April 27, 2001
- New #45 Scheme: Sprint, Kyle Petty and Kyle’s father, Richard “The King” Petty, today unveiled a special paint scheme for Kyle’s #45 Sprint Dodge revealing the 2001 Sprint/Kyle Petty Charity Ride logo during a special ceremony at the California Speedway. Petty will drive the Sprint/Kyle Petty Charity Ride car at the Winston Cup race June 24 at Sears Point Raceway. With the 2001 Sprint/Kyle Petty Charity Ride already at capacity, Sprint also announced that they have created a variety of promotions and customer events that create opportunities for more riders to participate. Sprint’s local telephone division is also awarding one lucky customer a spot on the Charity Ride through a sweepstakes being conducted at the Sprint Stores in select markets. Besides the sweepstakes, customers who sign up for Sprint SolutionsSM while at the stores will receive a miniature die-cast Sprint 45 Dodge car with their purchase. The special paint scheme features the colors of the 2001 Sprint/Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America. The Starbright Foundation, one of the benefactors of the charity ride, is also featured on the c-post of the car.(Three Wide Marketing PR), for more info on the Charity Ride, see my Racing Charities page(4-27-2001)
- Martinsville Track Worker Update Story: see full story at Catchefence – Safety, Something Randy Hall Wants All To Be Aware by Mark Stiles(4-27-2001)
- Bodine to Return UPDATE: Geoffrey Bodine hopes to begin a comeback next month at Lowes Motor Speedway. The 51-year-old Bodine plans to drive a second car for the team run by brother Brett in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He hopes that will lead to a full-time ride with Brett or someone else(ESPN/AP) AND Geoffrey Bodine said he’s going to be testing at Charlotte in two weeks with hopes of making the field for the 600, if he can get a sponsor. And he says he’s still trying to make a deal for Darwin Oordt’s idle operation in Mooresville, the old Butch Mock shop. Bodine in January feared his driving career was over, because of lingering effects of last year’s near-fatal crash at Daytona. But now he says that was simply an issue of side effects from medication(Winston Salem Journal)(4-22-2001)
UPDATE: hearing the car will be #91 and is awaiting NASCAR’s approval on the sponsorship package – hearing the sponsor could be Smirnoff (liquior) which could be interesting as NASCAR squashed a supposed deal between Crown Royal and Eel River Racing a month or so ago, or it could be their new malt beverage called Smirnoff Ice(4-24-2001)
see a story on NASCAR and Liquior sponsorships at NASCAR.com NASCAR’s prohibition means no liquor license by Marty Smith(4-27-2001) - Talladega and TV: Once again, FOX Sports’ Winston Cup telecast topped the week’s national television sports ratings with a final 6.4 national rating for the Talladega 500 Sunday. The show carved out a 17 share with 6.541m households tuned in. The Knicks/Raptors NBA playoff game running opposite the race on NBC pulled a 3.2 final national rating. To date, the nine Winston Cup races on FOX Sports this year have averaged a stunning 6.8 with a 17 share. That’s compared to the 4.9/13 combined broadcast/cable average for the same nine races(SpeedVision)(4-27-2001)
- Wide World of Sports and Petty: Seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty will be among the athletes, and the only stock car driver, featured in ABC’s Wide World of Sports 40th Anniversary show. The show will be broadcast nationally at 4:00pm/et Sunday, April 27th (yep, right during the Cup race). Petty was interviewed a couple of weeks ago as a staple of the well-known sports show, which broadcast events such as the Southern 500 from Darlington. “I’m just glad they are using me in the `thrill of victory’ part, instead of the `agony of defeat,’ ” Petty said. “For a long time, they were all we had if we were going to be on television,” he said. “For a long time, if you were going to watch sports on television, that’s pretty much all there was. Just about anybody who has been around for any length of time knows the show.”(That’s Racin’)(4-27-2001)
- Hamilton Jr Wins Pole at Calif: #26-Bobby Hamilton won the pole for the Auto Club 300 at the California Speedway with a speed of 179.198mph. Outside pole goes to #33-Tony Raines with a speed of 178.935(4-27-2001)
- Only 39 at California? NO 43: Only 39 cars are entered for Saturday’s Auto Club 300 Busch Series race here, so everyone will make some money. There are 43 positions available, but fields have been consistently short, thanks in large part to new engine rules in the division. The Busch field shows eight Winston Cup regulars, including Jimmy Spencer, Kevin Harvick, Mike Wallace, Todd Bodine, Kenny Wallace and Joe Nemechek.(SpeedVision), BUT there are 43 cars/drivers list on NASCAR.com’s qualifying order(4-27-2001)
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