April 19, 2004
- Early Martinsville TV Ratings: The lengthy red flag in Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville Speedway apparently provided a boost to Fox’s ratings for the event. Today’s Sports Business Daily reports that Fox drew a 4.4 rating and 11 share in overnight Nielsen Media Research numbers for the race from 1:30 to 3:45 p.m., a rating that was below last year’s 4.6 overnight figure. But the event was prolonged for more than an hour by a red flag for track repairs, and the figures jumped to 5.4/11 from 5 to 6:45 p.m. Both portions wound up as the weekend’s two highest rated sports events. The final results for last year were 5.3/14.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter)(4-19-2004)
- Wanna Date? NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Jon Wood, AMA Superbike racers Eric and Ben Bostrom and Late Model newcomer Leilani Munter will be the first racers to participate in a Speed Channel show, ‘I Wanna Date a Race Car Driver’, more info on my TV News pages.(4-19-2004)
- Congrats to DW: Before the race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, NASCAR Legend and Fox Broadcaster Darrell Waltrip [DW] was presented the H. Clay Earles Award for outstanding dedication to auto racing by speedway president Clay Campbell.(4-19-2004)
- Did ya know? it’s been 29 years [yikes I was 13] since Dodge won at Martinsville, when Dave Marcis won in 1975 at the old configuration.(4-19-2004)
- Did ya know II? That when #2-Rusty Wallace won the race at Martinsville Speedway, he became the 6th oldest driver to ever win a Cup race? Wallace is 47 years, 8 months, 4 days. The oldest, Gentleman Harry Gant at 52 years, 7 months, 6 days when he won at Michigan on Aug. 6, 1992.(see the top 10 list at ThatsRacin.com)(4-19-2004)
- Testing ban in 2005? A ban on almost all testing next season could be a major goal of International Speedway Corp.(ISC), according to NASCAR sources, and the key would be an agreement with Goodyear not to supply any tires for testing. Without Goodyear tires, it would be almost impossible to do any meaningful testing. A curious part of this proposal is that it was reported to have come from the ISC half of the family business rather than the NASCAR side. The reason for such a ban would be to save teams money, particularly the smaller-budget teams, to keep crewmen from having to spend so much time on the road, and – most important to ISC – to allow ISC to expand its schedule of Cup races. The tour covers 38 races this season, including the Daytona Shootout and Charlotte All-star race; next year’s tour could include 40 races. Top teams say that it costs them about $50,000 per test, and they do 12 to 20 tests a season. The thinking is that testing not only is costly and time-consuming, but it generates no revenue, for teams, for tracks or for television networks. So ban testing and expand the number of races. When teams plan a test, they either order tires from Goodyear or from a central Charlotte warehouse where teams store their unused leftover race day tires, because Goodyear has a no-return policy on at-track tire sales. Since NASCAR has granted Goodyear a monopoly, it can set some policies.(Winston Salem Journal)(4-19-2004)
- Gordon and Sauter deemed ‘safe’ despite rumors: Two drivers rumored to be on the hot seat apparently can rest easy. Richard Childress said before yesterday’s race that he hadn’t lost confidence in #31-Robby Gordon or rookie #30-Johnny Sauter. “It’s too early to make any decisions on drivers changes right now, and I don’t have any plans to,” Childress said. “With Johnny, the biggest thing is give him the seat time in these cars. I think Robby’s going to do real well. He got behind in a couple of wrecks. If we had top 10s instead, we’d be in decent shape.” Reports last week indicated Sauter was on the verge of being fired. The gossip spread while Childress was out of range, hunting polar bears during an off-week trip to the Arctic Ocean. He met with his drivers Monday. “It’s all good,” he said.(Richmond Times Dispatch)
AND Car owner Richard Childress is known for making major changes to his race teams when he returns from hunting trips. But after bagging an 1,800-pound polar bear in Alaska during the Nextel Cup circuit’s Easter break, Childress didn’t return to the shop as loaded for bear as he was after a hunting trip in 2002. That year he swapped the crews of the cars driven by Kevin Harvick and Robby Gordon. Childress said he did a lot of thinking about his teams while out in the wild. “We’re going to be doing some internal stuff for sure,” he said. “There will be some changes.” But he said drivers Johnny Sauter and Robby Gordon are safe in their current positions. “If there would have been a driver change, I would have made it when I came back last week,” Childress said. “It’s too early to make any decision on driver changes.”(Atlanta Journal Constitution)(4-19-2004) - Two Morgan McClure cars at Talladega/To Meet with former sponsor: Morgan-McClure Motorsports will run two Chevrolets next weekend in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. In addition to its standard #4, they will also run a #04 Chevy for Eric McClure. Team owner Larry McClure said Robert Larkins would be the listed crew chief for the car, but that he would be part of a “committee” that would oversee it. McClure said Sunday he has a meeting set Monday with former sponsor YokeTV.com, with a possibility that the organization could still sponsor his car for more races this season.(NASCAR.com)
