Wendell Scott

Throughout his career Wendell Scott was continuously made fun of, discriminated against, and cheated on all because of the color of his skin, but he did not retaliate; he loved to race and he knew that if he did he would have to quit so he was very careful on what he did. His son Franklin recalls of one specific driver continuously wrecking him and holding a grudge towards him because of his race, so one day Wendell pulled up beside of him while the other driver was pointing a finger at him and pointed his gun at him, needless to say, they never had any more problems with that driver. That was the type of person Wendell was, if someone was messing with him, he wouldn’t do something that could cause trouble, he just did it his own way. Even though his career was short and he didn’t make too much money he made sure to put all six of his kids through college.

Wendell Oliver Scott was born on August 29, 1921; he drove the #34 Chevrolet most of his racing career. He is only one of six known black drivers to race at least once in the Sprint cup series; the others were Elias Bowie, Charlie Scott, George Wiltshire, Randy Bethea, Willy T. Ribbs, and most recently, Bill Lester, who raced twice in 2006. Those six drivers have made a combined nine Cup starts. While Wendell had a total of 506 starts and won one race becoming the only black driver to win a race in the Grand National (Sprint cup) Series.

From boyhood, Scott wanted to be his own boss. He vowed never to work in a cotton mill or a tobacco plant which where the two dominant industries of his local town of Danville, Virginia. He began learning auto mechanics from his father, who worked as a driver and mechanic for two wealthy families. After Wendell started racing, all the people of the neighborhood would all say the same thing, “He's just like his daddy" who used to scare people half to death with the way he drove. Scott raced bicycles against white boys in his neighborhood. He said, "I was the only black boy that had a bicycle." He became a daredevil on roller skates, speeding down Danville's steep hills on one skate. He dropped out of high school, to become a taxi driver.

He was a mechanic in the segregated 101st airborne division in the Army in Europe during World War II in 1942.

In 1944, after his discharge, he and Mary Cole got married and later on had six kids.

After the war, he ran an auto-repair shop; and as a sideline, he started running moonshine, which is a good part of how NASCAR got started, with the first NASCAR driver driving their old moonshine running cars, from out of the hills of Virginia and North Carolina. The police caught Wendell only once, in 1949 because he had to dodge a group of people and slid into a house; he was sentenced to three years probation. Even with the probation he continued making his whiskey runs, and on the weekends, he would go to the stock car races in Danville, and he would have to sit in the blacks-only section of the bleachers.

In 1952 the officials at the track in Danville wanted to spice up there races, so they said they were going to put a Negro in with the old country boys. They wanted a fast Negro, not one that will just ride around, so they asked the local police who the best Negro driver was. The police told them of Wendell Scott, the bootlegger who they had chased and chased, but only had caught once. Wendell was invited to race and he jumped on it bringing one of his best moonshine running cars to the next race, which made him the first African-American driver in Southern stock car racing. His car broke down during the race as fans booed him, but he then realized he wanted his career to be racing. He attempted a couple NASCAR sanctioned races after that race, but at the time NASCAR did not allow colored people to race, so he stuck to local dirt track racing, and in a short heat at Lynchburg, Virginia in the amateur class Scott won his very first race.

In 1953 after gaining experience in auto racing and winning over 200 races and a couple track championships at local ½ to ¾ mile race tracks in rural Virginia and North Carolina, Wendell became the first African-American to obtain a NASCAR license; but the only reason he was granted one was because the steward at Richmond Speedway had the power to grant them, and he did; but not without anguish, when the NASCAR officials at Daytona Beach heard what Mike Poston the steward at Richmond speedway had done they were furious. Scott's career was affected by racial prejudice with NASCAR officials, drivers, and fans in the sport that was conceived in the racist heavy south; however, his determined struggle as an underdog won him thousands of fans, white and black, and many friends and admirers throughout the garage.

One night in 1954 a promoter at an event in Raleigh, North Carolina gave all the racers 15 dollars for gas money but denied Wendell the money. The next day he met Bill France for the first time and told him what had happened. Bill being the kind man he was reached into his pocket and gave Scott 30 dollars and assured him that the color of his skin would never be a factor in NASCAR; that of course was not true so far so Wendell wondered why it would be true in the future, but he still hoped France would keep his promise.

In 1961, the same year Jackie Robinson broke color barriers in Major League Baseball, Wendell Scott moved up to the Grand National (Sprint cup) division of NASCAR. The NASCAR races he ran up to that time were equivalent to the Whelen modified series or Camping world touring series.

On the first day of December in 1963 he went to race at the one mile long dirt track at Speedway Park just like he would any other race; but this one was different. He was driving a Chevrolet Bel Air which he had purchased from Ned Jarrett and won the race, two laps ahead of the second place driver Buck Baker; NASCAR declared Buck Baker the winner, claiming it was due to the racist society that Florida was known for, but others say that NASCAR didn’t want a black man to win a race so they claimed Buck won it, but then two hours later NASCAR made the necessary corrections and correctly declared Wendell as the very first and only to date African-American to win a NASCAR Grand National (Sprint cup) race. He ended up only getting a piece of junk trophy a couple months later in a small ceremony in Savannah, Georgia, because Buck got the real one, and he didn’t get to celebrate with the beauty queen, his team, or his family; but that piece of junk trophy that don’t even tell what is was for he got, is his wife Mary’s most prized possession. That year he finished 12th in the points standings.

He finished a career high of 6th in the point standings in 1966.

In 1971, he received the first Curtis Turner Achievement Award for his efforts to promote NASCAR racing.

He was forced to retire due to injuries from a 19 car pile-up at Talladega, Alabama in 1973 which almost crippled him; his injuries included broken pelvis bones, three broken ribs, a leg broken in seven places, and a lacerated arm that required seventy stitches.

In 1977, he was inducted into the National Black Athletic Hall of Fame.

In 1986, Les Montgomery of Atlanta, Georgia, with Wendell's help, established a Wendell Scott Racing Foundation to begin a scholarship program for young people interested in auto mechanics.

On Dec. 22, 1990, Wendell Scott died of Spinal Cancer. Yet, his spirit and memory lives on in the hearts and memories of family, fans, and friends.
He achieved one win and 147 top ten finishes in 506 career Grand National (Sprint cup series) starts.

The book, "Hard Driving: The American Odyssey of NASCAR's First Black Driver," by Brian Donovan was a biography written about Wendell, Mojo Nixon, a fellow Danville native, wrote a tribute song titled "The Ballad of Wendell Scott", which appears on Nixon and Skid Roper's 1987 album, "Frenzy", and in his home town of Danville the street he lived on was officially renamed “Wendell Scott Drive” in 1997, that is just a few of many honors Wendell Scott got and deserved for his determination to become the first African-American to race in NASCAR.

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/04/22/wscott.honor.nascar/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Scott

http://www.answers.com/topic/wendell-scott

Lee Petty

Out of a small community called Randleman, North Carolina, Lee Petty produced one of the greatest NASCAR careers and with his sons founded an astonishing NASCAR team that lived through four generations and is still going on today.

Lee Arnold Petty was born on March 14, 1914 near Randleman, North Carolina. He was one of the pioneers of NASCAR, and one of its first superstars. He won 54 races in 433 career starts; he also finished in the Top 5 in season points for NASCAR's first eleven seasons and in his last full season in 1960 he finished 6th; he also had a top 10 an implausible 332 times out of 433 career races. He is the father of Maurice and Richard, the grandfather of Kyle and Ritchie, and the great grandfather of the late Adam Petty, who all have raced, even for just a short stint. His nephew Dale Inman worked for Petty Enterprises as Richard's crew chief from the early 1960s until 1981 and during the 1990s.

Petty was a star athlete in high school and after he graduated, he decided to attend King's Business College in Greensboro, North Carolina; that decision helped him learn how to manage Petty Enterprises on their way to prominence.

In 1943, after a freak wood stove accident, the family house burned to the ground in front of the horrified eyes of his wife, Elizabeth, and sons. Petty and his family saw their way through the tragedy and soon converted a trailer into a new house.

He always liked driving cars fast but did it mainly as a hobby. He was a family man who provided for his wife and two boys Richard and Maurice by doing such jobs as being a mechanic, driving a taxi, and being a truck driver, and many more odd jobs, so by the time he realized his dream it was 1949 and he was thirty-five years old. In his first race Petty was one of the 33 racers in the premiere of NASCAR late-model racing on June 19, 1949 at Charlotte Speedway, which is a three-quarter of a mile dirt track near Charlotte Motor Speedway. He drove a Buick Roadmaster, his sons, Richard, age eleven, and Maurice, age ten, was his pit crew that day. In the race, Petty lost control of the top heavy car and barrel rolled. The car came to a halt in a battered heap, shooting out steam and oil. Petty climbed out of his car, shaken, with only a minor cut and sat on the track, and looked off into the distance with a “Wow, this is sad” type of look on his face. Petty later said "I was just sitting there thinking about having to go back home and explain to my wife where I'd been with the car." The misfortune of this wreck was that the car he just crashed was the car they drove to the track, so they had no way home and where stranded.

In 1954 Petty won his first of three championships in the Grand National (Sprint cup) series. This championship was unique because he did not win it with his own team like his next two, he won it with the car owner Gary Drake in which he left at the end of the season to drive for Carl Krueger; those was the only two car owners that he ever drove for, the rest of his seasons he drove for himself. "I have to finish in the top three cars to make money," Petty said in a 1954 interview. "I have to finish among the first five to break even. After that, I'm going in the red." That attitude is what propelled him into his successful career.

In 1958 he won his second ever championship.

