Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo
12/16/2010
First:
Between
this column and my next one, due out on December 30th, most of us
will be celebrating the Christmas Holiday.
So, let me wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!
Next
- # 1:
It’s always nice to see where some of the things I’ve written about, in the past, turn up when someone else does an Internet search on something, and I get this:
e-mail received on 12/2/2010
“Mr. Avenengo:
I was browsing the web today after talking with some co workers about “Midget
Racing”. Read your article about sitting in the restored
Darrell-Villa-Offy. In my younger days back in 1970 or so when I was 21,
I was working for Eddie Darrell at his Gulf Station in Clark, NJ and actually worked
on the 83’s that had the offy’s in them and later the SESCO. Remember hot ironing cutting the tires, trying to pick up the right
side of the Don Edmonds frame, the smell of Methanol, etc. Brought back a lot of memories. I was actually at
Flemington Speedway when Len Duncan went sailing through the air with the
greatest of ease. I still think I have the newspaper clipping of that
incident. Again if memory serves me right Darrell had two cars that year,
Thanks for jogging my memory.
Steven H. Mazurek”
Next - # 2:
I was on my
computer yesterday, Wednesday, when a notice popped up on my Yahoo Messenger
notifying me that “John LeVan” was online.
It was his son, Craig LeVan. We
had a short on-line chat. One thing that
he said that did trouble me some, and I guess I’m as guilty as anyone, is that
ever since the passing of John, which was on December 18, 2008, the LeVan
family really hasn’t heard from anyone from the past – those that were part of
what I could say were “family” – those involved in racing in some sort of
way. So, if you’d like to send an e-mail
to either Craig, or LuAnn, John’s widow, here are their e-mail addresses:
Craig:
owrcraig@yahoo.com
LuAnn:
blondetide@aol.com
Also, their home address is:
And, yes, this week’s column is dedicated
to John LeVan. Without him, you would
not be reading this stuff!
Next - # 3:
There was supposed
to be a practice session at the Daytona Speedway on Wednesday, so I’ve held off
until late on Wednesday night to see if there are nay results posted. A little after 10:00 PM,
this was on Jayski’s website:
Some Day 1 testing news from Daytona:
Statement From NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton About Goodyear Tire Test At Daytona International Speedway: "It was a very good day. The teams came well-prepared. Goodyear came well-prepared. The racetrack has a lot of grip. The surface is very smooth. It appears in drafting practice that they immediately went three-wide."(NASCAR)
AND Mark Martin awarded high marks to all parties after Day One of a Goodyear
tire test at Daytona International Speedway today. Speaking to Sirius
NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody, Martin said, "I think
we ran six laps without even wearing the sticker off the left front tire. In
fact, we could probably run the full 500 miles on the same set of tires. There
will be zero tire issues during Speedweeks. The track is smooth, its fast and
it's not wearing the tires at all. The grip is obscene, and I'm sure the guys
from Goodyear are probably having a party tonight." Martin also offered
his prediction for the upcoming Daytona 500, saying, "The race is going to
be crazy. Everybody better start getting ready right now." Sources say speeds
were in the neighborhood of 195 mph, with three-wide (and some four-wide)
racing common. "we ran three-wide quite a
bit," said Martin, "and toward the end, we got a little braver and
tried four-wide. That's not going to work for very long before someone gets
into the side of the guy next to him and causes a wreck." Only one major
incident slowed the day's test, when David Ragan crashed his Roush-Fenway
Racing UPS Ford.
Going back, in time:
Note: Most of the following information was found
here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
Covering
the days of December 3rd to December 16th.
DECEMBER 3
1937
Bobby Allison ... Born
1951
Rick Mears ... Born
1964
Bobby Marshman ... Died ...
Born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Marshman died in San Antonio, Texas from injuries
sustained in a tire test in Phoenix, Arizona. He drove in the USAC Midget,
Sprint and Championship Car series, racing in the 1961-1964 seasons, with 49
career starts, including each Indianapolis 500 contest in that span. He
finished in the top ten 25 times, with one victory, in 1962 at
1988
Alex "Al" Tasnady...
Died ... A modified stock driver for more than 23 years, he had more than 600
victories at tracks along the East Coast. During his career he won point
championships at the
DECEMBER 4
2006
Len Sutton... Died ... Sutton
became involved in auto racing after serving in the Navy during World War II.
