Racin' & Internet Stuff:

By Tom Avenengo

Volume # 26

8/19/2010

First:

It seems that I had some incorrect info in my column last week, with this, about the late Eric Koster:

“Note #1: At the end of my column will be his obituary. But I did find this in a forum that I frequent:

“His ashes will be strapped into a Modified at OCFS this Saturday night for one last Feature!”

It seems that was incorrect. However, something is being planned for Eric during Eastern States Weekend, at OCFS. Sorry for that wrong info!!!

Next:

I didn’t see too much of the Cup race from Michigan last Sunday, but did get a glimpse of some goings on after the race between Joey Logano and Ryan Newman. I was on the phone at the time, and hand the sound off, so I really didn’t hear what might have been said, but from what I’ve read on the Internet, it seems that Joey was mad because Ryan was RACING him? Huh?

Some of my thoughts:

1. On September 18^th, OCFS will have its annual “Eve of Destruction” night. Last year, from what I had heard/read, the place was packed. In a way, with the previous weeks features rained out, I thought it would have been good to have maybe both features run in front of that packed house – figuring that some that were in attendance might be drawn back - to watch racing in the future. So now, I thinking – maybe they should schedule one race with maybe the Sportsman class, to be held on the 18^th so the expected full house crowd could see some actual racing? Doubt it would happen though.

2. Hey! Would this work? Everyone is saying how NASCAR has fallen on hard times with a lack of butts in the seats and TV viewing of their Cup races being down. So, might this work:

Hold time trials as usual. Top qualifier, only, gets a bonus of 100 points, to ensure that there would be no “sandbagging” during qualifying. Then, after qualifying, say numbers 20 through 35 are placed in a “hat”. Those numbers would mean the way the field would be “inverted”, so if they picked out number 24, the 24^th fastest qualifier would start on the pole, while the fastest qualifier would start 24^th. From 24^th on to the back would be those that qualified from 24^th on back, along with the “Go or go home” drivers – if NASCAR still had that ridiculous rule, that is.

Your thoughts?

3. As far as I’m concerned, the ARDC Midgets put on one whale of a show last Friday night at the Accord Speedway. There were quite a few “slide jobs” during the night. What was somewhat surprising was the closeness of times between the fastest laps for the Midgets, Modifieds, Sportsman and Spec Sportsman.

Fastest heat times:

Midget – Bruce Buckwalter – 12.854 = 70.028 MPH

Modified - Danny Creeden – 13.007 = 69.194

Sportsman – Mike Ruggiero – 13.275 = 67.797

Spec Sportsman – Mike DuBois – 13.721 = 65.593

Fastest feature times:

Midget – Tim Buckwalter – 13.244 = 67.955

Modified – John McGill – 13.227 = 68.043

Sportsman – Darrell Ford – 13.453 = 66.900

Spec Sportsman – Ken Hinsch – 13.856 = 64.954

Going back, in time:

Note: Most of the following information was found here:

http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html

Covering the days of August 12^th to 19^th

AUGUST 12
1919

Clark "Shorty" Templeman ... Born ... Shorty drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1954-1962 seasons with 42 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 races in 1955, 1958, and 1960-1962. He finished in the top ten 16 times, with his best finish in 2nd position, in 1961 at both DuQuoin and Syracuse. His best Indy finish was 4th in 1961. He won five Washington State and three Oregon midget state championships. Templeman won all three Night Before the 500 midget car features at the 16th Street Speedway in Indianapolis in 1956. Templeman won the first three USAC National Midget Series champions when he won titles in 1956, 1957, and 1958. Templeman died as a result of injuries sustained in a midget car crash at the Marion County, Ohio Fairgrounds track. He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1984.

