PAST NEWS JANUARY 1998
(1-31-98)
- Jeff Gordon and Kenny Mayne will be co-hosts for ESPN’s Daytona coverage on SportsCenter Feb. 12-13 at 6:30pm(et). ESPN will have a half-hour Daytona SportsCenter Special after the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15 at 7pm(et)(SpeedNet)(1-31-98)
- Check out the image of the #33 Skoal Chevy to be driven in the Bud Shootout next weekend. Pretty much like I described it a few weeks ago. See it at: www.country.com. On the Friday NASCAR Today radio show, Andy Petree said they were going to run SB2 engines at Daytona. I reported last week that he would not – wrong(1-31-98)
- Looks like those rumors were true: “Bud Moore Engineering has announced that, with driver Tim Steele still recovering from the lingering effects of injuries — including a mild concussion — suffered in a crash during a practice session at Atlanta last November, it will not enter the 1998 Daytona 500. It could be as late as July before Steele will be able to return to action., will also not compete as scheduled in the season-opening ARCA FirstPlus Financial 200″(NASCAR Online)(1-31-98)
- Tim Flock went home from the hospital today (Friday) around noon. He plans to be in Daytona for Speedweeks.(1-30-98). See the story at Flock vows to be in Daytona. Because he has no medical insurance to offset the costs of the medical
treatment, the family has been forced to sell some of Tim Flock’s memorabilia gathered during his racing career. The most treasured pieces he plans to sell are his two NASCAR Grand National Division (Winston Cup) trophies. Don Flock said the family hopes to get at least $100,000 apiece for the trophies. Don Flock said any potential buyers can contact him at (704) 593-0690 in Charlotte.(NASCAR Online)(1-31-98) - Per NASCAR Online: “Tim Steele, the two-time defending Bondo/May-Hyde Series champion, is entered in ARCA the FirstPlus Financial 200. Steele’s primary concentration in 1998 will be on driving the Bud Moore Engineering’s #15 Fords in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in 1998.”(NASCAR Online), so I assume the rumor about Steele still being injured from the Atlanta crash is False(1-26-98) Wrong see the above confirmed story(1-31-98)
- BGN ROTY candidate Blaise Alexander who will run the Rescue Engine Formula Chevy in 1998 will also attempt to run the ARCA First Plus 200 in Daytona. He will be driving the Day Motorsports Chevy sponsored by Racecamp and crew chiefed by Grady Humphries(1-31-98)
- All Pro/Bumper to Bumper, Inc. will be an associate sponsor of Jimmy Spencer’s BGN #20 Zippo Chevy team which plans to compete in 10 events in 1998.(NASCAR Online)(1-31-98)
(1-30-98)
(1-29-98)
Of Motorsports Significance Over 125 Years In The Making. Cocktail Reception and Announcement Wednesday, February 4, 1998 4:00 p.m., The Atrium, Spurance Hall
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 600 South Clyde Morris Blvd, Daytona Beach, FL
(From Speedway, U.S. 92 East to Clyde Morris, turn right; approximately one mile to Embry-Riddle main entrance; turn right onto campus; right at stop sign to Visitors Parking. Spurance Hall on left)”(The Williams Company), about this hint at the Mobil One site they mention they’ve been “changing oil for over 125 years.”(thanks Craig)(1-29-98)
their show today(1/29), John Boy said that his information regarding the above was totally FALSE! He apologized to Team Tabasco and Todd Bodine on the air. So that puts to rest that rumor. The Tabasco people called to say it was most definitely NOT
true.(1-29-98)
(1-28-98)
Has been a watering hole for drivers and crew for years.(1-28-98)
Labonte or Jeff Gordon in Pontiacs. To see the rest of the story click on the above link(www.country.com)(1-26-98) – Confirmed on NASCAR Online today(1-28-98)
coming weeks as well as a crew chief.(1-28-98)
to 5 inches), which was designed to slow them down, and with the car not taped up for best speed. Ray Evernham said, they were also testing aero changes for the intermediate tracks. As for the track improvements, they did not happen yet. TMS is hoping the changes are made sometime in February. The machine needed to do the job apparently was not available and according to Eddie Gossage there is only one machine like this so they have to wait until they can get that machine at TMS at the same time there is no activity at the track. They also will have a Firestone IRL test at TMS in February, but did not announce a date.(1-28-98)
(1-27-98)
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(1-25-98)
Times are changing for Elliott, who has moved shop, expanded operation to include rookie driver Nadeau.(JournalNow)(1-25-98)
(1-24-98)
My Two Cents – by Ken Willis of the Daytona Beach News-Journal mention’s Jayski.com in an excellent story about Billy Standridge(1-24-98)
Fasten your seatbelts! A new Boy Scouts Of America car is soaring your way. No, the car is not competing in the Daytona 500, even though it looks like the ones in the NASCAR event. But it is driving the exciting message of Scouting across the country.
