Racin'
& Internet Stuff:
06/16/2011
First:
I first met the young lady that would eventually be my wife, Joan, back in 1956, after I had graduated High School and went to work full time with the Grand Union Supermarket chain in their Suffern, NY store, and she was a meat wrapper. At that time, nothing “clicked”.
Later
on, after I’d been transferred to their Monsey, NY store, we met again. It seems that the Produce Manager, Ralph
Palumbo, was her ride back and forth, and one night Ralph had something else to
do so he asked me if I’d run her home. I
did. On my way back home, I passed the
Monsey GU at 3:00 in the morning. We
started dating, then eventually got engaged and then married.
There
were quite a few in her family. She had
three brothers – Billy, Richie and Harry, Jr (Murph), and three sisters,
Barbara, Jocelyn (Red) and Sandra (
This
is about her sister Sandra, or as she was so fondly called, “
I’m
dedicating this week’s column to her – my sister-in-law, Sandra (
She
was scheduled to go back home on Tuesday, June 14th, and if she did,
Hospice would be there for her. Sad to
say, she never made that trip back home, having left us around 1:00 PM on
Tuesday. All those that came in contact
with her, loved her, and she had no enemies to speak of. She was a great mother and great grandmother
to her children and grandchildren. She
will most definitely be missed by all of the family members.
Second:
From last week:
“First:
Hopefully, “Mother Nature” will be on her best behavior on the remaining weekends of the racing season! Quite a few of those scheduled races for last weekend got to be run.”
Well, sad to say, Mother Nature wasn’t too kind to us race people on Saturday. I don’t think any tracks got their racing in, except for New Egypt and Borgers.
Third:
Again, from last week:
Second:
If things work out right, you can look for another of my “Photo” articles on the New England Tractor website - http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/
An article about the Vintage Race Car Meet that was held up in
Another sad to say, for now, anyway. I’ve sent in 25 photos to Jeff Johnson at New
England Tractor, and he could only open up five of them. I’m in the process of
attempting to find out what is causing the problem, and have resorted to
sending in one photo at a time.
Fourth:
What’s up with Robby
Gordon missing so many Cup races? Maybe
he’s getting disgusted with NASCAR?
Seems they’re always on his case.
Fifth:
“Back in the Day” those that raced in
Grand Prix cars, in F-1, would also race in Sports/Racing cars, too. If you look at what happened over this past
weekend – the Canadian Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of LeMans, it’s plain to see
that that is no longer done. That, too
me, is sad.
When I went to the Sebring 12 Hour race in 1957, all the worlds top
drivers were there – Fangio, Moss, Hawthorn, Behra. You name them – they were there.
Sixth:
When driving – use the A/C or open the
windows, for better mileage? I found
this, below, on Yahoo!
It's a fierce efficiency debate: Open the windows in summer to avoid running
your energy-intensive air conditioner, or keep the windows closed and the a/c
on to preserve your car's aerodynamic profile. (We'll
leave aside the option of sweating it out.) PM's testing settled the issue.
Driving at 55 mph with the a/c running, we got 24 mpg; turning it off bumped us
up to 28 mpg. Then we opened all four windows, one at a time, and lost 1 mpg
per window until we were back at 24 mpg. So at that speed, it's a wash. But
aerodynamic drag rises exponentially with speed—the faster you go, the more
the open windows hurt efficiency. The answer? Below 55
mph, open the windows and leave the a/c off. But at 60 mph or higher, keeping
them closed and the air conditioning running will burn less fuel.
Seventh:
Wow! There are 47 entrants for the Cup race at
Eighth:
Wow! Darn near forgot! This coming Sunday is Father’s Day!
Coming up:
Accord:
“In a conversation with Kenny Hinsch by phone, he stated he was a bit sore from his wild ride off of the boiler plate but in relatively good spirits from the harrowing ordeal. He stated his season is more than likely over for 2011 as the race car is a total write-off with damage everywhere he looked. Kenny thanked the top-notch safety crew for getting to the accident scene quickly to attend to him.”
