March 23, 2004
- Brewer Penalized: NASCAR has fined Tim Brewer, crew chief for the #4 Chevrolet driven by Kevin Lepage, $5,000 for an infraction detected during NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series opening-day inspection at Darlington Raceway. Brewer was penalized under Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Rule Book: (Actions detrimental to stock car racing) and Section 12-4-Q (Any determination by NASCAR Officials that parts and/or equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR rules). The No. 4 had an unapproved rear deck lid.(NASCAR PR)(3-23-2004)
- Ward Burton teams up with Blue Ox [where is Paul Bunyan?] Ward Burton and Blue Ox Towing products of Pender, Nebraska have formed a marketing relationship with Burton endorsing Blue Ox products. Blue Ox is the industry leader in towing equipment for recreational vehicles. The partnership is a natural fit for both parties, with Burton using Blue Ox products on his motor coach to travel the country. Blue Ox offers not only the most reliable towing products in the industry, but the most thorough, responsive service as well. They prove it 24 hours a day through a toll-free, 24-7 hotline, 1-888-425-5382. Recreational vehicle enthusiasts can call this number to talk to a Blue Ox customer care representative who’s trained to answer all types of towing and braking equipment questions. Blue Ox has multiple racing related programs and sponsorships for 2004. Blue Ox has teamed up with Haas CNC Racing and will be associate sponsors for both the #0 NEXTEL Cup car, driven by Burton, and the team’s #00 Busch Series car, driven by Jason Leffler, for both the spring and fall Bristol, Tenn. races. Blue Ox will also be sponsoring a campground for the March 28, 2004 Food City 500 and the August 28, 2004 Sharpie 500 racing weekends at Bristol Motor Speedway. There will also be Blue Ox highway signs, and public address announcements each day. In addition, throughout the racing season Blue Ox will be hosting special events and opportunities to meet Ward Burton. For more information on Blue Ox and its racing involvement please visit www.blueoxracing.com.(PR)(3-23-2004)
- New Sneaks for Harvick: #29-Kevin Harvick is endorsing a new line of sneakers from Lugz, a boot and shoe company looking to expand beyond its mostly “urban-based” clientele. The new shoes go on sale in July.(USA Today)(3-23-2004)
- Too Much Military at the Races? [not in my book] UPDATE Nextel Responds: NASCAR’s pre-race shows are impressively and colorfully patriotic, with flags waving and race crews, including drivers, standing crisply at attention on pit road, and with glorious vocals and spectacular military flyovers. However, according to sources, some Nextel officials are uneasy with the image that might be seen by some as too staunchly militaristic and pro-war and might prefer a more middle-of-the-road approach to that and other sensitive political issues. And it is being suggested, according to these sources, that since Republican George Bush was invited to Daytona, a similar invitation should be extended to John Kerry, a Democratic presidential candidate, at another Nextel Cup race later this season.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-21-2004)
UPDATE – from NEXTEL: quite a few readers emailed Nextel and hammered them, they got a nice response back:
“Thank you for taking the time to write and voice your thoughts regarding NASCAR. I want you to know that Nextel supports our service men and women wherever they are serving this great country, without reservation. We have many Nextel employees in the reserves and a great many veterans. In fact, our Chief Operating Officer, Tom Kelly, is an Army veteran. There is no question that we value their dedication, bravery and commitment.
The comments and views that the Winston Salem Journal sports writer Mike Mulhern reported in his Sunday NASCAR notebook section are not remotely close to those of Nextel – I have personally discussed this with him. We are very upset with how Nextel has been improperly characterized as not supporting our service men and women through NASCAR pre-race shows. Nextel stands shoulder to shoulder with the millions of patriotic NASCAR fans.
In partnership with the American Red Cross, Nextel has supported the armed forces through the American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services (AFES) program. This is a program that asks people to donate their old wireless phones so that we can recycle them and generate funds for the Red Cross. Through this program, Nextel has already raised more than $400,000 for AFES and has helped service men and women around the world stay in touch with their families during times of celebration or grief.
Nextel has proudly taken this program to NASCAR and its fans to garner additional support for our armed services men and women. And we will continue our efforts on this front and wherever we see opportunities.”(3-23-2004)
- Teen who helps others, joins forces with Kyle: Zach Frye was eight years old when he met Kyle Petty on a South Carolina beach 10 years ago. Petty was vacationing, gathering sand dollars with his daughter Montgomery Lee. Kyle invited Zach to join them. A decade later, that chance meeting paid dividends to needy Bristol-area citizens. Over the next 10 years, Zach followed Kyle’s career, particularly Petty’s charitable work in the Bristol area. Petty’s successful “Race To End Hunger” food drive collected thousands of pounds of food for the Bristol Emergency Food Pantry.
