tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74598558798647941602023-11-16T11:09:24.307-08:00NASCAR Driver of the DayNASCAR Driver Biographies. Updated as Frequently as Possible.Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-44722969569677281062013-05-28T15:16:00.000-07:002013-05-28T16:11:44.582-07:00Travis KvapilTravis Kvapil was born on March 1st 1976 in Janesville, Wisconsin. After helping in his father’s garage growing up, Kvapil began to take interest in the speed and thrill of racing. Kvapil first started racing at the age of 16 at Rockford Speedway in Rockford, Illinois. By age 18 Kvapil had won the American Short Tracker division track championship at Rockford. Kvapil pointed out in a NASCAR.com interview that his step-father was a big influence in his younger racing days, stating that “We worked side by side from when I started at the age of 16 until I started in the truck series when I was 24. We went to the racetrack together every Friday and Saturday night.”<br>
<br/>In 1995 Kvapil began racing at the Madison International Raceway in the Super Late Model Series where he won the Rookie of the Year Title. In his sophomore year, 1996, Kvapil became the youngest winner of the Super Late Model championship at Madison. In all his years at Madison, Kvapil won 5 feature races.<br>
<br/>In 2001 Kvapil made his NASCAR Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series racing debut with Addington Racing and CAT Rental Stores. Kvapil’s success went above and beyond expectations, finishing in the top ten in 18 of the seasons 24 races, with an average finish of 7.6, resulting in a 4th place finish in the final point standings in his rookie year. He also gained his very first NASCAR Series win at the Texas Motor Speedway, eventually winning the Rookie of the Year in the series. In this year Kvapil also entered his first NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series race with team owner <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2009/12/richard-childress.html" target="_blank">Richard Childress</a> and Rockwell Automation, starting third and finishing 28th after crashing.<br>
<br/>The next year, 2002, Kvapil continued to race in the Trucks in the #60 Addington Racing CAT Rental Stores Chevrolet and with a shortened schedule in the series with only 22 races Kvapil only managed 14 top tens while still managing a 11th place average finish throughout the entire season. He also got his second career win at Memphis, Tennessee, after dominating, leading 117 of the 200 laps.<br>
<br/>2003 saw a career shift happen for Kvapil as he moved to Steve Coulter’s team, Xpress Motorsports, running with sponsorship from IWX Motor Freight in his #16 Chevrolet. This move paid positive dividends for Kvapil and the team as he posted 22 top tens out of 25 races, with no finish outside of the top 18, including a win at Bristol, 3 poles, and completing every lap but one in the season. This huge success gave Kvapil the NASCAR Craftsman (Camping World) Trucks Series championship, making him the youngest driver to win the title up until that point in the Series.<br>
<br/>At the beginning of 2004 Kvapil ran the first American Speed Association race at the Madison International Raceway, where he won a track championship just eight years previously. In the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series Kvapil made yet another team switch, this time moving to the Alexander Meshkin’s Bang! Racing Toyota with Line-X Bedliners as his primary sponsor. This season was completed with 2 wins (Loudon and Michigan, Toyota’s first in NASCAR competition), along with ten top 10’s and a solid 8th place points finish. But an important milestone in Kvapil’s career came when he signed on to race in the NASCAR Nextel (Sprint) Cup Series for Roger Penske in four of the last five races of the season, driving his #06 Mobil 1/Jasper Dodge. Kvapil got off to an incredible start, qualifying 5th in his first race for Penske at Martinsville. But the remaining four races of his schedule were mediocre, finishing only once on the lead lap, and failing to qualify for Darlington.<br>
<br/>2005 was Kvapil’s first year driving the #77 Kodak Dodge for Jasper Motorsports in cooperation with Penske Racing in the NASCAR Nextel (Sprint) Cup Series, replacing driver Brendan Gaughan. He finished a only two races in the top ten after experiencing seven DNF’s and ended his year with a finish of 33rd in the points standings. Near the end of 2005, Penske-Jasper Racing announced that Kodak would be scaling back their sponsorship for 2006 to just a part-time role with Kurt Busch’s new ride in the #2, which led to automatic free-agent status for Travis Kvapil.<br>
<br/>Kvapil was picked up by PPI racing’s Cal Wells to race in the #32 Tide/Downy Chevrolet for the 2006 season. This move resulted in Kvapil finishing 36th in driver’s points standings after failing to qualify for four races in his sophomore year in the Nextel (Sprint) Cup Series<br>
<br/>After two relatively unsuccessful years in the Cup Series, Kvapil took a year off from Cup and ran an entire Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series schedule in 2007 with Jack Roush in the K&N Filters #6 Ford. In this year teamed with Roush, Kvapil won four races, and finished 6th in the final driver’s standings after only failing to complete 30 laps through the duration of the season.<br>
<br/>Kvapil’s impressive run with Roush in 2007 led to a contract with the newly reformed Ford team, Yates Racing, for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008. It was announced that the Yates group would be resurrecting the legendary #28 which was previously driven by the likes of Fred Lorenzen, Cale Yarborough, Donnie, Bobby, and <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2010/01/davey-allison.html" target="_blank">Davey Allison</a>, <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2010/01/buddy-baker.html" target="_blank">Buddy Baker</a>, Ernie Irvan, <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2009/11/dale-jarrett.html" target="_blank">Dale Jarrett</a>, and <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2009/12/ricky-rudd.html" target="_blank">Ricky Rudd</a>, just to name a few. Driving the #28 with many sponsors, Kvapil managed to qualify for every race, even winning his first and only pole at Talladega in October, and finish 23rd in the points.<br>
<br/>Coming into the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, Kvapil had a guaranteed starting position in the first five races of the year due to his great showing in the point standings in 2008. These promised starts led to sponsorship from Golden Corral and Farmer’s Insurance for a few races, but Yates Racing decided to hand the #28’s points over to Paul Menard in the #98 because of his promised full-season sponsorship through his father’s Menards stores. So once the first five races was over, with only two top 20’s and two 42nd place finishes along with a DNQ at Las Vegas, the #28 team was shut down to maintain focus on Paul Menard’s sponsored team in the final year of Yates Racing existence. Due to Kvapil being out at Yates Racing, he was able to race a single race with Robby Benton and Zaxby’s in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, in which he finished, 11th, in what would be his final Nationwide Series start to date. Later in the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Kvapil raced twice with the newly formed Front Row Motorsports under Bob Jenkins’ ownership, this two-race stint led to a contract for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.<br>
<br/>In 2010 Kvapil had a contract with Front Row Motorsports, the team that had just finished expanding from one part-time team to three full-time teams, adding David Gilliland as Kvapil’s full-time teammate. In this year with this new team with limited funds, Kvapil qualified for all but two races, while earning eight top-25’s and finishing 33rd in points in this fairly accomplished season. Kvapil said before the beginning of the 2010 season “I feel more comfortable in the new car than the old one; the new car has less downforce, meaning it’s not stuck to the track as much as the old one. It has the feel of the truck, so with my experience in the truck series, I like the way the new car handles.”<br>
<br/>Due to Kvapil finishing in the top 35 in owners points in 2010 with Front Row Motorsports, he was locked into the first five races in 2011. But after crashing out of the first two races and finishing in the last third of the field in the next three races, he was no longer locked in for 2011 and by the end of the season Kvapil missed 3 races, with his best finish being 16th at the October race in Martinsville. Kvapil’s Sprint Cup performance was not for points this year, because NASCAR implemented a new rule requiring a driver to choose their series to which their points will be totaled, and Kvapil chose the Camping World Truck Series. In the Camping World Truck Series Kvapil raced the first 10 races of the season for Randy Moss with two top tens, but even though he was sitting 18th in the points, Randy Moss Motorsports and Germain Racing partnered up to keep Todd Bodine in a ride, which knocked Kvapil out of a ride for the remainder of the season.<br>
<br/>The 2011 silly season saw David Regan get released from his prestigious ride at Roush-Fenway Racing and replace Travis Kvapil at Front Row Motorsports, which put Kvapil in a precarious position just months from the start of the season. But just a few weeks before the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season began, several businessmen came together and purchased the assets of the closed Red Bull Racing team and formed a team called BK Racing, named after their primary sponsor, Burger King. The BK Racing group decided Kvapil, Landon Cassill, and David Reutimann would be who they wanted to drive their #83 and #93 Toyota’s for the 2012 season.<br>
<br/>Once the 2012 season finally came to a start, Kvapil was forced to sit out of the Daytona 500, due to Reutimann’s part-time ride at BK Racing being in Kvapil’s #93 during the races that he was not running for the Tommy Baldwin/Stewart-Hass owned #10 car. Kvapil took over the #93 car at Pheonix and finished out the season 27th in points. Kvapil also raced with Robby Benton in the Camping World Truck series for one race at Daytona and finished an impressive fourth.<br>
<br/>2013 has been a challenge for the still young BK Racing which has resulted in Kvapil having 4 DNF’s after 12 races and no finishes on the lead lap, and the team residing in 35th in the points standings (As of May 28th, 2013).<br>
<br/>Kvapil currently resides with his wife Jennifer and three kids Kelsey, Carson, and Caden in Mooresville, North Carolina, in the heart of NASCAR country.<br>
<br/>
<a href="http://www.traviskvapil.com/" target="_blank">Travis Kvapil - Official Website</a><br>
<br/>
<a href="http://bkracing.co/index.php/drivers/travis-kvapil" target="_blank">BK Racing Driver Profile - Travis Kvapil</a><br>
<br/>
<a href="http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2004/03/12/184572.html" target="_blank">Madison Night of Champions</a><br>
<br/>
<a href="http://racingtothecheckered.blogspot.com/2011/07/todd-bodine-replacing-travis-kvapil-as.html" target="_blank">Todd Bodine Replaces Travis Kvapil (2011)</a><br>
<br/>
<a href="http://gazettextra.com/news/2010/jan/07/travis-kvapil-return-nascar-full-time/" target="_blank">Kvapil's Return With Bob Jenkins (2010)</a><br>
<br/>
<a href="http://www.madisoninternationalspeedway.com/past-champions/" target="_blank">Madison Speedway Past Champions List</a>
Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-39225745791449800212012-02-02T15:25:00.000-08:002012-02-02T15:25:28.987-08:00Ricky CravenRichard Allen Craven was born on May 24 of 1966, in Newburgh, Maine. Craven had a wide presence in NASCAR from the early 1990’s to the early 2000’s, and a winner in four different national touring series; these series includes the Busch North Series, the NASCAR Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series, the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series, and the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series. Craven is now a broadcaster for NASCAR on the ESPN and ABC networks, as well as working on ESPN 2’s NASCAR Now show since 2008 as a co-host on the pre and post race shows.<br>
</br>After seeing Ricky’s dad, the older Craven, racing during Ricky’s childhood, Ricky began to have an interest in going fast in the powerful machines of a racecar. Craven began to really fuel his interest in racing at the age of 15, in 1981, when he started his first race at Unity Speedway. At this small 1/3rd mile rural track in Unity, Maine, he won two races, along with the Rookie of the Year Honors for the 1981 season while driving in the street stock division.<br>
</br>In 1983, the still young Craven won 12 events at the Unity Speedway, and captured the track championship while driving a Peter Prescott 6-cylinder Buick, alongside his father who was his original inspiration for driving a racecar.<br>
</br>In 1984 after winning multiple races at the Unity Speedway, the young Craven started driving at the 1/3rd mile Wiscasset Raceway in the late model division. This year he won the Rookie of the Year award along with the track championship in a dominant fashion at Wiscasset.<br>
</br>After driving the first four years of his young racing career at Unity Speedway, Craven raced at Wiscasset Raceway in 1985 with success.<br>
</br>In 1986, Craven made his NASCAR debut, in the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series at Oxford Plains Speedway in his own #12, finishing 25th after suffering engine failure. <br>
</br>Craven, in 1987 joined the American Canadian Tour as a rookie driver when he started driving the #09 Buick for owner E.J. Prescott, replacing a driver who had won just three weeks previous, <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2010/01/kevin-lepage.html">Kevin Lepage</a>. Craven barely missed the Rookie of the Year honors in this series, by just 66 points to Paul Richardson. That same year, even after missing races at the first of the year, Craven still managed to finish 8th in the 1987 ACT (American-Canadian Tour) points standings.<br>
</br>In 1988, Craven finished a solid 4th place in the points, in just his sophomore year in the ACT series. This is impressive due to the presence of legendary drivers, Bobby Allison, <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2010/01/buddy-baker.html">Buddy Baker</a>, and Dale Earnhardt, in past years in the series. But this success along with mediocre success in 1989, Craven was let go out of the E.J. Prescott car due to a lack of funds to keep the team going.<br>
</br>After two successful top 15 finishes in 1989 at Oxford Speedway in the NASCAR Busch North Series, after having to leave the ACT; 1990 was the year in which Craven completed his first full Busch North Series schedule. This resulted in him winning two races, along with the Rookie of the Year award.<br>
</br>In 1991, just one year after receiving the Rookie of the Year Award, Craven was crowned the champion in the Busch North Series, after winning ten times, including two “combination races,” or races that were combined with the Busch Grand National Series (the now Nationwide Series), in the #25 SpeeDee Oil Change Chevrolet which he partially owned. Also, Craven made his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut in the #20 SpeeDee Oldsmobile owned by Dick Moroso at Rockingham, where he finished where he started that day, in 34th position.<br>
</br>After having major success in the lower Busch North Series, Craven moved his way up to the Busch (Nationwide) Grand National Series full time in 1992, which in that year he drove Bill Papke’s #99 DuPont Chevrolet to the Rookie of the Year honors.<br>
</br>In 1993 Craven had a great year as a sophomore driver in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, while still driving the same car as the previous year, finishing over 90% of the laps ran, and having an average start and finish of 12.8. This performance in only his second year in the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series full time, led to a finish of second in the points to only Steve Grissom.<br>
</br>After the 1993 season Craven left the Papke team and became an owner-driver, in his #2 DuPont Chevrolet. So in 1994 after adding the pressure to himself of owning his own team, he still ended up winning 2 races and accomplishing 16 top tens. Through all of this success, Craven just ended up finishing second in the points in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, for the second year in a row, but this time to David Green.<br>
</br>After having two consecutive years of runner-up finishes in the Busch (Nationwide) Series points, Ricky decided in 1995 that it was time to make the jump to the number one series in NASCAR, the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series. Joining with Larry Hedrick Motorsports, and a long-time NASCAR sponsor Kodak, Craven qualified for every race that season, and also racked up four top-tens in the process. Because of his efforts that year, Craven will forever be known as the 1995 Winston (Sprint) Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Because of his impressive driving, Larry Hedrick signed over partial ownership to Ricky after the 1995 season.<br>
</br>Craven began his sophomore season in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, in 1996, with three consecutive top-tens, and his first top series pole in the first three races of the season. After these great finishes, Craven was fourth in points, up until the Winston Select 500 at Talladega. At this race Ricky was involved in one of the most violent crashes so far in the 1996 season in which he rolled his car and brutally destroyed that area’s catch fence and almost flew out of the track completely. Due to this wreck he fell to 20th in points, and his momentum was broken and after this race he only had one more top-five and pole for the remainder of the season. This was Craven’s final year with Larry Hedrick’s team.<br>
</br>In 1997 Craven signed to race for Rick Hendrick in the historical #25 Budweiser Chevrolet. He made the most of this opportunity when he raced to two top-five finishes in the first two races of the season, which included a Hendrick 1-2-3 in the 1997 Daytona 500, when he finished third and his teammates Jeff Gordon, and Terry Labonte finished 1st and 2nd respectively. After his beginning season high, he was practicing at Texas for the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 when his car crashed hard into the outside wall which gave him a concussion that prevented him from racing in the next two events. But Craven came back with a vengeance, winning the Winston Open and rallying for a final points finish of 19th, which was his best at the time.<br>
</br>Once Craven’s 1998 season started he started feeling the effects of the previous year’s concussion, and after complaining and being checked out it was discovered that he had post concussion syndrome. This caused him to miss thirteen races after only completing the first four, and when he got back and was able to race, he won the pole at New Hampshire, but he only got to race three more races for Hendrick Motorsports after New Hampshire, before he was let go from his duties, being replaced by Wally Dallenbach Jr. Craven did not manage to acquire another ride until there were just three races left in the season when he filled in for Ernie Irvan at MB2 Motorsports in the #36 Skittles Pontiac.<br>
</br>1999 was Craven’s first year driving for NASCAR’s newest team at the time, Scott Barbour’s SBill Motorsports, as he drove the #58 Hollywood Video Ford Taurus. While driving for this newly funded team, he didn’t finish any better than 19th, and after failing to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowes (Charlotte) Motor Speedway, he was replaced by Loy Allen Jr. A few weeks later at Daytona Craven replaced rookie Dan Pardus in the #50 Midwest Transit Racing Chevrolet, and drove that car for the rest of the season to only one top 20 finish.<br>
</br>Craven returned to the Midwest Transit Racing team for 2000 but failed to qualify for four of the first nine races, which forced the team to go to a part-time schedule. Even with this limited schedule of only sixteen races started, Craven still managed to gain four top twenties in the #50 Chevrolet, but due to the lack of starts, he only finished 44th in the points.<br>
</br>After Craven’s dismal past two years, it was announced that he would drive the #32 Tide Ford for PPI Motorsports in 2001, replacing Scott Pruett. This move was a beneficial one for Craven as he won his fourth Winston (Sprint) Cup pole at Michigan that summer, and his first Winston (Sprint) Cup race at Martinsville, holding off past champion <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2009/11/dale-jarrett.html">Dale Jarrett</a>.<br>
</br>In 2002 Craven won two poles in NASCAR top series, while also finishing in the top-ten nine times, and finishing a career best of 15th in points.<br>
</br>2003 was the year that PPI Motorsports switched their car make to Pontiac, and started building their engines in-house. That same year was the year of Craven’s last win, when at the Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway, Craven beat out future champion Kurt Busch by .002 seconds, which was the closest finish in NASCAR history since timing and scoring loops were introduced. This has since been tied once by <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2009/11/stock-car-racing-fans-may-be-scratching.html">Jimmie Johnson</a> at Talladega in 2011. This race win by Craven was also the last win in NASCAR by a Pontiac. After Craven’s win, in 2003, he only had six more top tens and dropped twenty-three positions in points to 27th.<br>
</br>After going 24 races without a top-ten finish in 2004, Craven was replaced by Bobby Hamilton Jr, and only ran one more race with PPI, and that was at his home track at New Hampshire, in which he finished 17th. The final race of Craven’s NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup career was at the AMP Energy 500 of 2004 at Talladega, when he drove Joe Gibbs’ development #11 Old Spice Chevy to a 30th place finish.<br>
</br>After Craven retired from the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, he decided to drive in the NASCAR Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series for 2005. This year in that series he drove the #99 Superchips Ford for Jack Roush’s Roush Racing, to a win at Martinsville, nine top ten finishes, and a 14th place points finish . Even through the success, Craven and Roush didn’t work together again.<br>
</br>In 2006, Craven made his final start in a NASCAR sanctioned race when he started the Goody’s 250 in the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series at Martinsville in 40th position at the age of 40, and finished the day in 39th after the breaks on the #14 FitzBradshaw Family Dollar Dodge failed.<br>
</br>After 2006, Craven searched for a ride, but failed and decided to officially retire after he accomplished 497 NASCAR Series races in his career of almost 20 years in NASCAR. Since then he has worked for ESPN, and Yahoo! Sports as a NASCAR analyst. On a personal note, Craven married his wife Cathleen in 1996 after meeting her through her uncle, and Craven’s team owner at the time, Peter Prescott.<br>
</br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Craven">Wikipedia: Ricky Craven</a><br>
</br><a href="http://racing-reference.info/driver/Ricky_Craven">Ricky Craven Statistics</a><br>
</br><a href="http://www.rickycraven.com/biography.asp">Ricky Craven Site Biography</a><br>
</br><a href="http://www.acttour.com/article.php?story=20100107063558912">ACT 1988 Quick Facts</a><br>
</br><a href="http://www.acttour.com/article.php?story=20091221103419701">ACT 1987 Quick Facts</a><br>
</br><a href="http://www.acttour.com/article.php?story=20050321145011394">ACT 2005 News</a><br>
</br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_closest_NASCAR_Sprint_Cup_Series_finishes">Closest Sprint Cup Finishes</a><br>
</br><a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=ricky+craven&tbs=nws:1,ar:1&source=newspapers#q=ricky+craven&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5j6OTrWyH9K4tgfwouGeDA&ved=0CBcQpwUoCw&source=lnt&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1980%2Ccd_max%3A1%2F1%2F1990&tbm=nws&fp=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&cad=b">Ricky Craven Google News</a><br>
</br>I would like to send out a personal Thank You to the following people for the information they provided:<br>
</br>Dale Chadbourne<br>
</br>George Fernald<br>
</br>Ralph Mason<br>
</br>Stan Meserve<br>
</br>Jeff Taylor<br>
