March 28, 2007
- Biffle will not face discipline for car height: NASCAR will not penalize Greg Biffle’s #16 team, despite the fact his Ford was found to be too low in post-race inspection at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said Wednesday. NASCAR has scheduled a news conference for Friday morning at Martinsville Speedway to explain their reasoning in detail. NASCAR took the #16 car back to its research and development center Sunday night after the Food City 500 and gave it a thorough inspection Monday. Officials determined that no unapproved adjustments had been made to the car, so NASCAR cleared the machine and returned it to Roush-Fenway Racing on Monday afternoon. The 2007 season began with a new, less tolerant approach toward rules violators, prompting many to suspect that Biffle and his team would receive a stiff penalty following the Bristol mishap. But NASCAR officials said the Car of Tomorrow is a work in progress, and that they anticipated the cars would lose some height during the race at Bristol. Officials ran eight cars through the height sticks during post-race inspection, and Biffle’s was the only one that came back too low. Before making any permanent changes, NASCAR said it will likely make some rules adjustments in the future that benefit everyone.(ESPN.com)(3-28-2007)
- AT&T wants logo on Burton’s car immediately UPDATE NASCAR responds: Telecommunications giant AT&T filed a motion Monday, asking that its logo be added to Jeff Burton’s #31 Chevy immediately. The motion was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, where the company also filed its lawsuit against NASCAR. A hearing on the motion has not yet been scheduled. Burton is sponsored by cell phone service provider Cingular. AT&T recently took full ownership of Cingular as part of its recent merger with BellSouth and intends to eliminate the brand name. AT&T sued NASCAR on March 16 after racing series officials refused to allow AT&T to put its logo on Burton’s car because of NASCAR’s deal with Nextel, which sponsors NASCAR’s top series — the Nextel Cup. “We must bring this issue to resolution,” John Burbank, vice president of marketing for AT&T, said in a statement. “The season is well under way and so are our rebranding efforts. This filing is a logical next step for us in the process, and one we must pursue so that we can simply move forward with our paint scheme — something our agreement with NASCAR allows us to do.” AT&T officials acknowledge they agreed to a contract with Childress’ team that contains provisions saying Cingular can’t increase the size or placement of its logo on the car and can’t switch its sponsorship to another team. But they say the contract does not contain language preventing a logo change if Cingular is bought out by another company. NASCAR and Nextel officials declined comment when the lawsuit was filed. The lawsuit seeks permission to make the logo switch and damages for the “substantial harm” NASCAR has caused to the company. The lawsuit calls altering the design of the #31 car an “integral part” of the company’s brand name switch, and that NASCAR’s refusal to allow it inhibits the company’s ability to “attract new customers and retain existing ones.”(AP/ESPN.com), see past news on the AT&T lawsuit and Cingular on my #31 Team Schemes page.(3-26-2007)
UPDATE – NASCAR fires back: AT&T has been pressuring NASCAR with its lawsuit over how to paint the quarter panels on Jeff Burton’s Nextel Cup #31 Chevy car as it rebrands Cingular under the AT&T logo. According to papers being filed in the suit, NASCAR officials told Stan Sigman, the president and CEO of Cingular, five weeks ago that in April 2005, George Pyne, NASCAR’s CEO at the time, told the Richard Childress-Burton team that it would not allow a change in paint scheme or logos if Cingular was bought and had its name changed. NASCAR further said that its grandfathering of Cingular – after Nextel signed on as the series sponsor – “was tied directly to the Cingular Wireless brand and not the Cingular company.” The papers further say that “it is generally not in NASCAR’s interest to limit sponsors’ participation in the sport.” NASCAR suggested that AT&T could sponsor a Busch team or a Trucks team instead, if it wished. That is precisely the route that Verizon has taken. NASCAR’s filing refers specifically to Pyne’s letter to Childress, dated April 4, 2005. It specifies that “should Cingular be acquired by a third party, the Cingular brand is continually welcome as a team sponsor. However, should the company’s name change, we will not allow any paint scheme or branding on the car promoting this new name.” The papers go on to say: “NASCAR certainly has no desire to eliminate the Cingular brand from NASCAR Nextel Cup series competition.” But, “unfortunately AT&T’s decision to purchase Cingular and then to eliminate the Cingular brand puts NASCAR in the position of having to now enforce the rights granted Nextel in the series sponsorship agreement.”(in part from the Winston Salem Journal)(3-28-2007)