He spun out in the first corner on his first lap at a dirt track. Sutton won Oregon Racing Association championships in 1949, 1950,
1954, and 1955. He flipped his car to avoid cattle during the 1954
Carrera Panamericana road race (now Baja 1000). He was in a body cast for 4
months. He also won midget car racing championships in
2008
Rick Weld... Died ... He was
the youngest of the four "Weld" brothers, passed away after losing
his battle with cancer. Rick started his sprint car driving career in 1971 in
his father's car, winning 29 feature events in his first two years.
DECEMBER 5
1930
Richard "Mitch"
Smith... Born ... From
1932
Jim Hurtubise ... Born ... An
American race car driver who raced in USAC Champ Cars (including the
1938
J. D. (John Delphus) McDuffie
... Born ... A NASCAR Series driver.
DECEMBER 6
1914
Willard "Bill"
Cantrell... Born ... Nicknamed the "Silver Fox" because of his gray
hair and the sly tricks he used to win races.
DECEMBER 7
1941
I find it hard to believe how
much the media – especially the newspapers, have forgotten what happened on
12/07/1941, and don’t recall the events of that day and what happened at
1984
LeeRoy Yarbrough... Died ... A NASCAR racer. His best season was 1969 when he
won seven races and tallied 21 Top Ten finishes. During his entire career from
1960-1972, he competed in 198 races, scoring 14 wins, 65 top fives, 92 top
tens, and 10 poles. His racing number was 98. LeeRoy ran the Indy 500 3 times
with a best finish of 19th in 1970. A succession of crashes ended his career
and he struggled to cope without driving. After an attack on his mother, Lee
Roy, real name, Lonnie, was committed to a mental hospital for life. In 1984,
he suffered a seizure and fell, hitting his head and died the next day, from
his head injury.
DECEMBER 8
1940
George Snider ... Born ... A longtime driver in the United States Automobile Club
Sprint and Silver Crown series, Snider is also a 22-time starter of the
DECEMBER 9
1926
Ed Elisian ... Born ... Ed was
an American racing driver, mainly competing in the National Championship. He
died in a crash at the
1934
Wayne Weiler ... Born ...
Weiler started as a dirt track driver in
1942
Sheldon Kinser... Born ... He
was the 1977, 81, 82 United States Auto Club (USAC) National Sprint Car
Champion. Winner of the prestigious Tony Hulman Classic at
the
1979
Larry McCoy... Died ... Larry
was born in
1992
Colby Scroggin ... Died ...
AAA/USAC driver 1954 to 1963
2006
Dave Steele won the Sprint Car
race over Tony Elliott, Troy DeCaire, Jason Blonde and Mike Ling at the DeSoto
Super Speedway ,
Note # 1: I was at that race! I went there with my daughter, Sarah, and we
met up with an aspiring motor sports writer - Richard Golardi, who wanted to
tag along to see how I “worked”, so he could also do some writing in the
future, which he did, and continues to do so, today, with most of his writings
appearing here: http://www.hoseheads.com/
It was a 400-lap race. Unfortunately, sanctioning problems arose,
just prior to the event and a lot of those that were scheduled to appear -
didn’t. The field was made up mainly
with TBARA Sprint Cars, which use wings.
This event was wingless, leaving some of the TBARA guys “out to lunch”,
racing wise. Two pit stops were required
– one before lap 200 and one after.
Note # 2: As far as I know, DeSoto Super Speedway is
still for sale.
DECEMBER 10
1950
Johnnie
Parsons won the AAA sanctioned Darlington 200 on the 1.25 Mile Paved Oval
Darlington Raceway in Darlington,
DECEMBER 11
1987
Sammy Swindell won the MARA
Midget race at the Tulsa Expo Raceway ,
DECEMBER 12
1913
Rex Easton ... Born ... Rex
competed in some sprint cars, but was mainly a midget chauffeur who was always
up front in competition. His career was evenly divided between the AAA and USAC
years. In USAC competition, he won 21 features which places
him 21st in the all- time USAC feature wins ranking. Rex Easton won the 1954
Midwest Midget title and just missed taking the National Championship that
year, losing out to Jack Turner in the last race of the season. Rex placed
second in the 1957 and 1958 USAC National Midget Division points races and won
the USAC
1936
Wally Dallenbach ... Born ...