</br>Tony TrueDaniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-15556601713242907372010-04-16T19:13:00.000-07:002010-04-26T19:22:49.490-07:00Andy LallyAndrew Lally was born February 11th of 1975, in Northport, New York. He grew up on Long Island driving everything he could. When asked about what he was like before he got into racing he said, “I’ve been into racing all my life. From a very young age I had an interest in racing anything with wheels that I could get my hands on. Even some things without wheels.”<br /><br />Before he even had time to think, Andy was hooked into racing as he says here, “I’ve just always had the bug [for racing], before I knew what a race car was I was flying down hills on my big wheel pushing it back up the hill to do all over. I remember the day I saw my first go kart, I was 4 years old and it changed my life. My neighbor flew down the hill that I normally rode my big wheel down but instead of having to get off and push it back up the hill he just turned the wheel and drove back up!! At four years old this light bulb went off in my head as I had just witnessed the coolest toy in the world! That was it, I was sold.”<br /><br />Andy first got into sports cars in 1993 running Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) regional events with his first sponsor Tyrolean Motors and car owner Walter Simondinger.<br /><br />Lally began his career in karting, in which he won two World Karting Associations (WKA) National Gold Cup Championships, in 1994.<br /><br />In 1997 Lally won the US F2000 Rookie of the Year in his first full year in a professional series.<br /><br />Lally finished 2nd in Grand Am Championship Points in 1999 with two wins, and two poles. In one of those wins he became the first driver in the world to win a professional race in the BMW Z3. Andy became one of three drivers picked by an Indy car panel of judges to represent the best up and coming drivers in the USA to compete in a European "winter series", that honor was very memorable to Andy as he says “It is such a hugely sort after prize that being picked for it really is a career changer. The experience itself was also excellent and it lead to opening doors for me today and meeting many people that I still stay in touch with.”<br /><br />In 2000 Andy raced 8 races in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, with success of 4 podium finishes. He also raced a partial schedule in the SPEED World Challenge in both the GT and Touring divisions. His Grand Am team won the Cup Team Championship, while he finished 2nd in points because of missing a race early, but while he supported his teammate to the Championship that car won the championship. That same year he won three races, and three poles.<br /><br />Andy won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the SRP2 class for the first time in 2001; as he went on to win the Rolex Grand Am SRP2 Championship that same year.<br /><br />Lally not only is interested in car racing, but also luge. As he finished second in the 2003 International Gravity Sports Association street luge championship.<br /><br />2004 was the year of Andy’s 2nd Rolex Grand Am SGS Championship.<br /><br />In 2005 Andy finished 2nd in the Rolex GT Championships’ points by only 1 point. He won a total of 2 Grand Am Cup races, and became the first driver to win in the new Chevrolet Cobalt.<br /><br />The year before Andy made his NASCAR debut, in 2006, he won his 3rd, and final to date, Rolex Grand Am GT Championship driving the Pontiac GTO.R. With that win he became the first driver to ever win three championships.<br /><br />In 2007, Lally made his NASCAR debut in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in the #47 Wood Brothers/ JTG Racing Ford and in his second start he had a strong top ten finish. He also made his Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series debut with two other starts with TRG Motorsports, driving the #00 Toyota Tundra. Andy also made his ARCA debut, plus two more races; out of the three races he had two top 10’s and a twelfth place finish.<br /><br />In 2008 Lally had the great honor of racing in the Inaugural ARCA New Jersey 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in September. Lally was fastest in every practice session, and he started on the pole. Andy led the most laps, but lost the race on pit strategy when the race was called due to weather with eventual series champion Justin Allgaier winning the race with Lally finishing 4th.<br /><br />Lally finished 2nd overall and 2nd in the Prototype class at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring in the Rolex Sports Car Division. Andy also became the first driver in Grand Am history to win two continuous races with two different manufactures, as he did at Iowa Speedway in a Porsche and Three Rivers in a BMW. After his Sports Car run that year, Lally again raced 9 times in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series.<br /><br />In January of 2009 Andy won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT class, which was his sixth season in a row in which he had won at least one race, which is a Rolex Series record. Andy also won the Watkins Glen Koni Challenge Grand Am Rolex Series race. Total that year Lally had 7 top 5’s and 11 top 10’s in the Grand Am Rolex Series Race. Andy also raced in a 4 man, 24 hour Mountain Bike race, and two solo Mountain Bike 6 hour races in a sport that he highly respects.<br /><br />Andy’s first Sprint Cup Series Start was in 2009, when he started 15th driving the #71 Chevrolet for TRG Motorsports at the Watkins Glen International Raceway. When asked what his best moment in his career was he spoke like a man who is determined to make it in NASCAR, “It is close but the very best [moment of my career] was probably qualifying for my first ever Sprint Cup race last year. I know this might sound silly compared to winning the 24 Hours of Daytona twice and standing on the podium at Le Mans but that day in qualifying at my home track in Watkins Glen with all the pressure of being a go-or-go homer in the Sprint Cup Series we were able to put the car 15th and ahead of so many of my racing heroes that it was just an amazing feeling.” He said “I had out qualified <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2009/12/jeff-gordon.html">Jeff Gordon</a> and <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/2009/12/mark-martin.html">Mark Martin</a> that day as well as many other solid drivers. After dreaming of getting a chance to make that opportunity a reality it was an amazing feeling and rush to cross the start finish line knowing I had just run a good lap and hearing my crew chief and team owner tell me where that we made it into the field and that we were in great shape!” Lally finished a respectable 27th in his first Cup start after being involved in a crash with Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton. As well as running the Cup race, Lally ran a part-time schedule in the #7 Chevrolet for TRG Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series, and after the NASCAR season was over, he ran full time in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series.<br /><br />In November of 2009 Andy competed in the World Championship of Luge events in Australia. He competed in 2 races, qualifying in the pole position for both, while winning one and finishing second in the other. It’s in a racers blood to not like finishing second but according to Andy the whole racing event was a “great feeling”. <br /><br />In the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona Andy finished 3rd in the GT class which gave him the most podium finishes of any driver at the famed 24 hour race since the Grand Am Rolex series started in 2000 with 6. Lally is running the full 2010 Grand Am Rolex Series schedule in the #66 AXA Financial Porsche with teammate Ted Ballou. He will also be competing full time in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for Kia. Kia is making its official debut as a participating manufacture for the first time in professional auto racing in North America with the Forte Koup model.<br /><br />Andy holds series records for most all time top 3 and top 5 finishes and is tied for second on the all time class win list with 20 victories. Lally still is the only driver on the tour to have won in all the Rolex Series racetracks.<br /><br />Andy played, “Almost every sport imaginable”, as he says, before he got into full time go-cart racing, but now he has got back to his roots and he loves to play football, baseball, and soccer as a pastime whenever he gets a chance. He also enjoys doing Mixed Martial Arts, Luge, and Rock Climbing with his friends.<br /><br />For the future Andy hopes to find enough sponsorship dollars to run all the NASCAR and ARCA road course races, while still running Grand Am full-time. Maybe in the near future there is a full-time career in NASCAR for Andy Lally, but as of now he will continue his very successful Grand Am racing career.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.andylally.com/page.cfm/resume-bio">http://www.andylally.com/page.cfm/resume-bio</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Lally">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Lally</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.grand-am.com/drivers/driver.cfm?series=r&did=1048">http://www.grand-am.com/drivers/driver.cfm?series=r&did=1048</a><br /><br />*<em>I want to personally thank Andy Lally for doing an interview with <a href="http://www.nascardriveroftheday.com/">Nascar Driver of the Day</a>.</em>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-52731247150901590532010-02-27T13:29:00.000-08:002013-05-31T13:39:15.235-07:00Lake SpeedLake Chambers Speed was born on January 17th of 1948. Lake's father, Leland L Speed, was 49 years old and the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi at the time of his birth.<br /><br />Lake started his career in racing by racing go-carts at the age of thirteen on local tracks around Mississippi. By the time 1965 rolled around Speed had joined the International Karting Federation and won his first of six championships in that series. <br /><br /> After winning his six American championships Speed was invited to race in the Karting World Championship in 1978. That race involved many championship caliber drivers from around the world, including future Formula One racer Ayrton Senna; but Speed was the one who led the last lap to win the World Championship race in karting. This good news was quickly overshadowed in Lake’s life with bad news when his first wife left him later in 1978 because of him not being around. <br /> <br />After Speed’s wife left, a deep emptiness engulfed him to a point where he felt he needed something to fill his time and energy, and in 1980 he began to consider his options for furthering his racing career. Speed looked into places such as Formula One, CART, and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), but after much deliberation decided that NASCAR would be where he would fit the best. Speed bought his first racecar from a man in Chicago and raced 19 of the season’s 31 races and finished a respectable 22nd in driver’s points standing while also finishing second, to Jody Ridley, in the rookie of the year battle.<br /><br />1981 saw Speed return to the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series with slightly better equipment, while still driving for himself, and an extended schedule. Speed racing in 27 races of the 31 ran in his sophomore season, finishing 6 of them with top tens and completing the year in 18th in points.<br /><br />In 1982 Speed decided to run the full schedule of the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series with team owner Roger Hamby in the #17 Yazoo Mowers racing machine. According to the record books, Speed’s car experienced many problems in 1982, from engine problems to oil pressure issues, which led to Speed not finishing 19 of the 30 races he ran. But despite those races, Speed still managed to finish in the top ten five times and finish 20th in the overall points standings. <br /><br />1983 was a major year in Lake Speed’s life, and it all started with him signing on to race for Hoss Ellington in the #1 UNO Chevrolet. With Speed finally being back in competitive equipment he finished in the top ten twice before getting to Talladega, where Speed’s life was changed forever. Speed was leading the 1983 Winston 500 at Talladega when he had a sudden realization of the feeling of emptiness inside of him despite being in such a successful position in the sport. Speed finished the race in third, but won a much bigger victory in life after the race when Speed accepted Jesus Christ into his heart and began living his life to the standards that the Bible taught. After this important decision in Speed’s life, he went on to finish in the top ten two more times that year and finish 27th in the years point standings after skipping five race between Darlington and Charlotte. <br /><br />In 1984 Speed decided to run five Busch Grand National (Nationwide) Series races, one at Daytona, two at Darlington, and two at Charlotte. This decision led to a second place finish at Daytona, and a third at Charlotte in his #83 Bull Frog Knits Pontiac. While in the same year Speed ran 19 races in the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series driving again for Hoss Ellington, resulting in 2 top fives and 7 top tens.<br /><br />When 1985 rolled around, Speed had a contract with RahMoc Enterprises to run the entire season in the Nationwise Auto Parts #75 Pontiac. This was Speed’s most consistent season in Cup as he finished with 14 top tens, an average finish of 13th place, and a tenth place finish in the season’s points standings.<br /><br />Speed began the 1986 season with high hopes in the RahMoc Enterprise organization, but four races in the team let him go in favor of Jody Ridley who drove the #75 for the next ten races of the season (Jim Sauter and Morgan Shepherd finished out the #75’s season). This event led Speed to not have a car to race for the rest of the season except for when he got to fill in for driver Rick Wilson in the famed Morgan-McClure Motorsports #4 at Charlotte where he finished 14th. <br /><br />1987 was a building year in many ways for Lake and his newly formed purple and white #83 Oldsmobile team. Speed, with help from veteran crew chief Darrell Bryant, earned sponsorship from Wynn's Car Care Products, K-mart, and Delco for 13 races of the season. Speed was able to put up some impressive race runs in just thirteen starts, finishing ninth at Talladega and backing that up with a third place finish in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The season ultimately saw Speed finish in the top ten an impressive 5 times.<br /><br />1988 was a monumental year for the newly 40 year old Lake Speed as prior to Daytona he had picked up sponsorship from the Hoosier Tire Company. This led to a tenth place starting position in the Daytona 500, a 6th place finish the next weekend at Richmond, and a 2nd at Rockingham. Because of Speed having sponsorship from Hoosier, he was able to run Hoosier’s at Darlington in a test prior to the race and he discovered that the tires were not blistering as everyone else thought they would. This enabled Speed to have the advantage and win the TranSouth 500 at Darlington that year, leading 178 laps and winning by nearly a half of a second. The year went on and Speed was not able to finish 11 total races due to various mechanical woes and crashes, but he still ended up finishing 17th in the final points standings in the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series.<br /><br />Speed’s 1989 season began with new sponsorship from Bull’s Eye Barbecue Sauce for his Oldsmobile, and was a fairly unexciting season for Speed until the second race that year at Pocono. Speed was running behind Greg Sacks when something broke and they both ran at full speed into the wall in the turn. Greg’s car began to flip while Speed’s car was uncontrolled and slid to a stop. Speed never moved his car from that position because he had broken his shoulder and missed the next 6 races while he healed. Once Speed came back he blew an engine in three of the next four races and did not post a lead lap finish for the rest of the season. Despite not finishing on the lead lap, Speed did manage to finish the last race of the season in Atlanta in the 10th position.<br /><br />1990, 1991, and 1992 were very dismal seasons for Speed as he only raced in 35 races across the three seasons, managing to finish in the top 15 only five times, with four of those being in 1992 while driving for Cale Yarborough in the #66 TropArtic Pontiac. The seasons were so unsuccessful that Speed only finished on the lead lap once throughout the entire three seasons.<br /><br />1993 began in the same fashion as the previous three seasons, but after Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison was killed in a helicopter accident at Talladega, Speed was asked to drive the famed #28. Speed drove the car in three races to one top ten finish and one top five finish before being replaced by Ernie Irvan and moving over to Bud Moore’s Motorcraft Ford. In Bud Moore’s #15 Speed finished four times in the top twenty.<br /><br />Speed’s runs with Bud Moore at the end of the 1993 season earned him the opportunity to run the entire 1994 season with Bud, which paid big dividends for them both as Speed finished nine times in the top 10 and four times in the top 5. These great runs in a time when the sport was become more and more competitive resulted in Speed finishing 11th in the final Winston (Sprint) Cup points standings, just one position behind racing legend <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/bill-elliott.html">Bill Elliott</a>.<br /><br />In 1995 Speed decided to move over to the organization of Harry Melling, which was a team that hadn’t had a full time driver since <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/bill-elliott.html">Bill Elliott</a> in 1991. This decision breathed new life into the organization as with Speed driving the team gained sponsorship from Spam and Speed finished 12 of the 31 races in the top 20 with only 3 DNF’s. 1995 was also the year of one of the most famous incidents of Lake’s career. In the Miller Genuine Draft 400 Speed was blocking fellow driver <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/02/michael-waltrip.html">Michael Waltrip</a>, which made Waltrip very mad. When the race was concluded Waltrip pulled down Speed’s window net and began throwing punches, which did not hurt Speed as he was wearing his helmet. But the incident did hurt Waltrip’s financial situation as NASCAR fined him $10,000 for misconduct on pit road. After an eventful season Speed ended up finishing 23rd in the points.<br /><br />1996 was Speed’s last full season in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup series, and while still driving for Harry Melling’s Spam Ford the team managed to find 13 top 20 finishes including an eight at Pocono and a tenth at Darlington. Speed also completed 88% of the laps in the season, finishing 23rd in the final Winston (Sprint) Cup points standings.<br /><br />1997 was a hard year to find sponsorship for Harry Melling’s #9 so the season had to be shaved back to 25 races, with most of them being sponsored by Melling’s company Melling Engine Parts. One notable race in Speed’s 1997 season was at Richmond during green flag pit stops the team accidentally put the left side tires on the right side of the car, and the right side tires on the left side of the car, creating multiple problems for Speed including needing multiple pit stops to correct the problems. Despite the lack of sponsorship in a majority of races, Speed still managed an average 24th place finish and ten top 20 finishes. <br /><br />Lake Speed turned 50 in 1998 prior to the start of the season, and little did he know that this would be his final season in NASCAR racing. Harry Melling’s car gained new sponsorship from Cartoon Network for 1998, but the results were below par from the previous two seasons, posting only three top 20 finishes in the first half of the season. When the series made their annual stop at Sears Point (Infineon) Raceway Speed crashed his car during practice and was injured, though only severely enough to give his car up for that one race. The next week at Loudon, New Hampshire Speed was involved in a crash that later on was found to have cracked his sternum and broken four of his ribs, which convinced Speed to announce his retirement from NASCAR. <br /><br />Speed said about his retirement, “This is a God thing, as far as I'm concerned,” Speed said. “He knew the only way He was gonna stop me from racing was probably to put that concrete barrier in front of me and break me up, so that I had to stop. My kids were at the age then that they really needed Dad at home. To be able to not have your mind focused on the next race all the time and be able to give them some attention and time was monumental. The timing was perfect. I fought it, fussed about it and was ill about it for quite a few years, but finally came to realize how blessed I was and, really, that things had turned out for the best.” Speed later on added that even though he may not have had great success throughout his NASCAR career that “[He] can’t count how many moral victories [he] had.”<br /><br />Speed has drove karts on and off since his NASCAR retirement; which has resulted in him becoming the WKA Karting National Road Racing Series Point Champion in 2008. Speed also has had four wins in Historic Stock Car Racing Association events on Daytona's 3.56-mile road course in 2002 and 2003 driving one of his old 83 Purex-sponsored Fords.<br /><br />In 2006, the International Kart Federation established the Lake Speed Achievement of Excellence karting award for those who show great sportsmanship, achievement, and professional appearance in the series. Also, in 2010 Speed was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.<br /><br />Today, the 65 year old Lake Speed lives in Kannapolis, North Carolina with his wife Ricé while still tinkering with his karts. Speed also serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Motor Racing Outreach, which is a Christian Ministry that travels with NASCAR to be an option for worship on weekends they are away from their home church.<br /><br /><a href="http://msfame.com/hall-of-fame/inductees/lake-chambers-speed/">Mississippi Hall of Fame - Lake Speed</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Speed">Lake Speed - Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.racing-reference.info/driver/Lake_Speed">Lake Speed Career Stats</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7L8gIfEgx8">Where Are They Now? - Lake Speed</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-35592580516546776492010-02-09T16:15:00.000-08:002010-02-09T16:28:27.807-08:00Steve ParkStephen Park was born on August 23rd of 1967 in East Northport, New York to Dotti and Bob Park; Bob was a National Modified Championship contender in the mid 1900’s.<br /><br />After tinkering with cars since he was 12, Open-Wheeled Modified owner Curt Chase noticed the multi-talented Park hanging out in the pits and asked if he wouldn't mind driving his car; of course he didn’t. Park drove the Curt Chase owned car for the whole 1992 season.<br /><br />Park moved to TG Racing in 1993; that move paid off, he won four times in 1993 and 10 times in 1994 for that team.<br /><br />In 1995, Park moved to Sheba Racing and posted seven victories.<br /><br />In 1996 Steve was hired by Dale Earnhardt. At first, when Dale was calling Park, he would refuse to return his phone calls, thinking that his friends were pulling a prank on him. After asking his mom and finally being convinced that the actual Dale Earnhardt was calling him, Steve made one start in the #31 Busch (Nationwide) Series car in Charlotte in October that resulted in a 29th place finish. In the Modified Series, Steve posted five wins, and in the Busch North Series he competed in 11 races with two wins as a result. At Watkins Glen that year Joe Nemechek asked Steve to qualify his Craftsman (Camping World) Series Truck, all he had to do was get it in the field. Steve did that and much more by winning the pole for the race that more likely helped his career along tremendously.<br /><br />In 1997 Steve was given a full-time ride in Earnhardt’s #3 AC-Delco Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series; he boasted 3 wins and the rookie of the year title. <br /><br />Steve came to the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series full-time in 1998 as the driver for the newly formed #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet team of Dale Earnhardt Inc. When he moved to Concord so did his parents; his father Bob Park started working at Dale Earnhardt Inc. as a gear specialist and his mother Dotti Park moved Steve's Fan Club headquarters to Mooresville, N.C. When the season started Steve was competing for the Rookie of the Year honors with Kenny Irwin Jr. but only five races into the season Steve was in a major crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That race put him out of contention for the majority of the races that year. <br /><br />Steve raced his first full NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series season in 2000. During the season Steve won at his home track of Watkins Glen International Raceway when he won the 2000 Global Crossing at The Glen.<br /><br />In 2001, Park scored an emotional win for Dale Earnhardt Inc. by winning the Dura Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway just one week after his boss and good friend Dale Earnhardt was killed in a bizarre crash the week before at Daytona International Raceway in the Daytona 500. The same season, while driving in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, Park was involved in a horrific crash at Darlington Raceway while driving the #31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet owned by Ted Marsh. Under the caution Steve removed his steering wheel to adjust it, causing him to turn hard left. By complete chance, lap down car Larry Foyt was speeding up to join the lap down line at the same time Park turned. Park was T-boned on the driver’s side by Foyt’s car. The rigorousness of the crash caused a massive head injury plus several broken ribs. Foyt said that the car was traveling "well over 100 miles per hour [at the time of the crash]”. Park was left with slurred speech as a result of the accident and some have theorized that he never fully recovered from his injuries.