April 11, 2001
- President Bush meets with the Earnahrdts: To a round of cheers, President Bush arrived on Air Force One at the North Carolina Air National Guard terminal near Charlotte/Douglas International Airport about 10:15 Wednesday morning, the first president to visit Charlotte in five years. Bush stepped off the presidential jet alone, and met briefly with the family of late NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt. He kissed and embraced Earnhardt’s widow, Teresa, and shook the hands of Dale Jr., Kerry and daughters Kelley and Taylor. The Earnhardts were given a tour of Air Force One after Bush spent 13 minutes shaking hands and signing autographs for about 100 Air National Guard personnel and their families. The Earnhardt family spent about 50 minutes touring Air Force One. At one point, family members were seen inside the plane’s cockpit, sitting in the pilot’s seat. As they emerged, the family posed for pictures with crew members and Air National Guard members(That’s Racin’)(4-11-2001)
- Yates to Dodge? Third Team? unlikely UPDATE no: Might car owner Robert Yates be considering a switch from Ford to Dodge next season? That’s the buzz in Detroit, although it’s unlikely that Ford Motor Company would let Yates, its biggest NASCAR star, get away. And after his third win of the season yesterday, why would Yates even think about leaving Ford, the company he has called home for so many years? “Money,” says one man familiar with Detroit’s inner secrets. “After all, Robert gave up (Ford’s) Quality Care for UPS.” Although few key figures in the Winston Cup garage expect Yates to make a move to leave Ford, the Dodge report is another twist on how tense things may be in Detroit, where for the first time in 25 years, all three of the Big Three are playing NASCAR again. Not since the mid-1970s have General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all been in this game, and it’s not quite clear how the balance of power might be shifting. And Yates said that Ford officials asked him to start a third Winston Cup team this season, with an unnamed driver, but he declined in order to focus on his current teams, with drivers Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd. And Yates said he has no plans to start a third team next season either, despite reports that Ford executives have approached him again. See full story at the Winston Salem Journal(4-9-2001)
UPDATE: been told by RYR sources that this is totally untrue and they are NOT considering a switch from Ford to Dodge or any other manufacturer(4-11-2001) - Harvick to test ‘Dega UPDATE: #29-Kevin Harvick will test at Talladega next Tuesday and Wednesday. The April 22nd 500 will be his first (Cup) restrictor plate race for car owner Richard Childress and crew chief Kevin Hamlin(Winston Salem Journal)(4-7/10-2001)
UPDATE: Close to a dozen teams continued testing at Talladega Superspeedway on Wednesday for the upcoming NASCAR Winston Cup Series Talladega 500, on April 22. On Tuesday at Talladega, 17 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Busch Series teams turned 900 laps – nearly 2,400 miles – on Alabama’s 2.66-mile tri-oval testing for “Track Attack Weekend.” Testing were #1-Steve Park, #29-Kevin Harvick, #40-Sterling Marlin, #4-Kevin Lepage, #71-Dave Marcis and #22-Tom Hubert, who was substituting for Ward Burton. “Track Attack Weekend” begins on April 19 with John Deere Qualifying Day for the Busch Series 300 and IROC practice. Advance Auto Parts Qualifying Day for the Talladega 500 is set for April 20. Fans can purchase a commemorative Jeff Gordon Pole Day ticket for $10 good for Friday’s activities. On Saturday, April 21, fans can watch the NASCAR Winston Cup Series extended Happy Hour, the True Value IROC XXV and the NASCAR Busch Series 300. The Talladega 500 is Sunday, April 21. Tower seats remain for both days. (tix info at the Talladega Site). No speeds reported.