And:
“Wild Bill and his firecracker experts return to
the speedway on July 1st as the speedway welcomes in the Fourth of July weekend
with Wild Bill's amazing light show that always rocks the Catskill Mountains
skies. The now famous Chicken BBQ will compliment a great fun filled family
weekend at the Accord facility.”
Coming up:
Friday, June 17th Healey
Brothers Night
Modifieds
$2000 to win Plus Sportsman, Spec Sportsman, Pro Stocks-Pure Stocks & Lightning
Sprints
Wednesday, June 22nd – Mid Week Madness.
Friday,
June 24th KB Photos Night
Modifieds, Sportsman, Spec Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks and
Legends. Southern Tier 100
Qualifier for 5-Mile Point
Note: I imagine it is still $2000 to win with the
Modifieds.
OCFS:
Coming
up:
June 18th: Mid Valley Drywall – King of the track – part
1. Modifieds,
Sportsman, Pro Stocks and Street Stocks. Kids Club. Got your wrist band from last weeks rainout?
From a
PR:
MIDDLETOWN, NY (June
10)……..It’s a full house program of racing Saturday, June 19 at Orange County
Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York with the headline division Modifieds
going to the post in Part 1 of the Modified King of the Track bonus. In
addition to the $2,500 first place feature race purse, drivers will be out to
position themselves to win the trophy and cash bonus for scoring the best
overall record in the two King of the Track races. The second King of
the Track race will be held on Saturday, June 25.
June 21st: “Big Show III” – 100 lap Super Dirt Series
race for Big Blocks. Also
on the card, the OCFS Sportsman.
Note: I believe you can still order advanced
reserved and general admission seats, but at this late date, you might have to
pick them up at the track. It took nine
days from the day I ordered mine until I received them, via the US Mail.
http://dirtcar.ticketforce.com/ordertickets.asp?p=177&backurl=default.asp
June 25th: Arkel Motors – King of the track – part
2. Modifieds,
Sportsman, Pro Stocks and Street Stocks.
Coming up:
June 18th: Sysco Foods & DMC Racing Products – ESS
Super Sprints, the 6th annual “Bubba Tanner” 23 lap Pro Stock
Classic, Weekly divisions – Sportsman will not run a feature.
June 25th: Gendron’s Truck Center & Hometown USA
Stores – Report Card night & kiddie rides.
Weekly divisions and Budget Sportsman (LV/Accord 602
Chase).
Found
on Jayski’s website:
3rd Hall of Fame
class announced:
NASCAR announced today
the 2012 class of inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The five-person
class, which will be officially inducted in a ceremony during the weekend of
Jan. 20, 2012 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in
Members of the 55-member NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel met today in a closed
session in
The class was determined by votes cast by the Voting Panel, which included a
nationwide fan vote conducted through NASCAR.COM. The accounting firm of Ernst
& Young presided over the tabulation of the votes.
As was the case for the first two classes of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the
results of this year's voting were competitive. Yarborough led with 85 percent
of the vote, followed by Waltrip (82%), Inman (78%), Evans (50%) and Wood
(44%).
Also receiving votes were Jerry Cook, Cotton Owens, Raymond Parks and Herb Thomas.
The fans' five picks, in alphabetical order, were Richard Childress, Benny
Parsons, Fireball Roberts, Waltrip and Yarborough.