<br /><br />Park returned to race six times in the 2002 Winston (Sprint) Cup season and had many accidents; at Pocono Raceway Park moved over to dodge the merging <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/rusty-wallace.html">Rusty Wallace</a> when he hit teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and spun into the infield guardrail; he barrel rolled multiple times which caused NASCAR to issue a very lengthy Red flag to repair the broken, highway-like barrier. <br /><br />During the 2003 NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. let Park go midway into the season, and he was traded to <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/richard-childress.html">Richard Childress</a> Racing for <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/jeff-green.html">Jeff Green</a>, who took over the #1 Chevrolet car from Park with Park taking over the #30 AOL Chevrolet for Childress. A few days later, he won the pole for the Winston All Star Open, but at the start of the race he jumped the start and had to start from the rear. He never made it to the next round to the actual million dollar race. His best finish at RCR was a 5th place finish at Michigan that June. After the season was over, Park announced he would not return to the #30 AOL Chevy and would join the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series the following season. He joined Las Vegas-owned team Orleans Racing to pilot the #62 Dodge, vacated by Brendan Gaughan. <br /><br />Steve never won a race in 2004, he finished 9th in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series driver points, and was voted the Most Popular Driver.<br /><br />In 2005 Park won the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series American Racing Wheels 200, the second race of the season at California Speedway, and became the tenth driver to win a race in all three of NASCAR's top racing series. Park and the #62 team was struggling and in October, right before the truck race in Martinsville, Steve Park and Orleans Racing parted ways due to Dodge pulling support and money to many truck teams.<br /><br />Park drove Ted Marsh’s #31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet in six NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series events in 2006.<br /><br />In 2008 Park signed with NDS Motorsports to drive the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevrolet Monte Carlo in all 13 of the NASCAR Camping World East Series events. He finished 9th in the standings with a best finish of 2nd at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In late 2008, Steve Park married his longtime girlfriend, Jessica Skarpalezos at Sea Island, Georgia. <br /><br />In 2009 Park returned to race in the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevy Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Camping World East Series. On August 1, 2009 Steve won the Edge Hotel 150 at Adirondack International Speedway. It was Steve's first NASCAR Camping World East Series win since July 1, 1996 at Nazareth Speedway. Total Steve finished 5th in the point standings. On August 12, 2009, Park announced on his website (Steve-Park.com) that he and his wife Jessica, were expecting their first child.<br /><br />In 2010 Park yet again returned to race in the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Camping World East Series. On January 2, 2010, Park announced on his website that his son Jayden Robert Park was born.<br /><br />When not at the track, Park enjoys riding motorcycles, boating, golfing, and spending time with Jayden, his son.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Park_(NASCAR)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Park_(NASCAR)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.theautochannel.com/news/date/19980907/news016797.html">http://www.theautochannel.com/news/date/19980907/news016797.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/spark00/cup/bio.html">http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/spark00/cup/bio.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://insiderracingnews.com/Writers/AM/011708.html">http://insiderracingnews.com/Writers/AM/011708.html</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-6522136915944253122010-02-06T15:14:00.000-08:002010-02-06T15:21:43.875-08:00Sam McQuaggSam McQuagg was born on November 11th of 1937 in Columbus, Georgia.<br /><br />Sam McQuagg was just a construction worker but then he decided to do something more exhilarating in his life so he bought half interest of a 1934 Ford in 1956 and started racing at local dirt tracks. Local fans say Sam was almost unbeatable at the Valdosta 75 Speedway.<br /><br />In 1962, McQuagg entered his first NASCAR Grand National Division (Sprint Cup) event driving his own #62 Ford at Valdosta 75 Speedway. McQuagg qualified 9th for the race, but a blown motor dropped him to a 12th place starting position. That was his only race that year.<br /><br />1964 was a year that McQuagg only raced five races in the Grand National (Sprint Cup Series) Division. He drove in J.L Thomas’s #71 and #72 Ford’s. In the five races he ran four of them were recorded as a DNF (Did not finish) and the other race was a 12th place. At Valdosta that year Sam won 37 of the 39 races he ran.<br /><br />In 1965 McQuagg had 5 top tens in the 14 races he entered with about 5 teams which earned him the Rookie of the Year honor on the Grand National (Sprint Cup) level. Sam was involved in one of the most violent and memorable wrecks in NASCAR history. During the 1965 Southern 500 at Darlington Cale Yarborough tangled with then race leader McQuagg in the first turn. Yarborough spun, and then vaulted over the guard rail; he rolled 6 times down the 40-foot embankment landing in the parking lot. When the car landed, Cale got out, climbed the bank back to the track, and waved his arms to let the 50,000 fans at the race know he was fine. <br /><br />In 1966 Dodge noticed Sam’s accomplishments in his small Ford team, so they hired him to their factory #98 Ray Nichels team. At Daytona that July he came out of the box with a spoiler on his Dodge Charger; it was the first spoiler that had ever been used on the NASCAR circuit. Sam won the Firecracker 400 that year in a car sponsored by a newlywed Georgia couple with a total of $13,500 in winnings for his only win of his career; Sam McQuagg Jr. recalls that after that race his father and mother went a bought themselves a new 1966 Dodge Charger. The flag that waved over McQuagg’s head as he crossed the finish line is now hanging on his grandson’s wall. That race was also the first time a motor home was brought into the Daytona infield. He made 15 more starts that year with 4 top fives and 7 top tens with a finish of 15th in points.<br /><br />In 1967 Sam drove for Bud Moore, Don Robertson, Cotton Owen, and many more car owners. He had a chance to drive for the Wood Brothers, but they told him he would have to run Firestone tires. He was dedicated to Goodyear due to them giving him his first set of tires, so he declined and Cale Yarborough got that ride. At Darlington that year Sam was involved in a violent wreck on lap 81; McQuagg went over the guardrail and flipped many times before landing back on his wheels. Sam got aggravated at the frequency of his wrecks so he scaled his schedule back to just local tracks. In all of 1967 Sam ran 14 races, and had 3 top-5 finishes. <br /><br />In 1970, he became the company pilot for the W. C. Bradly Co. in Columbus, Georgia and unofficially retired from racing.<br /><br />McQuagg decided to come back after his leave of absence for three starts in 1974. He drove for Hoss Ellington in the #28 Pylon Wiper Blades Chevy, he had a 7th place finish at Darlington and an 8th at Talladega. His last start was at the 1974 World 600. <br /><br />Out of 8 years in NASCAR’s top series, McQuagg garnered 62 starts, 1 win, 9 top-5s, and 21 top-10s. <br /><br />In 1997 McQuagg retired as a commercial pilot after 27 years of flying.<br /><br />McQuagg was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2008.<br /><br />He died of cancer on January 3, 2009 at the age of 73 at St. Francis Hospital. He and his wife Joy had recently celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. <br /><br /><a href="http://fullthrottle.cranialcavity.net/rip-sam-mcquagg">http://fullthrottle.cranialcavity.net/rip-sam-mcquagg</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_McQuagg">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_McQuagg</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Articles/06/051206Madding.asp">http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Articles/06/051206Madding.asp</a><br /><br /><a href="http://race500.com/SamMcQuagg.htm">http://race500.com/SamMcQuagg.htm</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-69956913255822295752010-02-03T10:37:00.000-08:002010-02-03T10:53:49.283-08:00Jimmy SpencerJames Spencer Sr. was born on Wednesday, February 15th of 1957 in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania to his father that was also a racer, Ed Spencer Sr.; his father had the nickname “Fast Eddie” for his wins around the modified series.<br /><br />During his days racing Modifieds, Jimmy was nicknamed "Mr. Excitement" for his aggressive racing style.<br /><br />Jimmy Spencer followed his father in racing. Spencer started in Late Models in Pennsylvania and in 1976 he won his very first race in the Late Model division at the Port Royal Speedway. <br /><br />In 1984, Spencer raced 60 races in the National Modified Series and finished second in the points to competitor Richie Evans. When NASCAR changed the National Modified Championship into the smaller-schedule Winston (Whelen) Modified Tour in 1985, Spencer continued to run, and won the title in 1986 and 1987.<br /><br />Jimmy made his first NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series start in 1985 at the North Carolina (Rockingham) Motor Speedway in the #67 Frank Cicci Racing Pontiac; he finished 19th. <br /><br />Jimmy’s first son James Spencer Jr. was born in 1986. Jimmy said when he was born that if he wanted to race he was going to help him.<br /><br />In 1987 Spencer ran twice in the Frank Cicci Racing Pontiac in the Busch (Nationwide) Series with a best finish of 36th. <br /><br />Jimmy ran his first full season in 1988, finishing seventh in the Busch (Nationwide) point standings in the #34. <br /><br />In 1989, Spencer won his first career Busch (Nationwide) race at the Hickory Motor Speedway; he then won two more races over the course of the season, finishing fifteenth in the final standings.<br /><br />In 1989, he made the move to the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, driving the #88 Crisco Pontiac for <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/buddy-baker.html">Buddy Baker</a>'s team in 17 of the 29 races. With three top-tens he finished 34th in points. <br /><br />He then ran a full-time season in 1990 in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. He finished in the top-ten twice in the #57 Heinz Rod Osterlund Racing Pontiac; he finished 24th in the points. <br /><br />In 1991, Spencer moved to the #98 Banquet Frozen Foods Chevrolet for Travis Carter Motorsports; he had 12 DNF (Did not finish) s, and six top tens which resulted in a 25th place finish in the Winston (Sprint) Cup points. <br /><br />Jimmy began 1992 with Travis Carter Motorsports, but he later moved down to the Busch (Nationwide) Series to drive the #20 Daily's 1st Ade Oldsmobile for Dick Moroso after Carter's team withdraw from NASCAR early in the season. He won twice that year in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, once at the Myrtle Beach Speedway and the other at Orange County Speedway. In the last four races of the Winston (Sprint) Cup series Jimmy finished in the top five three times with Bobby Allison Motorsports.<br /><br />In 1993 he signed to drive Bobby Allison's #12 Meineke Ford Thunderbird full-time in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. Jimmy finished in the top-five five times, resulting in a career-best fifteenth-place in the final points standings. <br /><br />In 1994, Jimmy switched to drive the #27 McDonald's Ford for <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a>, that #27 was one of the most desired rides at the time because of the reputation Junior Johnson had; in the time he was with Junior that year Spencer won his only two career Cup races, at the series biggest tracks, Daytona and Talladega; he also won his first career pole at the series shortest track, North Wilkesboro Speedway. He finished 29th in the standings.<br /><br />Spencer left <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a>’s team after 1994 to reunite with Travis Carter, who was now fielding the #23, Smokin' Joe's Ford; he finished in the top-ten four times in 1995. <br /><br />In 1998, Winston Cigarettes became his team's new primary sponsor; about half-way through the season when he went to the Brickyard 400 Spencer wrecked and suffered injuries that prevented him from racing in the next two events which dropped him to 14th in points. Midway during the season Spencer created his own NASCAR team, Spencer Motor Ventures. He fielded the #12 Zippo Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in which he and several other drivers shared.<br /><br />In 1999 Spencer expanded his Busch (Nationwide) Series to 2 cars. He fielded the #12 Zippo Chevrolet and the #5 Schneider National Chevrolet. The #5 car went to Dick Trickle for this year. In the Winston (Sprint) Cup series Jimmy finished 20th in the points.<br /><br />In 2000, Winston Cigarettes left the Travis Carter team, and K-mart became the team's new sponsor, causing Spencer to switch to the #26 to accommodate the new sponsor, who was already backing the #66 car driven by Spencer's teammate, <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell Waltrip</a>. Spencer’s Busch (Nationwide) team moved up to the Winston (Sprint) Cup with Boris Said running the #23 Federated Auto Parts Ford. Due to sponsor issues the team shut down at the end of the year.<br /><br />Spencer had two top-fives and in 2001 won the pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, he had three top fives, and eight top tens but sadly had 7 DNF’s but he did advance to sixteenth in points. He left Travis Carter’s has Carter team at the end of the season. 2001 was a memorable season for Jimmy as he went over $2 million in season winnings for the first time in his 13-year Winston (Sprint) Cup career, ending up with $2,669,638.<br /><br />In 2002 Spencer joined Chip Ganassi Racing’s #41 Target Dodge Intrepid. He began the season by failing to qualify for the Daytona 500, then had a streak of four top-five qualifying efforts, including at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he started fourth and was leading the race when he was bumped by Kurt Busch, who then won, starting a long rivalry between the two. After another DNQ (Did not qualify) at Watkins Glen International Raceway, Spencer was released from the ride at the end of the season, causing him to file a lawsuit against the Ganassi organization, saying his dismissal was a violation of his contract. He also won his last Busch (Nationwide) Series race at Bristol driving for James Finch that season in the #1 Chevy. <br /><br />Spencer started driving the Ultra Motorsports #7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge in 2003. He had four top-tens during the season, but at the running of the GFS Marketplace 400, Spencer had a confrontation with Kurt Busch. Busch intentionally stopped in front of Spencer's garage and revved his engine as a threat to block Spencer, Jimmy confronted Busch and punched him in the face. Spencer and Busch were both fined and placed on probation for the rest of the year, and Spencer was suspended for one race. Spencer ended the season 29th in points. In the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series Jimmy ran three races in Ultra motorsports #2 Team ASE Racing Dodge, he won the pole in his very first race and won his very first race in only his second start at the New Hampshire International Speedway; that win made him one of only a few drivers to win a race in all three of NASCAR’s top series. Part of the way through the 2003 season Jimmy bought into the Frank Cicci Racing organization but later that partnership vanished when he bought into Bang! Racing in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series.<br /><br />He began 2004 with Ultra Motorsport’s NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup team at the Daytona 500, but when the team closed down due to a lack of sponsorship, he replaced <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/kevin-lepage.html">Kevin Lepage</a> at Morgan-McClure Motorsports, which had also been running unsponsored. Spencer's best finish that season had been 13th, when on October 25, he was arrested after trying to interfere with the police, who had a warrant to arrest his son, James Spencer Jr., for "injury to personal property”. The incident cost Spencer his job at Morgan-McClure, and he sat out the rest of 2004.<br /><br />Spencer returned to the #2 Ultra Motorsports Truck team in 2005. While he failed to win a race, he had nine top-ten finishes and finished twelfth in points. He also ran part-time in Cup, running nine races in the #50 Arnold Motorsports Dodge, and one race apiece for Peak Fitness Racing and R&J Racing.<br /><br />When Arnold was unable to locate a sponsor and Ultra closed its Truck team doors following a fallout with the Ford Motor Company, Spencer began working full-time on SPEED in 2006. He had run both Cup races at Pocono Raceway for Furniture Row Racing in 2006, finishing 32nd and 36th, respectively. <br /><br />He is currently a co-host with John Roberts and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/kenny-wallace.html">Kenny Wallace</a> on the Speed Channel's prerace and post race NASCAR shows NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane. Throughout Spencer’s career he helped Brent Sherman and Stuart Kirby go through the ranks of NASCAR.<br /><br />One thing Spencer does for fun in to go out to his custom-made dirt track in his backyard and race with his friends, he also golf’s, and ironically enjoys working with flowers in his garden.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Spencer">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Spencer</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.tums.com/Racing_SpencerBio.aspx">http://www.tums.com/Racing_SpencerBio.aspx</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverID=95&subID=1">http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverID=95&subID=1</a><br /><br /><a href="http://home.comcast.net/~loudfast/writeweb/spencer.htm">http://home.comcast.net/~loudfast/writeweb/spencer.htm</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-63958694172487637592010-02-01T17:34:00.000-08:002016-02-16T19:55:38.165-08:00Michael WaltripMichael Curtis Waltrip was born on April 30th of 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky to Margaret and Leroy Waltrip. He is the younger brother of three-time NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup champion <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell Waltrip</a>. His other siblings include Connie, Carolyn, and Bobby.<br />
<br />
Michael's first go-kart race was in Olney, Illinois, through the Southern Indiana Racing Association (SIRA) at the tender age of 13. The track was a road course, which Michael enjoyed. He was running the same type of go-kart as the famed Green boys, but he experienced mechanical troubles with his ride. His friend, 13 year old <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/jeff-green.html">Jeff Green</a>, came to the rescue. Jeff disassembled the carburetor and repaired the go-kart right on the track. Michael went on to win that day, thanks to his buddy but future rival.<br />
<br />
Waltrip's stock-car career got off the ground in 1981, when he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at Kentucky Motor Speedway the same year his brother <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell</a> won his first Winston (Sprint) Cup championship.<br />
<br />
In 1982 Waltrip competed in his first race in the Goody's Dash Series. <br />
<br />
In 1983 he won the championship in the Goody’s Dash Series and won the Most Popular Driver award; he won the Most Popular Driver Award again in that series in 1984. <br />
<br />
In 1984 Michael wanted to make it big so he moved to North Carolina to move in with his good friend <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/kyle-petty.html">Kyle Petty</a> who was still living with his champion father Richard. Darrell never really wanted to teach Michael anything because he wanted him to learn the ropes the same way he did but when he moved in with the Petty’s Richard trained him in a whole new way.<br />
<br />
Waltrip made his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut in the 1985 Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway driving for Dick Bahre in the #23 Mell-Gear Pontiac; he qualified 24th and finished 28th after dropping out 500 miles into the race his brother Darrell won.<br />
<br />
Michael had his first full season in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in 1986, driving the #23 Hawaiian Punch car for Bahari Racing. Waltrip finished 19th overall in points and second in the rookie of the year battle to Alan Kulwicki. <br />
<br />
In 1987, he posted his first career top-ten finish when he ended up tenth in the spring race at Martinsville Speedway in his #30 All-Pro Chevy Monte Carlo. <br />
<br />
In 1988, Michael began running in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, making five starts for his Brother <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell</a>'s fledgling team; this was the first time his brother let him drive for his team and that paid off because Michael took the checkered flag for the first time at Dover in only his fourth Busch (Nationwide) start. <br />
<br />
In 1989, he had his first top-five finish in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in the #30 Country Time Lemonade/Kool Aid Pontiac. Again he won at Dover in the Busch (Nationwide) Series; overall he had four poles and eight top tens in only 14 races in the second-tier NASCAR series while driving for himself.<br />
<br />
Michael was a new father when Caitlin Marie Waltrip was born on January 12, 1990 just 2 months before the race at Bristol that could have took her father’s life. Waltrip, after making contact with Steve Grissom, hit the wall head on and his Busch (Nationwide) car all but disintegrated. Waltrip only suffered bruises in the incident that left only the roll cage with Michael in the driver’s seat. The accident was referenced in a 2008 NAPA Auto Parts commercial. Waltrip was signing die-cast replica cars when a fan showed up with pieces of the 1990 car crashed for Waltrip to sign.<br />
<br />
In 1991, he gained new sponsorship from Pennzoil and won his first two career pole positions; he finished 15th in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series points.<br />
<br />
In 1992 Michael won in the Gatorade 200 at Darlington in the Busch (Nationwide) Series.<br />
<br />
1993 was a very assorted year for Michael’s emotions. In April his good friend and Rookie of the Year competitor Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash. Two days later when he won the Busch (Nationwide) Series Budweiser 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway he did a polish victory lap in honor of Alan. In victory lane he proposed to Elizabeth "Buffy" Franks to whom he married November 27, 1993. He finished 17th in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series points that year.<br />
<br />
In April of 1994 Michael was a team owner in the Busch (Nationwide) Series for the first time with childhood friend <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/jeff-green.html">Jeff Green</a> driving it to a third place finish.<br />
<br />
In 1995 at Michigan International Speedway, Waltrip lashed out at fellow driver, Lake Speed. Waltrip struck Speed twice on national television, while Speed was still strapped in his car. Waltrip was fined $10,000 for his actions. At the end of that season Michael was released from Bahari Racing and Johnny Benson was put in that car.<br />
<br />
After moving to the #21 Wood Brothers CITGO Ford Thunderbird for 1996, Michael won The Winston. He started his own team in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in the #21 Band-Aid Ford with Roush engines running select races. "The reason I have a Busch team is because of <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell</a>," Michael said. "I always liked how he had a car of his own to fiddle with. He was off driving for <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a>, but he had his own shop and had his own guys. It was something that I always looked at and thought one day that's what I want to do. So in '96 I started my Busch team and we've been successful, won some poles, and won some races." In his first year with his new Busch (Nationwide) Series team, Michael gained three top 5's, four top 10's, and qualified on the pole after just ten races. In Winston (Sprint) Cup, he finished 14th in points with eleven top 10's and a top 5.<br />
<br />
On September 27, 1997 Michael's second child Margaret “Macy” Carol was born. In his very first race in the Winston West Series at Pikes Peak, Michael led 186 laps and won the race.<br />
<br />
After missing his first race since 1986 and the Wood Brothers first since 1971 at the 1998 Dura Lube/Kmart 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway, Waltrip departed the Woods at the end of 1998 to drive the #7 Philips Chevrolet for Mattei Motorsports.<br />
<br />
In 2000, Nations Rent replaced Philips as the sponsor of his #7 and Waltrip moved up to twenty seventh in points but finished in the top-five once, causing him and the team to part ways at the end of the season. On January 10th, his father Leroy passed away at the age 76 after a three-year struggle with cancer. He had died without having seen Michael win a Winston Cup race. On April 18, 2000, Waltrip ran the Boston Marathon. He finished 14,315th out of 17,813, and was the first person ever who raced this Marathon and the Daytona 500. In December, he ran in the inaugural Hop's Marathon by the Bay in Tampa, Florida. He finished 1209th, out of 3200 entrants. <br />
