Moonshine may be the poison historically associated with NASCAR, but when Craftsman Truck Series racing driver Aaron Fike was arrested for heroin possession over a year ago, it opened a whole new can of worms for the racing league. After getting himself suspended from racing, Fike admitted he had been high on smack during several races and that he had been addicted to painkillers for six years. The incident was only one of seven such suspensions from NASCAR since 2000, but the ripples are still being felt as organizers have announced that random drug testing for drivers, crew and officials in all three NASCAR series will begin next season.

n addition to the spot checks, everyone will get a pre-season screening, and officials will reserve the right already in place to test on grounds of suspicion. Failing to pass a drug test could result in a lifetime ban from racing, while failing a third time means an automatic expulsion.

(Source)

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Tony Stewart is leaving his team at the end of the season, has been bickering with his crew chief and is stuck in a 41-race winless streak.

Regardless, it’s way too early to count Stewart out of the title hunt.

Sure, he made a pair of mistakes in the opening round of the Chase for the championship. But based on how he and his Joe Gibbs Racing crew rebounded, a third Cup title isn’t out of the question.

He’s not changing anything over these final nine weeks of the season, his last with JGR before he leaves to take over Stewart-Haas Racing.

“My approach to the Chase is the same way it’s been any other time I’ve been in a point race — you go out there, you lead laps, you try to win races and the points take care of itself,” he said. “I know that sounds like a simple formula, but the reason we got to this point is by following that theory. Continued

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NEW YORK — Tony Stewart said Wednesday all is well between the two-time champion and crew chief Greg Zipadelli despite their post-race squabble at Richmond.

Stewart criticized Zipadelli and his crew as he pulled onto pit road following Sunday’s second-place finish at Richmond. He blamed the team for the loss — he gave up the lead during a late pit stop and was unable to catch winner Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps — and Zipadelli sharply reminded him they win and lose as a group.

 

 

 

– TONY STEWART

 

“I don’t know why everybody is making such a big deal about it,” Stewart said during NASCAR’s media day for the Chase for the championship. “That’s two guys that were talking on the radio that are competitive and don’t like to lose. I’d much rather have a crew chief that gets as fired up as me than I would a guy that said ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s OK.’

“That was a particular day where we had a winning car and we ended up second, and how we ended up there wasn’t acceptable.”

The in-car audio was replayed several times by ESPN, a network that has had a contentious relationship with Stewart since it returned to NASCAR coverage last season. But Stewart said he was not upset with ESPN for airing the argument.

“It’s no secret that ESPN and I don’t get along, and anytime we do anything that they can use to make us look bad, they jump all over it,” he said. “That’s fine, it doesn’t even bother us anymore. But they have brought a lot of great things to the sport, and that’s the kind of things that make it more exciting for the fans.

“To be able to hear [the audio] and understand the disappointment — if I get out of the car and [fans] didn’t hear that, then they don’t understand why I was upset.”

Stewart has had a frustrating season, his last with Joe Gibbs Racing and Zipadelli. He’s leaving at the end of the year to own a race team, and the impending move was thought to have been a source of contention for the 10-year-old team.

He’s currently in a 40-race winless streak, and has had several heartbreaking defeats this season dating back to the Daytona 500. It’s led to many showings of frustration for the passionate driver, who insisted those emotions are what’s contributed to his success.

“If you are not passionate and you don’t stand up and get frustrated — you show me a guy who doesn’t get frustrated once in a while and I’ll show you a guy I can beat nine weeks out of 10 every year for the rest of my life,” he said.

He also insisted that he and Zipadelli have not tired of each other after 10 seasons. Zipadelli is staying at JGR after Stewart leaves to crew chief Joey Logano next season.

“We want to win as a team, we want to finish strong,” he said. “We want to get this monkey off our back. It’s frustration of having a bad year.”

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There have been eight different race winners in the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season: Kyle Busch (two) Ron Hornaday Jr. (two) Todd Bodine (one) Dennis Setzer (one) Matt Crafton (one) Donny Lia (one) Scott Speed (one) Erik Darnell (one).
Hornaday re-assumed the points lead following Texas – the third race overall that he has led the points.

