below. Is it true? And if so, how can we, as American citizens
stop it from happening? It’s about Nancy
Pelosi and what she supposedly has come out and said.
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT OUR PAYCHECKS WILL BE DEPOSITED INTO A COMMUNITY ACCOUNT AND THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE GIVING US AN ALLOWANCE !
Windfall Tax on Retirement Income
Adding a tax to your retirement is simply another way of saying to the American
people, you're so darn stupid that we're going to keep doing this until we
drain every cent from you. That's what the Speaker of the House is
saying. Read below................
Nancy Pelosi wants a Windfall Tax on
Retirement Income. In other words, tax what you have made by
investing toward your retirement. This woman is a nut case! You aren't
going to believe this.
Madam speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to
put a Windfall Tax on all stock market profits (including Retirement fund, 401K
and Mutual Funds! Alas, it is true ------ AND AFTER 2010 SHE
WANTS 55 PERCENT OF YOUR INHERITANCE---- THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN
TAXED ON!
This woman is frightening. She quotes...' We need to work
toward the goal of equalizing income, (didn't Marx say something like
this?) in our country and at the same time limiting the amount the rich can
invest.'
When asked how these new tax dollars would be spent, she replied:
'We need to raise the standard of living of our poor, unemployed and minorities.
For example, we have an estimated 12 million illegal
immigrants in our country who need our help along with millions of
unemployed minorities. Stock market windfall profits taxes
could go a long way to guarantee these people the standard of
living they would like to have as 'Democrats'.'
(Read that quote again and again and let it sink in.) 'Lower
your retirement, give it to others who have not worked as you have for it'.
Note: So, true or
false? If true, will we find out too
late?
Other
(non racing) news:
Prescription drugs – I take some. Perhaps you might take some, too. I’ve been taking some since June of 1996. One was Avandia. Another one was Actos – a drug in competition with Avandia. One must wonder – just how safe are the drugs we’re taking or have taken? Both of the drugs named I no longer take, but might there be some kind of affects still – maybe down the road?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_glaxosmithkline_avandia_court
And:
“Job
openings drop in May as hiring stays weak”.
Not very good news, for sure – and school wasn’t out yet, in most of the
country!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Job-openings-drop-in-May-as-apf-1383917273.html?x=0
Plus:
During the Senate
impasse, from the week ended June 5 to the week ended July 10, more than 2.1
million Americans lost their benefits. Another million will join them by July
31.
In Ohio alone,
where unemployment stood at 10.7 percent in May, more than 83,000 people lost
their benefits in June.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100714/us_nm/us_usa_economy_unemployment
Closing with these:
Why the US is in deep trouble
A DC airport ticket agent offers some examples of why.
(Last
six of twelve)
7. A New York
lawmaker, (Jerrold Nadler) called and asked, ''Do airlines put your physical
description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?'' I said,
"No, why do you ask?"
He replied, ''Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my
luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!''
After putting him on hold for a minute, while I looked into it. (I was dying
laughing). I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, Ca. is (FAT -
Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on his
luggage.
8. A Senator John Kerry aide (Lindsay Ross) called to inquire about a trip
package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, ''Would it be
cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii ?''
9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman, Bobby Bright from
Alabama who asked, "How do I know which plane to get on?''
I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, ''I was told my flight
number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.''
10. Senator Dianne
Feinstein called and said, ''I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, Florida. Do I have to
get on one of those little computer planes?''
I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola, FL , on a commuter plane.
She said, ''Yeah, whatever, smarty!''
11. Mary Landrieu, Louisiana Senator, called and had a question about the
documents she needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about
passports, I reminded her that she needed a visa. "Oh, no I don't. I've
been to China many times and never had to have one of those.''
I double checked and sure enough, her stay required a visa. When I told her
this she said, ''Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have
accepted my American Express!''
12. A New Jersey Congressman (John Adler) called to make reservations, ''I want
to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York.''
I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, ''Are you sure that's the name of
the town?''
"Yes, what flights do you have?'' replied the man.
After some searching, I came back with, ''I'm sorry, sir, I've looked up every
airport code in the country and can't find a rhino anywhere.."
The man retorted, ''Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your
map!''
So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, ''You don't
mean Buffalo, do you?''
The reply? ''Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.''
Note: Kinda sad, isn’t it – some of those above
have been elected as our leaders!
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