March 23, 2003
- Busch wins the Food City at Bristol Motor Speedway: #97-Kurt Busch backed up his 2002 win at Bristol with one Sunday, his first win of 2003 after having three 2nd’s this year. Teammate #17-Matt Kenseth was 2nd, #18-Bobby Labonte finished 3rd in his purple car. Four of the top five cars were powered by Roush Racing. The Unofficial Top Ten and stats, cautions and notes see my Food City 500 Race Info Page:
Result Links at: Jayski – Bristol Results and
ThatsRacin.com, NASCAR.com Motorsports One.(3-23-2003)
- Andretti still looking to do Coke 600/Indy 500 double: John Andretti still has no firm plans to run in the Indianapolis 500 this season and by his estimation, time is running out. Andretti wants to return to Indy, where he last raced in 1994 when he did both the 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. He’d like to make it happen this year so he can compete one last time against his cousin, Michael, who is retiring after the May 25th race. But he doesn’t have a sponsorship deal in place and running at Indy is contingent on him putting a package together that includes partners from his Winston Cup team at Petty Enterprises. “I’d say at one time it was 60-40 that I’d run Indy and now the chances are more like 50-50,” he said. “It’s looking more likely that it will happen next year instead of this year.” Andretti has not driven an Indy car since 1994, and although he’s confident he hasn’t forgotten any of the nuances, he wants to have a deal in place in time for him to test the car at the end of April. “There’s a lot of last-minute deals that go on with the Indy 500 and I’ve certainly been involved in my share of them,” he said. “But I’d like to test the car, get in it and get an idea of what I’ve got.”(ThatsRacin.com/AP)(3-23-2003)
- Sad News: Tommy Moon, whose success as a race car driver made him a fan favorite in Jacksonville, FL in the late 1940s and early 1950s before being paralyzed during a 1954 race, died Thursday evening at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa. He was 77. A life-long Jacksonville resident and the recipient of the Purple Heart, Moon was the oldest-licensed NASCAR driver and among the first inductees of the Jax Raceways Hall of Fame in ’91. He was honored at the ’93 Daytona 500 with a parade lap around the track, in which he received a standing ovation. A viewing for Moon will be held from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday at the Town & Country Funeral Home on Normandy Boulevard. The funeral is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the same location. Moon, who was one of the thousands of U.S. soldiers to storm Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, received the Purple Heart after getting shot while on duty in Brest, France. With the help of his father, Thomas Henry “Pop” Moon, Tommy began his racing career after returning to Jacksonville following the war. Moon’s career was cut short when he was paralyzed during a 10-lap heat race at Jax Raceways in October of 1954. Moon was involved in a nine-car accident that sent his ’37 Ford rolling on its side before getting hit by a second car. His spinal cord was severed during the accident, leaving him unable to walk or race again. Two years after the accident, Moon became the second person ever presented with a lifetime membership to NASCAR. Red Vogt, who was one of the most successful mechanics during the 1940s and 1950s, was the first person given a lifetime membership.(Florida Times Union). Moon ran in 10 Cup races, winning a pole and having a top 5 and 3 top 10’s.(3-23-2003)
- Petty 2003 Ride Details: Kyle Petty’s ninth annual Charity Ride Across America is scheduled for Sunday morning, June 22, through Saturday afternoon, June 28. The motorcycle caravan will help raise money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp being built by the Petty family on 60 acres near Randleman, NC. The ride will leave from Palm Springs, Calif., and make six overnight stops: Sedona, Ariz.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Amarillo, Texas; Shreveport, La.; Biloxi, Miss.; and Tallahassee, Fla. It will end at the Dale Earnhardt Legacy concert at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. This year’s ride is the first not to start from near a Winston Cup venue. The first two rides headed eastward after races at Sears Point Raceway at Sonoma, Calif. The third ride left from the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and the next three from the California Speedway at Fontana. The 2001 and 2002 rides left from the Sonoma area.(Daily Press)(3-23-2003)