The five inductees came from a group of 25 nominees for induction into the 2012
NASCAR Hall of Fame class that included:
Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Jerry Cook, H. Clay Earles, Richie
Evans, Tim Flock, Rick Hendrick, Jack Ingram, Bobby Isaac, Dale Inman, Fred
Lorenzen, Cotton Owens, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, Les Richter, Fireball
Roberts, T. Wayne Robertson, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Joe
Weatherly, Glen Wood, Leonard Wood and Cale Yarborough.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame opened on May 11, 2010 in Uptown Charlotte, N.C. The
150,000 square foot entertainment complex honors the history and heritage of
NASCAR and the many who have contributed to the success of the sport. In its
first year of operation, the NASCAR Hall of Fame entertained more than 270,000
customers, making it the second most-visited sports hall of fame in
More info about the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the list of 25 who were finalists
for induction on my NASCAR
Hall of Fame page or nascarhall.com.(6-14-2011)
Class of 2012 Inductees:
Cale Yarborough
William Caleb Yarborough was the first driver to win three consecutive NASCAR
premier series championships, from 1976-78. During his three-year dominance,
Yarborough won 28 races nine in 1976, nine in '77 and 10 in '78. His final
championship points margin in those three years was
never fewer than 195 points and was as much as 474 in 1978. Yarborough totaled
83 victories in his 31-year career, which ranks sixth all-time. His 69 poles
rank fourth all-time. He also won the Daytona 500 four times (1968, '77,
'83-84), a mark that ranks second only to Richard
Petty's seven. He was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
Darrell Waltrip
A three-time NASCAR premier series champion (1981-82,
'85), Waltrip won all three with legendary driver/owner Junior Johnson. Waltrip
is tied with Bobby Allison and Jeff Gordon for third all-time in series
victories with 84. His 59 poles rank fifth all-time in NASCAR premier series
history. He competed from 1972-2000, which included a 1989 Daytona 500 victory
in a Rick Hendrick-owned Chevrolet. He currently is a commentator on FOX's
NASCAR broadcasts. He was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
Dale Inman
Dale Inman, NASCAR
Hall of Famer Richard Petty's crew chief at Petty Enterprises for nearly three
decades, set records for most wins (193) and championships (eight) by a crew
chief. Inman won seven of those championships with Petty (1964, '67, '71, '72,
'74, '75 and '79), and a final one in 1984 with Terry Labonte.
Richie Evans
The recognized "king" of Modified racing, Evans captured nine NASCAR
Modified titles in a 13-year span, including eight in a row from 1978-85. In
the first year of the current NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour format in 1985, Evans
won 12 races, including a sweep of all four events at
Glen Wood
Glen Wood laid the foundation for the famed Wood Brothers racing team as a
driver in NASCAR's premier series. Competing on a semi-regular basis, mostly at
tracks close to his southern
Note: There was a fairly nice article about this in
our local paper on Wednesday. However, I
don’t know who goofed – Mr. France, himself, or if it’s a “typo” error, but in
the article, it says Richie Evans in one place and Reggie Evans in another.
Check it out,
here: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110615/SPORTS90/106150340/-1/SPORTS10
Jimmy Spencer says
Childress was wrong:
From a Jimmy
Spencer article on SPEED - But take it from someone who has been there - Childress
crossed the line in punching Busch. No one should ever hit or physically
confront another individual. Arguing, hurling insults or yelling at someone is
okay, but you shouldn't touch them. I picked the wrong way to handle my problem
with another Busch brother, Kurt, years ago, and I still regret it. I think
Kurt learned something from me punching him but I learned more, and if I had
the chance to do it over again, I wouldn't have hit him. I've been in several
brawls in my time and nobody ever wins. Childress got off too easy. NASCAR
should have come down on him harder than a $150,000 fine. They should have
suspended him for three races that would get his attention. He took
responsibility for what he did but never apologized because he's really not sorry.
I speak from experience when I say that situations like last weekend's affect
the younger generation a lot, especially the kids watching our sport. My
biggest problem with what Childress did stems from the fact that he is
representing major corporations with thousands of employees. Yet he let his
temper get the best of him and he assaulted someone. That gave the sport the
biggest black eye it has had in years. Fans and folks inside the sport may
think it's funny, but these companies probably aren't
happy about having a car owner representing them who assaulted someone.