(4-11-2001) - Penalty Rescinded: On April 11, 2001, the National Stock Car Racing Commission heard and considered the appeal of Petty Enterprises. The appeal pertained to a $20,000 penalty issued by NASCAR to Greg Steadman, crew chief of the #43 car following the March 25, 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. In addition to other matters arising from the appeal hearing, the commission considered the issue of non-conformance to rules specifications at the conclusion of a race based on a claim of racing conditions or racing contact. In most cases, a claim of racing conditions or racing contact is not sufficient to reduce or rescind a penalty in the eyes of the Commission. The Commission notes that non-conformance to specifications at the conclusion of a race may occur by design so as to gain an advantage. The Commission recognizes and reaffirms that, per Section 8-7 of the Rule Book, NASCAR Officials have the flexibility to exercise discretion in matters pertaining to racing conditions or racing contact and to evaluate each claim on a case-by-case basis. The commission feels strongly that, unless it can be determined that the non-conformance was directly attributable to racing conditions and to no other plausible explanation, a penalty would have been correct. However, during the appeal hearing the Appellant made a persuasive argument that the only plausible explanation for the height variance at the conclusion of the race was the cracked chassis welds resulting from the conditions of the race. It is extremely unlikely that a cracked chassis would have occurred by design. Further testimony indicated that the resulting height variance did not provide a significant competitive advantage over other competitors. Therefore, it is a unanimous decision of the National Stock Car Racing Commission that the penalty is hereby rescinded(NASCAR PR)(4-11-2001)
- Tire Carrier Hurt UPDATE: Kevin Garband, 35, of Winston-Salem was injured during a late-race pit stop when a loose tire from Bill Elliott’s #9 Dodge rolled into the pit stall of driver Mike Skinner. Garband is the front-tire carrier on Skinner’s pit crew. Garband had just jumped off the pit wall and was running around the left side of the car when the tire clipped his left knee and sent to the ground. Garband has had surgery in the past on the knee for a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He was treated and released from the infield care center and will see his personal physician Monday for further evaluation(That’s Racin’)(4-9-2001)
UPDATE: Kevin Gabard, front-tire carrier and car chief for the #31 Lowe’s Chevy, will undergo surgery on Monday, April 16, to replace the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee and repair a torn meniscus. Gabard was injured during a late-race pit stop Sunday at Martinsville Speedway when a loose tire from another team rolled into the Lowe’s pit and clipped Gabard’s left knee. Gabard has undergone surgery to repair a torn meniscus in the same knee seven times since 1991, most recently in November 1999.(RCR PR)(4-11-2001) - Dillon Out UPDATE Skinner In: Mike Dillon has stepped down as the driver of the #21 Rockwell Chevy co-owned by father-in-law Richard Childress in an attempt to improve the team’s performance, and not because of injuries he sustained in a multicar wreck March 24 at Bristol. Mike Skinner, who drives Childress’ #31 Winston Cup Chevy, was behind the wheel of the #21 car at Texas, where he qualified fifth and finished ninth. Despite initial word out of the Childress camp that Skinner was simply filling in, the move is all but permanent. There’s a possibility that Dillon may drive “a race or two” later this season, but that’s it. Dillon’s focus seems to have almost completely shifted from driving to a new, as-yet unspecified role within the Childress organization. A search would begin for a driver to run the races Skinner couldn’t. Skinner will most likely drive most, if not all, of the remaining races run in conjunction with the Winston Cup tour. With an eye toward 2002, the team might opt for a young, unproven talent in stand-alone events, much the same as it did with Kevin Harvick last year(Winston Cup Scene – need subscription to view online)(4-5-2001)