The scout show car, a 1997 Ford Thunderbird with a 700-horsepower,5.8-liter SVO OHV V8 engine, has a top speed of 220 miles per hour. The car will appear at local council events, NASCAR races and other sporting events. The cars sponsor is the Washington Erving Motor Sports Team, a new Winston Cup racing team partly owned by former football pro Joe Washington and basketball great Julius “Dr. J.” Erving. The two former Scouts will make appearances and hold autograph sessions at selected events.
“WE know the value of being a Scout,” Washington says. “With the car, we hope to bring attention to Scouting and get more kids involved.” Check out these Scout Show Car locations, or find out others by writing to the External Communications Division, BSA National Office, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079.
SCOUT SHOW CAR APPEARANCES IN 1998: April 8-12, The Masters Golf Tournament, Augusta, GA.; April 17-18 Scout Show Lexington, KY; April 25 Scout Show & Pinewood Derby races, Columbia,SC; May 2 Scout Show, Dallas, TX; May 9 Scouting on the Mall Show, Washington DC; July 25-Aug. 2, Brickyard 400 NASCAR race, Indianapolis, IN(thanks many readers)(1-24-98)
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(1-19-98)
Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Jeff Burton. Mark Martin gains an automatic bid as 1997 IROC champion. IROC President Jay Signore said another group of drivers will
be announced next week.(Motorsports News Intl and IROC)(1-19-98)
(1-18-98)
(1-17-98)
Red Man Chevrolet.(NASCAR Online)(1-17-98)
(1-16-98)
Research and Design on testing the Monte Carlo, will also serve as team engineer for all three of Team SABCO’s teams.(David Poole, Charlotte Observer/NASCAR Fans)(1-16-98)
provide the finest and most competitive racing engines to our customers, both for now and into the future.”(Pro-Motor Press Release – thank Bob, sorry Mike about the misspelling)(1-16-98)
(1-15-98)
sports programs, including the NASCAR Winston Cup series, died Wednesday after being involved in a boating accident in Louisiana. T. Wayne Robertson, who was 47, was one of six people who died when the 28-foot aluminum boat they were using to go duck hunting in a bayou collided with a 110-foot oil rig crew boat near the intercostal waterway in Vermilion Parish, La. The boats collided at about 6:40 a.m. (EST) Wednesday(1-14). The Mallard capsized and immediately sank in 12 feet of water. There was one survivor who was hospitalized in stable condition. He had jumped from the boat before the collision and suffered a broken leg. Mr. Robertson is survived by his wife, Dana, and two children, Toby and Kim. The family requests that memorials be sent to the Foundation Fighting Blindness, 11350 McCormick Road, Executive Plaza #1, Suite 800, Hunt Valley, Md. 21031-1014.(many sources)(1-15-98)
chief Mike Beam was promoted to chief operating officer of the organization. Beam had been the crew chief since 1995.(Speedworld)(1-14-98). Garone was Rick Carelli’s crew chief for 6 years in NASCAR’s Southwest and Winston West Series, and in the Truck Series. He was the suspension specialist and front tire changer since 1996 on the Elliott team since 1996.(NASCAR Online)(1-15-98)
Wayne Robertson has been found. 5 of the bodies in this mornings accident have been recovered…Margaret Maddox is still missing. A Coast Guard spokesman was quoted as saying that visibility does not seem to have been a factor in the collision. T. Wayne was a fan, first & foremost. His wit, personality, energy & love of the sport will be sorely missed. He was 47, and leaves behind a wife & 2 children in Winston-Salem, NC.(NASCAR Fans) My thoughts and prayers are with the families involved.(1-15-98)
(1-14-98)
going on is COMPLETELY UNTRUE. There WILL be live flag-to-flag coverage of
the race, even if it is rained out to Monday. Although CBS Olympic coverage is SCHEDULED for 4:00 pm Sunday, coverage from Nagano will be delayed if racing is still going on in Daytona. If the race runs over its scheduled time slot, expect that some post-race interviews MAY be aired during Olympic coverage, (so keep your VCR running).(1-14-98)
Andretti Busch Car for a 4 race deal. (Rockingham, Nashville, Atlanta, and
Darlington)(Driccit202)(Racing Rumors & News)(1-14-98)
at Walt Disney World Speedway on Sunday, Jan. 18. Dobson will wheel the No.78 Dodge Ram pickup, prepared by the PacWest Team based in Indianapolis.(NASCAR Humor and More/Racing Rumors & News)(1-14-98)
cars for his 3-day test. Also testing NASCAR Winston Cup cars was Ricky Rudd with assistance from Morgan Shepherd. Hermie Sadler, Elliott Sadler and Bobby Hillin were testing their NASCAR Busch Series cars.(Speedworld)(1-14-98)
(1-13-98)
that Cheerio’s will sponsor the #26 Ford Taurus featuring Johnny Benson, Jr. driving and and Steve Hmiel was named Benson’s crew chief. The No. 26 car features Cheerios in black print emblazoned on a Cheerios Yellow Ford Taurus. Other General Mills decals like Betty Crocker’s Spoon, Pop Secret Popcorn’s logo and the Hamburger Helper Hand are also featured prominently on the car body.(NASCAR Fans and Phatman/AOL)(1-13-98)
