April 2, 2005
- Brewer suing Morgan McClure: Conway Law Firm, P.L.L.C. has been retained to represent Tim Brewer, the former General Manager and Crew Chief for Morgan McClure Motorsports, Inc. Conway will bring suit next week against Morgan McClure Motorsports, Inc.for breach of contract and wrongful termination in a substantial sum.(Conway Law Firm PR)(4-2-2005)
- Rusty’s son to make Busch starts: Just as Rusty Wallace’s farewell tour is getting under way, his son Steven Wallace is taking one of the first steps up the NASCAR ladder. Wallace said Friday his 17-year-old son [turns 18 this summer] has been signed to a driver development contract by Dodge, which also supports the elder Wallace’s racing. The younger Wallace, who is now competing on the Hooters Pro Cup circuit, likely will move to his father’s Busch car next season for a partial schedule [about 15 races]. He got the deal with Dodge following a recent tryout with several other hopefuls, all of whom drove a Bobby Hamilton-prepared truck at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla.(Atlanta Journal-Constitution), also on Speed Channel’s Trackside show Friday, Wallace said that Steven would run two Busch races this year in the #64, Phoenix [Nov] and Memphis [Oct].(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)(4-2-2005)
- Rusty and Jeremy Makeup: When they competed together under the Penske umbrella, Jeremy Mayfield and Rusty Wallace endured a rocky partnership as teammates. Now, with Mayfield admittedly older and wiser and Wallace in the twilight of his career, time appears to have healed the wounds. Mayfield currently competes in the Busch Series driving the Miller High Life Light Dodge owned by Wallace. He’ll steer that car throughout today’s Sharpie Professional 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway. “I kind of feel honored to be honest with you,” Mayfield said Friday. “His last year, (Rusty’s) Last Call, he asks me to drive it.” It’s a surprising turn of events, considering the frosty state of affairs between the two in the Penske days. But Mayfield says that’s all in the past. “You know, there’s a lot of things I did wrong that I could’ve done better to make that whole deal work,” he said. “We’d probably still be teammates right now. But I had a lot of growing up to do and had to be humbled and mature a lot, too, and I feel like I have.” Now with the Ray Evernham Dodge team in Nextel Cup competition, Mayfield said he sees a whole different side of his former teammate. “We never really got to know each other when we were teammates,” Mayfield said. “Now, the more I’m around him, I’m like ‘Man, this guy’s cool as hell.’”(Kingsport Times News), may Newman and Rusty are next to fix things?(4-2-2005)
- NASCAR Greats Honored at Bristol: Legends Plaza, the latest addition to the Bristol Motor Speedway complex, pays homage to some of racing’s biggest names. The permanent display, in front of the Bruton Smith office building, features large brass plaques mounted on pre-cast concrete bases. The display honors former Bristol winners like the late Dale Earnhardt and Alan Kulwicki as well as 12-time winner Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, the Allison family, Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough and David Pearson.(Bristol Herald Courier)(4-2-2005)
- So What’s up with Fittipaldi? Christian Fittipaldi, attempting to revive his racing career following an unsuccessful NASCAR stint, posted the fastest time among the Rolex Grand American Daytona Prototypes during Friday’s practice session at California Speedway. The 35-year-old Brazilian, who made five Prototypes starts in 2004 including the season finale at Fontana, made the jump to NASCAR after a successful career in the CART Series. He said he did not regret his decision to seek a ride in NASCAR after the 2001 CART season. “If CART had not gone where it went, I would not have left and the same for some others,’ said Fittipaldi. “I had to look at an alternate. NASCAR is definitely the series everybody wants to be in in America. It’s the most competitive and there are a healthy number of cars. NASCAR is maintaining, and is not going up as much as Grand Am is right now. The cars are relatively cheap to run, compared to Champ Car and IRL,’ Fittipaldi said. “They still have technological gizmos in the car that make them fun to drive, makes them interesting.”(Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)(4-2-2005)
- Shower Power: Maui Shower Co. has made its Bristol debut, at Farmer Bob’s Campground off Tenn. Highway 394. The colorful trailer holds 11 shower “pods” that can accommodate up to 1,000 showers a day. “It’s a state-of-the-art, premier, multishower unit,” said Pamela Withage, who is running Maui Shower with her husband, Mike. Each private pod consists of a stainless steel shower — cleaned with hospital sanitizer after every use — and a changing area. Maui Shower’s generator is continuously running so hot water is always available. Towels can be purchased for $4 each, soap and shampoo for $1. The showers operate on tokens, bought at the trailer, that are worth $1 each. It costs two tokens to start a shower and one for each additional minute. Withage said she encourages patrons to buy $20 worth, since most people don’t know how long it will take them to shower and leftover tokens can be used any time. This is Maui Shower’s fourth stop since inception — the first three were at races and a “bike week” in Florida. Withage said they are following the NASCAR circuit, and have about 28 weeks booked this year. The company tries to set up at multiple-day events that draw no less than 5,000 people.(Johnson City Press)(4-2-2005)
- The 10 millionth vote has been cast:. Since General Mills began sponsoring the Chex NMPA NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award at the beginning of the 2002 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, more than 10 million votes have now been made by fans throughout the world. Fans vote at www.mostpopulardriver.com for the only fan-based official award in motorsports.