Zach picked up where Petty left off, and he created a highly-successful food drive of his own. Next week at Bristol, Petty will meet Zach again as the Blountville, Tenn., youth serves as an honorary member Kyle Petty’s #45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawney Dodge crew.
Last year, the Sullivan Central High School (Blountville, Tenn.) running back and basketball player took time away from school and athletics to generate publicity and gather food at his school and at a Food City store located near Bristol Motor Speedway. He collected more than 4,000 pounds of canned goods for Bristol Emergency Food Pantry.
Though he wants the spotlight on his cause and not himself, his efforts attracted several honors this year, including one from The White House. Frye received the “President’s Award for Student Service,” as well as the 2004 “Civic Responsibility and Outstanding Character Award” and the “National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award.” What he really wants is to tell Kyle Petty about his successful food drive and how meeting him 10 years ago put him on track to achieve his goals of service to others.
Petty and his Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge crew more than welcome Frye to the team for the Food City 500 at Bristol. “The ripple theory – one pebble in a pond creates ripples that go forever – really came into play here, but you need young people with Zach’s compassion and willingness to help others to make it work,” Petty said. “A lot of cool things happen in a race car driver’s life, but something like this is pretty hard to top. Somebody told me Zach had said it was a real honor to be in our pit at Bristol. Let me tell you, it’s an honor to us to have him there,” Petty added.(Williams Company PR)(3-23-2004)
- Bill France Jr. to visit Nashville’s Music City Motorplex at Opener: Bill France Jr. is planning on attending the April 3rd Dodge Dealer’s 400 at Nashville’s Music City Motorplex. The April 3rd event will mark the return of NASCAR sanctioned events to this historic 5/8 mile oval after a one-year hiatus. “When I got the word this past Friday it reaffirmed NASCAR’s commitment to Nashville and to grassroots short track racing,” commented Joe Mattioli, President of the Music City Motorplex. In September of 2003, Bill Jr. passed the baton to his son Brian France who now serves as NASCAR’s board chairman and chief executive. Bill Jr. continues to serve as NASCAR’s co-vice chairman and as a member of the board of directors. For the additional information call the Music City Motorplex at 615-726-1818, or visit www.musiccitymotorplex.com.(PR)(3-23-2004)
- Hillenburg was up to NASCAR’s minimum speed UPDATE more on speed requirements: #80-Andy Hillenburg was traveling above NASCAR’s mandated minimum speed of 135.409 mph (34.5 seconds per lap) [note: not sure how NASCAR calculates minimum speed, this speed is about 80% of the pole speed] in Sunday’s race when #20-Tony Stewart got a run on his car and sent it sideways on Lap 28. Title contender #24-Jeff Gordon, who was running behind those two, had nowhere to go and T-boned Hillenburg’s car. The wreck ended Gordon’s day, and he finished 41st, dropping him from fifth to 13th in the points standings. After the accident, Hillenburg admitted, “We have to go back and make the car faster to keep up with these guys.” That wasn’t good enough for Gordon’s team owner, Rick Hendrick. After the race, Hendrick said, “If those guys can’t get out of the way, then they shouldn’t be there.” Hendrick plans to discuss the issue of slower cars with NASCAR this week.(FoxSports/Sporting News)(3-22-2004)
UPDATE: Executive Vice President of Communications Jim Hunter said NASCAR still doesn’t view the issue as a major concern, chalking up the crash as typical for the treacherous 1.366-mile oval with extremely tight corners. “It’s racing,” said Hunter, a former president of Darlington. “There are always going to be slower people. Not everybody is going to be running as fast as the leader.” NASCAR polices the problem at each race by setting a minimum speed within about 15 percent of the fastest lap in the final practice. Failure to keep pace results in a black flag, and only one warning generally is given before teams are parked permanently. Sunday’s minimum at Darlington was 142.539 mph nearly 25 mph slower slower than Mark Martin’s fast lap of 166.298 mph Saturday. Kirk Shelmerdine was banished after 49 laps Sunday for excessive lagging. At least one car has started each of the four races since Daytona with a lap 10 mph slower than the pole. In recent years, Formula One implemented the “107 percent rule,” which prevented cars from starting if they didn’t qualify within a certain range of the pole position speed. Gordon suggested NASCAR might be well-served to follow the international series’ policy, which Hunter said NASCAR would be willing to consider.