1933

Rufus Parnell "Parnelli" Jones ... Born ... A retired American racing driver and racecar owner. He is most remembered for his 1963 Indianapolis 500 win, and almost winning the 1967 Indy 500 in a turbine car. He is also remembered for bringing the stock block engine to USAC Sprint car racing as one of the "Chevy Twins" with Jim Hurtubise. In his career, Parnelli Jones won races in many types of vehicles: sports cars, IndyCars, sprint cars, midget cars, off-road vehicles, and stock cars. He is associated with the famous Boss 302 Mustang with his wins using the engine in the 1970s. Jones' son P. J. Jones was also a diverse driver, with IndyCar and NASCAR starts. His other son Page Jones was an up-and-coming driver before suffering career ending (and life-threatening) injuries in a sprint car at the 4-Crown Nationals, and has been in rehabilitation, working with his father-in-law. Jones retired with six IndyCar wins and twelve pole positions, four wins in 34 NASCAR starts , 25 midget car feature wins in occasional races between 1960 and 1967, and 25 career sprint car wins . His fifteen wins is eighth on the all-time in NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model history. Jones started Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing, which won the Indianapolis 500 again as an owner in 1970 and 1971 with driver Al Unser driving the Johnny Lightning special. The team also won the 1971, 1972, and 1973 USAC National Championships. Jones owned the Parnelli Formula One race team from late 1974 to early 1976, although it achieved little success. Jones returned to off-road racing as owner of Walker Evans' 1976 SCORE truck, and Evans won the championship. They teamed up for the 1977 CORE Class 2 championship. Jones owned vehicles that took class wins at the Baja 500 and Baja 1000. His USAC Dirt Car won two championships and the Triple Crown three times. Jones is inducted in over 20 Halls of Fame.

AUGUST 13
1935

Rick Muther... Born ... USAC / CART driver from the 1960's & 1970's.

AUGUST 14

1956

Rusty Wallace ... Born ... A former NASCAR champion, NASCAR Nationwide Series car owner, and television broadcaster with ESPN and ESPN on ABC.

AUGUST 15
1927

Eddie Rickenbacker bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Carl Fisher and Jim Allison for about $700,000.

1956

Robin Pemberton ... Born ... Pemberton was a crew chief for several NASCAR teams over 17 years, heading teams for Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin and Kyle Petty. Pemberton was field manager for Ford Racing immediately prior to being named VP of Competition for NASCAR in 2004.

1958

Andy Petree ... Born ... A NASCAR veteran who has been a driver, car owner and two-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup-winning crew chief for the late Dale Earnhardt, made his television debut in 2007 as an analyst on ESPN and ABC's multi-platform NASCAR coverage.

1964

Sam Schmidt ... Born ... A former Indy Racing League driver and current IRL and Indy Pro Series team owner. While testing in preparation for the 2000 season, Sam Schmidt suffered a crash at Walt Disney World Speedway that rendered him a quadriplegic.

AUGUST 16
1906

George Connor... Born ... AAA driver from the 1930's , 40's & 50's who ran the Indy 500 14 times with a best finish of 3rd in 1949.

1916

Iggy Katona... Born ... An American stock car racer from Willis, Michigan. He is most famous for his performance in the ARCA series in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, where he won six championships and a series record 79 races. Other ARCA records held by Katona include most starts (630), oldest race winner (57 years old, Daytona International Speedway, 1974) and most consecutive seasons with a win (19, from 1953-1971).

2007

John Blewett III... Died ... John Blewett III was killed after an accident at the Thompson International Speedway in Thompson CT. John Blewett III got into an accident, while driving his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour racecar during the New England Dodge Dealers 150. John died as a result of an accident, which involved his brother Jimmy Blewett. The brothers were racing for the lead following a restart of the race on lap 107, when Jimmy hit a wall and then struck John Blewett's car. John Blewett suffered head and neck injuries and had to be extricated from his car. John was one of New England's most accomplished and most popular stars of the last 10-12 years, winning 10 times in the top modified tour and several other track championships and regional honors.

AUGUST 17

1947

Tony Bettenhausen won the AAA sanctioned George Robson Memorial 100 Mile race on the 1 Mile Dirt Oval Good Time Park in Goshen, New York. Ted Horn finished second followed by Charles Van Acker, Duke Dinsmore and George Connor.

Note: I’ll have info on this race further down in my column in the “History of the Sport” section

1952

Nelson Piquet ... Born ... A Brazilian race driver who was Formula One world champion in 1981, 1983, and 1987. He is one of the few men to win at least three world championships in the history of Formula One (the others being Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna (3 each), Alain Prost (4), Juan Manuel Fangio (5), and Michael Schumacher (7).