In the first race at Daytona International Speedway in 1959 at the Daytona 500, Petty and Johnny Beauchamp battled during the final laps of the race. Petty, Beauchamp and Joe Weatherly drove 3 wide across the finish line at the final lap for a photo finish. Beauchamp was declared the unofficial winner, and he drove to victory lane. Petty protested the results, saying "I had Beauchamp by a good two feet“. It took NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. three days to decide the winner. In the end, with the help of that famous picture took from the grass at the finish line; Petty was officially declared the winner. Son Richard also drove in that race in a 1957 Oldsmobile convertible with the number he would soon make famous 43; he finished 57th out of 59 starters because of engine failure on only the eighth lap. Also in that year Lee finished 41 out of the 49 races run, winning twelve of them, and in that time he won his third championship becoming only the second driver to win 2 championships in a row, second only to Buck Baker who won the 2 previous championships; he also became the first driver to win 3 championships.

In 1960 his son Richard thought he had just won his first race; but boy was he wrong. Lee knew that something was wrong with the scoring and protested the win saying that he won, not Richard. Lee ended up winning the protest yet again, and the race, making Richard wait even longer for his first win. Lee said “I would have protested it even if it was my own mother”.

During the 1961 Daytona 500 qualifying race Lee Petty and Donny Beauchamp’s cars collided and hooked together and then slid into the guardrail which was only about 3 feet tall then and fell into the parking lot 150 ft. below. Petty was seriously injured; his injuries included a punctured lung, multiple fractures of the left chest, a fractured thigh, a broken collarbone, and several internal injuries; he was in the hospital for about four months.

In 1964 Petty ran his last race of his career at the Watkins Glen international raceway in N.Y. His driving career was over, but his ownership of Petty enterprises still stood and boy did it blossom; it became the most successful team in NASCAR and is still a contender today only with the new name of Richard Petty motorsports. In his later years of retirement he became a fanatic golfer, playing often four times a week.

In 1990, Lee Petty was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

In 1996 he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame.

He was selected as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 along with his son, Richard Petty.

Lee Petty died early in the morning on April 5, 2000 at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the age of 86, several weeks after having surgery for a stomach aneurysm. He was buried at the Level Cross United Methodist Church Cemetery in Randleman, North Carolina. His great grandson Adam Petty raced for the first time in the Winston (Sprint) cup series just three days before he died. "There wasn't any better driver than Lee Petty in his day," legendary stock-car racer Junior Johnson told the Associated Press's Estes Thompson.

Lee Petty was the foundation of “The First Family of NASCAR”. If it wasn’t for him turning his hobby into a career we may have never got the great drivers out of Maurice Petty, Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, or the late Adam Petty, and even now, when there are no Petty’s racing in NASCAR we still consider them as being the greatest family of drivers in the history of the sport, and still watch them on DVD or television even if it is just 40 minutes of video with bad coverage; but we don’t care we love the Petty’s and we can thank that love to the one and only Lee Petty.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3407900436.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Petty

http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1990/Lee_Petty_main.htm

http://www.essortment.com/all/biographyoflee_rusr.htm

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/drivers/lee-petty.htm

Jeff Gordon

Jeffery Michael Gordon was born on August 4, of 1971 to William and Carol Ann, in Vallejo, California; He was raised in Pittsboro, Indiana, and currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. He, along with Rick Hendrick, are the co-owners of the #48 Lowe's team, driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Sprint Cup series championships. Gordon also has an equity stake in his own #24 team.

Jeff was five when he began running laps at a makeshift racetrack that he and his stepfather, John Bickford, made out of an old fairground in his hometown of Vallejo, California. John really helped Gordon along in his racing career and inspired him to do his best at everything he did. By the Age of 6 Gordon had won 35 main events at the Crackerjack track in Rio Linda, California and set 5 track records. Gordon says that the track at Rio Linda was the first real race track he ever raced on, in an interview with Newsweek magazine.

At the age of 13 in 1984 Gordon took an interest in the 650 horsepower sprint cars. Gordon and his family had to overcome an insurance hurtle because the minimum age for driving the sprint cars was 16; but their determination paid off when Jeff was allowed to run in the All Star Florida Speedweeks. Supporting his career choice, Gordon's family moved from Vallejo, California to Pittsboro, Indiana, where there were more opportunities for younger racers to race against older racers. After moving to Indiana, things were far from easy. In an interview with Newsweek, his step-father said that the family "Slept in pick-up trucks and made our own parts. That's why I think Jeff is misunderstood by people who think he was born to rich parents and had a silver spoon in his mouth."

Gordon won three short-track races and was awarded USAC Midget Car Racing Rookie of the Year in 1989 at the ripe old age of 18. That season was highlighted by winning the “Night Before the 500” midget car race; the reason the race is called that is because it is the day before the Indianapolis 500.

In 1990, Gordon won his second consecutive “Night Before the 500”, and 2 more races on his way USAC national Midget title. When there wasn’t any places for him in any open wheel series Gordon decided to try out stock cars, and when he did, he loved it. Jeff then met a man named Hugh Connerty, who owned some Hooters restaurants and was a partner in Outback Steakhouse. Hugh helped Gordon pay for a test run at Charlotte in a Busch (Nationwide) series race. Ray Evernham, a then unknown, was asked to come work with Jeff as his crew chief. They ran a few races together at the end of the 1990 Busch (Nationwide) series season.

1991 was Gordon’s breakthrough year; He moved up to the Busch (Nationwide) series full time driving the #1 Carolina Ford Dealers, Ford for Bill Davis racing and won the Rookie of the year title with Ray Evernham as his crew chief, all in the same year he won the USAC Silver Crown championship at a record age of 20.

In 1992 Gordon set a NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) series record by capturing 11 poles in one season. His time with Bill Davis racing introduced Jeff to Ray Evernham as his crew chief, which led to be a potent combination later on. Coincidentally, Gordon's first NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series race, the 1992 Hooters 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, was also the final race for Richard Petty. The day before Gordon’s first Winston (Sprint) cup series race he won the pole and the race at the very first race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Busch (Nationwide) series, catching the eye of talent genius Rick Hendrick.

In 1993, Gordon raced his first full season in Winston (Sprint) Cup for Hendrick Motorsports, in which he won a Daytona 500 qualifying race, the Rookie of the Year award, and finished 14th in points. Ray Evernham was placed as Jeff Gordon's first crew chief in the Winston (Sprint) cup series. Gordon's success in the sport reshaped the idea that young drivers couldn’t have success in NASCAR, and that helped lead the way to a wave of new drivers that you see in today’s version of the sport.

In 1994, Gordon collected his first career victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca Cola 600, NASCAR's longest and most demanding race. Additionally, Gordon scored a popular hometown victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the inaugural Brickyard 400, passing Ernie Irvan for the lead late in the race when Irvan cut down a tire and Gordon just happened to be in second. Gordon finished eighth in the Winston Cup point standings for the '94 season, as Dale Earnhardt Sr. won the championship for his 7th and final time.

1995 saw Gordon win his first NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Championship. It was a grueling battle against him and 7-time Winston (Sprint) cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. that led all the way to the final race but Gordon just barely got it. Gordon finished the season with eight poles, and seven victories. The team's consistency was much better as well, having 3 DNF's in 1995, compared to 21 in his previous two seasons combined.

Gordon got off to a rocky start in 1996, but rebounded to win ten races, the series high; his most notable win was at the very last race to date at the North Wilkesboro Speedway. This would start a three year streak of winning double digit races. He finished 2nd to teammate Terry Labonte for the championship, losing by only 37 points.

Jeff Gordon’s 1997 year began with him signing a deal with Pepsi to be his associate sponsor. That deal is still ongoing to this day. Jeff won his first Daytona 500 in 1997, becoming the youngest driver in history to win the historic race. Later in the season he also won the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte and had a chance to become the first man since Bill Elliott in 1985 to win the "Winston Million”. Gordon completed the feat by holding off a determined Jeff Burton in the final laps of the Southern 500 at Darlington. While Elliott failed to win the Winston Cup in 1985 along with the Winston Million, Jeff Gordon claimed his second Winston (Sprint) Cup championship in 1997, completing one of the most impressive single-season performances in NASCAR history. He finished the season with 10 victories for the second straight season. His victory at California was in the track's inaugural race, and his victory at Watkins Glen began a streak of seven consecutive road course victories.

In 1998 Gordon successfully defended his victories in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500, winning a record four consecutive Southern 500s in the process. Gordon also won his second Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. According to most NASCAR drivers the race at Indianapolis has become second in prestige only to the Daytona 500. Gordon finished the 1998 season with a victory in the season finale at Atlanta. This was his 13th victory of the season and tied Richard Petty's modern era record of 13 wins in a single season. He finished 1998 with 13 wins, 7 poles, 26 top fives, and 28 top tens.

In 1999, Gordon along with crew chief Evernham formed Gordon/Evernham Motorsports. Though short lived, the race team enjoyed success. The co-owned team received a full sponsorship from Pepsi and ran six races with Gordon as driver and Ray Evernham as crew chief in the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series. Even though he won six times in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in 1999, Gordon's season was a major disappointment to their standards, finishing 6th in the series standings. A major reason of the malfunction of Gordon’s season was that his crew chief Ray Evernham packed up and left Jeff’s Hendrick Motorsports team after Dodge gave him a deal he couldn’t refuse, to leave and make his own team to reintroduce Dodge back into the sport, which ended one of the most dominant driver/crew chief combinations in NASCAR history. Brian Whitesell was named the interim crew chief for remainder of the season after Evernham's departure in September. Jeff Gordon established The Jeff Gordon Foundation to help support children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses in 1999, and now is a well known charity among drivers and fans alike.

2000 saw Gordon enter his first campaign with Robbie Loomis as crew chief. Loomis had been with Petty Enterprises for years prior but decided that going to the Hendrick Motorsports camp was an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up. Gordon scored his first victory of 2000 at Talladega in the spring event, winning his 50th career victory in the series. Gordon finished the season 9th in points.

Many people questioned Gordon's ability to win championships without longtime crew chief, Ray Evernham; especially after Gordon struggled to a 9th place points finish in 2000, winning only three races. Gordon answered those challenges in 2001 by winning 6 races en route to his 4th Winston (Sprint) Cup championship. Jeff Gordon became the third driver to win four Cup championships in NASCAR history only second to Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt which both won seven times. The 24 car's paint scheme was changed for the first time, abandoning the younger looking 'Rainbow Warrior' paint scheme in favor of a flames-themed car. Both paint schemes were designed by Sam Bass.

