If #2 Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has his way, the car now known simply as PRS-054 will carry a special moniker after the running of Sunday’s MBNA NASCAR RacePoints 400 at Dover International Speedway. “We’ve been thinking about it since Melvin passed away a couple of months back and we think there’s no better tribute we can pay to such a wonderful guy than to win the race and name our car after him,” Wallace said of Melvin Joseph, a board member and Vice President and Director of Auto Racing at Dover International Speedway, who died suddenly on April 6. “I was very fortunate to really get to know Melvin well during the last 10 years and would love to honor him this way.” The 83-year-old Joseph had been active in the NASCAR community for some 50 years, first as a car owner and then in his involvement with the one-mile high-banked Dover, Del., racing facility. He is credited with being a leader in the design and construction of the track that held its first NASCAR race in 1969.(Tom Roberts PR)(6-2-2005)