1973

Fred Offenhauser... Died ... He became a toolmaking machinist with Pacific Electric Railway. In 1913, he went to work for Harry A. Miller, a successful manufacturer of carburetors. Offenhauser helped Miller turn a flood of ideas for racing engines into metal. Engines that began to win races. As early as 1922, an eight-cylinder Miller engine won the Indianapolis 500, as Millers would for nine out of the next 12 years. In 1932, he encouraged Harry Miller to build a 255 cubic inch, four-cylinder racing engine. The powerplant outlived Miller's bankruptcy and went on, in various forms, to win the Indianapolis 500 30 times, twice the Miller nameplates and 28 times with Offenhsauser identification. When Miller lost his business in 1933 and Offenhauser took part of the 18 months in back wages he was owed in the form of machinery, patterns and parts, setting up shop just around the corner from the Miller plant in LA and made parts for the Miller 255. In 1934, to meet the demand for a reliable engine for the new sport of midget racing, Offenhauser had Leo Goosen draw up a much smaller version of the 255. Quickly dubbed "The Mighty Midget," that engine came to dominate midget racing until the rules changed in the 1960s. Fred put his stamp on the big 255 and 270 engines in 1935 and Kelly Petillo won the Indy 500 that year with an Offenhauser. After World War II, Fred sold the business to Lou Meyer and Dale Drake who carried on the Offy engine. Fred died on August 17, 1973. In May of the same year, Johnny Rutherford had put a turbo-Offy on the pole at Indy. Gordon Johncock won the race with another Offy. His engines would win three more 500s before the turbo boost rules brought an end to the Offenhauser dynasty

2000

Chuck Booth ... Died ... USAC driver from the 1960's.

AUGUST 18

1942

Larry McCoy... Born ... Larry was born in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, McCoy died by suicide in 1997. He made his Midget debut in 1966 with ARDC. Larry toured USAC with the Midgets and Sprints. He drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1972-1976 seasons with 24 starts, including the 1975 and 1976 Indianapolis 500. His best finish was 12th place at Pocono Raceway in 1974.

AUGUST 19

1926

Johnny Boyd ... Born ... Boyd drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series from 1954 to 1966 with 56 starts. He finished in the top ten 31 times, with his best finish in 2nd position, in 1959 at Milwaukee. Boyd qualified for the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in 1955 but finished 29th after being involved in an accident that killed driver Bill Vukovich. In a dozen starts, his best race was in 1958, when he led 18 laps and finished 3rd. In total, he finished in the Top 10 at the 500 five times. After 1949 Boyd had become close friends with Bob Sweikert of Hayward, California when he met him on the California racing circuit. The two often raced together, and Boyd qualified for entry in the 1955 Indianapolis 500 when Sweikert helped him overcome mechanical handling problems in Boyd's car. Sweikert won the race that day, but was overshadowed by the death of Vukovich. Boyd also raced against Sweikert in 1956 at Indy, but Sweikert was killed several weeks later in a Sprint car race. Boyd retired as a driver after failing to qualify for the Indy 500 and Milwaukee race in 1967. He died of cancer at age 77 in his hometown of Fresno.

1975

Mark Donohue... Died ... Known for his ability to set up his own race car and drive it consistently on the absolute limit. Donohue is probably best-known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp "Can-Am Killer" Porsche 917-30, and as winner of the 1972 Indianapolis 500. Ran USAC INDY cars from 1968 to 1973. Died of injuries from a crash in Austrian GP practice.

Note: I’ve seen his name spelled two different ways – Donohue and Donahue.

Racing on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm

Starting last week, I’ll let you go to the link, above, and see what’s on and when. Hope ya don’t mind!

Track news – (for tracks in my area):

Accord: http://www.accordspeedway.com/

This coming Friday:

$2000 to win 30 Lap Modified Race Plus Sportsman – Spec Sportsman Pro Stocks – Pure Stocks-Lightning Sprints & CAMERA & AUTOGRAPH NIGHT

OCFS: http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/

This Saturday – a regular show with Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro and Pure Stocks M/SP/PRO/

Bethel: http://www.bethelmotorspeedway.com/BethelMotorSpeedway/Home_Page.html

This Saturday - ATQMRA Midgets, Dirt Sportsman, Pro Stock, BMS Modified, Street Stock, 4 Cylinder, Bandoleros

OVRP – the dirt track: http://www.oaklandvalleyspeedway.com/

This Saturday: Karts and Slingshots. No Friday practice and no bikes or quads on Sunday.