A record 750,000 fans have already voted this season, well ahead of last year’s pace. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who has won the award the past two years, leads this season. Jeff Gordon is second, followed by Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart. Rounding out the top 10 are Michael Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson.
Voting for the more than 40 drivers eligible for the Chex NMPA NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award, the only fan-based award in motorsports, began Tuesday, Feb. 1, at www.mostpopulardriver.com and continues through 11:59 a.m. CST, Monday, Nov. 21. Fans may vote once each day at the site.(Williams Company)(4-2-2005)
- Childress on the #29 pit box at Bristol: #29 team owner, Richard Childress is reasserting himself to the team. He will be on Kevin Harvick’s pit box tomorrow for the Food City 500, helping interim crew chief Scott Miller, the first time Childress has been on a pit box for a race since the 2001 season.(Richmond Times Dispatch)(4-2-2005)
- Stockcar Fans – Ramblings – Bristol: We beat the rain today at Bristol Motor Speedway, and it was Elliott Sadler who grabbed the Bud Pole for Sunday’s Food City 500 at the sweetest little half-miler on the planet. Sadler’s time of 15.022 (127.733 mph) was good enough for his 3rd career pole and first since he had the top-spot at Talladega in September of 2003. He becomes the fourth qualifier for next February’s Budweise Shootout.
Dave Blaney (2nd) will join Sadler on the front-row…..this is his best starting spot since he had the pole at Rockingham (we used to race there?) in February of 2003.
Five….count ’em….Five sets of ties today! We time out to a 1000th of a second, and almost 25% of the field is involved in duplicate times. Remember, ties are broken by Owner points.
Rusty Wallace (3rd) has his best starting spot since he was on the outside pole at Martinsville last October.
Travis Kvapil (5th) tied his career-best qualifying effor today. He also started 5th at Martinsville last October.
Jeff Green (6th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 3rd at Richmond last May.
Mike Wallace (22nd) has his best starting spot since he started 18th at Dover in June of 2003!
Stanton Barrett (23rd) has his best starting spot since he started 20th at Dover last June (only two races).
Hermie Sadler (35th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 31st at Martinsville last October (only five races).
STREAKIN….Ryan Newman has 12 Top-10 starts in a row.
Greg Biffle has 4 Top-10 starts in a row.
The dnq’s of the #7 (Robby Gordon) and #37 (Kevin Lepage) were crucial indeed. Starting next week we’ll use current year Owner points to determine who has to time into the field, and their misses will open the door to Jason Leffler, Mike Wallace, Bobby Labonte, and Ricky Rudd. While Bobby Labonte is eligible for a past-champions provisional, it’ll be interesting to see how this shakes out for the other drivers.(StockCarFans.Com)(4-2-2005)
- Talking Jobs: As stock car engines roared in the background, college students and representatives from six states gathered Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway to learn about career opportunities in motor sports. “We want them to hear what it’s really like out there,” said Dr. Tom Coates, an associate professor in East Tennessee State University’s physical education, exercise and sports sciences department. “They need to hear what you need to do to get ready for job opportunities in motor sports, what kind of experiences are good in college (and) what type of internship and volunteer opportunities are out there.” A spin-off of the Motorsport Operations Partnership created by BMS and ETSU last spring, Friday’s Motorsport Operations Symposium featured several panelists who spoke to students from ETSU and 15 other institutions about diverse opportunities in the rapidly growing field.(Johnson City Press)(4-2-2005)
- Qualifying Rained out, Edwards starts first: Rained washed out qualifying for the Sharpie Professional 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, so the field was set by the rules book, top 35 in owners [NOT drivers points] points, race winners in 2004-2005 not already in, past champ, then by 2005 race attempts, ties broken by 2005 owners points. So #60-Carl Edwards starts first, followed by #21-Jeff Burton, #2-Clint Bowyer. #8-Truex Jr. and #33-Raines.
#17-Kenseth, #99-Waltrip and #29-Harvick make the race due to 2004 Owner Win, #49-Grissom makes the race as a Past Champion and #72-Geoffrey Bodine (attempts 6 – 37th 2005 owners pts), #23-Robinson (6, 41st), #0-Davis (6, 42nd) and #7-Mark Green (6, 44th) by race attempts. Missing the race were: #52-Brad Teague; #16-Justin Ashburn; #85-John Hayden; #56-Tim Sauter; #75-Jay Sauter; #04-Eric McClure.
See Starting lineups:
BGNRacing.com – Starting Lineup
NASCAR.com.(4-2-2005)
- The Chase to Busch? NASCAR officials are considering adding the Chase for the Championship format to the Busch Series. If NASCAR does add the 10-race postseason to the Busch Series, there is a push within NASCAR to make Bristol Motor Speedway a major player in the new schedule. Possibilities include making BMS the last race before the playoff to create a “must win” atmosphere or making BMS the final race of the season where the championship will be determined. (Knoxville News Sentinel via BGNRacing.com)(4-2-2005)
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997