And believe it or not, I think that Busch's sponsors can be proud of the way he
handled himself. We're usually criticizing Busch's behavior, but I admire him
for not fighting back and also for staying in the car at
I still don't really see what Childress was so upset about. Busch wasn't out of
line in bumping Coulter's truck on the cool-down lap. Rewind a few laps to when
they were putting on a hell of a race for fifth place and Coulter slid up in
front of Busch. If Busch hadn't lifted and let him go, both of them would have
wrecked. Coulter was the one at fault there, so Busch bumped him after the race
to teach him a lesson. That's just part of racing and how you teach younger
drivers who are coming along. Sure, Busch did a little damage to Coulter's
quarter panel, but he also did the same to his own truck.(in
part from SPEED)(6-9-2011)
NASCAR Hall of Fame
number for May:
Attendance at the
NASCAR Hall of Fame fell 30% in May 2011 compared with the same month a year
earlier the first year-over-year comparison for the city-owned
attraction. Such a decline isn't a surprise, and similar attractions report
attendance declines once the initial excitement wears off. But the hall's
budget for the upcoming fiscal year projects the opposite. Instead of revenue
declining from ticket sales, the hall projects a nearly 20% increase. A year
ago, the hall attracted 35,090 people for the 21 days it was open in May. In
May 2010, the hall attracted 25,014 people, according to estimates released
Wednesday. The hall projects admissions revenue will be $4.9 million for the
upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. It projects admissions revenue to be
$4.2 million for the current fiscal year.(in part from
the Charlotte
Observer)(6-9-2011)
Note: Personally, I think that where they built the
place is a big part of their attendance problem – I mean, in the middle of a
city?
#18 fails
inspection UPDATE 2:
The #18 M&M's
Toyota of Kyle Busch failed post race inspection at Pocono with a height issue
on the left-front end. The car will be taken to NASCAR's R&D center, any
penalties normally announced Tuesday.
UPDATE: Kyle
Busch's third place finishing car in Sunday's 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono
raceway failed post race inspection. Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was found
to be too low after NASCAR officials inspected it three times following
Sunday's race. Busch's left front was too low and NASCAR will take the car back
to its
UPDATE 2:
NASCAR officials
said the front left was too low on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Crew chief Dave
Rogers said the car was 1/16th of an inch outside the tolerances already
allowed by the governing body. Because the car passed pre-race inspection
UPDATE 3
#18 Team penalties
announced:
NASCAR has
penalized the #18 team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as a result of rule
infractions discovered during post-race inspection Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
The #18 Toyota was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions
detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials
that race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and
20-12.8.1B (body height requirements car failed to meet the minimum front
car heights) of the 2011 NASCAR rule book.
As a result, crew chief Dave Rogers has been fined $25,000, while owner Joe
Gibbs and driver Kyle Busch have been penalized with the loss of six
championship owner and six championship driver points, respectively.(NASCAR)
STATEMENT FROM JGR: "We brought the #18 car back to our race shop
and have identified the problem which caused us to measure low during the post-race
inspection process in Pocono yesterday afternoon. We have made NASCAR aware of
our findings and we accept the penalty they have issued
today."(JGR)(6-13-2011)
Harvick vs. Busch
resurfaces:
#29-Kevin Harvick
made it clear Sunday at Pocono Raceway that his feud
with #18-Kyle Busch isn't over. The Richard Childress Racing driver forced
Busch down the track early in the Sprint Cup race when the two were fighting
for position in the last event of their four-race probation, handed down by
NASCAR after their pit road incident at
RPM owner still
looking to bring NASCAR to NYC:
Andrew Murstein
made the roughly two-hour drive from
Note: My thoughts – It ain’t gonna happen, folks,
ain’t gonna happen.