East Brunswick New Jersey Modified Stock Car driver who went on to drive URC
and USAC Sprint cars and 180 USAC/CART Indy Car races between 1965 and 1979,
winning five times. He is the father of NASCAR driver and commentator, Wally
Dallenbach, Jr.
1946
Emerson Fittipaldi ... Born ...
A highly successful Brazilian race driver, winning
world championships in both Formula One and CART, and the
DECEMBER 13
1918
Bill Vukovich ... Born ... Before he began Indy racing, Vukovich drove midget cars for
the Edelbrock dirt track racing team. He raced on the West Coast of the
1946
Mike Mosley... Born ... USAC/CART driver from 1967 to 1983. Mosley died in
an off-road vehicle accident.
2006
Bobby Santos III , in the Carl
Edwards # 99, won the PRA / Champ Car race over Bobby East, Teddy Beach, Chet
Fillip, and Dave Steele at the USA International Speedway,Lakeland, FL.
Note: I was at that race, too, along with Sarah,
Richard and a friend of Sarah’s – Terry.
That was the first time that Travis Pastrana drove a Silver Crown
car. His biggest fear: How soon he’d get lapped. Well, to be honest, he didn’t get lapped, and
ran the full 100 laps, even gaining a couple of spots. That was also the race where Johnny
Heydenreich had his serious looking accident/fire, which will be linked to in
the “Video” section of this column, down a little in the column.
DECEMBER 14
1927
Hershel McGriff... Born ...
Hershel McGriff's racing career spans four decades of NASCAR competition --
from the rough-and-tumble 1950s to the finely tuned 1990s. In 1954, McGriff
made the most of his opportunity to drive car owner Frank Christian's
Oldsmobile and finished sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series points
race despite missing the first 10 events of the year. McGriff won four of the
last nine races in 1954, including back-to-back wins at Macon, Ga., and
Charlotte, N.C., to account for all his career wins.
1940
Denny Zimmerman ... Born ...
Denny began racing at the
1954
Alan Kulwicki... Born ... NASCAR Winston Cup racecar driver. He arrived at
the highest and most expensive level of stock car racing in the
DECEMBER 15
1912
Walt Ader ... Born ... AAA
driver from the 1940's to the early 50's.
1916
Clint Brawner ... Born ... Indy
Car mechanic. His skill, work ethic and focus led to 51 Indy car victories and
four poles in the Indy 500.
1927
Bill Mackey ... Born ... AAA
driver from 1949 to 1951. His name at birth was William Gretsinger, Jr. He was
killed in a sprint car crash at
1981
Ralph Pratt... Died ... AAA driver from the 1940's and 50's. Inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1998.
DECEMBER 16
1981
A.J. Allmendinger ... Born ...
NASCAR driver.
The History of the Sport:
If you remember,
a few weeks ago, one of the members of the Yahoo! Race History Group sent out
some links (35 of them, to be precise) to some auto racing articles that
appeared in Time magazine, many years ago, via e-mail. So, if you don’t mind, here are the next five
links. Hope you get some enjoyment out
of reading them.
A
little about Barney Oldfield:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747563,00.html
1967
& 225,00 for Indy qualifying
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843817,00.html
1965 at Indy – Tire problems?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941346,00.html
1964
– Disaster at Indy
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,938623,00.html
1963
– The rear engine cars are now here
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874778,00.html
More racin’ stuff:
While checking out
some Racin’ stuff on the Internet, last week, I came across this:
”As
for the other Five "Worst things too happen to Sprint car racing". Most were Mandatory and made life easier for all racers.. But didn't help the
"coolness" of the sport.
In no order..
ENCLOSED TRAILERS. Kids need to see race cars going
down the road and at rest stops. How many of you "old timers" Begged
and pleaded your parents to take you to a race because you saw a race car go by
your house every sat? (I've heard that story too many times!) You guys with hot
rods know the deal.. You drive on the highway and kids
go NUTS! Kids that are not in "Car families" While the parent talks
on the phone and could give a shit less, the kid in
the back seat is yelling "LOOK!!!" You know that kid told EVERYBODY
he saw that day about it too!
ROCK GUARDS. (and any body
panels around, above and over the driver) We need to see the driver WORKING!