- Teams use thinner metal on exhaust at Bristol, causes problems:#11-Denny Hamlin said the first race with the Car of Tomorrow, last week at Bristol, wasn’t that much different. How he felt afterward sure was. Hamlin said yesterday during Busch Series testing at Richmond International Raceway that he and several other drivers had “extremely bad headaches” along with aches throughout the body. “I had to get blood tested yesterday to see what was wrong with me because I felt terrible,” Hamlin said. “I talked to my physical trainer who talked to other physical trainers who said their guys took the day off because they couldn’t do anything yesterday.” Hamlin said he wondered whether it had anything to do with a carbon monoxide problem. Kerry Tharp, the director of communications for NASCAR competition, said yesterday by phone that several teams, including Hamlin’s #11, had exhaust system failures. A number of teams, in trying to conserve weight on the new car, opted for a thinner metal piping for their exhaust systems. That led to failures. The problem is not expected to repeat this weekend at Martinsville.(Richmond Times Dispatch)(3-28-2007)
- Hamlin’s #11 Crew Takes Pit Crew Challenge Win in Bristol: Denny Hamlin’s over-the-wall crew captured the Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge in Sunday’s Food City 500 Nextel Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The #11 FedEx Chevry, owned by Joe Gibbs Racing, spent the least amount of time on pit road (190.763 seconds) during the 500-lap event at the .533-mile oval. “The FedEx over-the-wall crew was great all day at Bristol. I think they picked up spots for me each time I pitted and they helped put the team in position to win,” said Hamlin. “This was a total team effort and I want to thank the guys back at the shop and crew for all the work they did to get these new cars ready to race. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a better end to the weekend, but with this team, I have no doubt we’ll have another chance to win soon.” Checkers/Rally’s awards the winning Nextel Cup pit crew each week with a cash prize of $11,000. The #11 crew includes: Chris Webb (jackman), Chad Edwards (front-tire carrier), Donnie Brown (front-tire changer), Heath Cherry (rear-tire carrier), Dennis Terry (rear-tire changer), Scott Wood (gasman), John Eicher (catch can), Bobby “Spike” Christenson (windshield) and John Furino (pit support). The team’s crew chief is Mike Ford and the pit crew coordinator is Paul Alepa. An additional $111,150 will be presented to the pit crew with the most wins at the completion of the 36-race Nextel Cup schedule. To win the Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge, teams are required to finish on the lead lap while spending the least amount of time on pit road. Checkers/Rally’s is in its third season as title sponsor for the pit crew challenge. Checkers/Rally’s is the Official Burger and Drive-Thru Restaurant of NASCAR, more info at checkers.com.(DMF Communications PR)(3-28-2007)
- Mears gives Dad a nice birthday present: Roger Mears, father of #25-Casey Mears, drives his son’s motor coach from race to race during the NASCAR season and is a familiar face at the track. However, the former off-road racer won’t be so easy to find this weekend in Martinsville. Roger Mears, who celebrated his 60th birthday last Saturday, will be at the Barrett-Jackson auction — also known as the “World’s Greatest Collector Car Event” — in Palm Beach, Fla., from March 28 to April 1. The younger Mears, driver of the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, arranged for his father to attend the event as a birthday present and even slipped a blank check in with the ticket.(Hendrick Motorsports)(3-28-2007)
- Germain Racing to Run some Busch Races UPDATE 2 and Cup:“We were going to run a few races with the new Car of Tomorrow, but in retrospect we felt we maybe ought to back down on that a little bit and run some Busch races instead,” [Ted] Musgrave said. “I think that’s where we’re leaning, try to get the Toyota flag flying there, but one thing’s for sure, we’re going to try to go for the championship in the Truck Series again.” [Tddd] Bodine will drive the Busch car, according to Germain, who explained that it was Toyota who came to his team and sked if they would hold off on the Car of Tomorrow and run a partial Busch schedule.(Naples Daily News)(2-12-2007)