MWR Owners Enjoy
The #71 AF Corse
Ferrari 458 driven by Michael Waltrip, Rob Kauffman and Rui Aguas retired due
to transmission failure after racing about 16 hours in the 79th annual running
of the 24 Hours of
Waltrip said the week-long events culminating with the race will be one of the
highlights of his career: "I'm a NASCAR guy and will always be a NASCAR
guy. But, this was pretty cool. It's been a wild week. It started with rushing
out of the television booth at the
Former
Note: I’ve been away from the track for more than a
few years now, so it’s very possible that there have been other drivers – other
than those I make mention of, that have also gone onto bigger forms or racing
vehicles, so chances are real good that I do not know their names. If you know of anyone that’s gone onto bigger
things, and had run at the Dirt Oval, how about dropping me a line and let me
know their names and where and with what they are now racing. Thanks!
Out
in
At
I-88 Speedway, in the CRSA 305 Sprint Car feature, John Virgilio was the race winner,
with Billy VanInwegen 2nd in the Chuck Alessi # 19, followed by Josh
Pieniazek 5th, Brittany Tresch 11th and Emily VanInwegen
20th. That’s per the CRSA’s
website. I-88’s website had Josh 4th
and Emily 19th.
At
Big Diamond, Mike Mammana was 3rd in the Sportsman feature.
On
Wednesday, June 8th, at Accord, in the first of the “Mid Week
Madness” shows, Rick Casario won the 270 Micro Sprint feature. Jacob Hendershot 1st in the 600 Micro Sprint
feature. In the Slingshots, Tyler
Pirone was 2nd and Tyler Boniface 4th. An article about that night, on the Accord
Speedways website, said they had 90 total entrants in the various classes.
On
Friday, June 8th, at Accord, Danny Creeden was 5th,
Clinton Mills 8th, Michael Storms 16th and Anthony
Perrego 19th in the Modified feature. Kyle Rohner won the Spec Sportsman feature,
with Tyler Dippel 4th, Matt Hitchcock 5th, Kyle VanDuser
10th and Tyler Boniface 15th.
Johnny
Guarino had a 3rd place finish in the Modified feature at New Egypt.
At
Borgers, on Friday, Tiffany Wambold was 3rd in the Wingless 600
Micro Sprint feature, while on Saturday, she was 6th in the 270
Micro Sprint feature.
Alex
Bell had a 3rd
and Bobby Hackel, IV, had a 4th at Albany/Saratoga
last Friday.
This
past Tuesday, June 14th, Billy VanInwegen was a DNQ for the SDS race
at Canandaigua.
On
June 3rd, in the URC Sprint Car feature at Williams Grove, Davie
Franek finished 8th.
On
June 4th, at
Note: Chances are that I might have missed someone,
if so, I’m sorry!
Going back, in time – in
racing history:
Note: Most of the following information was found
here:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html
Covering
the days from June 17th to June 23rd.
JUNE 17
1956
Bob Sweikert... Died ... AAA / USAC driver. Best known as
the winner of the 1955
JUNE 18
1936
Denny Hulme... Born ... A
1960
Al Herman... Died ...ARDC, AAA /USAC driver
from the 1950's and 60's
1989
Tommy Elliott ... Died ...
Northeast midget and modified stock car racer from the 1950's, 60's and 70's.
JUNE 19
1895
William Denver... Born ...
He drove in the Indy 500 in 1930 finishing 23rd. In 1931 he was back driving
relief for Al Aspen in his Duesenberg from lap 112 to lap 161. Aspen finished 14th. He returned to the 'Brickyard' in 1933
but on the 28th of May he crashed in practice driving the Brady & Nardi
Studebaker entered by Ray T. Brady.
1938
Charlie Glotzbach... Born ...NASCAR Grand National / Winston Cup driver 1960's, 70's,
80's & 90's. Glotzbach was named the 1964 ARCA series Rookie of the
Year. He also attempted to qualify for the 1969 and 1970
1940
Shirley Muldowney... Born ...3-time NHRA Top Fuel champion and the first woman to win a
major racing championship.