(Richmond Times Dispatch)(3-23-2004) - Tennessee Driver to debut later this season: Although Kingsport [TN] native Bob Harshbarger is planning to run the full American Speed Association [ASA] schedule with his locally-based Appalachian Motorsports race team, this also will be a transitional season for the team. Harshbarger plans to begin phasing his team into the NASCAR Busch Series later this season, with veteran ASA driver Gary St. Amant behind the wheel helping develop the cars. The goal is to run a few races this year, including the Bristol night race and fall Richmond race, about half the Busch Series races in 2005, and then go full time to that circuit in 2006. He currently is working with Nextel Cup veteran Ken Schrader, who is helping him pick out used Busch cars that are ready to race. Rather than “reinventing the wheel”, Harshbarger said he wants to use established Busch cars as templates for eventually building his own fleet. By the time he’s in Busch racing full time in 2006, he hopes to be building his own cars. “Anybody can go out there and just run, but we don’t want to run in the back or not make the race,” Harshbarger said. “Easing into Busch like this is going to help get us over the learning curve. We want to be competitive, so if we can get through the growing pains in the next couple of seasons, we’ll be ready when we go Busch racing full time.”(Kingsport Times News)(3-23-2004)
- New Website for Crosby; Next Race at Talladega: Crosby Motorsports has launched a newly redesigned CrosbyMotorsports.com, the official website of ARCA and Busch driver, Kim Crosby. Crosby’s next scheduled race is at Talladega on April 24, as she will be entering the Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Busch Series Event.(3-23-2004)
- #15 Crew Chief Fined: NASCAR has fined Richard J. Wauters, crew chief for the #15 Chevrolet driven by Shane Hmiel, $500 for an infraction discovered March 12 during NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series opening-day inspection at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Wauters was penalized under Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rule Book (Actions detrimental to stock car racing) and Section 12-4-Q (Any determination by NASCAR Officials that parts and/or equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR rules: unapproved jacking bolts).(NASCAR PR)(3-23-2004)
- Musgave tests at Atlanta..after the race: Following #1-Ted Musgrave’s eighth-place finish in the March 13 EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the only thought this veteran driver had was of coming back to the fast, high-banked speedway to test – as soon as possible. “I wanted to come back the next day, but that was the (NEXTEL) Cup race,” Musgrave said. “We ended up finishing OK, but we basically made something out of nothing, because we just weren’t good all weekend. We knew we could have run much better if we’d tested. So as bad as we were, we wanted to come right back to the track we had just raced on and try to improve.” Musgrave did just that almost immediately upon returning to the track Monday, turning a fast lap of 173.521mph (31.95 seconds) around the high-banked 1.54-mile track. Musgrave tested both his own #1 Mopar Dodge and the #2 ASE/CARQUEST truck of his teammate, Andy Houston. “This track is so much like others that we race on – Charlotte and Texas especially – that we’re learning a lot right now,” Musgrave said. “Plus, this test will actually help everywhere we go, including the short tracks, because we’re learning how the truck reacts to changes.” Musgrave said he had improved his speeds in the two Ultra Motorsports trucks by almost half a second over the times he turned just two weeks ago in the race at Atlanta. Both Musgrave and Houston qualified in the back half of the field for the EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200, with Musgrave starting 21st and Houston 23rd. “We’ve learned a lot today, but I can’t tell you what, or it’ll be all over the internet,” Musgrave said with a wicked grin. “I can tell you this: We’re running a lot closer to what the leaders ran during the race, and the truck is real comfortable right now. I couldn’t say that two weeks ago.” Musgrave said he knew going into the EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 that his truck didn’t have a shot at winning, but he was reluctant to make any drastic changes right before the race. “We were off all weekend, and we almost changed a bunch right after happy hour,” Musgrave said. “But that’s risky. We could have been right on, or we could have been way off. Now I wish we’d changed things, because the changes we were going to make have made the truck way better during today’s test. But you learn.” And despite what he considers a poor finish for himself, Musgrave is still in awe over the inaugural truck race held at Atlanta two weeks ago. “That was an amazing show, and there was an amazing crowd here,” Musgrave said. “With the finish that we had, I could see all the fans standing and cheering as I came off the track after the race. We loaded up and came back out, and the fans were STILL standing and cheering. What a great race for our series; these fans in Atlanta are great.”(AMS PR)(3-23-2004)
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