Hamlin: http://www.hamlinspeedway.com/

This Saturday – a regular show which consists of:

600 cc Wingless Micro's, 270 cc Winged Micro's, 600 cc Wingless (Rookies), 270 cc Winged (Rookies), Regular Slingshots, Super Slingers and Junior Slingshots

The History of the Sport:

Over the years, there have been at least four auto races held on triangular shaped one-mile dirt track in Goshen, N.Y. Indy cars raced there on June 20, 1936, June 10, 1946 and August 17^th, 1947. All were 100-mile races. There was also a 100-mile midget race held on September 21, 1947. But for this weeks column here’s some info on the 1947 Indy car race:

Total purse: $7,344.00

Entrants: Only 17

Starters: 15

Pole: Emil Andres with an average speed of 86.414 MPH

Failed to qualify: Walt Ader and Rex Mays

Lap leaders: Emil Andres – laps 1-3 and Tony Bettenhausen laps 4-100

It took 1 hour 14 minutes and 56.54 seconds to run the 100 miles. Bettenhausen averaged 80.062 MPH.

The only other driver to complete all 100 miles was Ted Horn.

Behind them were: Charles VanAcker (98 laps), Duke Dinsmore (97), George Connor (97), Buster Warke (96), Walt Brown (94), Steve Truchan (92), Milt Fankhousere (53), Fred Carpenter (53), Eddie Zaluki (43), Jackie Holmes (32), Bill Holland (16) and Emil Andres (14)

Note: If one were to go to Goshen, today, one might be able to see parts of the track, still. The third straight was where there are now some new roads and ramps for Route 17. There still is another track in Goshen, a ½ mile track that is still raced on, occasionally, with horses. I’ve been told that at one time there were some car races on that ½ mile track, but have found nothing to verify that.

Former Dirt Oval (Oakland Valley Speedway) runners:

At I-88 (Afton), in the CRSA 305 Sprints, Billy VanInwegen was 2^nd, Danny Hennessy 10^th, Josh Pieniazek 12^th and Brittany Tresch 20^th.

Corey Ziegler was 9^th n the Crate Sportsman feature and Molly Chambers was a DNQ in the 600 Modified feature at Penn Can.

Michael Storms was 20^th at Brewerton and 10^th at Fulton in the Modified features.

David Webb had a 14^th in the SK Light feature at Stafford.

In the 76 lap feature for Modifieds at Wall, Roger Coss ended up 5^th.

Mike Mammana was the feature winner at Big Diamond in the Sportsman class.

At Selinsgrove, Davie Franek was 4^th in the make-up 358 Sprint Car feature and was the winner in the regularly scheduled feature.

Tiffany Wambold was 6^th in the 270 wingless Micro feature at Borgers on Friday and 2^nd in the 270 Rookie feature on Saturday, at Borgers. Luke Shostkewitz was 4^th in the 600 wingless Micro feature on Friday.

At Kutztown, Tiffany was 18^th in the 270 Micro feature

Bobby Hackel IV was 18^th in the 358 Modified feature at Lebanon Valley, while Kolby Schroder was 4^th, Kyle Armstrong 7^th and Alex Bell 17^th in the Sportsman feature.

Johnny Guarino was 13^th n the Modified feature at New Egypt.

At Whip City, Cori Tufano was 4^th in the 750 Micro Sprint Sportsman feature.

At Sundance Vacations, Nick Pecko was 4^th in the Modified feature.

At Accord, in the ARDC midget feature, Justin Grosz was 19^th. In the Spec Sportsman feature, Kyle Rohner was 2^nd, Jason Roe 11^th, Kayla Smykla 19^th and RJ Smykla 22^nd. In the Sportsman feature, Mike Ruggiero was 5^th, Brian Krummel 7^th, Anthony Perrego 8^th and Brad Szulewski 15^th. In the Modified feature, Jimmy Johnson was 9^th, Danny Creeden 14^th, while Clinton Mills and Greg Hastie were both DNQ’s.