When I look at old video footage of guys racing, I notice how cool it is to see
the drivers arms working. Imagine if they took the
roofs and upper quarter panels off Modifieds and latemodels..
You'd be able to see they guy working and looking. Sure, the cars would be
ugly, but FUN TO WATCH!!
SMALL FUEL CELLS. Not only back to, the
"Readability of the number" But big fuel cells on sprint cars just
LOOK BETTER!! The little midget tanks they run today are bullshit! ..and FUEL STOPS!! WTF!! If you can't run 50 laps in your
sprint car, TOUGH SHIT! This isn't NASCAR. (thank
god!)
VYNIL GRAPHICS. We've been over that..
and of coarse..
TRACK PROMOTERS. Of coarse, mandatory.. One can't
survive without the other. But while the Racers have grown in EVERY way, Technically, money spent, speed, safety, etc. They are still
racing for weekly purses that in general have not changed in DECADES!! I read
these books about racers from years back and think, "that’s
what they pay today!" The book I'm reading now takes place in the twenties
when it cost WAY under a dollar to see the race and they are racing for $800 to
$1500 to win the feature!! Sure, we have the Million, and a hand full of other
big shows but weekly racing venues just haven't kept up with the rest of the
show.
I know this is the broken record report, but think about one more thing. At our
local track, the 50/50 is usually around $500. (That’s $1000 total) Most people
buy $5 worth. And if I had to guess, I'd say only 30% of EVERYBODY that paid
their $15 to get in (don't forget the racers and there families who paid $25
for pits) actually buy 50/50 tickets. Start doing the math..
They should pay a little more.”
Note: As far as I’m
concerned, the above just doesn’t apply to Sprint Cars. How often does one see a racecar going to the
race track on an open trailer, today?
Found
this on Facebook:
Note: Ryan ended up
2nd in points with the ARDC in 2010.
Chili Bowl website:
http://www.chilibowl.com/home.asp?uUrl=12/8/200747805.13
And, there is this, in part, which was posted on Facebook, on Wednesday night
– some interesting news, for sure!
“ARDC’s One Two Punch Partners Up For
Eastern Assault At Tulsa’s Chili Bowl
By: Steve
Pados, GA Motorsports Media
As drivers and owners settle into the off-season of
racing and afforded the opportunity to sit back and relax, breathe a little
easier and laugh a bit longer, a select group of drivers are already mapping
out plans for the next venue in which they hitch their star too. 2010 ARDC
Champion “The Royersford Rocket” Steve Buckwalter and number two man in points
“Flyin” Ryan Smith have immersed themselves in some lengthy discussions since
the close of the 2010 racing season and have decided to pair together and form
a vaunted attack on the largest indoor racing event in the country in January,
the prestigious running of the 25th Annual Chili Bowl in Tulsa, Oklahoma. With
more than 250 entries expected in for the annual battle of the best of the
best, the two talented and versatile campaigners form a stellar team to go
against the best open wheel drivers in the world with this international in
flavored event.”
Some Racin’
stuff from the AARN:
From
the AARN’s November 30th issue:
There
was about a 2/3 page article about Glenn Donnelly getting back into racing, now
that the “no competition” clause has expired.
Some talk about a ¾ mile track right next door to the Brewerton
Speedway, his “hooking up” with John Wight and Carl Myers – two of the bigger
men in DIRTcar and an attempt at coming
our with a different surface for race tracks – a synthetic one.
Note: With the departure of Cory Reed from DIRTcar,
to work with John Wight at Brewerton and Fulton Speedways, I kind of have an
idea that Mr. Reed can see some writing on the wall, so to say, and decided to
make a move while looking at what he sees in the future of dirt track racing
here in the northeast.
Track/Series/Club
champions:
I
really do wonder why the mentioning of monies, handed out at banquets, isn’t
done in a lot of instances.
Russ
Stoehr was crowned as the champion of NEMA, at their banquet. No mention of monies handed out, though.
Bobby
Varin is the Fonda champion, and got his awards at the tracks banquet. Another track’s banquet article that did not
mention monies awarded.
The
ARDC crowned Steve Buckwalter as it’s champion, at
their banquet, and another article that failed to show the amount of monies
handed out.