Gordon entered the 2002 season as defending champion, but the year was far from perfect, which was just possibly caused by Gordon’s divorce with his first wife Brooke. Gordon had a good run going at speedweeks in Daytona, he won his 125 qualifier and was having a strong run until he slid into Sterling Marlin which spun him into the grass with only a few laps remaining forcing him to a respectable 9th place finish. Many also think that the addition of the 48 team with Jimmie Johnson as the driver also took away from Gordon's season as the 24 team helped to build the 48 team. Gordon did not win until the Sharpie 500 night race at Bristol in August, his first victory in the night race at Bristol, a week later he won the Southern 500 at Darlington for his 5th time. The 24 team finished the season 4th in points.

In 2003, Jeff Gordon returned with Robbie Loomis for a third season together. In June, Gordon went to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take part in a test with then-Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya. The two switched rides for that day, with Gordon driving an F1 car for the first time. Montoya would eventually join the NASCAR Cup series in 2007 for Chip Gannasi racing with Felix Sabates. Jeff finished the year 4th in the NASCAR standings, with 3 wins, 15 Top-5 finishes, and 20 Top-10 finishes.

2004 was a huge rebound for the team. Gordon again won the Brickyard 400 in August 2004, obtaining his 4th Indy win. He is the only NASCAR driver with four Brickyard 400 victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and one of only five drivers to have four victories at the historic track. He finished 3rd in the 2004 NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup points standing behind Kurt Busch and teammate Jimmie Johnson. Gordon scored the most points that year overall but due to the newly implemented chase for the cup format Gordon only finished third. While the Hendrick Motorsports team enjoyed success with Johnson and Gordon finished 2nd and 3rd in the points, the team suffered a major off-track tragedy. On October 24, during the race weekend at Martinsville, a Hendrick Motorsports plane carrying engine builder Randy Dorton, team President John Hendrick, Vice President Jeff Turner, and Rick Hendrick’s 24 year old son Ricky Hendrick, and more crashed on its way to the track. Everyone on board was killed. The team was clearly affected by this, but continued with impressive performances.

Gordon started the 2005 season with a win in the Daytona 500, his fourth win in the historic season opener. But inconsistency would plague him throughout the year. While running 25th at Chicagoland, he was taken out in a turn one wreck by Mike Bliss. After the race Gordon confronted Bliss at a local airport; with the end result being a black eye for Bliss. A late season run put him in position to qualify for the Chase, but in the last race before the Chase at Richmond, Gordon made contact with the wall and failed to qualify for the chase. On September 14, 2005 Crew Chief Robbie Loomis resigned from the #24 team to go and be a consultant for the #48 team who was in the chase at that time. Gordon’s new crew chief was former car chief, Steve Letarte. He went on to finish 11th in the Championship and received a $1,000,000 bonus as the top driver finishing outside the Chase. It was Gordon's first time outside the top 10 in the point standings since 1993, which for the second season in a row his point standings were greatly affected by the new cup format.

On June 29, 2006, Gordon announced that he would participate in the Rolex 24 endurance sports car event at Daytona International Speedway, teaming up with SunTrust Racing drivers Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor, who won the 2005 Rolex 24 race. His team went on to finish third, despite problems, two laps behind the winning team. Gordon won his first race of the year at the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway the day after he announced his engagement to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch. Gordon also won his first race at the Chicagoland Speedway at the running of the USG Sheetrock 400. He finally made it into the Chase for the NEXTEL (Sprint) cup this year, and when it was all said and done he finished 6th, which brought him a paycheck of $7,471,447, which brought his total career winnings up to $82,838,526.

Gordon started off the 2007 Cup season by winning his Gatorade Duel 125 qualifying race, and finishing 10th in the Daytona 500. In March at the long awaited unveiling of the “Car of Tomorrow” at Bristol, he won his 58th career pole, and finished 3rd. In April at Phoenix Gordon won his 59th career pole tying Darrell Waltrip with the record, and 2 days later he won the race. In that race he tied Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s 6th place in the most wins list with 76, and after winning the race he held a black #3 flag as he did a polish victory lap on honor of Earnhardt. The next week at Talladega he passed Darrell Waltrip to become the modern day pole leader. He also won that race which surpassed Earnhardt in wins, which moved him up to 6th and bumped Earnhardt down to 7th. He made the chase yet again, finishing 2nd in the points only to his teammate Jimmie Johnson. He again had the most points this year but just like in 2004 he fell victim to the new chase format. On June 20, 2007, Ingrid Vandebosch gave birth to Jeff Gordon’s first child, Ella Sofia Gordon in New York City.

In October of 2008 he got his first ever poll at the Texas Motor Speedway and almost won there for the first time but ended up finishing second only to Carl Edwards. Gordon again qualified for the chase and this time finished 7th. It was the first time since 1993 that he had gone winless throughout the season.

In 2009 Gordon had a new paint job for only the third time. This one was not as different as the second one except that the color blue was replaced with black. It was the first time in Gordon’s career that he didn’t run blue on his car. Gordon entered the Samsung 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway, with a win tally at that track of zero; he left with one. It was his 82nd career victory, and it was won at the only track besides Homestead-Miami Speedway that he has not won on. It also ended a 47 race winless streak. He ended up finishing 3rd in the points behind teammates, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin. It was the first 1-2-3 finish for one team in NASCAR history. He also became the first driver to reach $100 Million in winnings for the Cup series by finishing 3rd in the point’s standings.

Hendrick Motorsports owner, Rick Hendrick, said in November 2009 that he is working on signing a contract extension with DuPont, Gordon's primary sponsor since the beginning of his career. DuPont's current contract with Jeff Gordon expires at the end of 2010, and Hendrick said he wants it to be Gordon's primary sponsor for the rest of his career.

Gordon is a Christian. He has talked about how in the early nineties he got curious and followed some drivers to the weekly chapel one week, which is how he first started to learn more about God. Every week there is a service held before the race at the race track which any driver, crew member, NASCAR official, or anybody else can attend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gordon

http://jeffgordon.com/aboutjeff/

http://www.gordonline.com/bio.html

Kenny Wallace

On almost any given weekend, like Ken Schrader, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, and many more you can find Kenny getting back to the roots of short track racing in his #36 Jegs dirt modified car on the total opposite of NASCAR’s multimillion dollar “COT” type racing, he races on dirt.

Kenny Wallace was born on August 23, 1963 in St. Louis, Missouri. He is the youngest of three boys to their father Russ, his two brothers Mike and Rusty are also successful NASCAR drivers, and it apparently runs in the family because his nephew Steve Wallace and niece Chrissy Wallace also run in NASCAR. Their father Russ was a racer on the local dirt tracks, and won over 400 races during his career. Lake Hill Speedway track promoter Bob Miller noticed Kenny Wallace’s boisterous behavior when people would talk about his father in a bad way, and started calling him “Herman”, after a mischievous cartoon character named Herman the German.

Kenny was a longtime mechanic and crew member for his brother’s Rusty and Mike on their teams, and one day in 1982 a chance came along to drive his own racecar in the Illinois Street Stock State Championship, he took that chance for all it was worth and won that race, it was the first of many to come.

He joined the American Speed Association ranks in 1986, winning Rookie of the Year honors that year.

In September 1988, Dale Earnhardt gave Kenny the seat for his first-ever NASCAR start, which just happened to be in the Busch (Nationwide) series where he has had most of his success since, he finished eleventh at that race at Martinsville Speedway, driving the #8 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet.

In 1989, he raced the full Busch (Nationwide) Series schedule in a car owned by his brother Rusty, the car was sponsored by Cox Treated Lumber; he earned the 1989 Rookie of the Year award and finished an amazing 6th in the point’s standings for it being only his first year in NASCAR.

In 1990, he made his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway in the #36 Pontiac for Randy Cox, finishing 26th after a late-race crash.

In 1991, he won his first two of nine races in the Busch (Nationwide) series and finished a career-best second in the points only to the future Winston (Sprint) cup champion, Bobby Labonte; he also subbed for Kyle Petty in two races in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. At the Pyroil 500, he competed against his brothers Mike and Rusty, marking the first time since Bob, Fonty, and Tim Flock raced that three brothers competed in the same race at the same time. He also won the Most Popular Driver Award in the Busch (Nationwide) series.

In 1992, Dirt Devil became his sponsor as he moved to SABCO racing, and he won his third Busch (Nationwide) series race of his career, but several mechanical problems forced him down to sixth in points.

In 1993, Wallace moved up to the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series full-time to compete for the Rookie of the year title, driving the #40 Dirt Devil Pontiac Grand Prix for SABCO Racing owned by Felix Sabates. He had three top-tens and a twenty-third place point’s finish, but lost the Rookie of the year battle to both future champions Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon. He lost his ride at the end of the season. "It totally sucked and I hope I never have to go through it again,” said Wallace of losing his ride. “When Felix fired me it was kind of like, 'you don't understand. I'm Kenny Wallace.' That's the way I felt. He can't fire me, because I'm a good driver. I always got the job done“. He says. "I'll never forget that as long as I live, but the experience taught me a valuable lesson. The lesson was that racing is a team sport. It takes more than just a driver’s talent to get the job done. Everyone needs to work together in order to be successful. I don't think you could go to college and learn that. In the long run, it was the best thing that ever happened to me."

He returned to the Busch (Nationwide) Series in 1994 to drive the #8 TIC Financial Systems Ford for FILMAR Racing. He picked up three wins and finished fourth in points. Towards the end of the season, he was hired by Robert Yates Racing to replace the injured Ernie Irvan in the Cup series. In thirteen races, he finished in the top-ten three times. He yet again won the Most Popular Driver Award in the Busch (Nationwide) series.

In 1995, Wallace and FILMAR split time between the Winston (Sprint) Cup series and the Busch (Nationwide) Series. Wallace had one win with the Red Dog Ford in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, and made eleven starts in the Cup Series in the #81 car.