UPDATE: Winston Cup driver Mike Skinner will drive the Richard Childress Racing/Brant Motorsports #21 BGN car this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway and the balance of this year’s races that coincide with Winston Cup events. Skinner, the full-time driver of the RCR #31 Lowes Chevys in the Winston Cup series, replaces Mike Dillon as driver for the #21 team. Dillon, recovered from injuries sustained in a March 24 crash at Bristol and another during testing at Nashville a couple of weeks before, will remain with RCR in an as-yet undetermined role. Subbing for an injured Dillon March 24 at Texas Motor Speedway, Skinner qualified fifth and finished ninth, both season bests for the team. A driver for the races that conflict with the Winston Cup schedule is being sought(That’s Racin’)(4-11-2001) - Martinsville TV and Golf: Nielsen Media Research suffered a meltdown this weekend and all of the rating’s reports for the weekend have been delayed, some of the overnights until late Tuesday. What we know so far is that FOX Sports finally came back to earth with a 4.5 overnight rating and an 11 share for NASCAR’s Virginia 500 at Martinsville Sunday. The Tiger Woods phenomenon had to have impacted viewership later in the afternoon, his unprecendented and successful quest for a fourth consecutive major, drew a 13 overnight rating with a 28 share for CBS’ coverage of The Masters(SpeedVision)(4-11-2001)
- Earnhardt Crash Info UPDATE 3 – Ford to Join: NASCAR remains tight-lipped about the progress of its investigation of the Daytona 500 crash which killed legend Dale Earnhardt. NASCAR officials say the matter is complex, and that definite answers may be a couple months off(SpeedVision)(4-8-2001)
UPDATE: NASCAR officials are expected to release an update on the Dale Earnhardt crash this week, possibly today(Richmond Times Dispatch)
UPDATE 2: In a Monday afternoon teleconference, NASCAR officials announced their investigation of the Feb. 18 Daytona 500 crash that took Dale Earnhardt’s life included a reconstruction of the accident and would likely last until August. See the full text of the statement at That’s Racin’: Text of NASCAR update on Earnhardt crash investigation(4-9-2001)
UPDATE 3: At least one automobile manufacturer, Ford, apparently will participate in the “comprehensive accident-reconstruction review” proposed by NASCAR in its “safety update” Monday.(SpeedVision)(4-11-2001) - Roush Says Team OK: Jack Roush insists his NASCAR empire is not in a slump. That, despite only two combined top-5 finishes and six top-10s in 32 starts this year among Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Until this year, Roush has always had championship-caliber teams. Martin has been top-10 in 12 of his 13 full seasons, nine of them within the top five. Burton has been top-5 in four of his five seasons with Roush. Never has the organization struggled like this. But Roush dismisses most of it as bad luck. “How can an owner prepare for some of what’s happened to us?” he said over the weekend. “We’ve had a hard year because we’ve been involved in wrecks and had structural failures and broken parts that we’ve never broken before. Jeff had a tire problem at Bristol that wasn’t his fault, and when he ran into Mark, we lost two cars right there. Over the winter we prepared our engineering effort, our aero program, our chassis program and our motor program better than ever. But we couldn’t have prepared for the chain of events that have occurred one after the other. We understand some of the parts failures, so I’ve taken steps to see they don’t happen again. If you’re talking about points, yes, we’re struggling. But we’ve had some very good runs this year.”(Daily Press)(4-11-2001)
- Stewart Gives: “I’ve been overwhelmed by the support I’ve received through donations to pay for my Bristol fine. And while I still feel what I did on pit lane wasn’t right, it is nice to know you have fans that are with you through thick and thin. As part of my appreciation, I’ve decided to match the money that has so kindly come in to both the Gibbs shop and my offices in Indianapolis and send it all to the Make A Wish Foundation. It’s nice to see a positive come of a negative in this situation. The people at Make A Wish make a difference and hopefully with this they can make an even bigger difference. Enjoy the Easter weekend!” – Tony Stewart (Tony Stewart Site)(4-11-2001)
- Sadler Testing at Michigan: Elliott Sadler and #21 Wood Brothers Racing team are testing at Michigan International Speedway this week. Tuesday got off to a late start due to weather. It rained in the morning and, even with the help of a jet dryer, it took close to three hours to dry the track due to temperatures in the 40s and an overcast sky. Despite the conditions, Sadler and his crew felt they made progress at a track, where the team has produced less than stellar results the past two years.(Campbell/Ford PR)(4-11-2001)