UPDATE: Interviewed on Sirius Radio’s The Morning Drive [with Marty Snider & David Poole], Todd Bodine said his Germain Racing team will test at Richmond this week. They currently plan on running about 12 Busch races this season, starting at Richmond. The team also still plans 3-4 Cup races, possibly starting at the Brickyard [Indy].(3-27-2007)
UPDATE 2: Germain Racing plans to field two fulltime Nextel Cup teams for Toyota by 2009. Todd Bodine took the first step in that process on Tuesday, testing a Busch Series car at Richmond. Germain Racing will enter Bodine in the May 4 Richmond Busch race in a Camry being built at its new Mooresville, NC, shop. It is the first of 11 Busch events the 43-year-old Bodine is scheduled to enter this season.(ESPN.com)(3-27-2007)
- Bodine to add another venue to his Bobsled Challenge: Geoff Bodine. who last year persuaded 10 race car drivers to get behind the cowls of specially made bobsleds and race to raise money for the U.S. bobsled team, is taking his project to Utah Olympic Park. “We’re going to have two,” Bodine said Tuesday from Park City, Utah. “They saw our event and asked us to come out. This is going to be a good venue.” The new event will be staged in December after a World Cup event at the Park City track. The Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge, which relies on Whelen Engineering for substantial sponsorship, made its debut in Lake Placid in January 2006 and was staged again the first weekend of this year. Boris Said, a road-racing expert whose father competed on two U.S. Olympic bobsled teams, has won three of the four races. He was in Park City on Tuesday to test a bobsled that was modified for the new event. Drivers who have raced on the difficult Lake Placid track drove a shortened course on the 20-turn chute and recorded speeds of just over 50 miles per hour. Said drove the entire track at Utah Olympic Park and was clocked around 73 mph, according to John Morgan, a TV commentator for the sport and co-organizer of the Bobsled Challenge. Because of hectic schedules, Bodine so far has been unable to attract a current Nextel Cup star, such as Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, to either of the first two runnings of his fundraiser, which will return to Lake Placid the first weekend in January. Still, the races so far have been successful at raising money for increased research and development for the U.S. bobsled team, which excelled in the 2006-07 World Cup season. Steve Holcomb, a native of Park City, won the two-man and overall titles, and Shauna Rohbock, of Orem, Utah, finished second to German women’s champion Sandra Kiriasis. Over the past 15 years, Bodine has raised more than $1 million to help build American-made bobsleds through his Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project.(ESPN.com/AP)(3-28-2007)
- NASCAR Images up for some Emmy’s: NASCAR Images, the internal production and creative services company of NASCAR, has been nominated for two Emmy Awards for the television program Beyond the Wheel. The 2006 Emmy Award nominations from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences are for “Live Event Turnaround” and “Camera Work.” Beyond the Wheel was also nominated in the Live Event Turnaround category in 2005.(NASCAR PR)(3-28-2007)
- Julie Roberts to be Guest Sponsor of Revelocity Racing in Nashville: Julie Roberts, Nashville’s UMG (Universal Music Group) and Country Music Recording Artist will be a guest sponsor of Revelocity Racing’s #73 Ford at Nashville Superspeedway. Roberts, with her new single “Men and Mascara” and previous hit single “Break Down Here” will debut the brand new West Virginia based team in their first race of 2007 as Honorary Crew Chief.(Revelocity Racing PR)(3-28-2007)
- Sad News: Doc MacDonald: “Doc” MacDonald, father of Randy and Teri MacDonald, passed away Monday evening. Doc was a long time NASCAR owner, fielding cars in the CTS and Busch Series’. Funeral services will be held Thursday, March 29 at 6:30 pm at Cumby Funeral home in High Point, NC.(3-28-2007)
- Santos Fastest in Final Richmond Test Session: #91-Bobby Santos was fastest during the final test session at Richmond Wednesday evening. His top speed was 124.189mph. The rest of the top 5 were #9-Scott Riggs, #12-Sam Hornish, #88-Shane Huffman, and #38-Jason Leffer. Complete results are on the Richmond Testing Page.(3-28-2007)