Wallace and FILMAR began racing in Cup full-time 1996 with funding from Square D. They had two top-ten finishes and a twenty-eighth place point’s finish.

In 1997 in the Winston (Sprint) cup series, he won two poles, at Bristol and Martinsville respectively, but fell five spots in the standings.

Despite seven top-tens in 1998, Wallace and Square D left FILMAR to drive Andy Petree Racing's new #55 entry in 1999.

Wallace finished in the top-ten six times and had a career-best twenty-second place finish in points in the Cup series in 1999 driving for Andy Petree.

After only one top-ten in 2000 and a 26th place finish in the points, he departed the team. The sole top-ten came in his second place finish to Dale Earnhardt, in the then Winston 500 at Talladega which was Earnhardt's final victory. Wallace pushed Earnhardt to the front in four laps to the lead.

In 2001, Wallace signed with the unsponsored Eel River Racing team in the Winston (Sprint) cup series, and also was hired to drive the #48 Goulds Pumps Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series full-time for Innovative Motorsports. After several DNQ's, Wallace resigned from the Eel River Racing team to concentrate on his Busch (Nationwide) series ride. He won his first race in seven years at North Carolina Speedway and finished tenth in points.

He did not win in 2002, but moved up to seventh in the standings in the Busch (Nationwide) series. He was hired late in the season by Bill Davis Racing to drive the #23 Stacker 2 Dodge, and was hired to drive the car full-time in 2003. He drove the #1 DEI Winston (Sprint) cup car from late 2001 until Park returned in March of 2002; in that time Wallace won the Bud Pole at Rockingham and had a second-place finish there. He also scored a 6th place at Talladega. He additionally finished the Budweiser shootout in the ninth position in the Winston (Sprint) cup series.

After one top-ten finish in 2003, Wallace and the Stacker 2 Dodge moved down to the Busch (Nationwide) Series in 2004, garnering ten top-ten finishes. He also drove in the Nextel (Sprint) Cup Series four times for Michael Waltrip Racing.

In 2005, Bill Davis Racing closed its Busch (Nationwide) team, allowing Wallace and sponsor Stacker 2 to join PPC Racing's #22 Ford, earning five top-fives. He began driving for Furniture Row Racing in the Cup Series in 2005 on a part time basis. He was the winner of the Tony Stewart 2005 Super Late Model Charity Race "Prelude to the Dream" at the Eldora Speedway which was getting back to his roots, on dirt.

After four top-tens out of 17 races in 2006 in the Cup series, Furniture Row began racing full-time in Cup, which led to Wallace leaving PPC racing in the Busch (Nationwide) series to focus more on his Cup ride. For the third time Kenny won the Most Popular Driver Award in the Busch (Nationwide) series.

Despite getting voted into the All-Star Race at Charlotte, Wallace was unable to keep the #78 in the top-35 in owner's points, and left the team in August. On August 22, 2007 it was announced that he would fill in for Kyle Petty in the #45 Wells Fargo Dodge at Bristol for Petty Enterprises. Shortly after that drove as a sub yet again for RYR, but this time for the injured Ricky Rudd in the #88 Snickers Ford Fusion in all but one of the races he was out, the one he didn’t race was at Talladega where his superspeedway expert brother Mike filled in.

In 2008 Kenny Wallace drove for Jay Robinson Racing in the #28 U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the Nationwide series. The highlight of the year was a last lap battle for the win in Memphis, TN with Carl Edwards and David Reutimann, with Kenny finishing third. The Team ended the year on a strong upswing.

Last year in 2009 Kenny was back in the familiar #28 U.S Border Patrol Chevy Impala for Jay Robinson Racing in the Nationwide series.

Kenny has also found success in the world of television. He is the co-host of two programs for SPEED TV each week; NASCAR Raceday, which airs before the Sprint Cup race each week, and NASCAR Victory Lane, which extends post-race coverage. He was also featured on the show NASCAR Drivers: 360 on FX.

http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/kwallace00/cup/bio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Wallace

http://www.kennywallace.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=210&Itemid=27

http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=97&seriesID=1&subID=2

Dave Blaney

Dave Blaney is a natural born racer with many talents. He was born on October 24, 1962 in Hartford Township, Ohio, where he was raised. Dave owned his own team in Sprint racing for years, and that is just as agonizing as owning one in the cup series, which if you was to ask Tony Stewart, or Robby Gordon is an amazing feat. Dave never really planned to get into NASCAR, but it just happened.

Blaney was the 1983 All-Star Sprint Circuit Rookie-of-the-Year.

He raced in the United States Automobile Club (USAC) Silver Crown Series in 1984 and won the national touring series' championship.

Blaney won his first World of Outlaws race at Tri-City Speedway in 1985 and won the Championship in 1995.

After two very successful season’s in Sprint cars, Dave took up his friend Stan Hover on an offer to drive one of his cars; he made his NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup debut in the #80 Daffron's Body Shop Ford for Hover Motorsports in the 1992 AC Delco 500 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, N.C, finishing 31st. In addition to that, Blaney started a few ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) races when his busy and grueling sprint car schedule allowed. Running Sprint cars was his main priority since it was keeping a roof over his and his family's head. However, stock cars had definitely got Blaney's curiosity.

In the 1997 season, he won the Gold Cup at Eldora Speedway, and the Knoxville Nationals, which is considered the premiere event in Sprint car racing. He was the first driver who did not defend his Knoxville win, when he moved into NASCAR full time. After moving to NASCAR, he kept his sprint car team going, fielding a car for his brother Dale and the late Kevin Gobrecht.

In 1998 his Sprint car sponsor Amoco decided to bring Blaney with them to pilot the #93 Amoco Pontiac, Busch (Nationwide) Series car for Bill Davis Racing. That business decision by Amoco resulted in three sixth-place finishes and a pole position at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.

In 1999, he ran a full-time schedule in the Busch (Nationwide) series; He won four poles and ended the season a career-best seventh in points. That season, he returned to the Winston (Sprint) Cup series with Davis, earning a best finish of 23rd at Homestead in the #93 Amoco car.

In 2000, Blaney and his Amoco team moved up to Winston (Sprint) Cup full time and posted two-top tens. He would end up finishing third in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Rookie of the Year award standings for the 2000 season. He would return to the Busch (Nationwide) Series in 2000 with a limited schedule in Bill Davis Racing’s #20 AT&T Pontiac, gaining a pole position at Charlotte and also finish 3rd twice.

In 2001, Bill Davis Racing switched from Pontiac to Dodge and he competed in all the races with a best finish of 6th, three times. He left Davis at the end of the season because of changes with his sponsor Amoco internally; he then signed with the #77 Jasper Motorsports team.

Blaney had the best season of his Cup career in 2002, finishing in the top-10 five times and completing 96.3 percent of all laps run in his 2002 campaign. He also cracked the top-20 in points for the first time, finishing 19th. His best finish of the year came in Phoenix, where he finished seventh after qualifying fifth.

Blaney started the 2003 season with three top-tens and a pole the first five races, but fell to twenty-eighth in points at the end of the season. Jasper Motorsports was bought by Penske Racing South forcing Blaney to move on to Bill Davis Racing yet again.

Blaney returned to Bill Davis Racing in 2004 for a limited schedule, because of lack of sponsorship. Part of his deal was making his Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series debut for Davis in the #23 truck at Dover, where he finished sixth. After two eleventh-place finishes, Blaney joined a more promising Richard Childress Racing, taking over the #30 American Online Chevrolet for eight races. After two top-fifteen finishes, he was replaced by Jeff Burton; Blaney would also start one race for Roush Racing in the #99 Kraft Foods Ford in the place of rookie Carl Edwards, who missed the start due a Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series race that ran late. Blaney exited the car on Lap 24, and Edwards went on to finish 37th after a crash. He also ran the spring race at Richmond International Raceway for Ultra Motorsports in the #7 Dodge, and finished fortieth.

Blaney returned to Richard Childress Racing in 2005 to drive the #07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet. During the season he would post two top ten finishes and finish 26th in points.

In 2006, he returned to the Bill Davis stable after being replaced by rookie Clint Bowyer at RCR to run the #22 Caterpillar Dodge. His best finish of 2006 came at the Richmond International Raceway, where he finished 4th. He also scored his first Busch (Nationwide) Series victory at Lowes Motor Speedway, when Matt Kenseth spun on the last lap when Blaney was second, which resulted to him inheriting the lead, to win.

In 2007 Bill Davis Racing switched to Toyota which eventually led to their bankruptcy in late 2008. Dave drove the #22 Caterpillar Toyota, to thirty-first in points.

In 2008, he had two finishes in the top ten, and moved up to thirtieth in points in the Busch (Nationwide) series.

In 2009 Blaney was a start and park driver in the #66 automobile for PRISM Motorsports. Blaney made his first race at California. He also qualified eighth for the 2009 Food City 500, and even with a good run he still parked due to a lack of team members. Last October at Charlotte in a Nationwide race Blaney finished third.

As with many other drivers, Blaney's hobbies center on racing. He owns a World of Outlaws team for which his brother, Dale, is the driver. He also owns a "Outlaw Driving Experience" driving school for sprint cars, which is based in Hartford, Ohio. He and his family also own Sharon Speedway in Hartford.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Blaney

http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=55&seriesID=1&subID=2

http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/dblaney00/cup/bio.html

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/racing/wb/226331

http://www.toyotaracing.com/motorsports/nextel/drivers/dave_blaney.html

Mark Martin

Mark Anthony Martin was born on January 9th, of 1959 in Batesville, Arkansas. He is currently a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver for Hendrick Motorsports in the #5 Chevrolet Impala sponsored by GoDaddy.com, Delphi, and CARQUEST. Mark is also a part-time driver in the Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports. He has also qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup 4 out of the 6 times it has been in existence.

It didn't take Mark Martin long to feel what it's like to win a stock car race. At the age of 15, in 1974, in just his third attempt, Martin won a feature race at a local Arkansas dirt track. He capped off his first season of racing with the Arkansas state championship that year.