- Sad News: Former Grand National driver J.T. Putney, who loved to go fast — on the ground or in the air — passed away Wednesday in Gainesville, FL. Actively competing from 1964-1967, the Arden, NC, native entered 125 races and garnered 16 top-fives and 49 top-10s. He finished a career best of second twice in his career. Julian Taylor Putney is survived by his wife, Joyce.(NASCAR.com)(4-11-2001)
- Dillon Out UPDATE Skinner In: Mike Dillon has stepped down as the driver of the #21 Rockwell Chevy co-owned by father-in-law Richard Childress in an attempt to improve the team’s performance, and not because of injuries he sustained in a multicar wreck March 24 at Bristol. Mike Skinner, who drives Childress’ #31 Winston Cup Chevy, was behind the wheel of the #21 car at Texas, where he qualified fifth and finished ninth. Despite initial word out of the Childress camp that Skinner was simply filling in, the move is all but permanent. There’s a possibility that Dillon may drive “a race or two” later this season, but that’s it. Dillon’s focus seems to have almost completely shifted from driving to a new, as-yet unspecified role within the Childress organization. A search would begin for a driver to run the races Skinner couldn’t. Skinner will most likely drive most, if not all, of the remaining races run in conjunction with the Winston Cup tour. With an eye toward 2002, the team might opt for a young, unproven talent in stand-alone events, much the same as it did with Kevin Harvick last year(Winston Cup Scene – need subscription to view online)(4-5-2001)
UPDATE: Winston Cup driver Mike Skinner will drive the Richard Childress Racing/Brant Motorsports #21 BGN car this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway and the balance of this year’s races that coincide with Winston Cup events. Skinner, the full-time driver of the RCR #31 Lowes Chevys in the Winston Cup series, replaces Mike Dillon as driver for the #21 team. Dillon, recovered from injuries sustained in a March 24 crash at Bristol and another during testing at Nashville a couple of weeks before, will remain with RCR in an as-yet undetermined role. Subbing for an injured Dillon March 24 at Texas Motor Speedway, Skinner qualified fifth and finished ninth, both season bests for the team. A driver for the races that conflict with the Winston Cup schedule is being sought(That’s Racin’)(4-11-2001) - 2nd Herzog Team? UPDATE 4: Herzog Motorsports may field a second BGN team in 2001 if a sponsor can be found. Toby Porter is supposed to test for the team in the future. Herzog currently fields the #92 Chevy for Jimmie Johnson(Winston Cup Scene Magazine)(11-16-2000)
UPDATE: will drive a 2nd Herzog Motorsports car in 2001 and replace Jimmie Johnson as the full time driver of the #92 car in 2002 when Johnson heads to Cup with Hendrick Motorsports(1-2-2001)
UPDATE 2: is expected to run in a variety of circuits, including BGN and ASA in his new role with Herzog. The former karter, who most recently competed in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup, will open his 2001 campaign February 17 behind the wheel of an ASA car at Florida Speed Park(SpeedVision)(1-3-2001)
UDPATE 3: Toby Porter’s motorsports schedule for the 2001 racing year is changing. was scheduled to drive a Charlotte-based Herzog Motorsports car in an ASA race at South Boston on Saturday but did not participate in the event. joined the team at the beginning of the season to run a limited ASA schedule and to test BGN cars. The team said it hoped to run in a few BGN races this season with the idea of replacing Herzog BGN driver Jimmie Johnson next year when Johnson moves on to the Winston Cup series. said Monday that he plans to do less short-track ASA racing and more BGN testing with the team through the rest of the year(Greenville News)(4-10-2001)
UPDATE 4: Herzog Motorsports announced today the release of driver Toby Porter. was signed to a one-year agreement with several option years in December of 2000. “We had a few differences on certain priorities which we could not agree on 100%”, stated Herzog Motorsports co-owner Stan Herzog. “We feel like we have too much potential as a team, and Toby Porterhas too much potential as a driver not to be totally on the same page. We regret that things did not work out with Toby, but we certainly wish him the best in his future endeavors,” continued Stan Herzog. “We will begin the search for his replacement immediately.”(Herzog Motorsports PR)(4-11-2001)
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