On Saturday, at OCFS, Mike Ruggiero was 4^th in the Modified feature while Danny Creeden was 10^th, Tim Hindley 18^th and Billy VanInwegen 20^th. Clinton Mills was a DNQ. In the Sportsman feature, Brian Krummel was 1^st, Keith Still 2^nd, Joe Conklin 4^th, Matt Hitchcock 6^th, Doc Young 17^th, John Lodini 21^st and Matt Janiak 23^rd. Zack Vavricka was a DNQ

At Bethel, in the held over Sportsman feature, Rich Coons was 4^th, while in the nights regularly scheduled feature, he was 5^th and Kyle Redner 10^th.

On this past Tuesday night, at Kutztown, in time trials for the Kutztown Fair Nationals to be held last night (Wednesday, August 18^th), in the Wingless 600 Micro Sprints, Joe Kata starts first in the B main and Brittany Tresch is 17^th.

So far, 16 drivers have qualified for the “A” Mains, per a system of points in heat races. Eight will qualify from the B Mains – one “B” for the 600’s and one for the 270’s.

I held off sending this column in until 1:00 AM on Thursday, in hopes of having some kind of results from the Wednesday show, but no results were available by that time.

More racin’ stuff:

I’m a member of the Yahoo! Race History Group. One thing being discussed over the last week was how a certain area at a racetrack is known as “The pits”. Any idea?

While at Accord last Friday, I happened to talk with Jimmy Maguire. I made mention of the Racing Expo at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ on September 5^th. He informed me that he would be running a Quad 4 Midget up at Whip City, in Massachusetts on the 4^th. For those of you that don’t know, Jimmy has only one arm, having lost one in a racing accident. He has driven midgets since, however. One story I had heard about Jimmy was that when he was in the hospital, after losing his arm, his mechanic (Clint Brawner, for the Dean Van Line Car?) asked Jimmy if he had any idea as to who the should replace him with. Jimmy said “Mario Andretti”. Strange how fate affects things, isn’t it? Had Jimmy not lost that arm, how far up the ladder would he have gone? Had he not lost that arm, what would have happened to Mario?

While catching glimpses of the Cup race in Michigan last Sunday, I noticed the usual amount of empty seats – maybe eve less this past weekend. But what struck me as being funny was in the third turn stands; the TOPS of a couple of stands were empty. One would think the top would be full and the lower seats empty.

Dirt Modifieds at Loudon?

Although I doubt it will happen – dirt mods on the paved mile+ track, there were a couple of dirt modifieds running some laps at Loudon the other day. It seems the track is looking for other types of racecars to possibly run up there – maybe with the Indy cars next August. A couple of threads are out there on the Internet.

http://www.vtmotormag.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1282069032&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1,6

And:

http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/forums/topic/36124-a-new-mile-may-have-been-found-for-the-modifieds/

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/

Other sports:

Back “In the day” I was a big Brooklyn Dodger fan. How well I remember the day that Bobby Thomson hit that forever-famous home run. Sadly, Bobby has passed away, at 86.

The Giant who hit the home run for the ages now belongs to them.

As first reported by the New York Daily News, Bobby Thomson — the man who hit "The Shot Heard 'Round The World" to win the 1951 NL pennant — died "peacefully" at his Georgia home on Monday night. He was 86 years old and had been in poor health.

Thomson played for five teams over 15 seasons, hit 264 career home runs and was a three-time All-Star. But he ensured his name will always be remembered on Oct. 3, 1951, the day he hit his dramatic home run off Brooklyn's Ralph Branca to send the Giants to a 5-4 victory that earned them entry into the 1951 World Series.

Thomson's blast landed in the left field stands at Polo Grounds and capped a four-run ninth-inning rally that was emblematic of the Giants' season. The team trailed the Dodgers by 13 1/2 games on Aug. 11, but went 37-7 to finish the season and force a three-game tiebreaker series with their crosstown rivals. Thomson's home run to win the decisive third game was so big that it basically made the ensuing World Series a historical footnote. (Who ever remembers that the Giants lost to the Yankees in six games?)