<br />
Waltrip was hired by Dale Earnhardt Inc. to drive their newly formed #15 NAPA Chevrolet. In his first race with the team, the 2001 Daytona 500, Michael was in the lead with his teammate and boss’s son Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind him when there was a wreck in turn four. The race continued and Michael won it snapping a 463 race losing streak. The race was bitter-sweet because the wreck that was in turn four was his boss and friend Dale Earnhardt who lost his life due to a head injury. After that race Michael didn’t have a top ten until the next race at Daytona, the Pepsi 400. He finished 24th that year in the standings.<br />
<br />
In 2002 he picked up his second career win at Daytona again, except this time it was the July Pepsi 400. He finished fourteenth in the standings which was ten places above the previous year.<br />
<br />
In 2003 Michael won the rain-shortened opening race at Daytona yet again but this time he got to enjoy it; that was his third win at Daytona, all three with his brother <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell</a> in the broadcasting booth for Fox. He won one more race that year and finished 15th in points.<br />
<br />
In 2005 he had one pole, and seven top tens but at the end of the year he announced he and his sponsor NAPA would leave DEI to drive the #55 Dodge Charger for Bill Davis Racing. Through a silly-season mess Michael ended up using the defunct #77 Jasper Motorsports team points for the first five races under the Waltrip-Jasper Racing banner to guarantee a starting spot. Michael failed to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 so he bought the qualifying spot from <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/derrike-cope.html">Derrike Cope</a> so he would keep his streak of 262 races alive. He ended up missing three races that season ending his streak. <br />
<br />
Waltrip formed his own team, Michael Waltrip Racing, for the 2007 season. He hired <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/dale-jarrett.html">Dale Jarrett</a> and David Reutimann to drive along side of him in Toyotas. After a controversy at Daytona Michael had to resort to an interim Crew Chief; it was Scott Eggleston, who was Waltrip's former crew chief in 2001. After a 30th place finish in the Daytona 500, Waltrip became the first driver in series history to go into the second race of the season with a negative number of points due to being docked 100 at Daytona; -27. Waltrip failed to qualify for the next eleven races following the Daytona 500, so he maintained his negative point total for almost 4 months. He qualified for the thirteenth race of the season at Dover and finished 28th, moving his point total above zero to 52 points. Jarrett used a provisional to qualify for five of the first six races, and Reutimann had to use two. On Saturday April 7, 2007 Waltrip fell asleep behind the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser which overturned and struck a utility pole. Michael crawled out from the car suffering only minor cuts. There was no NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup race held that weekend but he was charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident. In October, Michael won the pole for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first restrictor plate race to be run with the Car of Tomorrow. He finished 25th after a wreck, but bounced back the next week at Lowes Motor Speedway with his second top-10 finish of the season. Him and his team had one of the worst seasons for a team in NASCAR history but would eventually bounce back.<br />
<br />
In 2008, Michael Waltrip Racing underwent a change following the disappointing 2007 campaign. Waltrip welcomed business owner Robert Kaufmann, owner/founder of the Fortress Investment Group and was made an equal partner and got more aid with real estate developer Johnny Harris buying into the team during the 2007 off-season. Former PPC Racing owner Cal Wells III also bought into the team. The name also underwent a change as it now operates as Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC. On February 10, 2008, Michael qualified second for the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Waltrip started the race with "gold wheels" on his car in tribute to the golden anniversary of the Daytona 500; after the race the wheels were signed and sold to benefit NASCAR charities. After leading the first two laps, he was not a factor in the race and finished 26th. Waltrip made his 1,000th NASCAR touring series start at Atlanta in October. He is second only to 7-time champion Richard Petty in most career starts spanning all of the top divisions in NASCAR.<br />
<br />
In early 2009, Waltrip announced that he, Scott Speed, and David Reutimann would be splitting the #99 Nationwide Series Aaron’s dream machine Toyota throughout the year. On May 25, 2009 Michael Waltrip scored his first win as an owner in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, with David Reutimann winning his very first race. On July 7, 2009 Waltrip announced he would be driving part-time in the 2010 season starting with the Daytona 500. Waltrip also announced <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/martin-truex-jr.html">Martin Truex Jr.</a> will be joining Michael Waltrip Racing as the driver of the #56 NAPA Toyota full time in 2010. One thing Michael did for fun in 2009 was he appeared on an episode of My Name is Earl entitled "Inside Probe”.<br />
<br />
For the 2010 Daytona 500 Michael is racing the #51 in tribute to previous car owner and friend Dale Earnhardt; Dale won the daytona 500 in the #15 so Michael is running it in reverse.<br />
<br />
He currently lives in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina with his wife Buffy in a 200 year old farmhouse. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1SwRsh6" target="_blank">In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona, and the Day that Changed Everything</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Waltrip" target="_blank">Wikipedia:Michael Waltrip</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-88937087439891899772010-01-31T10:19:00.000-08:002010-01-31T10:25:43.406-08:00J.D McDuffieNow-days when you think of “Independent driver” you think of Robby Gordon, or Michael Waltrip, but those drivers don’t even compare to somebody such as J.D McDuffie who went his whole career in his own car; J.D didn’t have a good career in a high-dollar team and then leave to go on to make his own team just for the fun of it. J.D was a true owner-driver and paved a way for the ones that are racing now. <br /><br />John Delphus McDuffie was born on December 5th of 1938 in Sanford, N.C.<br /><br />At the young age of only ten years old J.D went to see his first ever race. It was practically the opposite of one that would go on today; it was in Winston-Salem N.C at what is now the Bowman Gray Stadium. McDuffie went with his Uncle Reuben and his brother Glenn. They saw the legends of Curtis Turner, Glenn Wood, and Billy Myers fly around the track. Sadly J.D had to leave early due to sickness but that ignited his spark for racing.<br /><br />J.D won all over the Carolina’s before going on to win the 1962 championship at a small dirt track near Rockingham, N.C. <br /><br />McDuffie made his NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup debut in 1963 at the Rambi Speedway near Myrtle Beach S.C driving Curtis Turner’s old 1961 Ford, he started 14th and finished 12th out of 18 drivers with <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/ned-jarrett.html">Ned Jarrett</a> winning that race; he raced 11 more races that year.<br /><br />Even though J.D was a master of dirt tracks his racing skill never really clicked with asphalt. His best finish in his NASCAR career was a third place at the Albany-Sarasota Speedway in upstate New York in 1971. <br /><br />In 1978 J.D won the pole for the Delaware 500 at the then Dover Downs International Speedway which then let him be in the inaugural Busch Clash at Daytona the next February. That was one of his many tiny successes’s that went on throughout his career. <br /><br />The 1988 Daytona 500 qualifying race was a major down-point of J.D’s career. That morning someone had stolen his fireproof racing gloves, but of course with J.D being the man he was he raced anyway. Mid-way through the 125-mile race his car made contact with another and he flew into the wall, that impact ruptured the oil cooler. That ignited an eruption of flames out of his car which melted his steering wheel. Thankfully McDuffie was able to get out of the car, but with second and third degree burns especially to his hands. Someone somewhere will never forget that day even as it fades through everyone else’s minds.<br /><br />The day before the Winston (Sprint) Cup race, J.D won a celebrity race in Owego, New York at the Shangri-La Speedway which is located near Watkins Glen. Going off of the momentum of his win J.D went into the 1991 Bud at the Glen at Watkins Glen International Raceway ready to go in his #70 L.C. Whitford Company Pontiac. Early in the race McDuffie slammed into the turn 5 wall due to a broken ball joint making the right front tire fly off and making J.D lose control; unable to slow the car at all, and with an absence of a gravel trap, McDuffie skid across the grass and slammed with tremendous velocity into the tire barrier outside the high speed right-hander. The force of the impact flipped the car and kept it airborne as Jimmy Means crashed underneath him. Means was able to slow his car substantially before crashing and avoid injury, but the sheer violence of J.D.'s impact with the tires is what rolled the car in the air. J.D died instantly due to brain injuries; due to that wreck along with a couple other ones, there was a bus stop chicane installed in what is now turn 9.<br /><br />The L.C. Whitford Company of Wellsville, N.Y., sponsored J.D.’s ride for the Watkins Glen race. It was the company’s first and only venture into Winston (Sprint) Cup racing, a one-time deal made at the request of a Whitford employee who had previously worked on McDuffie’s pit crew. Company president Brad Whitford never had the chance to meet McDuffie and wasn’t even at the race. But, in a chilling quirk of fate, he turned on the television just in time to see a replay that he said, “Made me sick to my stomach.”<br /><br />McDuffie's widow, Ima Jean, unsuccessfully sued Watkins Glen for $4.25 million, claiming the barrier McDuffie hit was unsafe. The judge in the case ruled that McDuffie was familiar enough with the track to be aware of the dangers and that mechanical failure caused the accident. She is still very hurt and unhappy.<br />Nobody drove the #70 car at Watkins Glen in the NASCAR’s top Series again until August of 2007 when Johnny Sauter drove in his Haas Automation Chevy in the Centurion Boats at the Glen. <br /><br />J.D had many friends in NASCAR such as Benny Parsons, and Dale Earnhardt. There were also many people that respected McDuffie throughout the garage for his determination to do well in NASCAR with his own team. J.D was really the icon for owner-driver racing which has all but left the sport today. Many fans would reach out and help McDuffie any time he was in need. He wouldn’t even have to ask they would have a hat passed around just he could get a new motor to make the race.<br /><br />J.D. McDuffie is still the record holder for most starts in NASCAR's top touring series without recording a win. His 653 starts rank him 17th in all-time starts. After his death Racing Champions made die cast cars of McDuffie’s #70 as a tribute to his life; they can still be found in novelty stores today.<br /><br />One thing most people loved about J.D is how he fielded his own cars most of his career. Most of the time you could catch J.D out smoking a cigar in the pits before the race in the infield while working on his car, and then jump into his car wearing an open-face helmet with that old cigar still in his mouth. <br /><br />Out of 27 years of racing he only raced 7 full seasons. He has 653 starts under his belt, with 12 top fives, 106 top tens, 1 pole, and $1,419,715 in total winnings. He also raced 11 races in the Busch (Nationwide) Series with one top ten in the record books.<br /><br /><a href="http://racing-reference.info/driver?id=mcdufj.01">http://racing-reference.info/driver?id=mcdufj.01</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._McDuffie">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._McDuffie</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.carolinacountry.com/StoryPages/ourstories/jdmcduffie/old70.html">http://www.carolinacountry.com/StoryPages/ourstories/jdmcduffie/old70.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://nascarpoetry.blogspot.com/2007/08/tribute-jd-mcduffie.html">http://nascarpoetry.blogspot.com/2007/08/tribute-jd-mcduffie.html</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-13732409147544987602010-01-30T12:53:00.000-08:002010-01-30T13:02:54.208-08:00Kyle PettyKyle Eugene Petty was born on June 2, 1960 in Randleman, North Carolina. He is the grandson of legendary racer <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/lee-petty.html">Lee Petty</a>, son of four-time championship racer Richard Petty, and the father of the late <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/adam-pettty.html">Adam Petty</a>. <br /><br />Petty began racing at a young age and made his major-league stock car debut at the age of 18 in 1978. <br /><br />His first major win was at the 1979 Daytona ARCA 200 in a Dodge Magnum, which at the time he was the youngest driver to win a major-league stock car race. Kyle made a few attempts to qualify for Winston (Sprint) Cup races but failed until later in the season when he made his debut at Talladega, driving the #42 STP Dodge Magnum for his legendary family's team; he finished ninth. He ran a total of five races that year.<br /><br />In 1980, he made a total of fifteen starts in the #42 STP Petty Enterprises Dodge with six top-tens.<br /><br />He began the 1981 season driving his father's #43 in one race, before running a full schedule in his regular #42, finishing in the top-ten ten times and finishing twelfth in points. <br /><br />He began the 1982 season with two top-ten finishes, but later began splitting time between his #42 and the #1 UNO/STP car owned by Hoss Ellington.<br /><br />In 1983, he picked up funding from 7-Eleven and switched his number to #7 accordingly with Hoss Ellington as his car owner. He had only two top-ten finishes but improved to thirteenth in the standings. He also appeared in the 1983 Burt Reynolds movie Stroker Ace along with fellow driver <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/tim-richmond.html">Tim Richmond</a> that same year.<br /><br />In 1984 he had six top-tens the following year, but fell three spots in points from the following year to 16th. <br /><br />Petty took his number and sponsorship to Wood Brothers Racing in 1985, where he had a then career-high seven top-fives and his first top-ten points finish. <br /><br />In 1986 Kyle won his very first career NASCAR race at Richmond International Raceway and finished tenth in the final standings. That win at Richmond made him the first third-generation driver to win a NASCAR sanctioned race, with his grandfather <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/lee-petty.html">Lee</a> winning 55 races in his career, and his father Richard winning a record 200.<br /><br />In 1987, he switched to the #21 and received new sponsorship from CITGO in his Wood Brothers car, as well as picking up his second career win at Charlotte Motor Speedway. <br /><br />In 1988, he fell to thirteenth in points, causing him to be released from his Wood Brothers contract.<br /><br />After going to SABCO racing’s #42, Peak Antifreeze became the team's full-time sponsor in 1990. He won the spring race at North Carolina (Rockingham) Speedway and finished 11h in points. <br /><br />Mello Yello replaced Peak as the sponsor of the #42 in 1991; mid-season Petty was running eleventh in the points when he suffered a broken leg in a crash at Talladega, causing him to miss the next eleven races. His abbreviated schedule combined with only one top-ten in the second half of the season caused him to finish the season 30th in points.<br /><br />In 1992 Kyle moved to SABCO racing; he won 2 races and finished a career-best fifth in the points. <br /><br />In 1993 he finished 5th yet again in the points, while winning again at Pocono Raceway in his SABCO racing car.<br /><br />He dropped ten spots in points in 1994 finishing a still respectable 15th after he failed to finish higher than fourth in any race; Petty lost the Mello Yello sponsorship at the end of the season. <br /><br />Coors Light became his new sponsor for his #42 car beginning in 1995; he won his 6th race at Dover that year. He fell further down to 30th in points after only finishing in the top-ten five times and failing to qualify for the fall race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He also created his annual charity motorcycle ride across the country called the “Kyle Petty Charity Ride across America” which has rose over $14 million dollars to date.<br /><br />He improved to a 27th place points finish in 1996 despite missing two races due to injury and failing to qualify for the season-ending race at Atlanta. <br /><br />For the 1997 season, Petty formed his own team, PE2 Motorsports, and fielded the #44 Hot Wheels Pontiac Grand Prix for himself. He had two top-five finishes and finished 15th in points, which was the highest points finish of all the new teams to run during the 1997 season. Kyle made his only ever start in the Craftsman (Camping World) truck series in 1997 driving the #42 Hot Wheels Chevrolet to a 11th place finish at California Speedway. <br /><br />He only had two top-tens in 1998, and fell back to 30th in points, causing him to return to Petty Enterprises and run his team from their shop; he became Petty Enterprises' new CEO due to that business being owned by his father and founded by his grandfather <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/lee-petty.html">Lee</a>. <br /><br />Kyle began the 1999 season with two early DNQ (Did not qualify) s; despite finishing in the top ten 9 times he finished 26th in the points. <br /><br />Kyle’s year didn’t start off very good in 2000 with his grandfather <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/lee-petty.html">Lee</a> dying; that was only the beginning. Just 5 weeks later on May 12th, Kyle’s son <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/adam-pettty.html">Adam</a> was practicing for a Busch (Nationwide) Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway when he slammed into the wall and died on the way to the hospital. Kyle skipped the next two races and returned to drive the #44 for the rest of the summer, before moving to the Busch (Nationwide) Series full-time to finish out the season in Adam's #45 Sprint Chevrolet. He had four top-tens in the #45 over a span of fourteen races, and attempted two Cup races. In October Kyle partnered with Paul Newman and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp to build the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, North Carolina, as a memorial to Adam, who always dreamed of helping children with needs.<br /><br />In 2001, Petty brought the #45 to Cup full-time and switched to Dodge. He failed to qualify for twelve races that season and failed to finish higher than sixteenth, causing him to finish 43rd in points. <br /><br />He qualified for every race in 2002 and had one top-ten which came at Talladega, raising him to 22nd in the points. <br /><br />At the start of the 2003 season Kyle had a new sponsor from Brawny and Georgia Pacific due to Sprint leaving at the end of the previous season. He missed three races in 2003 and fell back to 37th in the standings. <br /><br />He moved up four spots in the points in 2004 to 33rd and had a best finish of 12th for the year. This year the Victory Junction Gang Camp opened and is currently an official charity of NASCAR.<br /><br />In 2005, he competed in every race for the first time in three years with two top-tens; he finished 27th in the points standings. <br /><br />Georgia pacific left the #45 car at the end of 2005 which left Kyle to get new sponsorship from Wells Fargo, Schwan’s, and Marathon Oil. He had two top tens with his new sponsors and finished 32nd in points. <br /><br />In 2007 he went to the Coca-Cola 600 in his Coke Zero #45 Dodge Charger starting 36th; that didn’t stop him, he went on to finish 3rd with a fuel gamble; that was the first time he had a top five since 1997. Later on in the season he took 5 races off to work as a color commentator for TNT's Nextel (Sprint) Cup coverage, replacing the late Benny Parsons. <br /><br />Early in the 2008 season, Petty Enterprises was purchased by Boston Ventures, causing Petty to step aside as the team's CEO. When the #45 car fell out of the top-35 in owner's points, he took a large portion of the season off, including races that did not conflict with his broadcasting duties. After fourteen races, his best finish was a 24th at Richmond. He finished 39th in his final 2008 start in the fall race at Phoenix International Raceway after getting swept up into a multi-car crash. Kyle and his wife Pattie announced there would be a new Victory Junction Gang camp in the Kansas City area due to the overwhelming results of the one in Level Cross.<br /><br />Petty didn’t race during the 2009 season; Kyle was supposed to race in the Grand-am series but later pulled out. He is un-officially retired from NASCAR which means the legacy of the Petty’s are over for now. <br /><br />Every time Petty is on television he wears a black hat with a #45 crossed out on it; when asked what that was for he said it was in memorial of his late son <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/adam-pettty.html">Adam</a>. His T.V jobs include being on Trackside and NASCAR Smarts; he also hosts the weekly talk show “Fast Talk” on the Performance Racing Network (PRN). He is an inductee in both the Philanthropy Hall of Fame and the Humanitarian Hall of Fame. <br /><br />When he is not working he is at home with his wife Pattie and his two children Austin and Montgomery Lee.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Petty">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Petty</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.kylepetty.com/page/about-kyle-petty">http://www.kylepetty.com/page/about-kyle-petty</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=88&seriesID=9&subID=19">http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=88&seriesID=9&subID=19</a><br /><br /><a href="http://insiderracingnews.com/Writers/AM/121608.html">http://insiderracingnews.com/Writers/AM/121608.html</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-64715557271818650522010-01-27T18:38:00.000-08:002010-01-27T18:45:16.263-08:00Martin Truex Jr.Martin Lee Truex, Jr. was born on June 29th of 1980 in Mayetta, Stafford Township, New Jersey. His father, Martin Sr., was a former race winner in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Division North (Camping World East) Series. <br /><br />Martin began racing in the NASCAR Busch North (Camping World East) Series in 2000; from 2000 to 2004 with a family owned #56 SeaWatch Chevy Truex won 5 races, and 13 poles.<br /><br />Truex made his first NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series start in 2001 at the Dover International Speedway in his father's #56 XST Paintable Silicon Chevy. He started 19th but finished 38th after an early wreck. <br /><br />In 2002, Truex drove one Busch (Nationwide) race for Phoenix Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway, starting thirteenth and finishing twenty-ninth. He ran three races the rest of that season for his father, with a best finish of 17th at Dover.<br /><br />In 2003, he began the season with his father's team, before he was hired by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to drive his #81 Chance 2 Motorsports Chevy. He made his debut with Chance 2 at Richmond International Raceway, where he qualified sixth and led eleven laps before transmission failure forced him to a 31st place finish. He split time between Chance 2 and his father's team for the 10 races he ran that season, except at Dover, where he drove for <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/santon-barrett.html">Stanton Barrett</a>. <br /><br />Truex raced his first full season in NASCAR’s second-tier series for Chance 2 in 2004. He earned his very first victory at the Bristol Motor Speedway, and he would later add 3 more victories over the next 7 races. This would include a victory at Talladega Superspeedway which broke Dale Jr’s streak of winning restrictor plate races in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, and a victory at the final NASCAR event held at Nazareth Speedway. At the end of the season one race until the last Truex was already clinched for the championship. Total that year he raced 34 times and won 6 races with 26 top 10’s. Martin became only the second driver to Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win a championship in there rookie year. Truex made his NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway In Dale Earnhardt Inc’s #1; he started 33rd and finished 37th. <br /><br />Truex stayed in the Busch (Nationwide) Series to defend his championship in 2005, winning the title for the second season in a row over challenger <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/clint-bowyer.html">Clint Bowyer</a>. He won the first NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series point’s race held outside the United States, in Mexico, as well as defending his wins at Talladega and Dover. He took his first win at Daytona International Speedway on July 1, 2005. Truex Jr also finished second in the IROC standings.