April 26, 2003
- #1 Rumors abound UPDATE Park not happy with rumors; contract thru end of 2003: hearing that Steve Park could be replaced as the driver of the #1 Pennzoil Chevy before the races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, sources have Jason Keller as the possible replacement driver. Keller is slated to driver the #81 DEI car at Checiagoland in July.
AND The LTN HOUR radio show reports that Kurt Busch, driver of the #97 Rubbermaid/Sharpie Roush Racing Ford will drive the #1 DEI Chevy in 2004. However, last reports I have are that he is signed with Roush thru 2006.(4-21-2003)
UPDATE: Steve Park’s comments after winning the pole at California on Friday: “Hopefully, this will quiet some critics a little bit,” said Park, whose lap bumped Bill Elliott’s Dodge to the outside of Row 1 for the Winston Cup season’s 10th race. “We’re fixing to start winning races.” Park, who now has three poles to go along with two career Cup victories, turned defiant as he said he remains confident that he can get the job done with his team. “All the hogwash I have to read that the press puts out there, I have broad shoulders,” said Park, whose best 2003 finish has been a 10th at Las Vegas. “Dish it out because I can take it all. When I am in victory lane winning races, everybody who’s had bad things to say about this race team is going to bite their tongues. I don’t race to finish 20th, I race to win. If I don’t have the confidence in my team to win, then I need to go somewhere else. But I do have confidence in (crew chief) Tony Gibson, all of the new people we’ve hired, our engine shop, the whole team that we have, that we can do stuff like this. We can win poles and win races and we’re not going to stop this year until we do that. That will quiet all of the critics that we have.” Ty Norris, executive vice president for motorsports at DEI, said he and Park sat down about three weeks ago to discuss the team’s slow start in 2003. “I said, ‘You’re reading a lot of things, but let’s focus about what happens inside these walls,’” Norris said. “‘Let’s come together as a group, believe in each other, pull for each other and help each other. When that happens, no matter what anybody says outside these walls, we’re not going to concern ourselves with it.’”(ThatsRacin.com)
On top of that, the team’s Pennzoil sponsorship is up in the air. Ty Norris, who runs DEI for owner Teresa Earnhardt, says last month’s negotiations with sponsor Pennzoil in Texas were more of a learning experience than anything, because Shell’s buyout of the company has resulted in a major corporate shakeup, and only one of the men involved in the original sponsorship negotiations with the late Dale Earnhardt is still around. How the company’s new executives might view stock car racing as a marketing machine is unclear.(Winston Salem Journal)(4-26-2003)
AND also hearing that Park recently made a new TV commercial for Food Lion featuring him and six other NASCAR drivers. Park is also featured on boxes of Milk-bone with his dog.(4-26-2003) - Title Sponsor for Cup Series: Negotiations are under way with several companies as possible successors to Winston as title sponsor of NASCAR’s top series. Names regularly mentioned in recent speculation include McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and VISA. That speculation has been growing since January, when R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. said it had given NASCAR permission to look for a new sponsor for the Winston Cup Series. Brian France, senior vice president of NASCAR and the grandson of the founder of the sanctioning body, confirmed Thursday to a group of Associated Press sports editors at a meeting in New York that the sanctioning body was in negotiations with several companies. France declined to identify them.(ESPN/AP)(4-26-2003)
- 2nd California Race? On Labor Day 2004? A second Winston Cup tour 500-mile race in California is all but a certainty for next season, according a 2004 Winston Cup tour schedule currently under consideration. According to NASCAR sources, this second California 500 could be run on Labor Day weekend. That would mean that NASCAR’s annual Labor Day Southern 500, a fixture on the stock-car tour since 1950, could become history, or could be moved to the current March spot in the schedule when a 400-miler is at Darlington.(Winston Salem Journal)(4-26-2003)