Matt
Tanner was crowned as the champion for the CRSA 305 Sprint Car Series – yup, no
mention of monies in that release, either.
Ditto
for the Hamlin Speedway press release about their year and champions being
named – no monies mentioned.
And the same for Oshweken Speedway, and Lee Speedway in NH.
Steve
Poirier is the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint Champion, and for that he got
$10,000.00 out of $70,000.00 that was mentioned as being awarded at their
banquet.
Bryan
Clauson is the 2010 USAC National Driving Champion. For that he received $40,000.00 in cash plus
$300,000.00 scholarship monies for a Firestone Indy Lights ride – mostly just
on oval tracks, I believe.
Jason
Johnson is the Lucas Oil ASCS National Champion, and for that he got $60,000.00
out of $250,000.00 that was given out at their banquet.
Five Mile Point Speedway awarded their champion $6,000.00
For
the first time that I can recall, the dirt style modifieds competed in the
Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium. Reports
are that they put on a real good show.
Quite
a bit being said about the “driving” at the Turkey Derby – and not that good, I
should add. Hey, as long as the tracks
don’t crack down and penalize the drivers for their actions, it ain’t gonna
stop!
Brian
Grisel has stepped down as the CEO of the CRSA, and Mike Van Dusen will be
taking over.
Seems that things are all not all that “Honky-Dorey” with the 600 Micro
Sprint folks out
It
looks like there might be a problem with those that run ¼ Midgets at the
No
idea why, but it seems like there are getting to be more dirt modified races
being scheduled for paved tracks. Why?
John
Snyder wrote about how it used to be at OCFS when Brett Hearn and Danny Johnson
ran both Big and Small Block modifeds on the same nights every week, and how
the crowds were. Then tack manager Will
Cagle put a stop to the Big Block guys running the Small Blocks, in hopes of
getting more drivers into the Small Block class. That didn’t work. Mr. Snyder goes on to make mention of the
same thing possibly happening with NASCAR with NASCAR probably coming out
saying that Cup drivers could still run in the Nationwide Series, but would get
no points. When one watches either the
Nationwide or Truck races on TV, one can see just how those two series do not
attract fans – a the track.
From
the December 7th issue:
As it is now, it looks like the CVRA will offer a point fund in 2011. They had none in 2010. Next year, the Crate Modified champion will get $3,000.00. It’s a point fund system that will take the 10 best finishes from both tracks – Albany/Saratoga and Devils Bowl. And, yes, A/S is still for sale, too.
While on the subject of the CVRA, it looks like the 358 engines are now out at both A/S and Devils Bowl.
Now
there’s a 358 Small Block Modified “Spec” engine that will be used in
DIRTcar. It seems more and more “Spec”
engines are making the scene lately. I
wonder how those that make the RACE engines feel about this? It’s said, per an articll ein the AARN, that a sealed-crate engine will sell for around
$7,100.00. With some “one time extras”
that will be needed, the price goes to $11,000.00 – give or
take some $. It’s said that a
“Top shelf” current 358 Modified engine will sell for about $22,000.00.
Even
NASCAR is into “Spec” engines, with Roush/Yates Racing engines now the
exclusive NASCAR “Spec” engine supplier.
Those engines will be used in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. There was no mention of the cost of those
engines, though.
MasterCraft
Safety has bought Bill Simpson’s Impact Racing.
It will now be known as Impact! Racing by MasterCraft
Safety.
I
was happy to see that I’m not the only one that comes out and mentions STIDA –
a company that insures racers. Ernie
Saxton made mention of it in his column.
Their website: http://www.stida.com/
With
Bridgeport (NJ)
Sean
Corr, a Pro Stock runner at OCFS and some other tracks in the area will now be
full time in ARCA in 2011. This past
year, I had the opportunity to ask Sean if he might run the two dirt tracks
that ARCA races on, and he wasn’t quite sure, with him making a run for Rookie
of the Year in 2011, his 2010 racing can only be so many races. No, he didn’t race on either dirt track in
2010.
Mike
Gular was crowned as the track champion for Penn Can Speedway. No monies mentioned as to being awarded.
Curt Michael and his car owner, Bill Gallagher, are the champions for the URC. $45,000.00 was handed out at their banquet, with Curt and his owner getting $12,000.00.
