May 9, 2005
- NASCAR Promoting races using NYC radio: NASCAR is promoting the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and two Nextel Cup races at Pocono Raceway on three New York City radio stations, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal reports. WFAN will give listeners the chance to win tickets to a Yankees-Mets baseball game and an all-expense-paid trip to the May 20 all-star race. The Journal says it is the first time NASCAR has used a New York-area station to promote a race in Charlotte. WAXQ will promote a contest offering 20 listeners a bus trip and VIP treatment to the June 12 Pocono race, while WPLJ will offer fans a deal with Bergen Mall to take their dads to the track’s July 24 race.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter)(5-9-2005)
- Rusty making Monday NYC TV Stops UPDATE Danza flips: #2-Rusty Wallace is scheduled to appear on two nationally broadcasted television shows on Monday (May 9) during a day’s visit to New York City. The first stop on Wallace’s agenda will be on FOX-TV’s “Fox & Friends” which airs at 7:00am/et. This offbeat morning show features Anchors E.D. Hill, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade. As their promotional materials boast, they take a look at the day’s news, sports and weather from a different perspective. It is an interactive show where you can call in to voice your opinion or have your e-mail read.
Wallace is then scheduled to be a special guest on “The Tony Danza Show.” Hosted by Danza, one of America’s most recognized and likeable television personalities, the show is a one-hour talk show with guests that include actors, athletes, newsmakers and real people with interesting stories to tell. Monday’s guests on “The Tony Danza Show” will also include actor David Hyde Pierce, who is appearing in the smash Broadway hit “Spamalot.” “The Tony Danza Show” airs locally on Charlotte’s WCNC-TV at 4:00pm/et. Consult your local listings for stations and broadcast times in your area. Wallace will also visit the “ESPN Zone” where he is to be interviewed by ESPN’s “The Pulse” and by ESPN News.(Tom Roberts PR)(5-7-2005)
UPDATE: Tony Danza got quite a scare when he and NASCAR star Rusty Wallace were racing go-karts during the taping of a segment for the nationally syndicated “The Tony Danza Show.” Danza was leading as they entered the final lap Monday morning on West 66th Street, the show said. After Wallace gave Danza’s vehicle a little “bump and run,” the 54-year-old talk-show host lost control of his go-kart, which flipped over. “Although slightly worse for wear, Danza escaped with no injuries,” the show said in a statement. Wallace, who rushed to Danza’s side after the crash, said, “I thought I killed ya,” to which Danza responded, “Yeah … just before you retire, ‘I killed Tony Danza.’”
“I know you’re tough, but that [was] ridiculous, man!” Wallace was quoted as saying. The “DayTony 500” segment aired on Monday’s show.(ESPN.com/AP)(5-9-2005) - GWC factoid: There have now been six green-white-checkered [GWC] finishes in NASCAR [Nextel Cup] history, and only twice has the leader lost the lead on those final two laps. And both times, #16-Greg Biffle has been the driver to steal the win. In addition to Saturday’s win (#12-Ryan Newman led heading into the green-white-checkered), Biffle won the final race of last year when #20-Tony Stewart had fuel problems at Homestead.(Rocky Mount Telegram)(5-9-2005)
- Darlington TV Ratings: Fox’s broadcast of Saturday night’s Dodge Charger 500 from Darlington Raceway earned a 4.7 overnight rating and a 9 market share from Nielsen Media Research, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily reports. NASCAR has not raced on Mother’s Day weekend in recent years, so the figures can’t be compared to the same weekend last year. The 4.7 rating for a race run during the usually weak Saturday night period is down 9.6% from the 5.2 Fox drew with last year’s March 21 Darlington race, which was run on a Sunday afternoon. But the figure is up 4.4% from the 4.5 overnight figures for this year’s Phoenix race, which was also run on a Saturday night.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter)(5-9-2005)
- Leffler testing at Kentucky Today and Tues: #11-Jason Leffler is scheduled to test the Joe Gibbs Racing Fed-Ex Chevy’s at Kentucky Speedway Monday, May 9th and Tues, May 10th. Fans can watch from the Turn 3 Fan Center at no charge. Schedule subject to change daily. Test times vary.(Kentucky Speedway)(5-9-2005)
- Richert Wins Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race Award, takes the lead: When the caution flag waved with five laps to go in the Dodge Charger 500, every crew chief was left with a few split seconds to decide what course of action to take for the ensuing shoot out. In the end, Doug Richert, crew chief of the #16 National Guard/Travel Lodge Ford, proved to have the superior game plan. He sacrificed Greg Biffle’s second-place position in the running order to take four fresh tires for the remaining green flag laps. Biffle used his fresh rubber to blitz past the three cars ahead of him on the restart, cruising all the way to Victory Lane. Richert’s strategy brought him his third Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race award. Earlier this season at Bristol Motor Speedway, Richert let a probable win slip away by not pitting for tires after a late-race caution. Just the opposite happened today when the leader, #12-Ryan Newman, elected to stay on the track during the last caution period and watched Biffle and company all dive down pit lane. “Taking four tires for the last green flag seemed like a no brainer, even with only a few laps left,” said Richert following the race. “I know exactly what the 12 car was feeling like when we all ducked in behind him. It’s just like what happened to us at Bristol, but it was definitely the right thing for us to do. The other right thing was our crew performed how we should all night. We were the first car off pit road that took four tires and that was as critical as anything.”