1949
NASCAR staged its first
Grand National event at the
1960
Jimmy Bryan... Died ... He
drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1952-1960
seasons with 72 starts, including each year's
JUNE 20
1971
Jim McElreath won the USAC
Champ Car race on the 1 -1/8 Mile Dirt Nazareth National Speedway
,
Race report:
http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/report/6_20_71-3.html
JUNE 21
1940
Al Loquasto ... Born ... Al
drove in the USAC and CART Championship Car series, racing in the 1969-1980 and
1982-1983 seasons, with 61 combined career starts, including the 1976 and 1977
Indianapolis 500. He finished in the top ten 11 times, with his best finish in
7th position in 1975 at
JUNE 22
1917
George Fonder... Born ...
He was one of the best midget drivers around at the time. The 1941 racing
season began as the war was going on in
1951
Phil Krueger ... Born ...
USAC / CART driver from the 1980's.
1961
Jeff Ward ... Born ... USAC
/ CART & IRL driver from the 1990's into the 2000's.
1978
Dan
Wheldon ... Born ... IRL driver and two time Indy 500 winner - his second win
just weeks ago.
JUNE 23
1915
Ed "Dutch"
Schaefer... Born ... Eastern midget racer from the 1940's to the 1970's. Remembered as the man who saved the ARDC from extinction.
Schaefer was elected President of the oldest midget racing club in the East in
1952. Near the point of extinction, Dutch managed to hold together a small
group of devoted ARDC car owners and drivers, and brought the club and midget
racing on the East Coast, back into the limelight.
1916
Ralph DePalma set a flying
mile world record of 35.2 seconds in a Mercedes at Des Moines Speedway in
1930
Bob Harkey ... Born ...
USAC / CART driver from 1963 to 1983. Bob ran in the Midget, Sprint and
Championship Cars. In the USAC Championship Car series, he raced in the
1963-1979 seasons, with 85 career starts, including the
1935
Bruce Jacobi... Born ... USAC and NASCAR driver from the 1960's and 70's.
Note: Some information on Bruce Jacobi:
"Harold Bruce Jacobi
was a racing driver from
Jacobi came to the 1983
Daytona Speedweeks without a ride but picked one up with a smaller independent
team driving the #05 Pontiac owned by Dennis Taylor by the time of the Twin 125
Qualifiers. Bruce started 33rd out of 35 cars in the first Twin 125 qualifier.
He lost control of his car on the fifth lap at the exit of Turn 2 and flipped
upon entering the grass infield, eventually coming to a stop near the inside
dirt embankment. The car flipped end over end and it is speculated that his
roll cage failed during the crash.
He competed in twenty
Winston Cup Series events in his career, spanning from 1975 to 1983. Most of
those races came in 1975, when Jacobi finished 25th in points after his only
three career top-tens. Those top-ten efforts were bested by an 8th at
He had 37 USAC Champ Car
starts between 1960 and 1970, with a best finish of fourth at
Subsequent death
Jacobi suffered extensive
head injuries from the crash and was in a coma for almost four years before
passing away at
The above was found
here: http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Bruce_Jacobi.htm
1978
Dick Tobias ... Died ... He
was modified stock car driver that went on to run URC sprints, USAC sprints and
Championship Dirt Cars. He was an innovator and race car builder. His career
spanned 25 years, ending tragically with his death in a USAC sprint car race at
Flemington Speedway in
Note: From what I've been told, there was a
contract between USAC and the Flemington track for a certain amount of races to
be held. Even though there was a short
field of cars, the
promoter held USAC to the agreed to amount of events and so they ran a
"consi" race which really wasn't needed. It was in that consolation race that Tobias
was fatally injured.
News
from the AARN:
From their June 7th
issue:
In Lenny Sammon’s column,
he was quoting Bryan Clauson re the Indy Lights race at the Indianapolis
Speedway. “You run these cars wide open
all the way around. You only lift a little
in traffic. It’s a completely different
type of racing. You pass a guy and you
can’t drive away”.