<br /><br />In 2006, Truex moved to the #1 Bass Pro Shops, DEI Chevrolet full-time in the NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup Series. He had two top-five finishes and finished nineteenth in points as a rookie. He finished 3rd in the rookie of the year battle to two-time winner Denny Hamlin and second placer <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/clint-bowyer.html">Clint Bowyer</a>.<br /><br />Truex got his first win of 2007 at the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Open, securing a spot in the 2007 Nextel All-Star Challenge, where he finished 10th. A few weeks later, he won the Autism Speaks 400 scoring his first NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup Series win with an interval of seven seconds between himself and pole sitter <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/ryan-newman.html">Ryan Newman</a>; he led over half of the race with 219 of 400 laps. Truex make it to the chase and finished 11th in the points with one win and 14 top tens.<br /><br />In 2008 Martin was thought of as the head driver due to Dale Jr moving to Hendrick Motorsports. With that responsibility he went winless in 2008, but had eleven top-tens and finished 15th in points. <br /><br />At the beginning of the 2009 season, his team, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. merged with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and was renamed Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Truex began the year by positively by winning the pole for the Daytona 500. 2009 would be his final season with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.<br /><br />At the conclusion of the 2009 season, Truex left Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and will drive the #56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing, receiving owner points from the #55 car formerly driven by the semi-retired Waltrip. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=1499&seriesId=1">http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=1499&seriesId=1</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Truex,_Jr.">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Truex,_Jr.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://nascar.suite101.com/article.cfm/martin_truex_jr_biography">http://nascar.suite101.com/article.cfm/martin_truex_jr_biography</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.biography.com/driventowin/dtw_drivers_truex.jsp<br />">http://www.biography.com/driventowin/dtw_drivers_truex.jsp</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-41249828397770701142010-01-26T10:49:00.000-08:002010-01-26T10:55:19.834-08:00Kevin LepageKevin Lepage was born on June 26th of 1962 in Shelburne, Vermont. <br /><br />Between 1982 and 1986, Lepage raced on the short tracks of the Northeast, primarily Catamount Speedway in Vermont and Thunder Road in Barre, Vermont. <br /><br />Lepage made his Busch (Nationwide) Series debut in 1986 at Oxford Plains Speedway, starting 41st and finishing 15th in the #09 Buick. <br /><br />In 1987, Lepage formed his own race team and competed on the American-Canadian Tour (A.C.T.) through the 1993 season with mediocre success. <br /><br />He became a Busch (Nationwide) Series regular in 1994, in his self-owned #71 Vermont Teddy Bear Company car. He had a best finish of 9th at New Hampshire International Speedway, and he finished the year off 24th in points. <br /><br />The 1995 season resulted in five top 10's and finishing 18th in points. At the end of the season, he lost his sponsorship from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company.<br /><br />He ran 1996 unsponsored with his own team until April when he then joined David Ridling and his #88 Ridling Motorsports team with sponsorship from Ridling's own Farmer's Choice Fertilizer. He won his first career race at the season finale Jiffy Lube Miami 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. He finished eighth in points with 1 win, 3 Top 5's and 10 Top 10's. <br /><br />He ran most of the 1997 season driving for Ridling before leaving due to the team losing his sponsor. Lepage would finish out the year running for Phoenix Motorsports and ST Motorsports. He finished 12th in points, posting 3 Top 5's and 6 Top 10's. Lepage had his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut by qualifying for the Fall Charlotte race in the #91 LJ Racing car in an impressive 12th; he also ran two more races that year.<br /><br />Lepage made the move to the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series full-time in 1998, driving for LJ Racing. Despite the team's lack of sponsorship, Lepage posted two fourteenth-place finishes, catching the eye of the multi-million dollar team owner Jack Roush. Lepage announced his decision to depart LJ Racing in late June 1998 and sat out 6 races to work out the details of the new contract with Roush. He would drive the #16 Primestar Ford Taurus in place of Ted Musgrave, who was released after Lepage's hiring. He earned a pair of top-10 finishes in 13 races for Roush, his best finish being a sixth place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Despite missing several races, he nearly won the Rookie of the Year battle. Lepage also drove in the Busch (Nationwide) series for Doug Taylors’ #40 team with sponsorship from Channellock. Lepage finished 14th in points despite only starting 24 races out of 31 in the Busch (Nationwide) Series. Lepage won his second career Busch (Nationwide) race at the August Food City 250 at Bristol and won his first career pole at the June MBNA Platinum 200 at Dover. He finished the year with 1 win, 6 Top 5’s, and 10 Top 10's.<br /><br />Lepage returned in 1999 with sponsorship from Primestar. In April his sponsorship from Primestar was replaced with TV Guide. He had two top-tens and won the pole at the season-ending NAPA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, earning him a 25th-place point’s finish. Lepage also ran in the Busch (Nationwide) Series driving the #99 J&J Racing/Brewco Motorsports car with sponsorship from Red Man. He finished 35th in points with 14 starts, 2 Top 5's and 6 Top 10's.<br /><br />He began 2000 unsponsored, before picking up backing from Familyclick.com. He failed to qualify twice and finished 28th in points 5 with 1 Top and 3 top 10's. At the end of the year, Familyclick ended its backing and Roush closed the #16 team. That season Lepage restarted his #71 Busch (Nationwide) team as Matrix Motorsports with sponsorship from Red Man, Southern Pride Chewing Tobacco, and State Fair Corn Dogs. He finished 42nd in points with 10 starts, 1 Top 5 and 2 Top 10's.<br /><br />In 2001, Lepage returned to the Busch (Nationwide) Series with his own team running full-time. Kevin’s #71 Matrix Motorsports State Fair Corn Dogs Ford raced 15 races that year with one top five, four top tens, and a pole. He also returned to the Cup series, running the #4 Kodak Chevrolet for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, replacing Robby Gordon after five races. Late in the season, he switched to the #7 Ultra Motorsports Ford, posting a tenth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.<br /><br />Early in 2002, Lepage's team was shut down due to a lack of sponsorship, even though he had an 8th at Daytona and a 4th at Las Vegas. He joined Brewco Motorsports, driving their #37 Timber Wolf Chevy. In 24 starts that year, he had six top-tens and two poles, finishing 25th in points. He also ran three Cup races, two in the #38 Quest Motor Racing Ford, and another for BAM Racing at Talladega in a car sponsored by country music star Billy Ray Cyrus.<br /><br />In 2003, Lepage ran his own team at the Cup level for one race, finishing 32nd at the Coca-Cola 600. He ran two races that year for CLR Racing, where he had a fourth place start at Michigan International Raceway, before returning to Morgan-McClure to finish the year, his best finish a fourteenth at Atlanta. <br /><br />He teamed with Morgan-McClure again in 2004, but after only six races, Lepage departed due to a lack of sponsorship. He then signed with Competitive Edge Motorsports, posting a best finish of 41st twice, before leaving the team. He ended the season with R&J Racing, where he had a best finish of 27th at Phoenix International Raceway. He also ran eleven races in the Busch (Nationwide) Series for MacDonald Motorsports, where he had two top-fifteen finishes.<br /><br />In 2005, Lepage returned to R&J, and started the season off with a third-place finish in the Gatorade Duels and a ninth-place finish at the Daytona 500. Unfortunately, the closest Lepage came to another top 10 was a 12th place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the May Coca-Cola 600, and was released from the ride after the Brickyard 400. He signed with Peak Fitness Racing for the portion of the year, and had a sixth-place qualifying effort at Kansas. He finished the season 39th in points. He also ran six races with MacDonald in the Busch (Nationwide) Series as well, posting a ninth-place finish at Lowe's. That year, Lepage made his debut in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series for Green Light Racing at Dover finishing 19th.<br /><br />Lepage returned to Peak for 2006, but due to a lack of sponsorship money, the team was sold to Front Row Motorsports in April. Lepage ran a couple of races for FRM before leaving for BAM Racing. He ran 12 races for BAM with a best finish of 21st at Bristol Motor Speedway before leaving them. Lepage then rejoined Front Row Motorsports making two of the final eight races. He ended up 40th in points even with missing 14 races. In the Busch (Nationwide) Series he had a best finish of 19th in the seven races he ran. Lepage ran two races for Green Light Racing in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series with a best finish of 21st at Michigan. At the end of the year, Lepage sold the remnants of Matrix Motorsports to start a lawn care business called Matrix Lawn and Landscaping.<br /><br />In 2007, Lepage started his NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup year driving the #34 Front Row Motorsports car in the races where the team could afford to run two cars. Starting in late April, Front Row would mainly run the #37 car with Lepage making most of the attempts. In 27 attempts, Lepage was only able to make two races; Darlington and New Hampshire. He also drove a part-time schedule for a few teams in the Busch (Nationwide) Series. Lepage also had two starts for Team Racing in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series with a best finish of 35th at Texas.<br /><br />Lepage returned to driving full time in the Nationwide Series in 2008, driving for Specialty Racing. Lepage was released by Specialty after the July Daytona race and was replaced by Brandon Whitt. Later in the season, he was hired to drive the #73 for Derrike Cope, and finished the season 28th in driver's points, despite missing 8 races. Lepage’s only race in the Truck Series was at the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami speedway for Green Light Racing in which he finished 35th.<br /><br />He began the 2009 season without a fulltime ride, but after running Derrike Cope's #73 at Bristol, Lepage joined Jimmy Means' team at Texas in April until leaving after the June race at New Hampshire. He then joined Derrike Cope's team for the rest of the season primarily driving the #78, but also occasionally driving the #73. Lepage also ran one race for Green Light Racing at Dover in the Camping World Truck Series finishing 33rd.<br /><br />One of Lepage’s many fun facts is that he is the only NASCAR driver from Vermont to <br />qualify for the Daytona 500.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/klepage00/bg/bio.html">http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/klepage00/bg/bio.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Lepage">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Lepage</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.kevinlepageinc.com/bio.html">http://www.kevinlepageinc.com/bio.html</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-80513832445580072382010-01-23T14:16:00.000-08:002012-07-07T12:13:38.251-07:00Ned JarrettNed Jarrett was born on October 12th of 1932 in Newton, North Carolina as one of 4 children. He is the father of NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup champion <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/dale-jarrett.html">Dale Jarrett</a>.<br /><br />Jarrett was best known for his calm demeanor, and he became known as the "Gentleman Ned Jarrett". Yet he was the exact opposite when he got behind the wheel of a car. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvp3IuM8kOl0-HaMjDZ2IpVXJBaiKXrpPq3sRaePAeETYZSvV4omwz9aqn6VU6RchYnfXQOnlWT4JsPiRt-xOOX1n6Rx69MfH1qdPH1CQsoSJErH0UJRr7W4qFT1SwSkRE8cfdyO_2V0xc/s1600/100_2376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvp3IuM8kOl0-HaMjDZ2IpVXJBaiKXrpPq3sRaePAeETYZSvV4omwz9aqn6VU6RchYnfXQOnlWT4JsPiRt-xOOX1n6Rx69MfH1qdPH1CQsoSJErH0UJRr7W4qFT1SwSkRE8cfdyO_2V0xc/s320/100_2376.JPG" /></a></div><br />Jarrett was introduced to cars early in his as his father let him drive the family car to church on Sunday mornings when he was nine years old. Ned started working for his father in his sawmill by the time he was 17, but racing was what he really wanted to do with his life.<br /><br />Ned drove in his first race in 1952 at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway; that was also HMS first race. He drove a Sportsman Ford that he co-owned with his brother-in-law, and finished tenth. This did not go over well with his father. His father told him he could work on cars but not drive them. Once, his brother-in-law was under the weather for a race and asked Ned to fill in for him. Ned used his brother-in-law's name and came in second in that race. That worked out so smoothly that Ned drove in a few more races under an assumed name, but was finally caught by his father after winning a race. His father told him if he was going to drive to at least use his own name.<br /><br />Jarrett raced in his first NASCAR Grand National race at the 1953 Southern 500 at Darlington Speedway. He was out after 10 laps after the engine leaked oil.<br /><br />In 1955 Ned won the track championship at the track his son would make his first start at; Hickory Motor Speedway. <br /><br />Jarrett came in second in the Sportsman (Nationwide) series points in 1956, and in 1957 and 1958 he won the championship.<br /><br />In 1959, he was hoping to move up to the Grand National (Sprint Cup) series. He purchased a <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a> Ford for $2,000. He didn't have enough money to buy the car so he waited for the banks to close on Friday and wrote the check. He entered two races that weekend, one at Rambi Speedway at Myrtle Beach and one at Charlotte NC. The one at Myrtle Beach he won and went to Charlotte the next day. The race at Charlotte Ned had to give up his car on the first caution due to his hands being cut up from the previous race, to Joe Weatherly. After Junior Johnson’s engine dropped he took over and won the race. The prize money still went to Ned but he paid Junior and had enough to cover his check on Monday. <br /><br />In 1960, Jarrett won five races but lost the championship to Rex White. In the early ‘60’s Ned started broadcasting on a regular show on a Newton, NC station, WNNC; WNNC is also the same place Dr. Jerry Punch started his broadcasting career.<br /><br />Ned beat Rex this year to win the Grand National (Sprint Cup) championship in 1961. He finished in the top five 22 times and finished in the top ten in 34 races; he won one race in his Bee Gee Holloway owned Chevrolet. That year he sold the first African-American NASCAR driver <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/wendell-scott.html">Wendell Scott</a> his old 1961 Chevrolet Bel Air coupe which led Wendell to his first win.<br /><br />In 1962 Ford introduced the new “Fastback” which Ned, to make the field for the Daytona 500, had to air-chisel the body of an old “fastback” dirt car with his crew chief. Next, they air-chiseled the new body from a '63 Fastback and fitted it onto the old body and chassis. This hybrid body went on to become the car Ned drove into the "Fastback Ford" sweep (top five positions) at Daytona that year. The Fastback bodies had arrived from Ford in wooden crates.<br /><br />In 1964, Jarrett joined a team owned by Bondy Long and with the support of Ford; he won 15 times but lost the championship to 7-time champion Richard Petty. Jarrett picked up his first of only two superspeedway wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway.<br /><br />In 1965, Jarrett became a super star when he won 13 races and another Grand National (Sprint Cup) championship. He placed among the top five in 42 of the 54 races that he ran.<br /><br />In 1965 NASCAR saw there wildest race at the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Rookie driver Buren Skeen died after two cars ran into the side of his car in the early laps. Sam McQuagg was leading the race; when Cale Yarborough tried to muscle past McQuagg for the lead Yarborough flew over the guardrail, rolled around six times, and ended up at the end of the parking lot by a light post. Yarborough waved to the crowd as he walked back to the pits. With 44 laps left, Fred Lorenzen and Darel Dieringer were fighting for the lead far ahead of Jarrett. Lorenzen's motor expired, and even before he could get into the pits Dieringer's motor started smoking too. Dieringer continued at a slower pace to finish third. The race was won by Ned Jarrett by 14 laps, which is the largest margin of victory according to miles in NASCAR history to date.<br /><br />In 1966, Jarrett was in the run for another championship when Ford announced that they were withdrawing from NASCAR. Jarrett decided that it was time to retire at the young age of 34 since he was sponsor less while at the top of his game. <br /><br />In 1978, Jarrett became a radio broadcaster on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) Radio.<br /><br />One of Ned’s broadcasting career highlights was at the 1984 Daytona 500 which was Richard Petty’s 200th win; Ned interviewed the United States of America’s president Ronald Regan, live before the race. <br /><br />Ned Jarrett was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991.<br /><br />A famous moment in Ned’s television career was when he called his son <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/dale-jarrett.html">Dale</a>'s victory at the 1993 Daytona 500, openly going against the networks rules of being biased, he tried to coach Dale to beat Dale Earnhardt in what is commonly known as “The Dale and Dale Show”. Embarrassed by his loss of objectivity, he tried to apologize to Earnhardt after the race, but Earnhardt merely smiled and said, "I'm a father, too." Jarrett also has been a television broadcaster on The Nashville Network, CBS, Fox Sports Network, and most recently ESPN.<br /><br />In 1998 Ned was named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers in honor of NASCAR’s 50th anniversary.<br /><br />In 1999 his son Dale won his first and only championship in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series making him and Ned the second ever father-son combo to win championships only to Lee and Richard Petty.<br /><br />On May 26, 2007 Ned returned to the booth to call the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 Busch (Nationwide) race alongside with the ESPN crew of Andy Petree, Jerry Punch, and his son, 1999 Cup Champ, <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/dale-jarrett.html">Dale Jarrett</a>.<br /><br />Ned hosted a daily radio program about racing on MRN Radio called "Ned Jarrett's World of Racing" until May 15, 2009, when he announced he would retire from the program. Joe Gibbs became the show's new host the following Monday, May 18.<br /><br />Ned's other son Glenn Jarrett, was a regular Busch (Nationwide) Series driver and had a few Winston (Sprint) Cup starts in the 1980s but now covers cable television as a race broadcaster. Ned also has a daughter Patti, who before becoming a mom, also worked in racing. Patti is married to Jimmy Makar, who worked with <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/dale-jarrett.html">Dale Jarrett</a> for three years at Joe Gibbs Racing, and won the 2000 championship crew chief with Bobby Labonte. Dale's son, Ned’s grandson, Jason Jarrett also had numerous Busch (Nationwide) and a few NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup starts, with several wins in the ARCA RE/MAX Series.<br /><br />Total in Ned’s very short Grand National (Sprint Cup) career he won 50 races which is 8th on the all-time list, and 2 championships.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Jarrett">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Jarrett</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1991/Ned_Jarrett_main.htm">http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1991/Ned_Jarrett_main.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/drivers/ned-jarrett.htm">http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/drivers/ned-jarrett.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gonascargo.com/drivers/ned-jarrett.php">http://www.gonascargo.com/drivers/ned-jarrett.php</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-58990446349311109652010-01-19T11:00:00.000-08:002010-02-17T05:29:44.580-08:00Elliott SadlerElliott William Barnes Sadler was born on April 30th of 1975 in Emporia, Virginia as the youngest of three sons to Herman and Bell Sadler. Elliott’s older brother Hermie was a race car driver and now is an announcer on the Speed Channel. Bud Elliott and Herman Sadler, his father and uncle were very successful short track racers before Elliott was born in the short-tracks of Virginia.<br /><br />Sadler began racing go-karts in 1982 at the age of seven. <br /><br />In 1984 Elliott won the Virginia State Karting Championship.<br /><br />He was runner-up in 1989 for the World Karting Association national title.<br /><br />In 1992 Sadler won the North Carolina Gold Cup. Between 1984 and 1992 in Karts Elliott’s accomplishments included over 200 wins. <br /><br />When he turned 18 in 1993, he moved to the Winston Racing (Dodge Weekly) Series on a full-time basis; he achieved his first victory in that series in only his rookie year. <br /><br />In 1995 Sadler was crowned the track champion at the South Boston Speedway, where he achieved 13 wins that year, including a 6-race winning streak. After being the champion at the SBS he made his Busch (Nationwide) Series debut there in the #46 Dewalt Tools Chevy; he started 15nd and finished 8th. He also made another start at Richmond International Raceway and finished 24th.<br /><br />He began 1996 driving a part-time schedule for his family-owned team the Sadler Brothers, before switching over to the #29 World Championship of Wrestling Chevy owned by Diamond Ridge Motorsports. He had three top-tens in the Diamond Ridge ride, with his best finish coming at the Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, where he finished fifth. After making thirteen starts that year, he finished 35th in points.<br /><br />Sadler and Diamond Ridge began 1997 without a sponsor but after earning two poles at Daytona and Darlington Phillips 66 came on board as a sponsor. Sadler won his first career NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) series race at Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania in only his 13th start. He followed that up with back-to-back wins at Myrtle Beach Speedway and Gateway International Raceway. He won an additional four pole positions and finished a career-high fifth in points. He also attempted the UAW-GM Quality 500 in the Cup Series for Team SABCO, but failed to qualify.<br /><br />In 1998, Sadler's team switched to the #66 due to the sponsor Phillips 66, and won early in the season at Bristol. After another win at North Carolina Speedway, Sadler announced he would leave Diamond Ridge at the end of the season; that would be Elliott’s last full season in the Busch (Nationwide) series. He made his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the #92 for Diamond Ridge, starting 31st, but finishing 42nd after an engine failure. He ran another Cup race later at Bristol, finishing 24th. <br /><br />Sadler moved up to the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series full-time in 1999, driving the #21 CITGO Ford for the Wood Brothers. His best finish that year was a tenth at Texas Motor Speedway; he finished 24th in points and finished runner-up to Tony Stewart for the Rookie of the Year honors. He also returned to the Busch (Nationwide) Series on a part-time basis, filling in for the injured Andy Santerre for Innovative Motorsports; his best finish was a fifth at California Speedway. He also drove a handful of races for Lyndon Amick. <br /><br />Sadler’s year in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in 2000 was sort of rocky. He only had one top ten which was at Bristol and he failed to qualify at Talladega Superspeedway. He also had a wild flip at Michigan Speedway after cutting a tire in practice.<br /><br />In 2001, Motorcraft became Sadler's new sponsor in his Wood Brothers #21. At Bristol in March he won his very first Cup race which just happened to be the Wood Brothers last win to date. He had another top-ten and finished 20th in points. <br /><br />In 2002 Elliott had seven top-tens and finished 23rd in points. <br /><br />Sadler left for Robert Yates Racing to drive the #38 M&M's Ford. In his first season of competition with Yates, Sadler won the pole at Darlington Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway, and finished 22nd in points. Ironically <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/ricky-rudd.html">Ricky Rudd</a> took Sadler’s old #21 and finished 23rd, one position behind Sadler, in the points.