The panel of voters; including John Clayton of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, a Wypall Wipers representative and Tony Eury Sr.; all thought Richert deserved top honors for executing a winning strategy. With his third Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race award, Richert moves into first place of the Crew Chief Challenge standings. Robbie Loomis is in second place with two wins. Scott Miller, Bob Osborne, Alan Gustafson and Pete Rondeau are tied for third place, each with one win. At the end of the season, the crew chief with the most weekly wins will receive $20,000. Fan can also vote for their choice at wypall.com.(SMC 500)(5-9-2005) - Toyota: No Busch Series plans? Since the day that Toyota came on the NASCAR scene in the truck series, speculation has continually bubbled about when the Japanese automaker will invade the Cup and Busch ranks. The speculation picked up in recent days with stories citing NASCAR sources as saying that Toyota is working on a car to race in the Busch Series next season and that Toyota has joined Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford in discussion with NASCAR over the development of its “Car of Tomorrow” and “Engine of the Future” for the Cup Series on down.
Those stories were accompanied at Talladega last weekend by word through the garage area that Johnny Benson, who drives for Toyota in the truck series, has tested a Toyota stock car with a Solara body at his short track in Michigan. Patrick Wall, manager of Toyota Racing Development in High Point, confirmed that Toyota has participated in the discussions about the “Car of Tomorrow” and “Engine of the Future” which could bring as early as 2007 significant changes from the cars and engines used now. But, he said, Toyota’s plans hinge on the timetable for implementation of the rules changes and that the only series Toyota will race in next year is the truck series. “We currently race trucks and we are looking at racing cars,” Wall said. “We are doing an investigation into the best path for Toyota to get into car racing, and we are waiting on NASCAR to give us the timetable for the ‘Car of Tomorrow’ and ‘Engine of the Future’ before we determine what the best plan for us will be.”
