April 11, 2003
- Elliott does some dirt trackin’: On Saturday night the fans and drivers at Seven Flags Speedway, a dirt track in Douglasville, GA got quite a surprise. Bill Elliott dropped in unexpectedly to run the Late Model feature. Joe Armistead Jr., who qualified before Elliott, started on the pole with Elliott alongside. When the green flag dropped, Armistead bolted into the lead. The lead duo ran bumper-to-bumper in the early laps, but Armistead never relinquished the lead and led all 30 laps to get the victory. “It was one of the most memorable races I’ve ever run,” Armistead said. “I’ve always been a big Bill Elliott fan, so it was really cool to get to race with him.” But because Elliott didn’t tell anyone ahead of time that he planned to race at Seven Flags, only the few hundred in attendance knew he’d been there. Elliott also raced his dirt car at Talladega Short Track on Friday night, but spun on the start and was unable to work his way back to the front.(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)(4-11-2003)
- #20 Impounded Car Chopped? and returned? UPDATE, nope and nope: An unconfirmed rumor has it that the 20 car was, indeed, returned though in a slightly modified form: Sliced in half at the B-pillar, the front section delivered to the Gibbs team garage. How would that be for a message sent and delivered? (in part from Autoweek)(4-8-2003)
UPDATE: Crew chief Greg Zipadelli is still waiting to see if or when NASCAR will return the Home Depot Chevrolet NASCAR confiscated prior to practice two weeks ago at Texas. Zipadelli told PRN’s “Garagepass” car owner Joe Gibbs visited NASCAR’s Research and Development center in Mooresville on Wednesday and that car is still in the condition as when they took it. Zipadelli says the team has already built a new car replacing the one taken at Texas and that they’re “over it” and are moving on.(PRN’s Garage Pass)(4-11-2003) - Park Rumors Denied UPDATE: Rumors about Steve Park’s job security in DEI’s #1 Pennzoil Chevy were circulating even before the Cup race at Texas. But Ty Norris, vice president of motorsports at DEI isn’t ready for talk of change, saying the team needs to do better and that DEI is going to keep trying to do better. Norris said Park has been real dedicated, coming by the shop and talking to the crew. The communication is open and positive. Norris had no comment when it was mentioned that Shane Hmiel’s [#48 in the Busch Series] name has been tossed around as a possible replacement for Park.(paraphrased from the Winston Cup Scene – subscription required to read online)(4-4-2003)
UPDATE: Driver Steve Park just shrugs his shoulders at the rumors over him being replaced in the Pennzoil Chevy by Busch Series regular Shane Hmiel. Park admits the performance of the team is not where they would like it to be and that’s what produces the rumors. Park said, “The Inquirer and all the trash newspapers that are out there sell, so I guess bad news sells better than good news.” Maybe we’ll do a story on how much money Steve Park donates to charity and all the work he does away from the racetrack to raise money for different charities ‘you never see anything like that’ all you see is that Steve Park is out of the Pennzoil car and so we’re fixin’ to prove them all wrong.” Since Shane’s father Steve is DEI’s Technical Director Park says it makes for a great story, but he’s staying in the racecar.(PRN’s Garage Pass)(4-11-2003) - Garrow on TV: PRN radio anchor Mark Garrow will anchor this weekend’s Busch Series qualifying on Speed Channel and Saturday’s race from Nashville on FX.(4-11-2003)
- Stewart to run Busch race at Michigan with special scheme – UPDATE 5: the Tony Stewart #8 Busch Series program has been changed from Kid Rock to 3 Doors Down. This special program will be racing in Michigan on August 16th. Dale Earnhardt Jr.(car owner) and Stewart both filmed footage to appear in a new rock music video with 3 Doors Down which is due out this summer.(3-27-2003)
IMAGE see an image of the scheme on my Paint Scheme Gallery, the Busch page.(4-11-2003) - Helton on Fox Sunday: This week NASCAR President Mike Helton comes by the “Hollywood Hotel” to address several issues in the sport including process and procedure in determining those types of penalties. Coverage begins live Sunday, April 13 at 12:30pm/et from inside the NASCAR on FOX traveling prerace studio now situated within the friendly confines of the Martinsville Speedway infield. The 30-minute countdown to Sunday’s dropping of the green flag is hosted by Chris Myers, analyst Jeff Hammond and special guest Darrell Waltrip.(Fox Sports)(4-11-2003)
- Stewart to run Busch race at Michigan with special scheme – UPDATE 5: the Tony Stewart #8 Busch Series program has been changed from Kid Rock to 3 Doors Down. This special program will be racing in Michigan on August 16th. Dale Earnhardt Jr.(car owner) and Stewart both filmed footage to appear in a new rock music video with 3 Doors Down which is due out this summer.(3-27-2003)
IMAGE see an image of the scheme on my Busch Paint Scheme Gallery.(4-11-2003) - LaJoie on the pole at Nashville: #7-Randy LaJoie won the pole for the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway with a lap of 163.324mph, followed by #57-Jason Keller, #10-Scott Riggs, #43-Kevin Grubb and #60-Stanton Barrett.