After the early success in dirt track racing, in 1976 he moved up to V-8 racing and then moved up again, to asphalt racing, later that season.

By 1977, Martin had ascended to the ASA series, where he battled men like Rusty Wallace, Bobby Allison, Jim Sauter, and Dick Trickle. Martin was named ASA Rookie of the Year in and followed that up with three consecutive ASA titles.

Martin began funding his Cup career out of his own pocket, running five races in 1981 before running a full schedule in 1982. Martin finished 14th in the standings that season with six top-10 finishes.

Unable to keep his team afloat much longer, Martin auctioned off everything in his shop in early 1983 and ran a limited schedule with several owners, including J.D. Stacy, D.K. Ulrich, and Morgan-McClure. In 16 starts that year he had two top-ten finishes.

In 1984, Martin returned to the ASA. He would be teamed with crew chief Jimmy Finnig in 1985 and would win another title in 1986.

Martin's fortunes began to look up in 1987, when he ran his first full Busch (Nationwide) Series schedule for Bruce Lawmaster. His first win ever in NASCAR was at Dover that year; it really did grab the attention of another car owner, Jack Roush who was his spotter that day. Roush was starting his own Cup team and pegged Martin as his driver.

In 1988, Martin began a long relationship with Roush that continued for 19 years, driving the #6 car which was most notably sponsored by Valvoline and Viagra.
In 1990, a 46-point penalty at Richmond for using an illegal (but non-performance enhancing) carburetor spacer caused him to lose to Dale Earnhardt Sr. by 26 points in the final standings.

Martin won five IROC titles in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2005, he also won 13 races, both of which are records for that series.

Martin's father, stepmother, and half-sister died in a plane crash on August 8, 1998 in Nevada near Great Basin National Park.

Martin announced he would retire after the 2005 season, dubbing the season the "Salute to You" tour as a thank you to his fans. In June 2005, it was announced that Jamie McMurray would replace Martin in the #6 car in 2007. This, however, left Roush without a driver for the #6 car in 2006. Martin of course agreed to come back and drive for the 2006 season. Ultimately, it was announced that McMurray would be released from his contract at Chip Ganassi Racing one year early and would take over for Kurt Busch, who left the Roush organization prior to the end of the 2005 season. David Ragan was announced as Martin's replacement in the #6 for 2007.

Martin drove two races for Roush Fenway Racing in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in 2006, and also drove in three races for Hendrick Motorsports, sharing the #5 with Kyle Busch in the Busch (Nationwide) series. On October 6, 2006, it was announced that Martin would split time with current Busch (Nationwide) Series driver Regan Smith in the Ginn Racing #01 U.S. Army Chevrolet in 2007.

Martin finished second in the 2007 Daytona 500, only 0.02 seconds behind Kevin Harvick. Martin had led going into the final lap before Harvick stormed from seventh to win on the outside. There was a major wreck out of turn 4 and there has been much controversy over whether or not the caution flag should have came out, which could have affected the outcome of the race. Normally, the caution flag is shown as soon as a car or more make contact with the wall. Mark led the points up until the Food City 500 at Bristol and became the first driver since Cale Yarborough to skip a race as the leader of the points.

On July 25, 2007, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. announced it had acquired Ginn Racing. Mark Martin would join Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Martin Truex, Jr., and Paul Menard as a driver for DEI starting at the 2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. He would share the #01 car with Regan Smith for the rest of the season.

Martin shared the #8 car with Aric Almirola in the 2008 Sprint Cup Series with sponsorship from the U.S. Army, and at the Auto Club 500 he made his 700th career start. On March 1, 2008, Mark Martin won the 2008 Sam's Town 300 driving the #5 Delphi Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. It was Martin's 48th career Nationwide Series win, which is the most of any driver, and JR Motorsports' 1st win. Martin finished out 2008 with 11 top-10s out of the 21 Sprint cup races he was in.

On July 4, 2008, Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick announced that Mark will replace Casey Mears in the #5 car for the 2009 season, running a full-time schedule for the first time since 2006. Martin signed a two-year contract with Hendrick, with a full-time schedule for the 2009 season and will also have a full schedule in the 2010 season.

On April 18, 2009, Mark Martin became the fourth driver to win a Cup race in NASCAR after turning 50, in winning the 2009 Subway Fresh Fit 500 from the pole position. The other three were Bobby Allison, Morgan Shepherd (twice), and Harry Gant (8 times). His win snapped a 97-race winless streak going back to 2005. At Darlington, it was announced after the Richmond race that Martin would drive full time again in 2010; Martin would go on to win the Southern 500. It was his first multiple-win season since 1999. In the 2009 LifeLock 400, Mark Martin won his third race of the season when Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle ran out of fuel in the last two laps.

After being on the Chase bubble for most of the season, Martin qualified for the 2009 Chase as he was in sixth place in the standings following the Chevy Rock & Roll 400. Because he led the Chase drivers in wins with four, the Chase reseeding process moved him up five places and made him the point’s leader.

On September 18 it was announced that GoDaddy.com would sponsor Martin's #5 for 20 races in 2010 and 2011, and that Martin had signed to drive full time for Hendrick Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series through 2011, two days later he won his fifth race of the year by taking the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire in the first race of the Chase. The win broke Martin's tie with Kyle Busch for the series wins lead and marked the third time in his career that he had won at least five times in a season. Martin extended his lead to 35 points over Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin, who tied for second in the points.

On November 22 he finished 12th at Homestead not enough to prevent Jimmie Johnson from winning the Championship with Martin coming in 2nd place for the fifth time in the Sprint cup series.

Martin currently resides in Port Orange, Florida, with his wife Arlene and five children. Martin is also an avid pilot and flies his personal jet to and from races. He also currently owns two car dealerships. Mark Martin Chevrolet located in Melbourne, Arkansas and another, Mark Martin Ford-Mercury, in Batesville, Arkansas.

Mark is also an avid Christian, going to Bible study weekly. “Being a Christian, there’s so much in the Bible, so many teachings in there about how you should live your life and how you should handle situations,” Mark says. “The cool thing about the Bible is that even though it’s a very old book, it’s still very up to date and teaches you how to handle things today”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Martin

http://littlerock.about.com/od/famouslocals/a/aamartin.htm

http://www.everythingstockcar.com/2167d-mark-martin-nascar-driver.html

http://www.markmartin.org/historyofmark.html

Ricky Rudd

Ricky Rudd was born on September 12, 1956.

Rudd is known as the "Ironman" of NASCAR, holding the record for most consecutive starts in NASCAR racing. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, Rudd had made 788 consecutive starts, and has a total of 23 wins, 194 top 5's, and 373 top 10's.

Rudd was born in Norfolk County, Virginia, now Chesapeake; he is the son of Margaret and Alvin R. Rudd, Sr., the owner of Al Rudd Auto Parts. He began racing at the age of 9 in go-karts and then when he was 13 he moved up to motocross.

He made his NASCAR Winston (Sprint) cup debut at North Carolina (Rockingham) Speedway in 1975, when he was eighteen, driving the #10 Ford for family friend Bill Champion. Qualifying twenty-sixth, he finished in eleventh place despite running fifty-six laps down. He ran an additional three races for Champion, his best finish being a tenth at Bristol Motor Speedway.

He drove another four races in 1976 for his father, posting another tenth finish at the Firecracker 400.

He went full-time in NASCAR in 1977, again driving the #22 for his father. He had ten top-ten finishes and was named Rookie of the Year in the Winston (Sprint) cup series.

Rudd was forced to run part-time in 1978 after picking up only limited funding from 1st National City Travelers Checks. Despite the condensed schedule, he earned four top-tens and finished 31st in points.

In 1979, he signed with Junie Donlavey to pilot the #90 Truxmore car, garnering four top-fives and a ninth place points run.

He did not return to Donlavey in 1980, and started out in a part-time run for his dad and D K Ulrich. He would end the season in the #7 Sanyo car for Nelson Malloch, for whom he had one tenth-place run.

In 1981, Rudd signed with DiGard Motorsports to drive the #88 Gatorade car. Although he had no victories, he won his first three pole positions, and began his lengthy streak of consecutive race starts. He left at the end of the year to pilot the #3 Piedmont Airlines Pontiac for Richard Childress Racing.

He had six top-fives in 1982, but dropped down to ninth in the championship standings.

He was able to get his first two wins of his career in 1983, at Riverside and Martinsville Speedway, respectively, but stayed at 9th in points. He also ran the only three Busch (Nationwide) Series races of his career that season, winning in his debut event at Dover Downs.

In 1984, Rudd and Dale Earnhardt swapped rides with Rudd moving over to the #15 Wrangler Jeans Ford for Bud Moore, and Earnhardt getting the ride for Childress. He won his first race for this team in only his second start at Richmond and improved to seventh in points. At the Busch clash that year at Daytona, Rudd was involved in a horrific crash. Rudd's car became airborne, and he suffered a concussion. His eyes were swollen so badly, that he taped his eyes open in order to be able to race in the Daytona 500. After learning of this long after the fact, NASCAR instituted the policy of examining all drivers involved in wrecks in order to assure that they will be able to race safely the next week.

Motorcraft became the team's new sponsor in 1985. He moved up one spot in points that season, finishing 6th.

In 1986 he finished a career best points finish of fifth.

Despite an additional two victories in 1987, Rudd left Moore at the end of the season.

Rudd joined King Racing beginning in 1988 in the #26 Quaker State Buick Regal. He struggled with engine failures all season long and finished 11th in the standings, his worst points finish in eight years.

After his only win of 1989 came at the inaugural Sears Point event, Rudd departed King racing, and signed with Hendrick Motorsports to drive the #5 Levi Garrett Chevrolet Lumina. He was able to win “The Bud” at Watkins Glen international raceway and finished seventh in the final standings. He was involved in a pit road accident at the season-ending Atlanta Journal 500, when he spun into Bill Elliott's pit, fatally crushing Elliott's tire changer Mike Rich.