Wall said he expects NASCAR to announced the timetable for the future car and engine by the end of this month. The “Car of Tomorrow” is expected to incorporate more safety features, including a bigger greenhouse (area from windows on up). The “Engine of the Future” is expected to provide a common engine platform for all manufacturers. “It takes such a financial commitment to develop cars and engines that we want to see what direction NASCAR is going,” Wall said. He denied that Toyota is developing a car to race in the Busch Series next year. “We are not working on any Busch cars,” he said. He said that it did not make sense financially to develop a car now if the rules are to change significantly in the near future. “When you look at the cost involved, it takes a couple of years to get a payback on that investment,” Wall said. He also denied that Benson or any one else has tested a Toyota stock car. “I can assure you that there has not been a Toyota-bodied stock car or a stock car with a Toyota engine [maybe a Ford or Chevy engine?] on a track anywhere on the planet since we raced in the NASCAR Dash Series with Robert Huffman in 2003,” Wall said.(High Point Enterprise), see all of the past news and rumors on my Toyota Past News page.(5-9-2005) - Hornish to the #2? or Paul Tracy? Newman unhappy? With all of the speculation about who will replace Rusty Wallace in the #2 car next year, everyone has forgotten about two-time IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr., who already drives for Roger Penske. I [Yahoo’s Bob Margolis] hear that he’s at the top of the list to replace Rusty.(Yahoo! Sports)
AND Rumours about the racing future of Toronto’s Paul Tracy in NASCAR were ratcheted up this weekend. This time the 36-year-old Champ Car World Series driver is being wooed by Penske Racing South. While there have been stories linking Tracy to a proposed American Le Mans Series team planned by Roger Penske, this is the first time that people are talking about him joining up with Penske’s NASCAR program. The nucleus of the talks revolve around Penske needing a driver to replace Rusty Wallace in the #2 Dodge. More intriguing is talk in the NASCAR garage that Ryan Newman is unhappy with his progress in the #12 Penske Dodge.(Toronto Sun)
AND II Roger Penske’s search for a new driver to replace retiring Rusty Wallace has become one of this sport’s biggest mysteries. #42-Jamie McMurray seemed the obvious pick for a while, but car owner Chip Ganassi doesn’t seem a bit interested in letting McMurray move over to arch-rival Penske. #16-Greg Biffle has also been in the heavy speculation since his contract with Jack Roush is up at the end of the season. Biffle insists he’s sticking with Roush. but adds the caveat that even if he were thinking about moving on, he’d be foolish to say anything about it right now.
The latest Penske speculation focuses on Paul Tracy, a wildly aggressive Indy-car star who once drove for Penske – and who once worked with Matt Borland, one of Penske’s top NASCAR crew chiefs, who works now with Ryan Newman. Borland said that Tracy might be a bit too aggressive for NASCAR’s got-to-get-along world, but Borland said that if Tracy brings the right attitude, it could certainly work out. And Borland said it would be “very interesting” to watch Tracy learning to adjust to the NASCAR tour.(Winston Salem Journal)(5-9-2005) - Biffle plans to stay at Roush: Greg Biffle says he has been too busy to solidify his plans for next season, but he was expected to meet with his agent last week and still intends to stay in the #16 car at Roush Racing. “We’re not any closer because we haven’t had a chance to talk,” Biffle says. “They’re going to take care of me because that is where I want to be. It would be crazy for me to want to go somewhere else because I might lose the next whole season getting geared up with a new team.” Biffle is the only driver in the top 10 whose contract expires at the end of 2005 without an option, which is another reason–besides a stellar 2005 performance, including his victory Saturday night at Darlington–he is in high demand.(Sporting News)(5-9-2005)
- Xtreme Outdoor Camouflage to sponsor Benson: Bill Davis Racing announced Xtreme Outdoor Camouflage, Inc. (XOC), an Arkansas-based outdoor apparel company, is joining its 2005 sponsorship lineup, starting this weekend. Xtreme Outdoor Camouflage will sponsor Johnny Benson and his No. 23 Toyota Tundra truck team at Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park. “Xtreme Outdoor Camo is a revolutionary product,” said Bill Davis, president and owner of Bill Davis Racing. “When people see this product they are going to be amazed with its innovative design. It’s going to change how the outdoorsman looks at camouflage products. I am really delighted and honored to have them join the Bill Davis Racing family.”
With its unique styling and state-of-the-art design, Xtreme Outdoor Camo, out of Jacksonville, Ark., is becoming the leader in outdoor apparel. It offers a whole new generation of camouflage unmatched by any in the industry. With its PreyBlind Technology, XOC brings realistic photo technologies to hunters, fishermen and many other outdoorsmen.
“I am really excited about this partnership with Bill Davis Racing,” said James Riley, founder and owner of XOC. “I think this is going to definitely help increase awareness of the brand. NASCAR has such an overwhelming fan base. It is a great way for us to show what Xtreme Outdoor Camo is all about. BDR is a proven winner, and I’m looking forward to seeing the XOC truck on the track.”
Riley is also the CEO and host of the nationally televised hunting and fishing show “American Xtreme Outdoor Adventures.” Riley continually strives to bring great quality programming to every viewer through his show. Expect more Xtreme Outdoor Camo paint schemes on other BDR entries throughout the 2005 season and beyond. To learn more about XOC, go to www.xocamo.com.(Bill Davis Racing)(5-9-2005)
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