- Birthplace of Speed Centennial Celebration: On Friday, March 28, Daytona’s racing history will come full circle with the return of the vintage vehicles that jump-started their motorsports history, which stretches back 100 years, Birthplace of Speed Centennial Celebration. This celebration of speed and sand actually begins Wednesday, when the City of Ormond Beach, FL opens and dedicates it’s Birthplace of Speed Park at the intersection of A1A and Granada Boulevard. The following day will feature a classic car exhibit divided between Fortunato Park and The Casements. Some of the cars will make their way to the beach for parade laps. Then on Friday, racing returns to the beach for the first time since 1958. The Antique Auto Beach Races program starts at 11:00am/et and continues until 3:00pm/et. It will have a carnival-like atmosphere, including an antique airplane fly-over and a parade lap of participants.(Full Story at the Daytona Beach News Journal and see the site: www.centennialofspeed.com for full Celebration info)(3-23-2003)
- Underbird to North Carolina: Alan Kulwicki’s “Underbird,” the #7 Ford he drove the day he won the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup title, is settling into a new nest, its owner says. Larry Bean, who restored the car, plans to move it from its current home in Daytona Beach, Fla., to the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Mooresville next week. That the car will arrive in its home just in time for the 10th anniversary of Kulwicki’s death in an April 1, 1993, plane crash, is purely coincidental, Bean said.(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), see more info on the car at www.underbird.com.(3-21-2003)
UPDATE: Contrary to some reports the #7 Underbird will NOT be at the track or do the victory lap, the car that will do the Polish victory lap is a 2nd #11 Hooters Memorial Ford [2003 model, not 1992]. Kulwicki’s real race car sits at Larry and Pam Bean’s home in Daytona, staged for transport to a new display at the North Carloina Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Mooresville, NC [Jayski was there in Dec 2002, what a great place] and the Bean’s were not invited to participate in the Bristol ceremonies.(3-23-2003)
- Sharpie Donation: Sharpie is donating $1 (up to $5,000) for every signature collected at the designated autograph area at BMS using new Sharpie metallic silver markers. The money is being raised for Sullivan East High School. Along with Winston Cup star Kurt Busch, Sharpie kicked off the weekend fundraising program on Thursday at the Bluff City school and delivered $10,000 worth of school supplies. Sharpie will be conducting the event this morning from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. outside of turn four at the Rubbermaid Block Party. In October and November of last year, East was closed due to a hazardous black mold problem. BMS allowed the school’s 1,100-plus student body along with teachers and administrators to use its facilities as a makeshift classroom.(Johnson City Press)(3-23-2003)
- Pre-Race Victory Lap UPDATE: before the start of the Food City 500 at Bristol, Chris Duncan, son of Dan Duncan, one of those killed in the airplane crash that killed 1992 Cup champ, Alan Kulwicki on April 1st, 1993, will drive the #11 Memorial Hooters Show car around the track, backwards, doing a Polish Victory Lap, made famuous my Kulwicki when he won his first Cup race at Phoenix in 1988.(XM Satellite- NASCAR Radio – Subscription Required)(3-21-2003)
UPDATE: Contrary to some reports the #7 Underbird will NOT be at the track or do the victory lap, the car that will do the Polish victory lap is a 2nd #11 Hooters Memorial Ford [2003 model, not 1992]. Kulwicki’s real race car sits at Larry and Pam Bean’s home in Daytona, staged for transport to a new display at the North Carloina Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Mooresville, NC [Jayski was there in Dec 2002, what a great place] and the Bean’s were not invited to participate in the Bristol ceremonies.(3-23-2003) - Setzer wins at Mesa Marin and ties a record: #46-Dennis Setzer won the Lucas Oil 250 on Sunday at Mesa Marin Raceway to match the CTS record for victories in consecutive seasons. Setzer won for the sixth straight season, matching the mark set by Jack Sprague in 2001. Setzer started 12th in his Chevrolet, and led 105 of 255 laps on the 0.5-mile oval. The winning pass came on the 228th lap, when Setzer used the lapped truck of #16-Travis Kvapil to block the progress of leader #62-Brendan Gaughan’s Dodge. Gaughan had led from the 196th lap, when a rain shower briefly put the race under caution for the 12th time. #50-Jon Wood came in 2nd, followed by #62-Brendan Gaughan, #4-Bobby Hamilton and #1-Ted Musgrave.
See results at ThatsRacin.com, Truck Series, MotorsportsOne and NASCAR.com.(3-23-2003)
- Musgrave on pole at Mesa Marin: #1-Ted Musgrave won the pole at Meas Marin Raceway for Sunday’s Lucas Oil 250 Presented by Glidden [televised on Speed Channel at 4:30pm/et] with a lap of 93.293mph, followed by #4-Bobby Hamilton at 92.966, rookie #99-Carl Edwards at 92.942, #59-Robert Pressley at 92.836 and #50-Jon Wood at 92.827.
For the lineup, see ThatsRacin.com or Truck Seires.com.(3-23-2003)
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