In 1991, Tide became his new sponsor, and Rudd won his only race of the year at Darlington Raceway. Later in the year at Sonoma, Rudd crossed the finished line first, but had his win taken away because he spun Davey Allison on the last lap. He finished the year a career-best second in points.

In 1992, he won the Peak Antifreeze 500, but dropped to seventh in points.

After finishing 10th in points in 1993, he left Hendrick motorsports.

Rudd took Tide and formed his own race team in 1994, Rudd Performance Motorsports. He drove the number 10 Ford Thunderbird that season. His first win as an owner/driver came at New Hampshire International Speedway, which led to a fifth-place point’s finish.

1995 saw his consecutive winning streak almost end before he won the Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix, which was the second-to-last race of the season.

In 1997, Rudd had two wins, including the Brickyard 400, his highest win total since 1987, but he dropped to seventeenth in the standings, the first time he finished outside of the top-ten in nine years. His victory at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August 1997 made him the first owner/driver to win the Brickyard 400.

His lone win of 1998 came at Martinsville Speedway, dealing with high air temperatures and a faulty cooling system. As a result, Rudd suffered burns and blisters over most of his body, and gave his victory lane interview lying on the ground breathing from an oxygen mask. This would be the last win of his consecutive victory streak, as he struggled with mechanical failures and wrecks throughout the season. When Tide left his team, Rudd chose to liquidate his equipment and close his team. Even through his bad luck in 1998 Ricky was named one of the 50 greatest drivers in NASCAR.

After many rumors and speculation, Rudd was hired to pilot the #28 Texaco/Havoline Ford Taurus for Robert Yates Racing for 2000. Although he still did not win that season, he had two poles and moved to fifth in the point’s standings.

In 2001, Rudd got his first win in three years at Pocono Raceway, followed by another victory late in the season at Richmond. He also matched a career-high 14 top-five finishes.

He won his last race to date at Infineon in 2002, but dropped to tenth in the standings. Rudd left Yates at the end of the 2002. After his departure of RYR, Yates changed his #28 to the #38 which made him the last driver to drive that historic number up until Travis Kvapil who drove it in 2008.

In the offseason of 2002-2003 Ricky was in a whirlwind of controversy over team issues. Robert Yates racing announced they were bringing Elliott Sadler over to pilot the #38 Ford which made everyone think that Ricky would be in the third stable for RYR. But that was not the case; RYR couldn’t satisfy Ricky’s desire for $3,000,000 and half of the race winnings so he left. The speculations then was that he would be the third car for Gannasi, but Ford did not want to lose another top driver from their camp after also losing Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield so they teamed up with Motorcraft and Wood brothers racing to seal the deal and keep Ricky.

After all the controversy of the offseason, he had four top-fives and a twenty-third place point’s finish, in 2003.

In 2004, he won his final career pole at Talladega Superspeedway, he fell a spot in the standings, finishing 24th.

In 2005 he earned nine top-tens, and improved to 21st in points. At the end of the season, Rudd announced he would "Take a break" from racing, although not effectively retire.

Rudd spent most of 2006 out of racing, racing only at Dover, where he filled in for the ailing Tony Stewart. Rudd made an appearance to meet and sign autographs for fans at the 2006 Carl Casper's Custom Auto Show at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. He was also named the "Virginian of the Year”. Late in the season, it was announced he would return to Yates to drive the #88 Snickers Ford full-time.

His best finish in 2007 was a seventh at the Coca-Cola 600. He missed the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 in 2007 which was the first time in Rudd's career where he did not make a start due to injury. Kenny Wallace drove the #88 on an interim basis until Rudd healed, except at Talladega, where Mike Wallace drove the car. He made his return at Charlotte, where he finished 11th. Rudd finished his career with a 21st place finish at the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami. That year he was also inducted into the "Virginia Hall of Fame”.

Now that Rudd is retired, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Linda, and his son, Landon. The Rudd family enjoys 4-wheeling, snowmobiling, water sports, flying, and he claims his new sport to be mountain biking. He is also the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and Nationwide Series driver Jason Rudd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Rudd

http://rickyrudd.com/aboutricky.html

J.J. Yeley

Christopher Beltram Hernandez Yeley was born on October 5, of 1976; he is originally from Phoenix, Arizona, but now resides in Charlotte, N.C., with his wife Kristen and their daughter Faith.

The son of seven-time Arizona Midget Racing Association and two-time World of Outlaws midget champion “Cactus” Jack Yeley, J.J. attended his first race at three weeks old and spent most of his childhood traveling throughout the West Coast and Midwest with his father. “When I was probably seven or eight years old, my parents would drop me off in the grandstands,” said J.J. “I had to learn how to count money at a young age so I could buy something if I needed to. I’d go up in the grandstands by myself and maybe find some other kids to play with, watch the races, and make my way back down to the pit area afterward. I’d just find some local boy in the grandstands, sit and talk with him and tell him my dad was a racer.”

“As a kid, even being 12 years old, I remember going to the race track and sneaking in the pit area. I’d groove race tires and do things that you saw adults doing because I’d been doing it so long with my dad. Even though I was a kid, working on race cars was something I did well even at a very young age.”

That theme of accomplishing goals that were far beyond his age has prevailed throughout Yeley’s life. The Phoenix native began his racing career at age 10, where he competed in the Arizona Quarter Midget Racing Association. With help from a forged birth certificate, Yeley was able to start racing midgets at age 14. When he turned 16, Yeley became the youngest driver ever to receive a United States Auto Club (USAC) license.

After collecting his first win in 1995 in a non-wing sprint car at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., and becoming the youngest driver in Sprint Car Racing Association (SCRA) history to do so, he continued his winning ways in SCRA in 1996 and as a USAC rookie in 1997.

In 1998, Yeley competed in four Indy Racing League (IRL) races, including the Indianapolis 500. His one top-10 finish in these four races was at Indianapolis, where he finished 9th despite a spin on the first turn of the first lap, which nearly collected eventual race winner Eddie Cheever, Jr.

Funding didn’t materialize to continue racing in the IRL, so he focused on his budding USAC career. That focus paid off as Yeley won his first USAC Sprint Car Series championship in 2001.

Yeley followed up his USAC Sprint Car championship with a USAC Silver Crown championship in 2002.

Yeley scored 24 USAC wins in his 2003 season, breaking the previous record of 19 set by A.J. Foyt in 1961 and later tied by Sleepy Tripp (1988) and Jay Drake (2000).

Yeley became only the second driver in USAC history to win the “Triple Crown” by capturing the Midget, Sprint and Silver Crown championships in a single season, joining JGR teammate Tony Stewart as the only other driver to accomplish that feat (1995).

Yeley signed with Joe Gibbs Racing, starting 17 of 34 races in the 2004 NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series and achieving four top-10 finishes. In that year, he also made two starts in the NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup #11 car and competed in the IROC series.

Yeley drove the full season in 2005 in the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series in the Gibbs' #18 car, posting twelve top-ten finishes and ending the season 11th in points. The biggest break of Yeley's career came in 2005 at Chicagoland Speedway. During a Sprint Cup practice session, JGR teammate Stewart became injured after crashing his primary car in practice, and on very short notice, Yeley was called upon to resume practice and qualify the No. 20 team’s backup car. Not only did he practice the car and qualify a very respectable 13th, he also showed everyone at JGR that he was ready to take on the challenge of NASCAR’s top series. As a result, in November 2005 Yeley was selected to drive the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet full-time beginning with the 2006 Sprint Cup season.

Yeley ran full seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing in both the NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup and Busch (Nationwide) Series in 2006. He drove the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet in the NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup series, and the #18 Vigoro/Home Depot Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series. Yeley's best NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup finishes of 2006 came at California Speedway and Loudon N.H, where he finished 8th; his best Busch (Nationwide) Series finish came on June 17 at Kentucky Speedway. Yeley finished his 2006 season fifth in the Busch (Nationwide) Series point’s standings with three poles, nine top-fives, and 22 top-10s.

His 2007 was filled with rumors about being released from Joe Gibbs racing. At the 2007 Coca-Cola 600, Yeley scored a career high second place finish on a fuel gamble, with Casey Mears actually scoring the victory. Exactly three weeks later, at Michigan, Yeley took his first career pole at the NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup level, beating Jimmie Johnson by one/one thousandths of a second (.001). During the middle of the 2007 season Joe Gibbs announced that his team would be switching to Toyota in 2008. Gibbs also announced that Yeley would not return for 2008. Gibbs ended up signing Kyle Busch to drive the #18.

Yeley moved to Hall of Fame Racing in 2008, an affiliate of JGR, replacing Tony Raines in the #96 DLP Toyota. His struggles continued, as the team fell from being in the top 35 every week with Raines behind the wheel to struggling to make races on a weekly basis, the team's first DNQ came with Yeley behind the wheel. On July 5, he performed an in-race switch into the #20 car for an ill Tony Stewart at the July race at Daytona. He ran strong for most of the race but was collected in two crashes within the last five laps and ended up with a respectable 20th place finish. On August 6, 2008, Yeley was released from his contract to drive for Hall of Fame Racing, first by being replaced by P.J. Jones at Watkins Glen, Nationwide Series driver and Hall of Fame Racing test driver Brad Coleman at Michigan, and Ken Schrader for the remaining races. Yeley spent the rest of the season out of a ride.

In 2009, he moved to the Camping World Truck Series, driving the #65 Chevrolet Silverado for Joey Sonntag and Ron Crosby. He was also named to take over the Mayfield Motorsports #41 entry effective immediately following the indefinite suspension of owner/driver Jeremy Mayfield due to a substance abuse violation on May 9, 2009.

This past August the Sprint Bandit car he was racing at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, tumbled at least eight times. Although he felt ok other than a sore neck, Yeley found out he had actually fractured three cervical vertebrae in his neck. “For the most part it was a typical Sprint Car type of accident,” Yeley recalls. “It was actually the third restart from cars that had already flipped. I just went in the corner by myself, caught a rut, the car bicycled and started flipping off the left side of the cage. It did a good amount of barrel rolls, probably close to eight or 10.