Scott Bloomquist won the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship, and with it nice amount of cash - $75,000.00
Both Monadnock Speedway and Fremont Speedway had their
banquets, and in both instances, no monies shown as being awarded. Same goes for
In an article about the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, it makes mention of this last championship being the 10th for car owner Rick Hendrick. Funny thing, but on every race result I’ve seen lately, the car owner of the # 48 car is shown to be Jeff Gordon.
Quite a write up about the International Motorsports
Industry show that was held in
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/
Racing on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
(must register to post)
Victory
Yahoo Race History
Group: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/RacingHistory/
(when one posts something on an
e-mail to the group, they do have what is called the “Len Sutton rule” – you
put in your name and where you live.
And, yes, things are “policed” too.
Wheels of Speed: http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/
Found on Jayski’s
website on Dec 10th:
NASCAR changing
dress code in garage: According to a tweet by Ramsey Poston,
NASCAR's Managing Director of Corporate Communications, the organization is
changing the required dress code for visitors in the pits at races next season:
"Another fan friendly move - NASCAR dress code in garage & cold pits
now includes: shorts, short sleeve/sleeve-less shirts & open-toed
shoes". The rule will not apply to hot pits. In previous years, the policy
required everyone to wear long pants, close-toed shoes and shirts that fully
covered the shoulders.(12-10-2010)
Even more Racin’ stuff:
Someone has come out with a
“list” of the top 25 “dirtiest” race drivers, over on the South Jersey Dirt
Racing’s message board. The first part
goes from 25th down to 11th. I’m not positive when the top ten on the list
will be released, but here are 11th through 25th:
Dec 4th
http://www.onedirt.com/features/top-25-dirtiest-dirt-track-drivers-of-all-time-pt-1-25-11/
#25 Greg Weld (03/04/44 – 08/04/08)
#24 Lee Arnold Petty (03/14/14 –
04/05/00)
#23 Elzie Wylie “Buck” Baker Sr
(03/04/19 – 04/14/2002)
#22 Stick Elliott [Gene Daves]
(07/27/34 – 11/01/80)
#21 Glen “Fireball” Roberts (01/20/29 –
7/2/64)
#20
#19 Frank Lockhart (04/08/03 –
04/25/28)
#18 Rufus Parnell “Parnelli” Jones
(08/12/33 – )
#17 Rick Ferkel (02/19/39 – )
#16 DeWayne Louis “Tiny”
#15 Brett Hearn (09/01/58 – )
#14 Joseph
“Joe” Weatherly (05/29/22 – 01/19/64)
#13 Jack Smith (05/24/24 – 10/17/01)
#12 Carl D. “Lightning” Lloyd Seay
(12/14/19 – 09/02/41)
#11 Charles Water “Jud” Larson
(01/21/23 – 06/11/66)
Some of my thoughts:
This, below, is
really quite scary, as far as I’m concerned:
From an e-mail I received on
Wednesday, December 15th:
“From:
Subject:
FW: Muslim Student's True Opinion
We had better stay current with what's
going on or we will lose everything. What is this girl doing at one of our
universities?
it
is really frightening to me.
They are every where...and our politicians are
making laws that allows them to come to America and get benifits that we the
people who pay taxes and abide by the laws of our land do not get...
this islamist
extreamist is getting a free education at the expense of the people she
hates.....................................
remember this
when you vote..
David Horowitz speaking at USC
in
A student member of the MSA (Muslim Students Assoc) asks him a
question.
Listen to her response when he asks HER a question.
check out this short
video......
http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=8982
Note: If you scroll down some, there are some
comments about the video.
Video time:
Video # 1 – as mentioned above in this column – the Johnny Heydenreich
accident and fire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq6NYS58Ihc&eurl
And, video # 2 - since this is my last column prior to Christmas, “O
Holy Night” by John Berry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkus96K2yhA&feature=related
Non racing news:
“The impassioned debate
over the nation's immigration policy takes center stage at the Supreme Court
Wednesday in a dispute over an
Arizona's employer
sanctions law has been used just three times in three years, but business
interests and civil rights groups, backed by the Obama administration, have
banded together to argue that only the federal government may enforce
immigration laws.”