(1-12-98)
determine how much of the field will be inverted. If, for example, the wheel stops on seven, the top seven cars will be inverted, with the seventh-place finisher starting first in the second segment, followed by sixth place, fifth and so on. The cars finishing eighth through 20th will restart in the order they finished the opening segment. If you want more in-depth information, look here: NASCAR adds strategy for all-star event and/or THE WINSTON’S NEW FORMAT.(David Poole, Charlotte Observer/NASCAR Fans).(1-12-98)
comments during interviews at the Winston Cup Preview. I quote:
“As the autograph sessions proceed, various local news and Winston Cup reporters interview the drivers, asking them about their previous season, how their off-season is going, and what they expect from the upcoming season. Some of the comments – Dale Earnhardt noted that he was focused on that eighth championship. That going through an entire season without a win really makes the winter longer. Dale Jarrett noted
that they were still behind in building the Taurus’s. But that Kenny Irwin, Jr. had tested at Daytona and given Robert Yates Racing a lot of helpful info. Mark Martin noted that Roush Racing was scrambling to get the new shop set up in Mooresville (with Jeff Burton). Darrell Waltrip, with a horrible case of laryngitis, said that he’d have a sponsor announcement this Friday for the 1998 and 1999 seasons. That “Man, we’re gonna win some races!” Jeff Gordon noted that Rick Hendrick wanted to thank everyone for the prayers. That he (Jeff) hoped Hendrick Motorsports would capture its fourth consecutive championship.”(thanks Cindy and NASCAR Fans)(1-12-98)
Benny’s answer: “….it doesn’t appear, as long as present management is in place, that they will get back into NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing. The present management seem to have a problem racing what is a front wheel drive vehicle on the street and making a race car out of it, which is all rear wheel drive. It’s a philosophy that they have that they don’t seem to want to get away from.(NASCAR Fans/NASCAR Online)(1-12-98)
(1-11-98)
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(1-9-98)
with Terminal Trucking Motorsports(RacinRadar)(1-9-98)
plane crash and Jet slides off runway into trailer park.(many sources)(1-7-98), see the story at iRACE(1-9-98)
(1-8-98)
benefits outsourcing solutions for small to medium-sized businesses will be Brett Bodine and Team Scandia’s new sponsor for the 1998 season. The #11 Paychex Ford will debut at the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Preview this Saturday, 1/10/98. Paychex was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Rochester, New York, Paychex serves more than
275,000 clients nationwide. For more information, call 800-322-7292 or visit
Paychex’ website (www.paychex.com).(thanks GMBLACK and Chaz Hinkle)(1-8-98)
Chevrolet Goes to the Races and
NewsCom Photo Browser.(thanks Eric)(1-8-98)
(1-7-98)
sponsor contracts are signed but the money hasn’t changed hands so they are not operating as a team as of yet. The colors are Blue/Yellow and the team is located in the new Industrial park in Mooresville, NC. The sponsor is supposedly “a new industry in Nascar. I hear the car will be #12 and the team will run Thunderbirds for the first part of the season. Super-speedway cars were purchased from TriStar Motorsports(#19 in 1997) and engines will be supplied by Larry Wallace(1-7-98)
(1-6-98)
Black NASCAR pioneer remembered, about Wendell Scott(1-6-98)
(second version) head package wasn’t approved until August ’97–and there have been some production “teething” problems, but nothing out of the ordinary for a first re-design. Note also that the SB2 heads were run in ARCA races almost all of last year by as many as four teams. Why didn’t we hear about this casting flaw then? The ARCA runs did expose a valvetrain lifespan problem, which has been corrected, so a major casting difficulty would probably show up then, too. Unless, of course, the factory changed its casting foundry. Will GM teams show up at Daytona running old 18-degree heads and not the SB2s? Lesser funded ones, maybe. But count on them being on Hendrick Motorsports engines, Richard Childress Racing, and Joe Gibbs Racing powerplants. There are teams that haven’t invested in the SB2 and they will run 18-degree engines at Daytona (and beyond); even the majors (Hendrick, Gibbs, Childress) will probably have 18-degree engines at the ready in the unlikely event they are needed.(www.country.com)(1-6-98)
(1-5-98)
Troy Cole, catch can man Charles Dickey and rear tire carrier Kevin Manion. Block played a key role in the quick pit stops by Kyle Petty last year. Manion, Block and Dickey will also work in the DEI shop as mechanics. Cole is the team’s truck driver.(NASCAR Fans/Pennzoil)(1-5-98)
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Walt Disney World Speedway on 1/18/98(NASCAR Online)(1-5-98)
(1-1-98)
tech man with USAC for many years.(Don – John Andretti FanPage)(1-1-98)