In Ernie Saxton’s column,
he had this:
This past Sunday, the 12th,
Friends and family of Zachary Strunk, cousin of Jeff Strunk, held a fundraiser
for Zach. As of May 17th,
Zach has gone through five surgeries in an effort to save his left leg. Zach is only two and a half years old. In early May, he was run over by a lawn
mower. More details can be found
at: Friendsofzachary@comcast.net.
Or, you can telephone Misty
at: 610-451-9287.
In Jerry Reigle’s column,
he’s quoting Brian Montieth:
“My hats
off to those wingless guys. When you crash in one of those (wingless
Sprint Cars) it’s a lot harder. Those
guys got bigger ones than me.” Brian had
a hard crash while racing with the USAC Sprint Cars at the Lincoln Speedway.
When Terry McCarl won at
Also, on Saturday, June 4th,
Steve Kinser won at Lakeside Speedway.
Just days prior to that, he had surgery on one of his wrists.
Kevin Rice, in his column,
made mention of the open show at Star Speedway which drew only 16 Modifieds –
that despite the fact that the race paid those 16 drivers more than two times that
of a 24 car field. He goes on to say
that this seems to send a clear, but troubling statement to the track operators
that there is a need to pay higher purses.
Even those that had tires for the show, and stayed home, would have
covered their tire bill just by showing up.
Craig Von Dohren now has
won 78 Modified features at the Grandview Speedway.
In Dave Moody’s column, he
says that Sprint is in talks with NASCAR about extending it’s
multi-million dollar title sponsorship for the Cup Series. Two years remain on the 750 million dollar
sponsorship contract.
Joe Gibbs Racing withdrew
its # 20 Nationwide car – driven by Joey Logano, from
the Chicagoland race due to lack of sponsorship.
Elliott Sadler is suing
Richard Petty Motor Sports for what he says are monies he’s owed.
2nd Chance Motor
Sports fired crew chief Tim Andrews and his team after the Chicagoland
Nationwide race. After they loaded up
the hauler, team owner Rick Russell fired them all and told them to find their
own way home.
Russell had a similar
split, earlier this season, with Jennifer Jo Cobb.
Dan Wheldon got $2,567.755
for winning the Indy 500. JR Hildegrand
got $1,064,895 for finishing second.
That included $25,000.00 for Rookie of the Year. If you noticed, Wheldon had no ride for the
Cost of USAC racing- USAC
Sprint Cars, I imagine - per the AARN obtaining the figures, below:
22 car
“A” Main purse – total is $24,600.00 with $100.00 added for every car over
22. Another $3,300.00 is paid towards
the national point fund, while the defending champions gets $1,500.00. Officials fees are
$250.00, while sanctioning fees, tow money and total program fees are $1,500.00
each. All total up to $34,150.00. Oh, don’t forget that $100.00 for every car
over 22, too.
Note: I find it hard to
believe that the “Sanctioning fee” is only $1,500.00.
More
racin’ stuff:
Have you heard about the “change of seats” between Tony
Stewart and Lewis Hamilton the other day, at Watkins Glen? Stewart drove
Well,
it seems that all of a sudden, some drivers have been contacting each other –
from different forms of racing, like Cup and Indy car and trying to talk each
other into some “seat changing”. Not on
ovals, however, but on road courses.
Quite
a bit being said about this on the Track Forum, and you should be able to read what’s being said if you go here:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?151855-Seat-Swap-Hamilton-amp-Stewart
Some
names being mentioned – Jimmie Johnson, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan,
Racing and
television:
Racing on TV - http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Some non-racing stuff:
In
part:
“The Federal Bureau
of Investigations has rewritten its own operations manual,
giving its agents more autonomy than ever to conduct low-level searches without
a paper trail. As The New York Times reported today, there's no court
decision or change in privacy laws governing the bureau's search techniques.