<br /><br />In 2003, Sadler had a nasty crash at Talladega after near-contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and touched the right-front fender of Kurt Busch. Sadler blew into the air, flipped twice, landed on his roof, spun towards the banking, and flipped 5 times and thankfully Sadler was uninjured.<br /><br />Sadler started 2004 with a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500, and six races later won at Texas Motor Speedway for his 2nd career win. He was only one of four drivers to stay in the top-10 in points all season. He won for the third time in his career at the California Speedway, winning the battle over Kasey Kahne and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/mark-martin.html">Mark Martin</a>. He had another flip at Talladega after he spun out and blew over onto his roof. Sadler was uninjured, and he was even able to drive his car back to the garage. He made the Chase, and finished a career high ninth in the championship standings. <br /><br />Sadler failed to win again in 2005, but won four poles. At the cut-off race at Richmond Elliott was 11th and didn’t get to make the chase. He also drove sixteen races for RYR's Busch (Nationwide) car, the #90 CitiFinancial Ford Taurus and in those he had three top-five finishes.<br /><br />In 2006, Sadler had a pole at Talladega and was nineteenth in points. He made seven Busch (Nationwide) starts; his best finish was second at Richmond. After a lack of results, Sadler left RYR midway through 2006 for Ray Evernham’s team.<br /><br />In the 2007 Daytona 500, Sadler along with a couple of other drivers was caught in a cheating scandal. Despite being docked 25 points, he still went on to finish a season best 6th after missing a big race at the end. Sadler then had many ups and downs throughout the season. In 2007, Sadler led 62 laps, posted two top-10 finishes and finished 25th in points. Sadler went longer than any other driver before failing to finish a race in 2007. That year he was featured on the cover of the EA Sports game NASCAR 07.<br /><br />For the 2008 season, Sadler received new sponsorship from Best Buy for 15 races, Stanley Tools for 13 races, McDonald's for 6 races, and Siemens for 2 races. He struggled in 2008, garnering only 2 top fives, 8 top tens, and 16 top twenties. He had 4 DNFs and 12 finishes of 30th or worse. Sadler led 21 laps in 2008, his fewest since the 2000 season. He ended the year 24th in the Sprint Cup Series standings. On December 27, 2008, it was reported that A.J. Allmendinger would replace Sadler in the #19 Best Buy Dodge for Gillett-Evernham Motorsports in 2009. Elliott threatened a lawsuit for breach of contract; however the lawsuit was dropped after the GEM Petty Enterprises merger and he was promised his ride back.<br /><br />During Elliott’s first race with the newly merged Richard Petty Motorsports at the Daytona 500 of 2009, Elliott led 24 laps and was leading about five seconds before it started raining, but Matt Kenseth passed him right before the yellow which caused him to finish 5th. Mid-way through the 2009 season Sadler said this about his future. "We are approaching the remainder of 2009 and beginning of 2010 thinking we can improve our program enough to where we can contend for victory lane," "Everyone is very positive on this team. With the personnel and resources, I think all of us expect to do that. That's our goal."<br /><br />Sadler is heavily involved in the Autism Speaks charity because his niece Halie has Autism. In 2008, Best Buy (his sponsor) sponsored the Best Buy 400 Benefiting Student Clubs of Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. His car had a custom paint scheme specifically for that race. His hood and helmet were signed and auctioned off following the race, with the proceeds going to Autism Speaks.<br /><br />On February 16th, 2010, Elliott's wife Amanda birthed Wyatt Herman Fritts Sadler at 9:47am in Richmond, VA.<br /><br />When he isn't racing, Sadler enjoys hunting, golfing, playing video games, hanging out with friends and following a variety of sports. He is a spokesman for NASCAR SpeedParks and appears in national TV commercials for Coca-Cola. He also does periodic appearances on PRN’s weekly race show. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.stanleymotorsports.com/team_sadler_bio.asp">http://www.stanleymotorsports.com/team_sadler_bio.asp</a><br /><br /><A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Sadler">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Sadler</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.elliottsadlerracefans.com/elliott_sadler_bio.htm">http://www.elliottsadlerracefans.com/elliott_sadler_bio.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.evernhammotorsports.com/main.cfm?pagename=es_bio">http://www.evernhammotorsports.com/main.cfm?pagename=es_bio</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-43795850909733256922010-01-18T09:03:00.000-08:002010-01-18T09:11:38.477-08:00Buddy BakerElzie Wylie “Buddy” Baker, Jr. was born on January 25th of 1941 in Florence, South Carolina. Buddy is the son of two time NASCAR Grand National (Sprint cup) champion Buck Baker. Buddy began his NASCAR Grand National (Sprint Cup) career in 1959.<br /><br />In 1970 Buddy became the very first driver to win a race at the same track as his father when he won the Southern 500 at Darlington 17 years after his father Buck was victorious. On March 24th of that same year he became the first driver to ever exceed 200 mph (320 km/h) on a closed course which just happened to be at Talladega, Alabama. That speed earned him the nickname “Leadfoot”.<br /><br />In 1975 Buddy won both of the races at NASCAR’s longest track, Talladega, Alabama.<br /><br />In 1980 Buddy won the season opening Daytona 500 with a blazing fast record average speed of 177.60 mph; that record still stands today. The reason he won that race, some envious drivers say, is because of his Oldsmobile commonly known as the “Gray Ghost”. The “Gray Ghost” was a gray and black painted car that some say would blend into the track and some drivers wouldn’t catch it when they glanced in there mirrors which caused Buddy to be able to surprise them when he passed them. NASCAR made him put Day-Glo on his car because of that reason. He also won at Talladega later on that year for the third time in his career.<br /><br />Buddy co-owned a team with Danny Schiff from 1985 to 1989 in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup series. <br /><br />In 1992 Buddy decided to call it quits as he drove in his last NASCAR sanctioned race.<br /><br />Buddy raced 34 years with 699 starts but only competed a full season only 3 times. Throughout his career Buddy had 19 wins, 202 top fives, which is ninth on the all time list, 311 top ten finishes, $3,995,300 in career winnings, and is tenth on the all-time list for pole positions with 40. His father is ninth on that list with 44. Within his career he really helped Jimmy Spencer make a name for himself in the world of NASCAR. He also competed in two International Race of Champions (IROC) seasons. Another one of his career highlights is that he has led the most laps at Talladega with 1,099.<br /><br />Baker is one of only eight drivers to have a Career Grand Slam or the “Big four”, by winning the sport's four major races, the Daytona 500, the fall race at Talladega, the 600 at Charlotte, and the Southern 500 at Darlington. The only other drivers to do so are Richard Petty, <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/david-pearson.html">David Pearson</a>, Bobby Allison, <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell Waltrip</a>, Dale Earnhardt, <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/jeff-gordon.html">Jeff Gordon</a>, and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/stock-car-racing-fans-may-be-scratching.html">Jimmie Johnson</a>. He is the only one of the eight to not win the championship.<br /><br />In 1995 Buddy was inducted into the Charlotte Motor Speedway Court of Legends in Charlotte, North Carolina.<br /><br />In 1997 Buddy was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Alabama joining his father Buck as an inductee.<br /><br />In celebration of NASCAR’s 50th anniversary in 1998 Buddy was named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers.<br /><br />From 1991 to 2000 Buddy was a commentator for The Nashville Network for specified NASCAR races. <br /><br />In 2001 and 2002 Buddy and Bob Dillner called American Speed Association (ASA) races for TNN. TNN was later renamed to Spike TV.<br /><br />Now that Buddy is retired he, his brother, and his father, runs the Buck Baker Racing School in Rockingham, North Carolina. He also enjoys fishing and golf. <br />He spent almost a decade with Penske Racing mentoring drivers such as <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/rusty-wallace.html">Rusty Wallace</a> and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/ryan-newman.html">Ryan Newman</a> after his retirement. He has also been a spotter for Newman and the No. 12 Alltel Dodge and still does test driving when needed. During 2007, Buddy could be heard as the part-time co-host of The Driver's Seat with John Kernan on Sirius Satellite Radio's NASCAR channel 128 and as of 2008, Buddy now the co-hosts “Late Shift” along with Alex Hayden on Sirius Satellite Radio.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.decadesofracing.net/BuddyBaker.htm">http://www.decadesofracing.net/BuddyBaker.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gonascargo.com/drivers/buddy-baker.php">http://www.gonascargo.com/drivers/buddy-baker.php</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Baker">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Baker</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.buddybaker.com/bio.html">http://www.buddybaker.com/bio.html</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-53978988265486656732010-01-17T09:31:00.000-08:002010-01-17T09:47:23.887-08:00Davey AllisonDavey is in a group with the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/dale-jarrett.html">Dale Jarrett</a>, Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, and many more drivers that was born into a family of NASCAR legends. Davey’s father Bobby Allison was a successful driver along with his uncle Donnie Allison.<br /><br />David Carl Allison was born on February 25th of 1961 in Hollywood, Florida which ironically was the day before his NASCAR legend’s father Bobby’s first Daytona 500. When his family moved to Hueytown, Alabama he became very good friends with Red Farmer, and Neil Bonnett; ironically Red and Neil would later witness the death of Davey. <br /><br />Growing up, Davey participated in athletics, preferring football, but was destined, like many children of racers, to become a racer himself. He began sweeping floors for his father's Winston (Sprint) Cup team, and after graduating high school would actually work on the cars, and would work after-hours on his own race car, a Chevy Nova built by Davey and a group of his friends affectionately known as the "Peach Fuzz Gang". <br /><br />He began his career in 1979 at Birmingham International Raceway where he earned his first win in just his sixth start. <br /><br />He became a regular winner at BIR and by 1983, was racing in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) series. Davey won both ARCA events at his "Home track", Talladega Superspeedway in 1983, and was named ARCA Rookie of the Year in 1984, placing second in the series title. He also made his first Winston (Sprint) Cup start in 1984 at the Talladega 500, he started 22nd, and finished 10th in a Hoss Ellington owned Chevrolet. That same year, he married his first wife, Deborah.<br /><br />Davey continued racing in the ARCA series in 1985 and eventually notched eight wins in the series, which four of them was at Talladega Superspeedway. He also competed in some of NASCAR's lower divisions.<br /><br />His great race at Talladega earned Davey more Winston (Sprint) Cup opportunities in 1986 where he would sub for injured friend and fellow Alabama Gang member Neil Bonnett in <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a>'s #12 Budweiser Chevy.<br /><br />Prior to the 1987 season, car owner Harry Ranier asked Allison to replace veteran driver Cale Yarborough in the #28 Ranier-Lundy Ford Thunderbird. Yarborough and his sponsor Hardees, was leaving the team to start their own operation. Ranier negotiated a sponsorship deal with Texaco's Havoline motor oil brand, a deal which was signed during the NASCAR edition of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway. On qualifying day, Davey signaled that he was in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series to stay when he qualified an unmarked, but Texaco-Havoline painted #28 Thunderbird second, for the 1987 Daytona 500, which was the first time a rookie started on the front row for NASCAR's most prestigious event. A pit miscue which allowed a rear tire to fall off while he was on the track ended his hopes of a good finish in the race, but success for Davey would be just around the corner. At the Winston 500 in May Davey’s dad Bobby was in a major wreck which knocked him out of the race and when <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/bill-elliott.html">Bill Elliot</a>, his only other competition, dropped an engine he was set and he won the darkness shortened race becoming the first rookie since Ron Bouchard in 1981 to win a race. He then won the Budweiser 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway about a month later becoming the first rookie to win two races in a season. Overall that season out ofthe 22 races he ran, he had 2 wins, 9 top-fives, 10 top-tens, and five poles in just his rookie season.<br /><br />The 1988 season started with Davey for the second time in a row starting second in the prestigious Daytona 500; the difference between this race and the one before is this was the first race that had NASCAR mandated a Carburetor Restrictor Plate. Davey didn’t have to good of a day up until the last of the race when he and his father Bobby was running 1-2; Bobby held off Davey for the win but they celebrated together in victory lane. Mid-season sole owner Harry Ranier replaced Allison’s crew chief Joey Knuckles with the legendary engine builder Robert Yates and not to long after that at Pocono that summer his father had an almost life ending crash which put his career to a halt. At Michigan a month or so after his father’s horrific crash he won his first race of the season; he also won at Richmond and in October Robert Yates bought the #28 team from Harry Ranier. Overall that year he competed in every race and won 2 of them with an 8th place finish in the points. <br /><br />Over the 1988-1989 offseason he and his wife Deborah had a divorce.<br /><br />The team rebounded from a rocky start at Rockingham and when the series moved to Talladega in May for the Winston 500 Davey started on the pole and got his first win of 1989, which was his second victory in Talladega's spring event. After the race, Davey stood sixth in the Winston (Sprint) Cup Championship standings, but didn't win again until the next restrictor plate race, the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, his last win of the season. By the end of the season, Davey had collected seven top-five and 13 top-ten finishes along with one pole position to go with the two wins. He slipped to 11th in the final Winston (Sprint) Cup standings, a disappointment over the previous season. However, Davey would marry his second wife, Liz, during the season, and their first child, Krista, was born prior to the 1990 season.<br /><br />At Bristol in March of 1990 he started the race a disappointing 17th in points, but crew chief Robert Yates decided to make a critical decision at the end of the race by pitting on the last caution; Davey won the race in a photo finish over <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/mark-martin.html">Mark Martin</a>. At Dover Davey got fellow Alabama native <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/hut-stricklin.html">Hut Stricklin</a> to drive his car. Yates hired “Suitcase” Jake Elder as the team’s crew chief after a pretty bad season up until that point. Davey won his second race that season at the Charlotte Motor Speedway that fall; his two wins, five top fives, and 10 top tens only propelled him to a 13th place finish in the points system.<br /><br />The beginning race of 1991 at Daytona was a very conspicuous race for Davey, he won the pole but then got caught up in one of Dale Earnhardt’s many Daytona 500 mishaps to finish 15th, and from there things wasn’t looking much brighter until Robert Yates fired crew chief Elder and hired Larry McReynolds. At Charlotte in May Davey dominated the All-Star race and a week later he totally demolished the field in the Coco-Cola 600 leading 263 of 400 laps. At the race at Sears Point later that year him and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/ricky-rudd.html">Ricky Rudd</a> was in a tight battle for the lead when Ricky spun Davey and crossed the finish line first, Ricky was stripped of the win for that reason and Davey was named the winner. At Talladega later that year Davey got mad and punched a wall, breaking his wrist; but of course he kept racing. The final results of 1991 was a third in points only four points behind second placer Ricky Rudd, five wins, 12 top fives, 16 top tens, and three poles. Davey’s wife Liz had a second child during the season, Robert Grey Allison.<br /><br />During the 1992 season opening Daytona 500, <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/bill-elliott.html">Bill Elliott</a> and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/sterling-marlin.html">Sterling Marlin</a> started a 14 car crash at the head of the field which helped Allison become the only contender. Davey won that race leading 127 laps to join his father Bobby as a Daytona 500 winner. In May Davey went to the Charlotte Motor Speedway as determined as ever to win. He came with the same car he did the previous year and at the Winston he was on his way to winning again after he spun Dale Earnhardt on the third turn, but Kyle Petty came out of the last turn right beside Davey and they made contact and Davey slammed into the wall. Davey claims to have had an out-of-body experience after the wreck; he ended up with a concussion, bruised lung, and a very beat up body. Larry McReynolds his crew chief stated during the FOX telecasts that the first words from Allison when he awoke in the hospital were "Did we win"? McReynolds told Allison "Yes Davey we won". Victory celebrations went on even though the driver was not present and all crew members later went to the hospital to be with their driver. <br /><br />The week after his horrendous wreck he went back to Charlotte for the Coco-Cola 600 to finish 4th in NASCAR’s most grueling race. He had the points lead all the way up until the second time they went to Pocono a couple months after his first major wreck of the season when he and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell Waltrip</a> made contact and Davey went flying and landed on the infield guardrail. Miraculously, Davey survived the crash and was airlifted to the hospital with a severe concussion, along with a broken arm, wrist, and collar bone. His 33rd place finish left him nine points behind <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/bill-elliott.html">Bill Elliott</a> for the series title, but that seemed insignificant at the moment. Especially traumatizing was the fact that Pocono was the site of Davey's father Bobby's career-ending crash a few years earlier. In fact, many worried fans wondered if the younger Allison's career was over. The week after that violent crash Davey raced a few laps at Talladega but then handed the reins over to Bobby Hillin Jr. who finished 3rd. <br /><br />A couple weeks after his major wreck at Pocono at Michigan Davey’s younger brother Clifford was practicing in the Busch (Nationwide) series and slammed hard into the third turn wall; he died on the way to the hospital. The final race of the year was a great one in NASCAR history. Richard Petty drove his very last race in NASCAR, while <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/jeff-gordon.html">Jeff Gordon</a> drove the first, and that was only the tip of the ice-berg. Alan Kulwicki and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/bill-elliott.html">Bill Elliott</a> were in a major point’s battle with Davey but Davey was in a wreck which lost his championship hopes. Alan won the championship over Elliott by only one lap difference, while Davey finished 3rd; overall that season Davey had 5 wins. That year, his grandfather, Bobby’s father, Pop Allison, died.<br /><br />In 1993 when Davey was thought to have been on the top of his game he won his very last NASCAR Winston (Sprint) cup race at Richmond. But in the International Race of Champions (IROC) series he got a second at Daytona and he won at Darlington. The previous year’s Winston (Sprint) Cup champion Alan Kulwicki tragically died in a plane crash, and just two days later Davey won a very emotional race at Bristol. One weekend in July Davey acquired a Hughes 369HS helicopter and was on his way to watch Neil Bonnett and his son David Bonnett practice for the Busch (Nationwide) series along with Red Farmer; on July 12th of 1993 he tried to land his helicopter, the nose lifted up and it crashed in the infield. Neil Bonnett was able to get Red Farmer out but was unable to reach Davey. He was alive but died the next day at Carraway Methodist Medical Center. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the crash on Allison's inexperience in helicopters, coupled with the decision to attempt a downwind landing. Thousands packed the auditorium at St. Aloysious Church in Bessemer, Alabama to pay their respects at his funeral. He is buried near his brother, Clifford in Bessemer's Highland Memorial Gardens. After the final race of the season, series champion Dale Earnhardt and race winner <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/rusty-wallace.html">Rusty Wallace</a> drove a side by side Polish Victory Lap carrying flags for fallen heroes Alan Kulwicki and Allison. Even through his death he still won the 1993 IROC championship with Terry Labonte filling in for him in the last race. Allison's championship money, $175,000, was set up as a trust fund for his children.<br /><br />In his short NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup career of only 191 starts, Davey Allison posted 19 wins, 66 top-five, and 92 top-ten finishes. He also won 14 poles and earned $6,724,174. He was survived by his wife, Liz, and two children, daughter Krista Marie, and son Robert Grey.<br /><br />In 1995, Davey Allison was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. <br />Davey Allison was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998. He was also named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers in honor of NASCAR’s 50th anniversary.<br /><br />Liz Allison and their two children moved to Nashville and she married physical therapist Ryan Hackett on May 13, 2000. Ironically, after being divorced for four years, Bobby and Judy Allison reunited at the wedding, after nearly seven years of tragedy had separated them. <br /><br />In 2003, on April 28, the mayor of Hueytown, Alabama declared it Davey Allison Day and is celebrated on the weekend of the springtime Talladega race.<br /><br />Davey was the first, second-generation "Alabama Gang" driver and carried on the tradition established by his father, his uncle Donnie Allison, Neil Bonnett, and Red Farmer. Davey is said to have introduced his cousin Pam Allison to future driver Hut Stricklin. Hut is commonly recognized as the last member of the Alabama Gang.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=4052&seriesID=1&subID=1">http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=4052&seriesID=1&subID=1</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davey_Allison">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davey_Allison</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.laidbackracing.com/Articles2004/DaveyAllisonTribute.html">http://www.laidbackracing.com/Articles2004/DaveyAllisonTribute.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1265097/bio">http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1265097/bio</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-64723578122596962832010-01-11T18:55:00.000-08:002010-01-11T18:58:46.349-08:00Clint BowyerClint Bowyer was born on May 30th, 1979, in Emporia, Kansas. <br /><br />Bowyer began racing at the age of five in motocross in 1984. <br /><br />Clint went on to capture over 200 wins and numerous championships in motocross between 1984 and 1992. <br /><br />In 1996, Bowyer began racing in the Street Stock division at Thunderhill Speedway in Mayetta, Kansas, and in 2000 he won the Modified championship there. <br /><br />Bowyer picked up 18 wins and 32 top-five finishes on his way to capturing the 2001 Modified championships at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas and Heartland Park Topeka. <br /><br />In 2002, he began racing in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, posting 9 poles, 12 wins and 32 top-five finishes, he finished second place in the point standings. He was also crowned the 2002 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Midwest Champion after another Modified championship at Lakeside Speedway and a Late Model championship at the famed I-70 Speedway in Odessa, MO.