It was predicted that Yeley would be cleared to race as of this month, but no word has came yet as if he has or not.

In addition to racing, Yeley puts a lot of time and energy into charity work. Thanks in part to being the parent of a one-year-old daughter; Yeley has developed a soft spot for children’s charities.

In addition to participating in several fund raising opportunities for the Victory Junction Gang Camp and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., Yeley hosted the first ever “J.J Yeley No. 18 Drives for Kids” golf classic in his hometown of Phoenix in March of 2007. The PIR hosted golf classic is designed to give back to the local community with all proceeds from the tournament going to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

http://www.examiner.com/x-543-NASCAR-Examiner~y2009m11d10-Former-Gibbs-driver-JJ-Yeley-on-comeback-trail-after-accident

http://www.jjyeley.com/bio_jj.aspx?no=true

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Yeley

Bill Elliott

You don’t really hear of many drivers caring about their secondary sponsors enough to even talk about them after they win a race, but Bill Elliott cared. According to an employee he would drive to Blue Ridge Plumbing Supply in the 70’s, and sign autographs right after the race. Now that’s dedication to sponsors.

William Clyde Elliott, was born October 8, 1955 in Dawsonville, Georgia, he is a part-time driver and former champion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Elliott has been honored by the state legislature; having a stretch of road in his native Dawsonville renamed Elliott Family Parkway.

Bill Elliott started racing on short tracks in Georgia in 1970, in the Sportsman division with his brothers, Dan and Ernie. George Elliott, the boy’s father said “Actually, I got my boys into racing because I wanted them to stay away from the back roads. If they were going to be driving fast, I wanted them to do it in the right place." Which show the families raw racing talent was visible even at a young age.

Elliott made his first Winston (Sprint) Cup Series start at Rockingham in 1976, qualifying 34th in a field of 36 cars. Elliott only lasted 32 laps that day before the oil pump failed in his Ford Torino, earning him $640.

Elliott toiled for five years in the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series without sponsorship, and along the way showed flashes that he could compete with the established veterans of the sport.

In 1977, Elliott bought a Mercury Montego from Bobby Allison to replace the inferior Torino, and the move paid off. He soon earned his first top-10 finish in the Southern 500 in which he finished 10th.

In 1979 he got his first top-5 finish in the Southern 500, finishing second to race winner and boyhood hero David Pearson.

In the fall of 1980, Elliott gained his first major sponsor in the form of $500 from Harry Melling of Melling Racing in the 1980 National 500 at Charlotte. Melling would extend his contract and gave the team enough sponsorship to run a 12 race schedule in 1981.

After a 1981 season that consisted of one top-5 and seven top-10 finishes in 13 races, including the team's first pole in the CRC Chemicals Rebel 500, Melling bought the team from Elliott's father George on December 1, 1981.

In 1983 Elliott earned his first Winston (Sprint) Cup win in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside in the final race of the 1983 season.

He gained full sponsorship from Coors in 1984 to the tune of $400,000 and won three races, four poles and finished third in the championship standings.

In 1985, Elliott earned 11 wins and 11 poles out of 28 races and also won the first Winston Million in the Southern 500 at Darlington. This earned him the nickname "Million Dollar Bill", and "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville." He won the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega, and the Southern 500 to earn the Winston Million. This led to him becoming the first NASCAR driver to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Elliott finished second in the championship standings by 101 points, losing the Winston (Sprint) Cup Championship to Darrell Waltrip after a string of poor finishes in the last quarter of the season.

In 1986, Elliott won two races, four poles and finished fourth in the championship standings. He also won The Winston II, held at Atlanta, the only year the race was run somewhere other than Charlotte.

He won six races in 1987, including his second Daytona 500, seven poles, and finished second in the final point standings. In The Winston he tangled with Dale Earnhardt in what has become known as "the Pass in the Grass". However, Elliott's most lasting accomplishment that year was setting 2 NASCAR qualifying records, which still stand to this day. At Daytona, he set the NASCAR speed record with an average speed of 210.364 mph. He broke his own record at Talladega with an average speed of 212.809 mph; the previous record he set in 1986 was 209.383 mph. In both races, he used a Ford Thunderbird which contained an engine built by his brother Ernie. Now, NASCAR mandates the use of restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega. As a result, Elliott's speed records will likely never be broken.

In 1988 Elliott won another six races, six poles, and won his only Winston (Sprint) Cup Championship.

Following his championship season, Elliott broke his wrist in a crash during testing at Daytona and required relief by Jody Ridley during several races in the first part of the 1989 season. Elliott won two poles and three races and finished sixth in the championship standings.

In 1990, Elliott won one race and two poles and finished fourth in the championship standings. In the 1990 race at Atlanta, Elliott's rear tire changer Mike Rich was killed when Ricky Rudd lost control of his car, spun, and slammed the crew member between his car and Elliott's. This resulted in NASCAR restricting the speed of cars on pit road. Also in 1990, Konami released the first officially-licensed NASCAR game, Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge for MS-DOS. The game was released for the NES and Amiga in 1991, and Bill Elliott's NASCAR Fast Tracks was released for the Game Boy at the same time.

In the year 1991 Elliott won once in the Pepsi 400 and won two poles and finished eleventh in the championship standings during his last season with the Mellings.
Elliott left Melling to join Junior Johnson’s already successful team in 1992. Elliott's sponsor during his time with Johnson was Budweiser; ironic because his sponsor at Melling Racing was from Bud's rival brewery Coors. In 1992, Elliott won five races (including four in a row) and three poles, but much like his 1985 season he finished a disappointing second in the championship standings after squandering a large lead in the standings with a late season string of poor finishes. He did win the season finale at his home track in Atlanta, but lost the championship by 10 points to Alan Kulwicki. The difference was that Kulwicki gained the 5 bonus points for leading the most laps in the race. Kulwicki led one more lap with 103 and Elliot only leading 102. The 10 point difference was the closest point differential until NASCAR changed to the Chase for the Cup points format 12 years later. But even if Elliott had led that one extra lap Alan still would have won the championship, because in the case of a tie they would go on who had the most wins that year, which was Kulwicki.

Elliott went winless in 1993 and finished eighth in the standings.

Bill scored just one win in 1994, which happened to be in the Southern 500 at Darlington, after his Darlington victory, Elliott announced he would be starting his own team with sponsorship from McDonald's in 1995. He finished 10th in the championship standings.

In 1995, Bill Elliott began his own team and assumed sole ownership a year later.

In 1996, Elliott suffered a broken leg during an accident at Talladega and missed seven races that season.

In 1998, in celebration of NASCAR’s 50th anniversary NASCAR named Elliott one of the 50 greatest drivers, he was also voted into the Georgia Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998.

Elliott celebrated his 25th anniversary in NASCAR in 2000.

He made another high-profile move in 2001 when he joined Ray Evernham and Dodge as the lead driver of their organization. The team would herald in a new era for Dodge as the manufacturer made its return to the track after more than 20 years.
The team found success in his first race in the #9 Dodge, as Elliott won the pole for the 2001 Daytona 500 and finished in the top 5, bringing home a 5th place finish, though the race will forever be remembered for the death of fan favorite Dale Earnhardt. Bill finished his first season with Ray Evernham Racing with two poles, five top 5 and nine top 10 finishes, and a win at the season ending Pennzoil Freedom 400 at Homestead from the pole. This was his first win in over seven years. He finished 15th in the final standings.

In 2002 he won four poles and went to victory lane twice. His wins included the Pennsylvania 500, and one week later an overwhelmingly dominant victory in that year's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He finished 13th in the final standings.

His last win, in what became his final full-time season, came in 2003 at Rockingham. And, he came within a lap of winning his final race as a full-time driver (he would have been the only retiring driver to do so) in the 2003 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Elliott led 189 of 267 laps and was on his way to victory, but a cut tire on the final lap gave the win to Bobby Labonte. He still finished the race and maintained his ninth-place position in the final point’s standings, his best finish since an eight-place finish in the 1997 standings. A few weeks later, Elliott announced that he was relinquishing the #9 car to Kasey Kahne and switching to a part-time schedule driving R&D cars for Evernham. "The way I look at it, there's got to be a time when you've got to step back. We don't live forever. We don't drive forever. We don't do a lot of things forever. It would be nice to do it, but I feel like this is an opportunity for the fans where I can still run some events." Elliott said concerning his retirement.

In 2004, Elliott drove the #91 Dodge Intrepid for Evernham in four events and also drove the #98 Dodge Intrepid in one other event because of sponsorship issues between Coca-Cola (Elliott's sponsor) and Pepsi (Evernham's sponsor). Elliott was listed as the owner of the #98 car, but Evernham leased the car to him. Although he only made six starts during his first part-time season, he still managed to have some success which included a ninth-place finish at Indianapolis and second and third-place qualifying efforts at Texas and California respectively.

In 2005, Elliott continued his part-time driving duties which included driving the #39 Coors Dodge Charger(in a paint scheme reminiscent of his 1987 Coors Light Ford) for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Budweiser Shootout and the #91 Evernham Dodge in several events. Although he made three more starts than the previous season, he did not have the same amount of success. He managed to get an eleventh-place finish and a tenth-place qualifying effort at Michigan, along with a ninth-place qualifying effort at Texas. He also competed in select NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series events for Rusty Wallace and also drove the #6 Unilever Dodge Charger in the Busch (Nationwide) Series for Evernham at Memphis. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue declared October 8th Bill Elliott Day in the state of Georgia starting in 2005.