2008 Season Highlights
• Todd Bodine’s victory at Daytona continued the streak of a different Daytona race winner for the ninth consecutive year.
• Todd Bodine, Kyle Busch and Johnny Benson all finished in the top three in the first two races of the season.
• Kyle Busch won at California to become the sixth different race winner in as many races at California.
• Kyle Busch won at Atlanta, becoming the first repeat winner in eight races at Atlanta.
• Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville, his third victory at the Virginia short track, making him the all-time win leader there.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Kansas – his 34th series victory. Hornaday has won in 11 of his 12 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series seasons.
• Matt Crafton won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – his career-first victory.
• Donny Lia won at Mansfield – his career-first victory in just eight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.
• Scott Speed won at Mansfield – his career-first victory in just six NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Texas – becoming the second repeat winner of the season and ending a string of three straight first-time race winners.

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“Looks can be deceiving…..and books should never be judged by their covers.”

She was a beautiful young girl, intelligent, full of wanderlust and oft described too worldly for her age and simple roots. She read voraciously and daydreamed of seeing places, miles beyond her country surroundings. People thought of her as ‘bookish and withdrawn’, as she seemed to value nature and wildlife…..perhaps life in general, absorbing it with the sensitivity of one beyond her years. She colored “outside the lines” and though she was not rebellious, the respect she maintained for the general social mores of her kind was distasteful to her. She saw the good in people.

No wonder, the tender age of sixteen caused her curiosity about love and feelings to peak early on and before long, the crush she had on the handsome high school quarterback, who was also studious and sensitive, as the oldest child of two doctors, became full blown. The parents of each of the young couple strongly discouraged any thoughts of a serious relationship so early on in the young lives of their children, protesting there was too much life ahead to consider any feelings they had so intensely.

The two honor students kept their grades up, often studying together, and enjoyed being an envied couple. Their world seemed perfect as future plans for attending colleges near each other would enable the precious and treasured relationship to continue and grow. The parents secretly hoped that as the young couple matured, they would venture apart and have time to enjoy and experience more of life before deciding they should be each other’s “one and only”.

As has happened before and will happen again, nature threw a kink into everyone’s plans as a “third party” became determined to enter the scenario in nine month’s time. Although heartsick, frightened and disappointed, the young couple confided in understanding and sympathetic parents and plans were made to help a young life enter the world, welcomed and loved.

The young woman had an aunt and uncle who had remained, to their deep regret, childless, throughout their marriage. Plans were made for the precious new baby to be adopted by them, immediately after birth.

The generosity of the aunt and uncle, who lived in a distant state was appreciated by all, and the traumatized young lovers soon went their separate ways. He left for college, and following in the footsteps of his parents, became a doctor. The young woman also futhered her education, a year later than planned, and after meeting all requirements, attained an MBA.

The happy new parents of a gorgeous baby boy doted on him every minute of his life. His proud father raced modified cars as a hobby and spent much of his time at local race tracks. He was also a NASCAR fan, and the family travelled to races at ever opportunity. The child grew up around cars and displayed a keen aptitude, early on, for racing. He loved to drive and he ran to win….go carts, anything with wheels lit the fire in his flat little belly.

He was not pushed, but rather developed, and everything in his psyche took second place to cars and racing them or tinkering with them. His dedicated Dad shared that bond and before long, the trophy room in their house was decadently filled with the bounty of success. His mother made sure he paid attention to his school woork and he was a good student.

Needless to say, luck and proper progression propelled the young man to professional ranks, as he was discovered, sought after, signed and before he was twenty-one, racing in the NASCAR second tier series. A year of success in that genre resulted in being selected for a coveted NASCAR Cup Series ride and before long, he won several races. He lives among and is admired and well liked by fellow competitors. His best friends include Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. Kyle Busch thinks of him as a mentor.
His career continues…….

The young driver does not know any parents, other than those who raised him so lovingly, and he has no idea of the situation of his birth. His family thought it best to allow him to function in a selective, exclusive, more open world that may not be so accepting of him if his social delineations were known…..

Of course it doesn’t matter, and there really is no need to make an issue of the truth, I suppose. One might wonder, sometimes, as do the adoptive parents of the NASCAR driver, what people would really think if they knew the handsome young quarterback and father of the child who became their own so many years ago, was Black.

The Secret Irony in Victory Lane is Diversity……

You just never know.

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The Car of Tomorrow is making life hotter for NASCAR’s drivers today.