Rather, the 2011 update to the 2008 Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide
changes the bureau's own guidelines. But some of the new powers trouble privacy
activists even though they're perfectly legal. Here's what FBI agents will be
allowed to do under the new guidelines:
Undocumented
database searches, Lie-detector tests, Trash searches, Surveillance squads,
Undisclosed participation" in organizations, Authorizing informants at
religious ceremonies, Investigating public officials and Investigating scholars
and members of the news media.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20110613/ts_atlantic/newpowersfbijustgranteditself38763
Note: I always get a kick out of reading some of
the comments that one
can find if one scrolls down a little from the article.
Is
this true?:
Got, what follows, in an e-mail the other day.
Part 1 of 3:
What if they left?
Somebody
really did their homework on this one.
Best
on the subject to present date.
What if 20
Million Illegal Aliens Vacated
I, Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News
wrote a column titled, "Mexican Visitor's Lament".
I
interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting
So I did my due diligence, buried my nose as a reporter into the FACTS
I found below.
It's
a good question it deserves an honest answer. Over 80%
of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped. But
what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated
In
In
Denver
Public Schools would not suffer a 67% dropout/flunk rate because of
thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least
200,000 vehicles would vanish from our grid locked cities in
In
In
If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home', the U.S. Economy would return to
the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a
living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't
be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 Billion in
IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local, state and
city coffers.
No more
push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No
more confusion in American schools that now must contend with over 100
languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our
overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a
cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches
We
would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6
billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130
billion in drugs annually would vacate our country.
In cities like
Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and
gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal
aliens!
Part
2 will be in next weeks column.
And,
let me add this – something I’ve had in my computer for quite some time now:
“THREE PRESIDENTS
Here
is something that should be of great interest for you to pass around.
I didn't know of this until it was pointed out to me.
But, back during The Great Depression,
President Herbert Hoover ordered the deportation of ALL illegal aliens in order
To make jobs available to American citizens that desperately needed
work.
Harry Truman deported over two million Illegal's after WWII to create jobs
for returning veterans.
And then again in 1954, President
Dwight
Eisenhower deported 13 million Mexican nationals! The program was called 'Operation Wetback' so that American WWII and Korean
veterans had a better chance at jobs. It took 2 Years, but they deported them!
Now, if they could deport the illegal's back then, they can sure do it today!!
If you have doubts about the veracity of this information, enter Operation
Wetback into your favorite search engine and confirm it for yourself.”
Oh – I did check out “Operation Wetback”. It confirms what is said, above.
Video time – Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnEtRUcKGwc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ecE1UML1q8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKiyoQwiYDc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwwGjOj1clc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGz_xSSgjY0&mode=related&search=
Video time – Part 2:
The car switch
between Tony Stewart (Stock car) and Lewis Hamilton (F-1 car) at Watkins Glen;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yzs-2bDai8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP_PYAsCE0c&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqO4GnkoMK4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsrYLNRn-MY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dz70wOHim4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc6rmTSVQ1I&feature=related
Closing with these:
Continued from last
week:
We all get heavier as we get older,
because there's a lot more information in our heads.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Every time I start thinking too much
about how I look,
I just find a pub with a Happy Hour
and by the time I leave,
I look just fine.
You
could run this over to your friends
But just e-mail it to them!
It will save you the walk!
My wife asked, “Watcha doin’ today”?
I said, “Nothing”.
She said, “You did that yesterday”.
I said, “I wasn’t finished”.
When you think about it, God has to be the best inventor of all
time.
He took a rib from Adam and made a loudspeaker.
A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is
blowing, the birds are singing and the lawn mower’s broken.
Now I ask you, what kind of best friend would remove your
testicles?
Did you know that Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of
captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and
throw them fish?
You know why a woman’s work is never done?
They don’t get up early enough.
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
And: Don’t forget Dad this Sunday!!!!!