- Parker to be Jarrett’s new crew chief? Makar NOT leaving Gibbs: Shawn Parker could become Dale Jarrett’s new crew chief, according to sources close to the Robert Yates team. And crew chief Greg Zipadelli says that there is nothing to the rumors that his own boss, General Manager Jimmy Makar, might move on to join the Yates team to work with Jarrett. Parker is a chassis specialist for the Elliott Sadler-Raymond Fox half of the Yates team. Parker was once a key member of the Jack Roush operation before moving on.(Winston Salem Journal)(4-26-2003)
- Pocono’s France award goes to Jack Roush: Winston Cup car owner Jack Roush [#’s 6,16,17,97,99] has been named the recipient of the 2003 Bill France Award of Excellence, presented annually by Pocono Raceway. The award, first presented in 1977, is named for the late NASCAR founder and is presented to a person, company or organization that has made outstanding contributions to the sport. The award is a sculpted and highly polished piece of anthracite mined in Pennsylvania and will be presented in a ceremony on June 7 at the speedway.(ThatsRacin.com)(4-26-2003)
- Charity Ride: Several organizations from the NASCAR world have joined forces to create a new charity motorcycle ride during Myrtle Beach Bike Week, benefiting the Victory Junction Gang Camp. The “Ride to Victory” will travel from Charlotte, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC, on Thursday, May 15, and will feature NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty, radio commentator Robert D. Raiford and other NASCAR celebrities in the one-day ride. John Boy and Billy’s “The Big Show,” syndicated in more than 100 markets nationwide, will promote the charity event, which will begin at the Harley-Davidson Buell of Charlotte, stop at Darlington Raceway for lunch, fuel and some hot laps, and terminate at the NASCAR SpeedPark and NASCAR Cafe in Myrtle Beach, SC, for a parking lot concert party. For more info, see my Racing Charities page.(4-26-2003)
- Saturday AM practice #18-Bobby Labonte was the fastest at 184.091mph, followed by #32-Ricky Craven at 132.978 and #12-Ryan Newman at 182.936. Pole sitter #1-Steve Park was 36th with a speed of 178.811. Slowest were #37-Derrike Cope at 176.138 and #14-Larry Foyt at 177.506.
See speeds at ThatsRacin.com(4-26-2003) - Ramblings – California: Steve Park did something Friday he hadn’t done in a loooong time….take a Bud Pole Award. Park becomes the 8th qualifier for next February’s Budweiser Shootout. Tony Stewart (3rd) has his best starting spot since he lined up on the pole at Atlanta last October….but, that field was set by points. The last time he qualified this high on time was at Watkins Glen last August when he started 3rd. Jack Sprague (12th) has his career-best starting spot for Sunday’s event. His previous best was last race at Martinsville when he started 14th [Actually he started 12th in Atlanta Nov 1996 so this ties his career best].
STREAKIN….Ryan Newman has 8 Top-10 starts in a row. Bill Elliott has 4 Top-10 starts in the last 5 races. Rusty Wallace has 4 Top-10 starts in the last 5 races.(StockCarFans.Com Winston Cup Newsletter)(4-26-2003) - Menard to test at Kentucky: Paul Menard and Andy Petree Racing will be testing a Busch car at Kentucky Speedway on Thursday, May 1st.(BGN Racing)(4-26-2003)
- Kenseth wins at California: #17-Matt Kenseth won Saturday’s CaliforniaSpeedway.com 300 – his third NASCAR Busch series victory in six career starts at the 2-mile speedway. It’s Kenseth’s 13th win and first since he won the March 2001 race at Bristol. Kenseth’s win is the eighth by a Winston Cup driver in nine Busch races this season. #99-Michael Walrtip was 2nd, followed by pole sitter #21-Kevin Harvick, #38-Kasey Kahne and #92-Todd Bodine. Todd Bodine maintains his point lead, now a 99-point lead over #2-Ron Hornaday after nine of 34 races. The race was slowed six times by caution for 30 laps. There were 10 lead changes among five drivers.(ThatsRacin.com)
For results see ThatsRacin.com, BGNRacing.com, MotorsortsOne and NASCAR.com.(4-26-2003)
Main Page | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997