For the 2006 season, the 2005 owners' points for the #91 team went to the new #10 Evernham team and driver Scott Riggs and the 91 team was discontinued. On January 4, 2006, Elliott announced that he would pilot the #36 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS for MB2 Motorsports in the 2006 Daytona Speedweeks events. This included the Budweiser Shootout, the Gatorade Duel, and the Daytona 500, which Elliott had not competed in since 2003. On March 17, 2006, it was announced that Elliott would drive the #00 Burger King Chevrolet for Michael Waltrip Racing in five NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup events which included Chicagoland, New Hampshire, Indianapolis, California, and Homestead. On August 8, 2006, Evernham Motorsports announced that Elliott would return to the organization for the race at Watkins Glen driving the #19 Dodge previously driven by Jeremy Mayfield. The team fell out of the top-35 in owners' points after Indianapolis, leading to the firing of Mayfield, and Evernham assumed that Elliott would guarantee a starting spot in the field by being a past champion. However, since the driver switch was made past the entry deadline, NASCAR said that Elliott was not eligible for the past champions provisional. For the race at Kansas, Elliott teamed up with R&J Racing to drive the #37 Dodge. Elliott finished a season-high 16th at the Banquet 400 at Kansas, but did not qualify for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte two weeks later. Elliott drove the #37 Dodge at Atlanta, marking the 30th Anniversary of Elliott driving at his hometown track. In 2006, Elliott's book, "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" was published by Harper Entertainment.

Elliott attempted to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500, but failed to make the race in the #37. Elliott signed to drive the #21 for Wood Brothers Racing for at least two events for 2007, in part due to his championship provisional, which guaranteed starting the race. Since fellow champion Dale Jarrett had used all of his guaranteed starts in his Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, Elliott was the only champion eligible for the provisional not guaranteed a spot by being in the top 35 in owner's points. His first race for the team was the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte, which he qualified without needing one of his six provisional’s. He led the race at one point until he was involved in a wreck around lap 200. At Michigan, Elliott gave the team a much needed 11th place finish, and was kept in the car until the fall Richmond race. The car then fell out of the top 35 again but at Bristol got back into top 35 in points. Ken Schrader returned to the #21 replacing Elliott at a testing session at Talladega Superspeedway due to the team being back in the top 35 in owners’ points. He returned for the final four races after the 21 fell out of the top-35 again. He became the 19th driver out of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest of all Time to get behind the wheel of the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.

In August of 2007, he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in Detroit, Michigan. On September 23, 2007, in an interview with Charlotte Observer Len Wood the co-owner of the #21 said in 2008 Elliott would have his own sponsor and share ride with Jon Wood & Marcos Ambrose. Bill Elliott returned to the #21 to try to get the car back into the Top 35 points at Lowes Motor Speedway.

At Daytona in 2007 Bill announced that 2008 will be his final season as a Sprint Cup driver. But at Kansas in an interview on NASCAR Raceday, Bill was asked about him racing, Bill said "We will be at Lowes, and do a few more races. Then we will see how things go."

In 2009, Elliott was scheduled to run 12 races in the #21 Motorcraft Ford for the Wood Brothers. One of the scheduled events is the Daytona 500, along with 11 other races on superspeedways.

On Memorial Day May 25, 2009 at Charlotte, Elliott became the 7th member of the "800 club", with his 800th career Sprint Cup start at Lowes Motor Speedway.
His lengthy list of career accomplishments includes being one of only 10 drivers to top $20 million in career winnings in Cup racing, joining Jeff Gordon, the late Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte, Ricky Rudd and Jeff Burton in that elite club.

Bill created the Bill Elliott Driver Development (BEDD) program as a means to pay forward the years of support, guidance and hard work from family, friends and fans that catapulted him to stardom in NASCAR’s top series. Based on the principles of teamwork, strong work ethic and positive attitudes, the program aims to guide young drivers through the highs and lows of life in auto racing. As a mentor to the young drivers, Elliott hopes to groom them into leaders on and off the track; to develop their media skills and allow them to be comfortable in various public situations; to cultivate feedback and communication skills to help them become productive team members; and to provide seat time in various types of racing equipment to develop their driving skills. The BEDD team, which operates out of the Bill Elliott Racing shop in Dawsonville, GA, includes Chase Elliott, Casey Roderick, Mitch Cobb, Trey Poole and John King.

http://www.woodbrothersracing.com/display.cfm?p=51&pp=2

http://www.angelfire.com/nf/beforum/billbio.html

http://www.billelliott.com/about/biography.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Elliott

http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=68&seriesId=1

Richard Childress

Richard Childress is probably the most exciting and exhilarating man in NASCAR. Just in his den alone there's a 15-foot crocodile on the floor, a stuffed South African rhinoceros standing watch and an elephant from Zimbabwe, whose fully tusked head looms over the room.

Richard Childress was born on September 21, 1945 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and at only 17 the former Cup driver and successful owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR) bought his first race car for only $20. Childress never finished high school, but that never stopped him on his mission for success. He began dating his wife, Judy, in the ninth grade, and they’ve been married since, for more than 40 years. Their daughter, Tina, is married to ex-driver Mike Dillon, director of team operations at RCR.

Childress' career in NASCAR's top levels started auspiciously as a drivers’ strike against tire safety issues at Talladega Superspeedway, which left NASCAR President William France Sr. looking for replacement drivers. Childress was such a driver, and started his first race as a replacement in a Chevrolet Camaro.

By 1971, Childress began racing on the top level as an independent driver, using the number 3 as a tribute to Junior Johnson's historic career in that number. Although he never won as a driver, he proved to be excellent behind the wheel registering, six top-5s, and seventy-six top-10 finishes, with a career-best of third in 1978. "I was an independent driver. I drove the truck, built my engines," Childress says. "You'd pick certain races you'd buy extra tires for or you'd put the new parts in the engine to try to win a race. Those days I was more interested in finishing
and making sure I didn't tear my car up so I'd have money to keep racing."

Richard started RCR in 1972.

Richard finished fifth in the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series point standings in 1975, the highest in his career.

He retired from driving in 1981 after Rod Osterlund sold his NASCAR team to J.D. Stacy, and Osterlund's driver, Dale Earnhardt, did not want to drive for Stacy.

Childress, with recommendations from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, chose to retire and put his money behind the wheel of his #3 car, complete with Wrangler Jeans sponsorship.

That first alliance lasted for the season. Ricky Rudd was hired in 1982 and drove for two years, giving Childress his first career victory in June 1983 at Riverside.

Earnhardt returned for the 1984 season, and together with Childress formed one of the most potent combinations in NASCAR history. They won championships in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1994, which is all but one of the championships Dale collected.

In the mid-1990s, Childress began expanding his racing empire, fielding entries in the Busch (Nationwide) Series and Craftsman (Camping world) Truck Series.

Richard was awarded the Order of the Longleaf Pine by North Carolina governor Jim Hunt in 1994, the highest honor the state can bestow upon a citizen.

RCR won the 1995 Craftsman Truck Series championship with driver Mike Skinner in the series' first season.

A big decision was made for 1997, Childress followed a few other owners in cutting costs and increasing test dates by adding another team. Childress added Mike Skinner, creating one of the sports' most exciting teams. It didn't take long before his move proved to be an incisive one; Skinner was the fastest qualifier for the 1997 Daytona 500.

Childress thought about leaving the racing business after Dale Earnhardt was killed in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500. "Not a day passes that somewhere I don't think about him or talk about him or a race fan doesn't come up and say, 'We miss Dale.' And I'm the first one to tell him, 'We all do,' “Childress says.”I was ready to quit and get out of it that Sunday night in Daytona. Just the thought of having to go back to a racetrack was the furthest thing from my mind. Then, as I talked to my people and my friends, I knew we had to go on. I knew Dale wanted us to go on."

Childress promoted Busch (Nationwide) driver Kevin Harvick to drive the renumbered #29. Harvick would win in only his third start, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. His win was arguably the most emotional win in NASCAR history. Harvick went on to win the rookie of the year title for Richard. NASCAR and Richard Childress Racing retired the number three, so out of respect it cannot be raced in a NASCAR sanctioned event without prior permission.

Things bottomed out in 2004 when Harvick went winless and Robby Gordon left to start his own team. At that point, Childress, perhaps sipping cabernet along the riverbank, decided to recommit to winning in a big way. One pivotal decision was to hire veteran driver Jeff Burton. Another was to spend the money necessary on research and development.

His current roster of drivers in the Sprint cup series include, #07 Casey Mears, #29 Kevin Harvick, #31 Jeff Burton, and #33 Clint Bowyer. His current Nationwide series roster includes, Jeff Burton, Stephen Leicht, Clint Bowyer, and his grandson Austin Dillon.

With Harvick having won the Busch (Nationwide) Series championship in 2001 and 2006, RCR became the first team in NASCAR history to win all three of NASCAR's national championship series. RCR also won the Busch (Nationwide) Series owners championships in 2003 with Kevin Harvick and Johnny Sauter and in 2007 with Scott Wimmer and Jeff Burton.

His total of 11 national series owner championships is only second to Rick Hendrick in the all-time list.

Richard Childress currently resides in one of the largest mansions in northwestern Davidson County, North Carolina. The Richard Childress Racing Museum is located in nearby Welcome, along with numerous racing maintenance shops. The Childress Vineyards winery is located a few miles south of the museum in Lexington at the US 52/US 64 interchange. Childress remains active in his current county of residence, attending fundraisers and supporting local candidates for office.

Childress, 60, also owns a 700-acre ranch in Montana and a home in Florida. He maintains four aircraft to fly his NASCAR teams from track to track and has amassed collections of classic cars, antique weapons and artwork that would give Smithsonian curators goose bumps.

Childress has become one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina. A recent successful business venture was the 2003/2004 opening of a vineyard in the Yadkin Valley AVA; an American Viticultural Area located in North Carolina, the winery has now won numerous awards, and is famous for its unique wine taste.

Fans gravitate to him, whether in the pits on race day or in the gift shop at his winery, where he gladly obliges autograph seekers, even those who arrive in the parking lot with flags bearing the numbers of rival drivers such as Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Childress


http://www.nascar.com/news/features/rchildress.hof.bio/

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/2006-06-07-sw-childress-cover_x.htm

http://www.daleearnhardt.net/rcr/richard.htm