AND On Friday, Eric McClure will attempt to qualify for his first-ever NASCAR Nextel Cup event at the 2.5-mile Talladega International Speedway. McClure, the nephew of Abingdon-based Cup team owner Larry McClure, will drive the #04 Chevrolet sponsored by the “I Can Learn” computer learning software company [www.icanlearn.com] that also is sponsoring six races for him this season in NASCAR’s Busch Series. His entry will be a team car to the Morgan-McClure #4 piloted by Jimmy Spencer. McClure ran his first superspeedway race at Daytona this past February in a Morgan-McClure-prepared ARCA car. He qualified sixth and raced with the leaders all day before being bumped out of the lead draft at the end and finishing 13th.(Kingsport Times News)(4-19-2004) - Spoiler Plans Dropped: NASCAR officials have told some teams they’ve dropped plans to change aerodynamic rules for the California 500 on May 2 and will stick to the original timetable of July 11 at Chicago for the half-inch chop off the rear spoiler.(Winston Salem Journal)(4-19-2004)
- Earnhardt movie moves to Lincolnton: The East Lincoln Motor Speedway is gearing up for some serious lights, camera and action next week. The speedway will be bustling with activity starting Monday in order to film, “3: The Dale Earnhardt Story,” a made for TV movie. Victory Lane Productions chose the speedway in December and found it to be the right size. “They looked at us first and then came back and told us they wanted to film here,” said Ernie Knight, co-promoter for the speedway. Scenes from the movie will also be filmed at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte. The movie will be shot starting Monday and continue until Wednesday. Knight said they will be doing a lot of painting, will change some signs and will be spending time making the building look old in preparation for the production. The goal is to have the speedway look like the old Metrolina and Concord Speedway of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Although the regular race season has begun at the speedway, filming will be scheduled around those times. Race season started April 3 and will continue until October.(Lincoln Times-News), past news on the movie on my Media/Movies page.(4-16-2004)
- Motorsports center unveiled: Plans were unveiled Saturday for a new Virginia Motorsports Technology Center in Henry County [VA]. The $1.2 million facility also has signed its first tenant, North Carolina-based racing team HT Motorsports #59 Truck Team]. The racing package, which came through Gov. Mark Warner’s drive to recruit the motorsports industry to Southside, was announced by State Commerce Secretary Michael Schewel during Saturday’s time trials at the Martinsville Speedway. The 50,000-square-foot facility and HT Motorsports will work in conjunction with Arrington Manufacturing [Engines] and Patrick Henry Community College’s (PHCC) advanced motorsports curriculum, scheduled to be offered beginning in January 2005. Under the deal, HT Motorsports and its Craftsman Truck racing team will employ 75 people over the first 30 months, paying an average salary of $16 per hour. The team, owned by Lynchburg resident Jim Harris and currently based in Harrisburg, N.C., will move to the area by late summer. Upon moving to the area, the team initially will operate within Arrington Manufacturing before becoming a tenant of the Virginia Motorsports Technology Center. The announcement is a major development for PHCC’s motorsports program, which will be able to offer students personal involvement in all facets of a successful NASCAR team. Warner’s Virginia Motorsports Initiative was unveiled last August at Martinsville Speedway with the goal of luring the motorsports industry into Southside Virginia, using statewide incentives ranging from tobacco funds to NASA engineering support to local-level grants. HT motorsports will recieve a $50,000 grant from the Tobacco Regional Opportunity Fund, a $50,000 grant from Henry County, to be paid after the first 20 new jobs are created, and a $100,000 contribution from the Chamber’s Partner in Economic Growth (C-PEG). HT Motorsports trucks currently are driven by rookie Mark McFarland. Both McFarland and crew chief Greg Conner are Virginia residents, as is Harris. HT Motorsports’ arrival will make it the only full-time team from NASCAR’s three most prominent series to be housed in Martinsville, Henry County or Patrick County.(Martinsville Bulletin)(4-19-2004)
- Gibson to Dale Jr’s Busch team AND #1 car close to 12 race deal: Tony Gibson will return as crew chief for Earnhardt’s Busch racing effort. Gibson will then go back to Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s #1 Nextel Cup team and John Andretti for the races July 3 at Daytona and July 11 at Chicago. Currently, DEI is working on sponsorship that would extend the team to a 12-race schedule.(Foxsports/Sporting News)(4-19-2004)
- ppc Racing Makes Change To Truck Program: ppc Racing’s co-owner and general manager, Keith Barnwell issued the below statement today: “Effective immediately, ppc Racing and Fred Wanke have parted ways due to philosophical reasons pertaining to the race team,” said Barnwell. “We appreciate the effort Fred has given. We were highly successful in Daytona, winning the pole and finishing in the top-five. Since then, we have struggled in testing, race preparation and in the races at Atlanta and Martinsville. We owe it to our sponsor, Power Stroke Diesel and International Truck and Engine Corporation, our driver, Terry Cook, our manufacturer, Ford Motor Company and to all employees at ppc Racing to put together an operation that is going to compete for race wins and championships. We wish Fred the best and will move forward, naming a new crew chief in the near future. We are developing a short list of candidates and will begin interviewing immediately.”(ppc Racing PR), Dave Fuge Jr.? see PR below dates 4-15.(4-19-2004)
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