<br /><br />In 2003, Bowyer raced a full season in the NASCAR Midwest Series, scoring one top-ten finish in 11 starts. He also would make his first ARCA starts in 2003, and caught the eye of legendary car owner <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/richard-childress.html">Richard Childress</a> after leading 47 laps and finishing second in his debut at Nashville Superspeedway driving for Bobby Gerhart. <br /><br />In 2004, Clint began his season by finishing 8th in the ARCA Remax series race at Daytona in the #7 Advanced Chevrolet for Bobby Gerhart. In 2004 Bowyer began running the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series for <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/richard-childress.html">Childress</a>, sharing seat time in the #21 Reese's Chevrolet with Kevin Harvick. He drove in half of the 34 Busch Series races that year, winning one pole and gaining four top-fives and seven top-tens, attaining a season-high 3rd place finish in the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway in June. He also ran three races for Kevin Harvick Incorporated with help from Andy Petree Racing with sponsorship from Monaco Coach. Bowyer made two starts for Bill McAnally in the Camping world west series in the #20 Chevrolet. In his two starts at Phoenix & Auto Club speedway he won one pole and had a best finish of 2nd.<br /><br />Bowyer's first full Busch (Nationwide) season was in 2005, replacing Ron Hornaday in the #2 ACDelco Chevrolet. He won two poles and two races en route to a second place finish. He only lost the championship to repeat-champion Martin Truex Jr., losing by only 68 points. He also made his NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup debut in the Sylvania-sponsored #33 Chevy on April 23, 2005, during the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. He finished 22nd as the first car one lap down. <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/richard-childress.html">Richard Childress</a> Racing announced on October 15, 2005, that Bowyer would race the #07 Chevrolet full time in the NEXTEL (sprint) Cup series, replacing Dave Blaney for the 2006 season.<br /><br />Bowyer began his rookie Cup season with three top-fifteen finishes and had a total of eleven top-tens that season, with his best finish being a 3rd at California Speedway. He finished 68 points behind Denny Hamlin for the Rookie of the Year honor. Bowyer also continued to drive the #2 in the Busch (Nationwide) Series full-time, winning once and finishing 3rd in points. He started his first ever race in the Craftsman Truck (Camping World) truck series at Martinsville for green Light Racing and won his first Truck race at Texas in the #46 Jack Daniel’s Chevy fielded by Morgan-Dollar Motorsports in only his third start. <br /><br />In only his sophomore year in the Cup series he ended up on his roof in the 2007 Daytona 500. At Richmond before the Chase for the Cup started he was 9th in points, and after it started he was seeded 12th due to him having no wins that year. In the first race of the chase at Loudon, New Hampshire, he won his second ever pole, and two days later he won his first ever NEXTEL (Sprint) cup race in only his 64th start; he ended up a career best 3rd in points that year. He also ran a partial schedule in RCR’s #2 BB&T Chevy in the Busch (Nationwide) series, he won two races. He also ran a partial schedule in the truck series with Kevin Harvick Inc.<br /><br />In 2008, Bowyer continued to drive in the Cup and Nationwide Series full-time. On May 3, 2008, Bowyer earned his second Sprint Cup victory, winning the Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Speedway. Bowyer led only two laps, going to the front after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kyle Busch got together with less than four laps remaining in the race. At the end of the season RCR announced Clint would be driving the #33 General Mills Chevy and Casey Mears would drive his old #07 in 2009. The reason they did it that way was because General Mills didn’t want Casey because he drove for Kellogg at Hendrick Motorsports previously. He won the Nationwide championship that year over Carl Edwards only by 21 points.<br /><br />On May 6, 2008, Clint Bowyer attended and hosted the first annual Clint Bowyer Charity Golf Event in his hometown of Emporia, Kansas. It raised $160,000 for the Emporia Community foundation to "Make Emporia a better place”<br /><br />The beginning of 2009 was a little bit of a challenge as he had to qualify for the first five races on speed, due to his new team not having any previous championship points; he overcame that challenge to finish in the top 10 5 times in the first 7 races. He also drove the #29 Holiday Inn Chevy in the Nationwide series.<br /><br />Clint currently resides in Clemmons, N.C. <br /><br />http://www.rowdy.com/content/browse/driver/8<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Bowyer<br /><br />http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=2166&seriesId=1Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-84475117424597987422010-01-10T17:54:00.000-08:002010-01-10T18:02:13.962-08:00Tim RichmondIf you were to look up Dale Earnhardt in an encyclopedia you would see Tim Richmond’s picture as an antonym. Tim would walk around the track in his own style Armani suit, silk shirt, and Rolex watch, while Dale would be in Wrangler jeans, old tennis-shoes, and a cowboy hat. Richmond grew up in a wealthy family, earning him the nickname "Hollywood”; his mother admits she spoiled him in his teen years, which did not help him at all in his career. Dale Earnhardt was Tim’s best friend according to some sources even though they were the opposites.<br /><br />Tim Richmond was born on June 7th, of 1955 to Al and Evelyn Richmond. He was a native of Ashland, Ohio. Richmond was the first of many IndyCar drivers to make a move to NASCAR, and probably to date the most successful. <br /><br />Tim was driving early in his life, when he was a toddler he was given a go-cart. He drove that go-cart in buildings, his yard, and anywhere he could; and he later raced at cart tracks at Moreland and New Pittsburg.<br /><br />Due to his wealthy family, he was not accepted at his local school, so he was enrolled in the Miami Military Academy in Miami, Florida. He and his mother moved to Florida while his father stayed in Ohio. <br /><br />In 1970 he was named the Athlete of the Year at the Miami Military Academy for his amazing football and track skills; he was so good at football when he graduated his jersey was retired. He attended Ashland University for about a year before dropping out.<br /><br />When he turned 16 in 1971, he earned his private pilot license, and his parents bought him a small engine plane. <br /><br />One of Al Richmond’s friends’ co-owned a sprint car, which led to Tim joining as a crew member for Dave Shoemaker’s car. In 1976 he took Dave’s the car onto Lakeville Speedway at Lakeville, Ohio for some practice laps. "Somebody put a stopwatch on me," Richmond said. "I was running laps faster than Dave had been. It was the first time I had ever driven a race car." After that practice session he was hooked.<br /><br />Richmond and his father found a red, white, and blue #98 car in Pennsylvania, which was the same number and paint scheme that Richmond had used on model cars when he was a child and went racing. In his first competition at the Lakeville Speedway, officials placed Richmond in the slowest heat. He passed several cars and was moving up in the field, but spun out and broke an axle. After being towed to the pits, he parked the car for the rest of the event. Later that season, they towed the car to Eldora Speedway, only to have Richmond crash the car again. In response Richmond's father fired him as the driver. <br /><br />Al Richmond bought Tim a SuperModified and in 1977 Tim Richmond went on to become the Sandusky Speedway's Rookie of the Year.<br /><br />Richmond returned to racing sprint cars in the United States Automobile Club's (USAC) national sprint car tour in 1978; he competed in 12 races, and won the Rookie of the Year finishing 30th in points. He also attended Jim Russell's road racing school at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park that year, setting a student course record. Richmond raced in a Mini Indy car event that year at Phoenix International Raceway, winning the Formula Vee support event in a Lola T620. The win attracted sponsors and attention from major owners like Roger Penske. He also competed in USAC's Silver Crown series. <br /><br />Richmond's father bought an Eagle Indy Car chassis and an Offenhauser engine for the 1979 IndyCar race at Michigan International Speedway; he qualified 21st. The race ended for him when his motor blew up on the fourth lap, and he finished 23rd out of a 23 car field. Owner Pat Santello was looking for a driver to replace Larry Rice for his CART team at the following race at Watkins Glen International, so he gave Richmond a test at Willow Spring where he had previously set the student record. Santello hired Richmond who then qualified 15th fastest for the event and finished in eighth place, the best of his IndyCar career. Richmond raced in three more events that season. <br /><br />Richmond won the 1980 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award as he qualified 19th and finished 9th. Pocono Raceway owner and founder Dr. Joseph Mattioli convinced Richmond to move to NASCAR, and just two months after his Indianapolis 500 Rookie award he made his first ever NASCAR start at Pocono in which he finished 12th in D.K Ulrich’s Chevy. That season, he competed in five events, with two DNFs (did not finish) and three 12th place finishes. <br /><br />Tim started his 1981 season by competing in the first 15 events of the year for D.K Ulrich. He had his first career top 10 finish with a sixth at Talladega Superspeedway, and then a seventh at Texas World Speedway. Tim left Ulrich’s team to go to Kennie Childers team after those 15 races. Richmond had top 10 finishes at Pocono and Bristol driving for Kennie and for the final seven races of the season, he drove for Bob Rogers and had a top 10 finish at Dover International Speedway. Overall for the season, Richmond had six top 10 finishes to place 16th in season points. <br /><br />In the beginning on 1982 he went rideless until the Rockingham race when he got a one-race deal with Billie Harvey; he finished 31st after engine failure. The week after his one race deal he went to Darlington with J.D Stacy in the #2 car. He got his first top-5 finish of his career that week at Darlington finishing 5th and then the next week finished 2nd which was a career high for him up until that point. The next week he went to Riverside, California at the road course and won his very first race. Later on that season he won his first pole at Bristol. When NASCAR came back to Riverside, Tim was ready to win his second race, and he did. For the season, Richmond had twelve top 10s, two wins, one pole, and finished 26th in points. <br /><br />In 1983 Richmond left Bob Rogers and started driving for Raymond Beatle, which was an acquaintance before he started racing. Tim won his first oval track victory at Pocono. He had four poles and fifteen top 10’s on his way to a tenth in points. He also entered three Busch (Nationwide) races but failed to finish any of them. Tim was featured in the 1983 movie Stroker Ace. Director Hal Needham said "He fell right in with the group working on the film.”<br /><br />In 1984 he had one win which was at North Wilkesboro Speedway and six top 5 finishes and 11 top 10 finishes. He finished up that year 12th in points <br /><br />In 1985 Tim’s best finish was a second place at Bristol. He ended the season 11th in points with 13 Top 10s in 28 races. In the Busch (Nationwide) Series, he qualified at the pole position in the two races he entered, and won the Charlotte race. <br /><br />Some people say 1986 was his best season because he left Beadle and joined Hendrick Motorsports with legendary crew chief Harry Hyde in the #25 Folgers Coffee Chevy. He broke a 64 race losing streak at Pocono that year in June and when the tour came back to Pocono a month later, Tim was in a three car battle for the win with <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/geoff-bodine.html">Geoff Bodine</a> and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/ricky-rudd.html">Ricky Rudd</a> in the final laps; he ended up winning the race by 0.05 seconds over Ricky. He also won 5 more races that year while on his way to finishing 3rd in the points. Overall that year he had 13 top-5 finishes, 16 top-10s, and 8 poles in what would be his final full season in NASCAR. <br /><br />Tim raced in only 8 races in 1987. In those 8 races he won 2 of them at Pocono and Riverside, and won one pole. The media reported the reason he missed all those races was due to double pneumonia, and it was later reported that he had Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). He resigned from Hendrick Motorsports in September.<br /><br />He attempted a comeback in 1988 before NASCAR banned him for testing positive for a banned substance. The substance was an over-the-counter allergy and respiratory medication so in April he sued NASCAR over banning him. He later denied he was abusive to drugs and his suit with NASCAR was settled out-of-court, the terms sealed. His very last race in NASCAR was in the 1988 Busch Clash at Daytona while driving for Ken Regan, current driver David Regan’s father.<br /><br />According to Dr. Jerry Punch, Richmond was hospitalized for a motorcycle accident shortly before his death. He died on August 13, 1989 at Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, about two years after his final NASCAR race. He was buried in Ashland, Ohio. The secrecy surrounding the circumstance of his death caused speculation for several days. On August 23, his death was revealed to be caused by AIDS, which he had acquired from an unknown woman. In the press conference, his physician Dr. David Dodson said: "There's no way of knowing who that woman was. Tim was a celebrity with a lot of charisma, a handsome guy. He naturally attracted a lot of women." <br /><br />Cole Trickle, the main character in the 1990 movie Days of Thunder, played by Tom Cruise, was loosely based on Richmond and his interaction with Harry Hyde and Rick Hendrick. <br /><br />In 1990, The New York Times reported that Dr. Forest Tennant, who was at that time the NFL’s drug adviser, "Falsified drug tests" that ultimately helped shorten Tim Richmond's NASCAR career. Washington television station WJLA-TV, in early 1990, reported that sealed court documents and interviews showed Tennant and NASCAR used "Allegedly false drug-test results in 1988 to bar Richmond from racing". Reporter Roberta Baskin stated that NASCAR had targeted Richmond, requesting that Tennant establish a substance-abuse policy with Richmond in mind. "A series of drug tests and falsely reported positive results shortly before the 1988 Daytona 500 kept Richmond from driving in what was to have been his last big race", the report said. While neither Tennant nor NASCAR supplied an official response at the time, NASCAR did confirm that they were seeking to replace Tennant.<br /><br />The Ashland County Sports Hall of Fame inducted Richmond in their second class in 1996. <br /><br />In 1998, NASCAR named Richmond as one of its 50 greatest drivers of all time while they were celebrating their 50th anniversary. <br /><br />He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002. <br /><br />The Mansfield Motorsports Park ARCA Re/Max Series race in 2009 was named the Tim Richmond Memorial ARCA Re/Max 250 in honor of the area native. The race at Mansfield was co-promoted by Mattioli's son Joseph Mattioli III. <br /><br />Tim had a total of 185 starts in 8 years with 13 wins, 42 top 5’s, 78 top 10’s, and $1,817,043 in career winnings. Even with those great stats he is probably the least recognized legendary driver there is. A lot of people have never even heard his name, and some people that have don’t really talk about him, people have basically disown his name all because of the way he died, which is not at all the way his legacy should live. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.gordonline.com/feature/timrichmond.html">http://www.gordonline.com/feature/timrichmond.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Richmond">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Richmond</a><br /><br /><a href="http://grantwcooper.com/timrichmond.html">http://grantwcooper.com/timrichmond.html</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-56528243818566972852010-01-09T09:03:00.000-08:002010-01-09T09:11:14.988-08:00Hut StricklinWaymond Lane "Hut" Stricklin was born on June 24th of 1961, in Calera, Alabama. He married Pam Allison, the daughter of NASCAR legend Donnie Allison after they were introduced by her cousin Davey. Hut was the last member of the Alabama Gang.<br /><br />Stricklin was the Alabama Limited Sportsman champion in 1978 and 1979.<br /><br />In 1986, Stricklin won NASCAR's Dash Series Championship with 9 out of 17 races won and ten poles.<br /><br />In 1987 he made his debut in NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup series in three races for owner Skip Jaehne.<br /><br />In 1989 he ran for the Rookie of The Year title and finished second only to Dick Trickle driving the #57 Heinz Ketchup Pontiac for Rod Osterlund.<br /><br />In 1990, he competed in only three events before taking over the #12 Raybestos Brakes Buick for Bobby Allison for the rest of the season. <br /><br />1991 turned out to be one of his best seasons yet, as he finished 16th in the Winston (Sprint) cup championship point standings as well as a career high 2nd place finish at Michigan International Speedway. <br /><br />With only eight races left in the 1992 season, Hut left Allison's team and after a few races driving for Junie Donlavey, he started driving for <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a> for the rest of the season and in 1993 driving the #27 McDonald's Ford; in 1993 he finished 24th in points.<br /><br />In 1994, <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior</a> and Travis Carter formed a new team with Hut driving the #23 Smokin’ Joe’s Racing Ford; he finished a respectable 26th in points. <br /><br />Jimmy Spencer replaced Hut for the 1995 season in the #23, so he served as a consultant for Kenny Bernstein's rookie driver Steve Kinser, a World of Outlaws Sprint Car champion who drove the #26 Quaker State Ford; he was struggling to transition from open-wheels to stock cars so he was replaced by Stricklin. Him and his crew chief Richard Broome posted five top-10 finishes and his first ever pole at North Wilkesboro Speedway; even though he only raced 24 times he still finished 30th in points. Unfortunately Kenny’s team was sold to Brett Bodine at the end of the year, and Hut had to find a new job.<br /><br />In 1996 he joined the Stavola Brothers Racing in the #8 Circuit City Ford. He had a career high tying finish of second at the Southern 500 at Darlington in a dominating run. He finished 22nd in championship points, which was his best points finish in 5 years.<br /><br />The 1997 season was challenging for Stricklin because Stricklin’s owners, the Stavola brothers, pressured Stricklin to leave his hometown Calera, AL and live near the shop in Charlotte, North Carolina. They also advised Stricklin to sale his Busch (Nationwide) team, the #28 Smokey Mountain Chew Ford, and concentrate on his Winston (Sprint) Cup efforts; he finished 34th in the final standings which was his worst points finish in a full season of his career.<br /><br />In 1998 he drove the #8 Circuit City Chevrolet until the Stavola Brothers closed due to Circuit City leaving. After they shut down he drove in the #97, #55, and #77 cars.<br /><br />For the beginning of the 1999 season he was the crew chief for Gary Bradberry’s #78 Ford for Triad Motorsports, and when they shut down he started driving for Scott Barbour in the #58 Ford with multiple sponsors. Scott promised him a ride until 2003, but a bounced check forced Hut’s team to shut down and him being ride less.<br /><br />In 2000, Stricklin drove for longtime owner Junie Donlavey at the Brickyard 400 and finished 14th in the #90 Hills Bros Coffee Ford without a crew chief. <br /><br />In 2001 his sponsor Hills Brothers wanted to find a new team due to location problems, Hill Brothers wanted to move to Charlotte but Donlavey declined, they left the team and brought Hut with them to Bill Davis’ #23 Dodge. This year he made a record $1,006,021 in winnings even with the abbreviated schedule.<br /><br />In 2002, Stricklin struggled and was soon replaced by <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/kenny-wallace.html">Kenny Wallace</a> in the #23 and his sponsor Hills Bros was replaced by Stacker 2. That was the last year that he drove in a NASCAR sanctioned race.<br /><br />His family now owns Stricklin Auto & Truck Parts in Cleveland, North Carolina.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hut_Stricklin">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hut_Stricklin</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.hutstricklin.net/Hutbio.html">http://www.hutstricklin.net/Hutbio.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/hstrickl00/wc/bio.html">http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/hstrickl00/wc/bio.html</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-51338226628268558382010-01-07T18:22:00.000-08:002010-01-07T18:28:07.530-08:00Geoff BodineGeoffrey Eli Bodine was born on April 18, 1949 in Elmira, New York, his younger brothers Brett and Todd are also NASCAR drivers. <br /><br />Geoff’s father and grandfather built Chemung speedway when he was a year old, which gave Geoff the advantage of being able to practice racing at an early age.<br /><br />He started practicing racing at his families track in the micro-midget division when he was just five. <br /><br />Geoff loved to drive so much he disguised himself as a lady and entered a PowderPuff Division Race when he was only 15. <br /><br />In 1978, Bodine won more races than any other Modified driver in recorded history driving against the greats, Richie Evans, Jerry Cook, Jimmy Spencer, and Ron Bouchard, with Dick Armstrong and Billy Taylor as his crew chiefs. Bodine started 84 events and won 55 of them. For these fifty-five victories, Bodine is credited in the Guinness Book of World Records with the "Most wins in one season". He also won track championships at Stafford Speedway, Shangri-La Speedway, Spencer/Williamson Speedway, and Utica-Rome Speedway in his prestigious racing career.<br /><br />In 1979 he made his first Winston (Sprint) Cup start. <br /><br />His rookie year in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series was in 1982 driving for Cliff Stewart; he earned the Rookie of the Year title and his first Winston (Sprint) Cup pole in only his 19th start, which was at the Firecracker 400. <br /><br />His first Winston (Sprint) Cup victory in 1984 on his 69th career start at Martinsville while driving for the well respected historic car owner Rick Hendrick. <br />Geoff's biggest win of his career came at the 1986 Daytona 500 while driving the #88 Hendrick Motorsports car sponsored by Levi Garrett.<br /><br />He won the 1987 International Race of Champions (IROC) championship. <br /><br />Bodine is the co-owner of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Company. His bobsled interest started during the 1992 Winter Olympics when the U.S. Bobsled Team was having a tough time during competition. Bodine learned that the sleds being used were all imported and not built locally. He felt that he could help the team win with better bobsled technology derived from his racecar engineering background and experience. With these beliefs, Bodine took a few runs in a bobsled at Lake Placid, New York to confirm his feelings and to learn more about the sleds, and in 2002 the USA team, who was driving his bobsleds won a race for the first time in 50 years.<br /><br />In mid-1993, Bodine purchased the race team of the late Alan Kulwicki and toward the end of the season, and he took over as the driver with Motorcraft as the sponsor.<br /><br />Geoff's final win in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) cup series came in the "Bud At the Glen" at the Watkins Glen International Raceway in his home state of New York, in August of 1996 when pit stop timing led to him to taking the lead in his QVC Thunderbird while the other drivers pitted. Bodine managed to hold off the field the rest of the way beating Terry Labonte to the line by 0.44 seconds to claim the win.<br /><br />In 1997, he won the pole at Atlanta with a speed of over 197mph which is a record that still holds for that track due to the repaving that was done before that race.<br /><br />In 1998 he was honored as one of "NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers" during NASCAR's 50th anniversary celebration.<br /><br />In 2000 Geoff was driving in the Truck race at Daytona when he was involved in a vicious wreck. He was three wide in the tri-oval when the trucks beside him made contact and slid up, causing him to fly into the air and slam into the fence and catch on fire, he barrel-rolled down the track, caught on fire again, and got hit by a few more trucks until he came to a stop in only the roll cage; 13 trucks was involved, which was one of the biggest wrecks in Truck series history. He broke his right wrist, right cheekbone, right ankle; he also broke a vertebra in his back, and had a concussion. Nine fans were injured in this wreck. After this wreck he missed 20 races leading him to finish 45th in points.<br /><br />Geoff, his brother Todd, and Larry Gunselman started a race team in 2009. Geoff attempted to qualify the #64 Toyota for the 2009 Daytona 500.