Though a 2001 Wall Street Journal story alleged that the moment was a product of stolen signs, Thomson never admitted to knowing what was coming from Branca.

But that's neither here nor there as today is a day to remember the man who experienced baseball's ultimate feeling before players like Carlton Fisk, Kirk Gibson, Kirby Puckett and Aaron Boone(notes) ever did. There are undoubtedly going to be a lot of nostalgic baseball fans reminiscing about that game and even more "The Giants win the pennant!" impressions going on over the next few days.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/A-Giant-is-gone-Bobby-Thomson-dies-at-age-86;_ylt=ApVArLhZFyM6R.ZYpmoBqLsRvLYF?urn=mlb-263060

Video time:

In a way, once you go to the link below, I really can’t fault you if you turn this particular video off. It’s how our National Anthem was sung this past Sunday, prior to the Cup race in Michigan. How the hell these tracks get such “singers” to perform our National Anthem is beyond me! I hope the Michigan track gets a lot of flack over this, along with NASCAR, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hNNsDhI7zI

Other (non racing) news:

A 29-year-old mother of three can’t take it anymore, so now two little boys are gone, forever. She also had a daughter, 5 years old. The boys were two years old and 18 months old. Personally, I’m having a hard time figuring out the ages of the two boys – it’s only 6 months between. Possible?

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100818/UPDATES01/308180015/1005/NEWS01/Lawyer++SC+mom+accused+of+killing+sons+remorseful

Health reform spurs change for big employers: survey

In part:

“Many of the biggest U.S. companies are removing spending limits from their employees' health plans and taking other steps to comply with the new healthcare law, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Most of the companies surveyed also plan to shift more costs to employees to encourage them to limit spending as one of several efforts to rein in rising costs, according to the report by the National Business Group on Health.

The group, which represents large employers on healthcare issues, based its findings on a survey of 72 of its member companies in May and June. Members include many of the largest U.S. employers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc and General Electric Co, but the report does not say which companies were surveyed.”

More on this can be seen here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100818/us_nm/us_employers

Is this true?:

Rather long one this week – from an e-mail I received:

Chrysler's Railroad

This could be a scandal of epic proportions and one that makes Nixon's Watergate or Clinton 's Monica Lewinsky affair pale by comparison. Why was there neither rhyme nor reason as to which dealerships of the Chrysler Corporation were to be closed?

Roll the clock back to the weeks just before Chrysler declared bankruptcy. Chrysler, like GM, was in dire financial straits and federal government "graciously" offered to "buy the company" and keep them out of bankruptcy and "save jobs." Chrysler was, in the words of Obama and his administration, "Too big to fail," same story with GM.

The feds organized their "Automotive Task Force" to fix Chrysler and GM. Obama, in an act that is 100% unconstitutional, appointed a guy named Steve Rattner to be the White House's official Car Czar - literally, that's what his title is.

Rattner is the liaison among Obama, Chrysler, and GM.

Initially, the national media reported that Chrysler 'had made this list of dealerships.' 

Not true!

The Washington Examiner, Newsmax, Fox New and a host of other news agencies discovered that the list of dealerships was put together by the "Automotive Task Force" headed by no one other than Mr. Steve Rattner.

Now the plot thickens.

Remember earlier we said that there was neither rhyme nor reason why certain dealerships were closed? Actually there's a very interesting pattern as to who was closed down. Again, on May 27, 2009, The Washington Examiner and Newsmax exposed the connection. Amazingly, of the 789 dealerships closed by the federal government, 788 had donated money, exclusively to Republican political causes, while contributing nothing to Democratic political causes. The only "Democratic" dealership on the list was found to have donated $7,700 to Hillary's campaign, and a bit over $2,000 to John Edwards. This same dealership, reportedly, also gave $200.00 to Obama's campaign.

Does that seem a little odd to you?

Steve Rattner is the guy who put the list together. Well, he happens to be married to a Maureen White.

Maureen happens to be the former national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee. As such, she has access to campaign donation records from everyone in the nation- Republican or Democrat. But of course, this is just a wacky "coincidence," we're certain.