For lineups, see BGN Racing.com or NASCAR.com.(4-11-2003) - Kahne helping a buddy: Kasey Kahne, driver of the #38 Great Clips Ford, will have extra incentive on Saturday, April 19 when he starts the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. In that race, he will be looking for more than a win. Chris Hahto, a 25 year-old friend of Kahne’s from Washington, recently has gone through some rather serious medical procedures. While the recovery is progressing well, the financial bills are staggering. “Chris has had such a rough time,” said Kahne. “Medically he’s fought very hard and he’s doing well. But, now he has to fight the battle of paying for it all. I just wanted to help him raise some money.” Kahne is soliciting support through what is called “Miles for Chris”. He is asking fans, fellow drivers, sponsors and others involved in the sport to either financially pledge a set amount or an amount-per-mile for each of the 300 miles at Nashville. “We are all so lucky in this sport,” said Kahne. “I’m hoping that we can raise some money and share our good-fortune.” Further information is available at www.kaseykahne.com.(4-11-2003)
- Garrow on TV: PRN radio anchor Mark Garrow will anchor this weekend’s Busch Series qualifying on Speed Channel and Saturday’s race from Nashville on FX.(4-11-2003)
- Some DW news UPDATE 2: The Martinsville race on April 12 will be the first of two Craftsman Truck Series appearances by Fox TV analyst Darrell Waltrip as a driver. Broadcast partner Larry McReynolds will be Waltrip’s spotter, and Jeff Hammond, who turned the wrenches during part of Waltrip’s Cup career, will be the crew chief. … Fox’s frequent assertion that Hammond was Waltrip’s crew chief for three championships is incorrect, by the way. In 1981, Tim Brewer was Waltrip’s crew chief. In 1982, the duties were shared among Brewer, Hammond and Mike Hill. Hammond was the crew chief for Waltrip’s third title in 1985. You can look it up, as they say.(Gaston Gazette)
UPDATE: Tim Brewer was no longer with the team in 1982 and Jeff Hammond was the crew chief. Also on the truck, Hammond is NOT the Crew Chief, Bobby Kennedy is the Crew Chief, Hammond is the “Interperator”.(4-4-2003)
UPDATE 2: Michael Waltrip will join Rick Allen, Dorsey Schroeder and Barry Dodson in the booth for this weekend’s Craftsman Truck Series event in Martinsville. Waltrip has a vested interest in the race, as older brother Darrell – a three-time Winston Cup champion – will be racing a DEI-powered truck owned by Michael and crewed by Michael’s NASCAR Busch Series crew. SPEED Channel will bring race fans a unique view to DW’s return, as the truck will be equipped with in-car cameras and the racing legend will be wired for sound for the entire race. In addition, fellow FOX broadcasters Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond also will be a part of the SPEED broadcast, with McReynolds acting as Waltrip’s spotter and Hammond observing from the pits.(Speed Channel PR)(4-8-2003)
UPDATE 3: from a DW chat “No, we don’t really have any intentions of doing anything else with the Tide truck. Michael might run it. It’s going to be Tide at Martinsville, and at Indy, it’s going to be Give Kids The World which is a program down in Orlando that Tide is involved in for sick kids. We’re going to run that paint job at Indy. But there is another race back in Martinsville. There are a couple other races that Michael talked about racing, like New Hampshire or somewhere like that. I’d love to go to Phoenix.(FoxSports)(4-11-2003)
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