“But dozens of
business raids in metropolitan
Supporters said the
law was needed because the federal government has done a lousy job of enforcing
a similar federal law. They also say the state rules have discouraged countless
employers from hiring illegal immigrants.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101204/ap_on_re_us/us_supreme_court_employer_sanctions
In part:
Fri Dec 10,
4:15 pm ET
CAPE CANAVERAL,
Florida (Reuters) – NASA failed to delete sensitive data on computers and hard
drives before selling the equipment as part of its plan to end the Space Shuttle program,
an audit released on Tuesday shows.
NASA is getting rid
of thousands of surplus items as it prepares to end the space shuttle program
next year.
The Office of
Inspector General found what it termed "serious" security breaches at
NASA centers in
"Our review
found serious breaches in NASA's IT (information technology) security practices
that could lead to the improper release of sensitive information related to the
Space Shuttle and
other NASA programs," NASA Inspector General Paul Martin said in a
statement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101210/sc_nm/us_nasa_computers
Note: Just how stupid are some of our government
employees, anyway?
“The tax deal,
reached behind the scenes and still informal, now includes ethanol subsidies
for rural folks, commuter tax breaks for their cousins in the cities and
suburbs and wind and solar grants for the environmentalists — all aimed at
winning votes, particularly from reluctant Democrats.”
More news:
I came across this, below,
while on Facebook on Monday, December 13th:
Lies About the
DREAM Act and the Congressmen Who Told Them
A
review of the debates prior to last week's vote on the DREAM Act
By Frank Medina
The most
interesting part of the CBO study is that it conveniently covers only a 10 year
period. After that tenth year, all DREAMers would become eligible to apply for
welfare benefits. Even if all the aforementioned assumptions were correct and
led to a revenue increase over ten years, an aging DREAMer population needing
more services would definitely incur more deficits on the
The Senate debated
on their version of the DREAM Act before the House vote. During that debate,
various false statements about the DREAM Act were made. The most notable of all
fallacies however, were made by none other than Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Il), the author and chief sponsor of nearly every Senate
version of the bill since 2001. He stated, "For 10 years, they
cannot draw a Pell grant, a federal student loan, no Medicaid, no government
health programs –they don't qualify for any of it for 10 years."
The version the
Senate was about to vote on had also been authored by Durbin just a week
earlier, the fourth version of the DREAM Act to be introduced by him since late
September 2010. Each of the versions not only had a provision that would
allow illegal aliens to obtain federal student loans, it would also allow them
to compete directly with the neediest American students for jobs under the
federal work study program. Additionally, the Act would not prohibit states
from offering state educational grants to illegal immigrants.
His version of the
bill did prohibit illegal them from participating in health care exchanges and
similar programs under the health care reform law that passed earlier this
year. Currently, when illegal immigrants get sick, they simply go to a local
clinic or hospital and get treated and let local governments pick up the tab.
In fact, for cities with sanctuary policies, the number one general expenditure
is on health care, followed by education costs as a close second. Therefore,
Durbin's implication that they would not be a burden on local hospitals and
health care agencies does not hold any water.
To be fair, Sen.
Jeff Sessions (R-AL) also made a huge false statement about the version of the
DREAM Act they were about to vote on. "There is a cost. In addition, for
Pell grants—these are grants, not loans students get to go to college—these
individuals would be eligible for those as soon as they get in college…"
Although previous versions of the DREAM Act allowed loopholes for DREAMers to
obtain Pell grants, that specific version did not allow it. The House version
that was voted on would allow DREAMers to apply for Pell Grants only after
they've adjusted status to permanent resident.
Senate democrats
held off voting on their version of the DREAM Act on Wednesday and were unable
to muster enough votes to invoke cloture on Thursday. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
intends to bring up a vote on the House's version of the act early this week.
With so many
versions of the DREAM Act floating around and many Americans quoting their
opinions on the bills, it became a challenge for even respected journalists
such as the Washington Post's Michael Gerson to get his stories right. In an Op-Ed piece dated December 7, 2010, he
discusses the provisions of older versions of the DREAM Act. A few paragraphs
later, he references the CBO study and a UCLA study without realizing that they
were actually based on other versions of the Act. That evening, the House
introduced yet another version of the Act.
The many fallacies
in the statements of these key members of Congress bring up questions with only
two possible, equally scary answers. The question is, "why are these
members of Congress making false statements?" Is it because they want to
lie to us or is it because they don't really know what the provisions of the
bill are? Whatever the answer, it's not a good thing.