Then comes another really wacky "coincidence."

On that list of dealerships being closed down, a weird thing happened in Arkansas , North Louisiana and Southern Missouri. It seems that Bill Clinton's former White House Chief of Staff, Mack McClarty, owns a chain of dealerships in that region, partnered with a fellow by the name of Robert Johnson.

Johnson happens to be founder of Black Entertainment Television and was a huge Obama supporter and financier.

These guys own a half dozen Chrysler stores under the company title of RLJ-McClarty-Landers. Interestingly, none of their dealerships were ordered closed - not one!

While all of their competing Chrysler/Dodge and Jeep dealership were!

Eight dealerships located near the dealerships owned by McClarty and Johnson were ordered shut down.

Thus by pure luck, these two major Obama supporters now have virtual monopoly on Chrysler sales in their zone.  Isn't that amazing?

Go look in The Washington Examiner, the story's there, and it's in a dozen or so other web-based news organizations; this isn't being made up.

Now if you thought Chrysler was owned by Fiat, you are mistaken. Under the federal court ruling, 65% of Chrysler is now owned by the federal government and the United Auto Workers union!

Fiat owns 20%. The other 15% is still privately owned and presumably will be traded on the stock market. Obama smiles and says he doesn't want to run the auto industry.

As horrifying as this is to comprehend, and being as how this used to be the United States of America , it would appear that the president has the power to destroy private businesses and eliminate upwards of 100,000 jobs just because they don't agree with his political agenda.

This is Nazi Germany stuff, and it's happening right here, right now, in our back yard.

There are voices in Washington demanding an explanation, but the "Automotive Task Force" has released no information to the public or to any of the senators demanding answers for what has been done.

Keep your ear to the ground for more on this story. If you've ever wanted to make a difference about anything in your life, get on the phone to your national senator or representative in the House and demand an investigation into this.

Benjamin Franklin had it right when he said, "All that's necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Car Czar No More

An amazing thing happened as this story was going to press. Obama's Car Czar, Steve Rattner, resigned on July 13 and was promptly replaced by former steel workers union boss Ron Bloom. 

According to CBS News, Rattner left "to return to private life and spend time with his family."

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said, "I hope that he takes another opportunity to bring his unique skills to government service in the future." 

By the way, Rattner is under investigation for a multi-million dollar pay-to-play investment bank scandal in New York ....

Uh-oh!

But, we're certain that had nothing to do with his resignation.

And, according to several news sources out there, there are rumors he's being investigated for what could be pay-to-play scandal involving the closing of Chrysler and GM dealerships. Really? Again, that couldn't have anything to with his resignation -- that's ridiculous! Like CBS said, this guy just wants to "spend more quality time with his family."

Obama has 32 personally appointed "czars" who answer to no one but him, all of whom are acting without any Constitutional authority.

But hey, we're sure they all have "unique skills,"......as Tim Geithner likes to say!

SOOOOO. HOW'S THE HOPE/CHANGE WORKING FOR YOU?..

Check it out at the following websites.....

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot..com/2009/05/hope-change-car-czar-behind-chrysler.html

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obamas-auto-policy-All-in-the-Democratic-family-44414452.html -

This goes beyond corruption in high places - to gross criminal actions on the part of our government!

I hope you will spread this far and wide, and hopefully the taxpaying public will demand some of that transparency we were promised ... followed by criminal prosecution of the perpetrators!

What a crooked government we have!!!!! 
Vote 'em all out ... November, 2010

Closing with this:

Once, there were three bats. They lived in a cave surrounded by three castles. One night the bats made a bet to see who could drink the most blood.

The first bat comes home one night and has blood dripping off his fangs. The other two bats are amazed and asked how much blood he had drunk.

The first bat said, "See that castle over there? I drank the blood of three people." The second bat goes out on his night and comes back with blood around his mouth. The other two bats are astonished and ask how many people's blood had he drunk. The bat said, "See that castle over there. I drank the blood of five people."

The third bat goes out on his night and comes back covered in blood. This was totally amazing to the other two bats. They ask how much blood he drank. The 3rd bat said, "See that castle over there?" and the other bats nod. "Well," says the third bat, "I didn't."

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