- Hamilton Jr. Fastest in Wednesday Afternoon Testing: The Busch Series drivers hit the track today for the second day of a two-day test session in preparation for the Circuit City 250 at Richmond on May 4. Bobby Hamilton, Jr. in the #35 McDonald’s car topped the speed charts at 124.458 mph during the four hour session from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Rounding out the top five fastest were Bobby Santos in the #91 [for Bill Davis], David Reutimann in the #99, Scott Wimmer in the #29 and Casey Mears in the #24. With only two cautions, one for debris on the backstretch early in the test and another when the #4 car of Regan Smith spun on the backstretch, the 40 teams were able to gather valuable information to help them prepare for their return to Richmond in just over a month.(RIR PR)(3-28-2007). Complete results are available on the Richmond Testing Page.(3-28-2007)
- All-American Driver Riethmeyer to attempt Martinsville: The Kroger 250 could be the shot that All-American Driver, Bradley Riethmeyer, has been waiting all his life for. This Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, Riethmeyer will be qualifying for the Craftsman Truck Series racing behind the wheel of the #49 All-American Driver Challenge Dodge. The All-American Driver Challenge is a driver search and competition that is geared toward fostering the best up-and-coming talent, ages 15-23, for a future career in a professional American racing series.(All American Driver Challenge PR)(3-28-2007)
- Truck ride doesn’t work out for Day: UPDATE: Formosa gets Operation Big Chance ride: Mark Day had to choose between a one-shot ride in the Craftsman Truck Series and loyalty to his long-time Late Model team that helped him capture the Music City Motorplex championship last season. Day stuck by his team. By winning last year’s championship Day also won a ride with Kevin Harvick Racing in a competition called Operation Big Chance. Motorplex president Joe Mattioli and Dollar General put the deal together to give local drivers a chance at an upper-level NASCAR ride. The hitch came when Day got a call last week telling him he needed to practice Harvick’s truck prior to the scheduled race Saturday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. “They called at the last minute and said a practice was scheduled on Thursday but I already had something scheduled that day,” said Day, 45, who works for Scoggins Enterprises, a racecar parts dealership. “They said if I didn’t practice I couldn’t race. I understand that; it’s just that I couldn’t do it right then.” Day was offered a backup date – June 30 at Memphis – but there was also a hitch. “We have a race at the Motorplex that night,” Day said. “In order to race at Memphis I’d have to miss the local race and I can’t do that to my team. Those guys have been with me too long and worked too hard for me to walk out on them.” Mattioli is trying to work out perhaps another truck race not conflicting with Day’s schedule. If that can’t be done, another Motorplex driver may take Day’s place. Willie Allen [#13], who was runner-up to Day last season, would be first in line for the truck opportunity, but Allen already has a ride of his own. Next in line is Nicholas Formosa.(Tennessean)(3-28-2007)
UPDATE: Twenty-one year old Nicholas Formosa, the 2006 Music City Motorplex Super Truck Champion, will be given the opportunity to enter and qualify for the May 26th Craftsman Truck event at Mansfield, Ohio, officials of the Music City Motorplex have announced. Kevin Harvick, Inc. will field the truck, with Dollar General providing title sponsorship. Mark Day, by virtue of points, earned at the Motorplex in 2006, Mark Day was scheduled to drive the truck at this weekend’s event in Martinsville, Virginia, however scheduling conflicts for that event and other potential events have moved Formosa into the ride. The 250 Lap Craftsman Truck event at Mansfield is scheduled for 1:00 pm on Saturday, May 26th, providing he possibility for Formosa to compete there and be back that evening for NASCAR Whelen All American racing at the Motorplex, as he shoots for his 2nd Super Truck Championship at the Fairgrounds.(Music City Motorplex PR)(3-28-2007)
- Sad News: Doc MacDonald: “Doc” MacDonald, father of Randy and Teri MacDonald, passed away Monday evening. Doc was a long time NASCAR owner, fielding cars in the CTS and Busch Series’. Funeral services will be held Thursday, March 29 at 6:30 pm at Cumby Funeral home in High Point, NC.(3-28-2007)
- Gaughan to sport Hoya pride on final four weekend: Although Brendan Gaughan [former Georgetown guard (1994-1997] can’t be at the basketball game in person on Saturday, he’ll be sporting his Hoya pride on his #77 South Point Chevy. Gaughan will carry decals featuring the Georgetown ‘G’ on the deck lid of his Silverado and the school’s mascot, Jack the Bulldog on the truck’s B-post.(South Point Racing PR)(3-28-2007)
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