Is this true?:
“A
former state legislator pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and tax
evasion.
Ex-Sen. Vincent Leibell admitted in court Monday that he tried to influence a
grand jury investigating corruption in
He
said "guilty, your honor" to each of the two counts.
Sentencing
was scheduled for March 7, 2011. Prosecutors said based on federal guidelines,
Leibell's sentence would be between 18 and 24 months.
The
64-year-old Leibell had spent 28 years in the Senate and Assembly before
resigning last week with a one-sentence letter that gave no reason for leaving.
He had a month left in his term.
Last
month he was elected Putnam county executive.”
Note: One comment that was posted on this, had this to say:
“NYS elected official can even get
pensions in prison. Leibell’s $69,000. pension will pay 2 salaries of a state DPW worker.”
In the December 7th
edition of the paper, it did verify that he could still draw his pension while
serving time in prison. Huh?
And:
From
Dec 7th:
In
part:
“The
report said taxpayer contributions to the New York State Teachers' Retirement
System could increase from about $900 million this year to about $4.5 billion
in five years. State and local employer contributions to the
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101207/NEWS90/101209799
Note: Like we can’t see this happening, ourselves?
Are
these true, too?
Problem
#1: The deal is a stealth attack on Social Security.
The
deal will lower the payroll tax—the tax that
funds the Social Security trust. This is a trap
for Democrats. Republicans have been coming after Social Security for years and
this cut is the biggest threat to the vital program in decades. It will cut
one-third of Social Security's funding this year alone and when we need to
restore the payroll tax back to its current level, Republicans will cry
"tax increases" and could gut it permanently. 1
Problem
#2: For nearly one in three workers, it's a tax increase.
Nearly
50 million working Americans—including all workers making less than $20,000 per
year—and millions of federal, state, and municipal workers will see their taxes
go up because of the deal.2
Problem
#3: The deal has not one but TWO millionaire bailouts.
In
addition to extending all the Bush income tax breaks
for the top 2%, the deal will slash the estate tax. If Congress did nothing,
next year the estate tax would be 55% and apply to everyone inheriting $1
million or more. But the deal reduces it to 35% and only people who inherit
more than $5 million will have to pay. This second bailout will give a gigantic
tax giveaway to a few thousand of the richest families in the country and add
hundreds of billions to the national debt.3
Problem
#4: Unemployment help is insufficient and inadequate.
While
the deal extends unemployment benefits for
another 13 months for people currently receiving it, millions of unemployed workers who've struggled the most and been
out of work more than 99 weeks—since the giant Wall
Street banks wrecked the economy—will get no help at all under the deal.4
It's a gamble that there will be jobs in the next 13 months when the insurance
runs out, but the tax cuts will go well beyond that. Better to just pass a
stand-alone unemployment extension to help all
struggling Americans.
Problem
#5: Tax giveaways to the rich are a terrible way to create jobs.
Tax
breaks for the rich are the least efficient way to create jobs and help the
economy grow. In fact the nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office says extending all tax cuts would lower unemployment only
0.1% to 0.3% over the next year5 and that the cost of the tax deal
would be $900 billion over the next five years.6
Closing with these:
Church Bulletins:
They're Back! Those wonderful Church
Bulletins! Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences
(with all the BLOOPERS) actually appeared in church
bulletins or were announced in church services:
The Fasting & Prayer Conference
includes meals
The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks
on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale...
It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the
house.
Bring your husbands.
Remember in prayer the many who are
sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to
someone who doesn't care much about you.
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help..
Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,'
giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have
a nursery downstairs.
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need
all the help they can get.
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on
October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school
days.
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall.
Music will follow.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be
'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the
addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older
ones.
Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to
be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the
deceased person you want remembered.
The church will host an evening of fine dining, super
entertainment and gracious hostility.
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM -
prayer and medication to follow.
The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every
kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon
This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park
across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
Ladies Bible Study will be held
Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. is done.
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the
Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the
pancake breakfast next Sunday.
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM.
Please use the back door.
The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in
the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend
this tragedy.
Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First
Presbyterian Church. Please use large
double door at the side entrance.
The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign
slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.
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!
Remember – My next column will be back on
December 30th.
As usual, you can reach me
at: ygordad@yahoo.com