Heat-stricken drivers had just enough strength to rant about the topic earlier this month at the Pocono 500 and the conversation was a hot topic again last week at Michigan International Speedway.

“I heard someone make a comment, ‘They’re race-car drivers, making millions of dollars. They’re hot. Who cares?”‘ Jeff Burton said. “I guess that’s a good point, but at the same time it’s to the point of being ridiculous.”

NASCAR technical director Steve Peterson said the new cars can get about five C hotter - up to 60 C - than previous models because exhaust exits on the right side instead of both sides.

“You could certainly cook eggs on it to say the least,” Jimmie Johnson said. “With all the radiant heat from the tubes and the steel around you over the course of the race, you just can’t get away from the heat.”

Peterson insisted there are measures some teams are taking to improve conditions for their drivers such as adding insulation and adjusting the routing of air ducts and vents.

“Some teams are having success by doing those things and some teams are reluctant to add weight or alter the aerodynamics,” Peterson said. “The different way teams are attacking the heat leads to us seeing one guy driving with a floor pan at 140 degrees (60 C) and another guy at 100 (37 C) in the same race.

“It’s a difficult area for NASCAR to regulate. Some drivers say it’s not a problem and others say it’s a serious one, so obviously we want to help those guys.”

Brian Vickers is among those asking for assistance.

“We’re killing ourselves,” he said. “We’re going to the infield-care centre off the races and that’s ridiculous. NASCAR needs to step in and say we have to do something to cool these cars down and help us.”

The Car of Tomorrow, a NASCAR-developed vehicle that spent seven years in development, was designed to improve safety, reduce team costs and improve competition. It makes several advancements in safety, with a larger driver’s compartment, centre-located seat and energy absorbing materials through the gut of the vehicle.

It also does something else.

“They are hotter than the old car - by far,” Denny Hamlin said.

Kasey Kahne credits the guys in the shop for coming up with ways to make things a little cooler, redirecting exhaust heat away from him and running hoses to blow air on his chest.

“I felt pretty good all day,” he said at Pocono, the hottest race of the year.

NASCAR officials and drivers agree that if you try to beat the heat on the weekend, it’s too late.

“I live every day like it’s going to be Pocono tomorrow,” said Mark Martin, whose 49-year-old body is so fit it would make most teenagers jealous. “In the old days, people thought you could have a bowl of pasta and a good night’s sleep and you’d be ready. I never subscribed to that.

“It takes so long for your body to change. It takes a long-term commitment to get in top physical condition.”

Martin said the new cars are hotter, but not significantly more than from the Cup cars he raced in the early 1980s.

Simply put, driving in extreme heat has always been an occupational hazard in NASCAR.

At Nashville in 1982, Darrell Waltrip’s feet were so hot that his wife held cloth-covered ice packs against his burnt heels while he did interviews from his back. At Martinsville in 1998, Ricky Rudd had to be lifted out of his car because he was so stricken by the heat.

Technology, though, has helped drivers over the years by developing microfibre fabric that wicks away sweat and helmets that make hot air colder.

But cool suits have yet to win over NASCAR drivers.

“Cold water pumping around your body in tubes within another set of underwear sounds great,” Peterson said. “But if the unit fails, you’re adding eight to 18 pounds of weight to your body and the suit becomes a steam cooker.”

Burton said what’s daunting about beating the heat is it’s only going to get hotter as NASCAR goes from coast to coast, down to Daytona and up to Indianapolis.

“The worst is yet to come,” Burton said.

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The $225 million lawsuit filed last week against NASCAR alleging sexual and racial discrimination poses a significant threat to the sport’s reputation by reinforcing old stereotypes and undermining its efforts to diversify.

Former Nationwide Series official Mauricia Grant, 32, who is black, alleges 23 incidents of sexual harassment and 34 of racial and sexual discrimination in the suit filed in federal court in New York. She was terminated in October 2007 after three years on the job, with NASCAR citing poor job performance

Even if the suit ultimately is dismissed, which occurs in about 70 percent of such cases because of the difficulty of proving the allegations, NASCAR won’t escape unscathed. And if a substantial number of the charges turn out to be true and Grant either wins at trial or receives a sizable settlement, it raises the question of whether this was an isolated case or endemic to the work environment and indicative of deeper-rooted problems.

Continued

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