<br /><br />Geoff currently races in ISCARS DASH touring series which is sanctioned by the American Speed Association (ASA). <br /><br />Bodine has always been a great leader in the modernization and update in safety to the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in introduced power steering and full-faced helmets to NASCAR. He has served as a volunteer fireman and is now a board member of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. <br /><br />Geoff has driven for some of the best car owners in NASCAR, such as, <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a>, Bud Moore, Rick Hendrick, his brother Brett, and he has owned his own cars. He has 565 starts, 37 poles, 18 wins, and nearly $16 million in winnings during his illustrious Winston Cup (Sprint) cup series career. <br /><br />Bodine currently lives in Cornelius, North Carolina while preparing for the 2010 Olympics and his company hopefully helping win a bobsledding championship. <br /><br /><a href="http://wapedia.mobi/en/Geoff_Bodine">http://wapedia.mobi/en/Geoff_Bodine</a><br /> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Bodine">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Bodine</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Bodine_Geoff.html">http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Bodine_Geoff.html </a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-80850265986298702232010-01-05T05:33:00.000-08:002010-01-05T05:44:50.240-08:00Tony RainesFloyd Anthony Raines was born on April 14, 1964 in Glasgow, Montana. In high school he played football, basketball, and baseball all while helping out local stock car teams.<br /><br />Before Tony even started thinking about racing as a career he got a college degree in aviation from the Southwestern Michigan College in 1984, and he started racing as a hobby after he got out.<br /><br />In 1988, Raines competed in five American Speed Association (ASA) races with some success; he then realized this could become a career.<br /><br />He competed in the rookie year battle in 1989 in the ASA.<br /><br />In 1990, Raines moved to NASCAR's All Pro Series, where he won Rookie of the Year and finished fourth in the final points standings.<br /><br />Tony returned to ASA in 1991 for a new team formed by Ernie Roselli all the way until 1995; in 1995 he had moved to join crew chief Howie Lettow and Baker Motorsports. <br /><br />He won the 1996 championship in the ASA series.<br /><br />Tony moved up to the new NASCAR Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series which had only been in existence for one year in 1997. Johnny Benson, one of Tony’s competitors in the ASA, recommended Raines to owner Kurt Roehrig and he made his first start at Tucson, Arizona at the Tucson Speedway, and in the Truck Series he won his first NASCAR sanctioned race at the I-70 Speedway in just his third career start. <br /><br />In 1998 he followed up his very successful rookie year and won 2 races and finished 5th in points in only his second year in the Truck series.<br /><br />Raines moved up to the Busch (Nationwide) Series in 1999, with the #74 BACE Motorsports team. Raines raced 31 out of 32 races that year, without a primary sponsor; Raines had a best finish of fourth and finished 12th in points, which led to him earning the Rookie of the Year honors. He also made one start in the Truck Series at The Milwaukee Mile for Gerry Gunderman in the #68 truck; he started 22nd and finished 19th. <br /><br />In 2000, Raines moved to BACE Motorsports's #33 Bayer Chevrolet full-time in the Busch (Nationwide) series. He had a career-best second-place finish at South Boston Speedway, but had no other top-tens that year; he fell to fifteenth in the final point’s standings in the Busch (Nationwide) series. <br /><br />2001 was the year he had his first pole in the Busch (Nationwide) series driving the #33 Bayer/Alka-Seltzer Chevy; he also had a career high 13 top ten finishes, he finished 6th in the points.<br /><br />In 2002, he drove a full Busch (Nationwide) Series schedule for BACE, and at Dover International Speedway in Delaware, he made his NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup Series debut with BACE. He started 17th and finished 31st in the #73 Staff America Chevy. He made 6 more races that year. <br /><br />BACE Motorsports and Tony Raines moved to the Winston (Sprint) Cup series full-time in 2003, competing for the NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors. Despite running without major sponsorship, Raines made 35 out of the 36 races, finished 33rd in the championship standings, and third in the Rookie of the Year race just behind Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle. In the Busch (Nationwide) series, Raines had another second-place finish and three consecutive eighth-place runs, allowing him to finish 39th in points even though his season was shortened.<br /><br />BACE closed its Cup team in 2004 due to the lack of sponsorship, and focused back on the Busch (Nationwide) Series. BACE hired Damon Lusk to drive there #74 Outdoor Channel Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) series, and after four races Raines returned to the team in favor of Lusk, and finished sixth in his first race at Bristol. He ran fifteen races for BACE in the Busch (Nationwide) series, and 3 other for various teams. He returned to the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck series for one race at Atlanta, finishing seventeenth in the #08 Chevrolet for Green Light Racing. In the NEXTEL (Sprint) cup series he ran 6 races for, Phoenix racing, Bill Davis Racing, and Competitive Edge Motorsports, with a best finish of 28th.<br /><br />In 2005 he made six NEXTEL (Sprint) cup series races with Front Row Motorsports, and R&J Racing. Raines drove part-time for Kevin Harvick Incorporated in the #33 Yard Man/Outdoor Channel Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series; he had nine top-tens in 23 starts. At the end of the season, it was announced that he would share the #96 Texas Instruments/DLP HDTV Chevy with Terry Labonte with the brand new team, Hall of Fame Racing. <br /><br />In the 29 races he drove in 2006 in the NEXTEL (Sprint) cup series, Raines had a seventh-place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway and finished 35th in drivers’ points and the brand new Hall of Fame Racing team finished 26th in owners points.<br /><br />He ran the whole 2007 season with Hall of Fame, except on the road course events when Ron Fellows took the ride. The team finished in the top 25 in owners points. At the end of the season he was replaced by <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/jj-yeley.html">J. J. Yeley</a>. He also ran 9 races with Kevin Harvick Incorporated in the Busch (Nationwide) series.<br /><br />In 2008 he sat out a few races in the Sprint Cup Series and then started driving the #08 E&M Motorsports Dodge sponsored by Rhino Energy Drink a few races into the season. At Pocono he began driving the #70 Haas CNC Racing Chevy, and he later started back driving for Front Row Motorsports and he swapped in between those rides throughout the season.<br /><br />In 2009, Raines returned to the Nationwide Series for a full time schedule driving the #34 Long John Silver's Chevrolet for Front Row Motorsports, in which he replaced Eric McClure who left at the end of 2008. Raines had a fourth place finish in the Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway which made Front Row Motorsports first top-five finish in any series. Tony earned a 12th place in the Nationwide series points standings that year and the #34 team earned a 20th place in owner’s points. Raines qualified for the Sprint Cup race in Phoenix in Barry Haefele's #73 car, and made a few other starts with Front Row Motorsports in the start and park #34 team.<br /><br />When he is not racing, Raines enjoys spending time with his wife, Sue, and their son, Leland in Mt. Pleasant N.C where he currently resides. He also enjoys golfing, watching sports, hunting, gardening, and motorcycle riding.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Raines">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Raines</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.tonyraines.com/tony.html">http://www.tonyraines.com/tony.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/Tony-Raines/2853">http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/Tony-Raines/2853</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-90333156469761099932010-01-03T10:23:00.000-08:002010-01-03T10:29:22.125-08:00Jeff GreenJeffery Green was born on September 6th of 1962 in Owensboro, Kentucky, which is the same place three time Champion <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/darrell-waltrip.html">Darrell Waltrip</a>, his brother Michael Waltrip, and Jeremy Mayfield was born and raised; his two older brothers, Mark and David, are also successful NASCAR drivers. He currently resides in Davidson, North Carolina with his wife Michelle. <br /><br />Jeff started his fruitful career by winning the historic Nashville Speedway track championship in 1990. In the 22 races he entered, he won 15 of them and only finished below 3rd once. After the Nashville schedule was over he entered the Autolite Platinum 200 Busch (Nationwide) series race at Richmond International Raceway. He started 23rd and finished 22nd, John Boatman the team owner was very pleased because his goal was only to qualify. He raced 2 more races that year.<br /><br />From 1991 to 1994 he raced from time to time in the Busch (Nationwide) series with random car owners, and in 1994 he made 3 Winston (Sprint) cup series races driving for the Sadler brothers and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a>.<br /><br />He started driving in the Busch (Nationwide) series full time in 1995 driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc.<br /><br />In 1996 he made a couple Winston (Sprint) cup starts with DEI.<br /><br />In 1997 he raced for Diamond Ridge Motorsports in the Busch (Nationwide) series part time in the unsponsored #8; he won his first NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He also made 19 Winston (Sprint) cup series starts in the #29 Cartoon Network Chevy, finishing second in the Rookie of the year battle only to his brother David.<br /><br />Green returned to the Busch (Nationwide) Series full time in 1999, it was the first time he had run a full time season in the Busch (Nationwide) series since 1996. He raced in the #32 Kleenex Chevrolet for Progressive Motorsports, and finished second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the points even though he had one DNQ (Did not qualify).<br /><br />In 2000, his team was changed to be the #10 Nesquick Chevrolet and was renamed PPC racing; his biggest competition in the Busch (Nationwide) series, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth left to drive in the Winston (Sprint) cup series so everybody thought he was the only person left to win, which of course happened, he won the championship by 616 points which is the most ever up until 2006, his PPC teammate Jason Keller finished second that year. Him and the 1994 champion David Green are the first brothers to win championships in the Busch (Nationwide) series.<br /><br />Green participated in the International Race of Champion’s (IROC) 25th season in 2001.<br /><br />In 2002 he raced his first full time season in the Winston (Sprint) cup series driving the #30 <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/richard-childress.html">Richard Childress</a> Racing ride with American Online as his sponsor; in this year he finished a career high second, and also a career high 17th in points. Jeff and Mark Green founded The Green Foundation in 2002, a non-profit charity assisting people with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses.<br /><br />Jeff’s 2003 season started off as good as it can get, he won the pole for the Daytona 500. At Richmond there was an incident with his teammate and longtime rival Kevin Harvick, which led to Jeff being fired by Richard. Two days after being fired, Dale Earnhardt Inc. asked him to drive the #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet for them; Steve Park, the driver who was replaced by Green started driving Green’s old #30 for RCR. After 12 races Jeff didn’t finish any better than 16th so he was replaced by John Andretti. He missed 3 races before Petty Enterprises picked him up to drive the rest of the season.<br /><br />Petty Enterprises asked Jeff to drive for them full time in the Winston (Sprint) cup series for the 2004 season and he agreed. He had 11 DNF’s (Did not finish) which is the most in his career, and finished 30th in the points, which was his worst points finish in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in his career.<br /><br />He had a very public feud with Michael Waltrip during the 2005 season that some believe led to his being fired at the end of the season. Him and Michael spun each other on several occasions during the season but never got penalized.<br /><br />At the end of 2005 Petty Enterprises replaced Green with Bobby Labonte, which left him without a ride; Haas CNC Racing hired him to drive the #66 Best Buy Chevy for 2006 with Bootie Barker as his crew chief. He ended up 2006 28th in the points.<br /><br />Green returned to Haas in 2007, and had three sixth-place finishes but was released with four races to go in the season. He finished 32nd in the points even though he missed those four races.<br /><br />In 2008, he attempted four Cup races with Wood Brothers Racing and Front Row Motorsports respectively, but did not qualify for any of those races. He did qualify for three races in the Nationwide Series in the #31 Key Motorsports Chevy with a best finish of 28th, and ran eight races with their #40 truck team. His best finish was a seventh at Las Vegas.<br /><br />In 2009, Green continued his part-time schedule in the Nationwide Series, running for Day Racing, and MacDonald Motorsports. His best finish was 21st at Nashville Superspeedway.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Green_(NASCAR)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Green_(NASCAR)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=142&seriesID=1&subID=2">http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverid=142&seriesID=1&subID=2</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.edu.pe.ca/sourishigh/Pages/Cmp6-03/Jacob/homepage/index/drivers/bios/green.htm">http://www.edu.pe.ca/sourishigh/Pages/Cmp6-03/Jacob/homepage/index/drivers/bios/green.htm</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-21670788596232649702010-01-01T10:12:00.000-08:002010-01-01T10:17:56.533-08:00Derrike CopeDerrike Cope grew up in Spanaway, Washington; he currently drives the self-owned #73 FlipNBags.com Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He owns a part-time entry in the Camping World Truck Series and also co-owns Cope/Keller Racing which fields the #75 BluFrog Energy Drink Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series.<br /><br />When Cope was growing up racing was just a hobby he enjoyed, while he was a very good catcher on the Bethel High School baseball team; he attended Whitman College to continue his baseball dreams. Cope was such a good baseball player that he was being recruited by major-league teams such as the Chicago Cubs and the Baltimore Orioles, but the dream of being in the big league was crushed when he suffered a knee injury in 1978. Forced out of baseball Cope dedicated himself to racing full time.<br /><br />Cope soon progressed through the short-track ranks in the Northwest, and later made his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut at Riverside International Raceway in 1982. Cope's #95 car finished 36th because he had an oil leak, he won $625. After that race he ran a part time schedule for the rest of the season.<br /><br />He attempted the Rookie of the Year battle in 1988 with owners Jim Testa and Dave Fuge until he gave up on that goal due to bad finishes mid-season. <br /><br />In 1989, he signed with Bob Whitcomb to drive the #10 Purolator Pontiac which mid-season changed to Chevrolet, posting four top-10 finishes.<br /><br />In 1990, Dale Earnhardt Sr. was well on his way to winning his first Daytona 500 when on the third turn his tire blew due to debris and Derrike passed him and won his very first race, becoming only the fourth driver to get their first Winston (Sprint) cup race in the Daytona 500. At Dover later on in the season he won again. He ended up winning twice and finishing 18th in the points in 1990.<br /><br />At the end of the 1992 season Bob Whitcomb shut down his team forcing Derrike to move on. In the 1993 season he drove for Cale Yarborough in the previously #66, #98 Bojangles Ford.<br /><br />During the 1994 season Jeremy Mayfield took Cope’s ride forcing Derrike to move on to another team in just short notice, T.W. Taylor let him drive one of his car until Bobby Allison offered him the #12 car he owned and of course he accepted. In this year he won his first and only career Busch (Nationwide) series race while he was driving the #82, Ford Thunderbird for Ron Zock at Loudon, New Hampshire.<br /><br />In 1995 he had eight top 10 finishes, and finished 15th in points, his best year so far. He was also featured in a commercial for a NASCAR credit card with drivers such as the greats Dale Earnhardt Sr. and <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/rusty-wallace.html">Rusty Wallace</a>. <br /><br />Allison’s team shut down prior to the 1997 season, and Cope signed on to MB2 Motorsports; he drove the #36 Skittles Pontiac during the 1997 season to a 27th place finish in the points.<br /><br />In 1998 he drove for Bahari racing #30 Gumout car, after getting replaced by Ken Schrader in the #36. He missed a few races due to injury, but still won the pole position at Lowes Motor Speedway.<br /><br />Bahari got Cope back in 1999, except this year with Sara Lee as his sponsor. Cope failed to qualify for ten races which led to him being released from his contract. He made a couple random starts for a couple car owners until he signed on with Fenley-Moore Motorsports to drive the #15 Ford Taurus. He didn’t like that Fenley-Moore Motorsports only let him run a limited schedule so he quit after a few races and spent the rest of the year watching from the pits. At the end of the season he joined Impact Motorsports to drive the #86 R.C. Cola Dodge in the Craftsman (Camping World) truck series.<br /><br />In 2001 Cope and drag racer Warren Johnson announced the formation of their new team, Quest Motor Racing. The team didn’t start a race all year, and Derrike’s first and only start of the year was with CLR racing. Also in that year he started four races in the #94 owned by Fred Bickford in the Busch (Nationwide) series. He also became an editor on FOX Sports Net when he wasn’t racing.<br /><br />Derrike finally got his team qualified for 18 races in 2003 driving the #37 Friendly’s Ice Cream Chevy. He then merged his team with Arnold Motorsports. <br /><br />After several starts with his newly merged team in 2004, he was released and he took back his equipment, he then signed a contract to drive the #49 Advil Ford for Jay Robinson in the Busch (Nationwide) series for the 30 remaining races.<br /><br />In 2005 Cope was going to merge his team again with Larry Hollenbeck, but since he didn’t qualify for the Daytona 500 that chance was broken. He attempted a couple more races but failed. His only start in the NEXTEL (Sprint) cup series was at Martinsville driving the McGlynn Racing #08.<br /><br />McGlynn ask Cope to drive for them full time in the #74 car in 2006, he agreed and signed the necessary contract; that ride was later cut down to a part-time ride.<br /><br />He signed to drive for Means Racing in 2008 in the Nationwide Series. Mid-season he quit Means Racing and went to drive for James Finch and Jay Robinson, but later on he started driving his own team in the Nationwide and Craftsman (Camping World) truck series. He also began fielding his cars in the nationwide and truck series.<br /><br />In the 2009 season Cope announced he would field cars in all three series with BluFrog Energy Drink coming aboard, and he would be a part of that in the top two series, Nationwide, and Sprint cup.<br /><br />In 2010 Cope will team up with Dale Clemons as the co-owners of the new racing team Stratus Racing. The team plans to race all the races in the Nationwide and truck series with Derrike as the driver, and a limited schedule in the ARCA Remax series for his nieces Amber and Angela Cope, and will also run a part time schedule in the Sprint Cup series. Sponsorship is said to have already been wrapped up but will not be announced until later on.<br /><br />When Derrike is not racing, he presents motivational talks to school age children on such subjects as the importance of staying in school and never taking drugs. He is also actively involved in the March-of-Dimes, the DARE program, and supporting various charities. Being a positive role model and setting a good example is very important to Derrike. Derrike also enjoys golfing in charity tournaments and racing remote control hydroplane boats during the summer. In the winter, he hunts duck and pheasant with his father. <br /><br />Derrike also runs C2P Suspension. C2P is a company that sells shocks for motorcycles, dirt cars, ATV’s, midget cars, modified cars, sprint cars, snowmobile, and many more vehicles; they are also made for stock cars, but are not approved for the top three series of NASCAR, they are approved for most of the local tracks though.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-543-NASCAR-Examiner~y2009m12d17-Cope-Merges-Team-with-plans-for-full-NASCAR-Truck-Nationwide-schedule-in-2010">http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-543-NASCAR-Examiner~y2009m12d17-Cope-Merges-Team-with-plans-for-full-NASCAR-Truck-Nationwide-schedule-in-2010</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrike_Cope">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrike_Cope</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.derrikecope.com/dc/default.asp">http://www.derrikecope.com/dc/default.asp</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/dcope00/cup/bio.html">http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/dcope00/cup/bio.html</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-47094092126654918432009-12-31T12:34:00.000-08:002009-12-31T12:39:13.692-08:00Wendell ScottThroughout 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />He was a mechanic in the segregated 101st airborne division in the Army in Europe during World War II in 1942. <br /><br />In 1944, after his discharge, he and Mary Cole got married and later on had six kids.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />He finished a career high of 6th in the point standings in 1966.<br /><br />In 1971, he received the first Curtis Turner Achievement Award for his efforts to promote NASCAR racing.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />In 1977, he was inducted into the National Black Athletic Hall of Fame.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br />He achieved one win and 147 top ten finishes in 506 career Grand National (Sprint cup series) starts.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/04/22/wscott.honor.nascar/index.html">http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/04/22/wscott.honor.nascar/index.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Scott">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Scott</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/wendell-scott">http://www.answers.com/topic/wendell-scott</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459855879864794160.post-77774160810088346362009-12-30T12:06:00.000-08:002010-01-12T15:23:30.582-08:00Lee PettyOut 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.<br /><br />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 <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/adam-pettty.html">Adam Petty</a>, 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />In 1958 he won his second ever championship.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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”.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />In 1990, Lee Petty was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. <br /><br />In 1996 he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame. <br /><br />He was selected as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 along with his son, Richard Petty. <br /><br />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 <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/adam-pettty.html">Adam Petty</a> 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 <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/junior-johnson.html">Junior Johnson</a> told the Associated Press's Estes Thompson.<br /><br />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 <a href="http://nascardriveroftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/adam-pettty.html">Adam Petty</a>, 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.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3407900436.html">http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3407900436.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Petty">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Petty</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1990/Lee_Petty_main.htm">http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1990/Lee_Petty_main.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.essortment.com/all/biographyoflee_rusr.htm">http://www.essortment.com/all/biographyoflee_rusr.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/drivers/lee-petty.htm">http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/drivers/lee-petty.htm</a>Daniel Caudillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08097038680751039786noreply@blogger.com