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By Leon, on May 18th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
The winning number for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 was “SIX”! Six is the number of the Eddie Sharpe Racing CollegeComplete.com #6 Chevy Silverado driven by Justin Lofton.
With Brad Keselowski dogging him to the checkered flag, the Westmorland, CA native, Lofton, snagged his very first NCWTS victory. Finishing behind “Bad Brad” K for third place was “The Onion”, Todd Bodine. Finishing out the top five was, Jason Lefler in fourth and Ron Hornaday in fifth.
This is the second of ten races on a mile and a half race track for the Camping World Series for the 2012 season. Lofton is the six different winner in the six races held so far this season. Likewise, Lofton is the fourth first time winner in the six races this season!
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 also had a couple of firsts. The win at the Charlotte Motor Speedway was the first career win for both Lofton, as well as for Eddie Sharpe Racing in the Camping World Series.
When the starts come out at Charlotte, the gloves come off!
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
By Leon, on May 15th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
It is not even fall and the leaves are falling off of “the Busch”!
Stop me if you have heard this one before. Kurt Busch has exploded on the radio with a verbally abusive tirade, encroached on other race teams, enraged other crewmemebers, and acted like a spoiled little boy. No this is not a rerun from the entire 2011 season, this is “the new Kurt Busch”, circa 2012!
After the race at Darlington Saturday night here is what went down:
NASCAR has fined Kurt Busch, driver of the #51 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, $50,000 and placed him on NASCAR probation until July 25 for his actions during the May 12 race at Darlington Raceway. Kurt Busch violated Section 12-1 (Actions detrimental to stock car racing; reckless driving on pit road during the race; involved in an altercation with another competitor after the completion of the race) of the 2012 NASCAR Rule Book.
It would appear that Kurt Busch loves to donate to the NASCAR penalty funds. For the last several years NASCAR has been able to dip into Kurt’s checkbook for all of his misconducts, misdeeds, and misgivings each and every year, a lesson not yet learned. Maybe Kurt feels like he makes too much money, and wants to give back some of his salary to the sanctioning body, what do you think?
Additionally, Craig Strickler, a crew member for the #51 team, has been fined $5,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 for violating Section 12-1 (Actions detrimental to stock car racing; interfering with a member of the broadcast media). Obviously Mr. Strickler did not learn anything from Kurt Busch’s 2011 dealing with ESPN’s reporter, Dr. Jerry Punch at Homestead!
Tony Gibson, crew chief for the #39 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, has been placed on NASCAR probation until June 27 for violating Section 12-1 and Sections 12-4G and 9-4A (Crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his team members).
Andrew Rueger, a crew member for the #39 team, has been fined $5,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until June 27 for violating Section 12-1 (Actions detrimental to stock car racing; failure to comply with a directive from a NASCAR official). Both of these violations occurred post-race.
I will only refer to an article that I wrote following the news that Kurt had landed a ride with James Finch and Phoenix Racing back in December of 2011 in an article titled, Busch Lands With Phoenix Racing.
In that article I stated that this could be the beginning of Kurt’s long slide down the slippery slope to obscurity. I still have not changed my mind. There are many sayings the come to mind, regarding Kurt’s behavior. And at this point Kurt and Kyle are two peas in a pod.
Nevertheless, the sayings that come to mind are; a zebra can’t change its stripes, and the apple does not fall far from the tree!
Kurt is destined to always find himself squarely in the middle of controversy. Mostly because he is the one who stirs it up by his abusive radio rants, childish personality, and his overly aggressive behavior! the last time I checked the spelling of the word team, there are no “i’s” in that word!
Another quote that comes to mind came out of the mouth of Bill France, Jr. when he would “counsel” drivers. He would often say that, “NASCAR was bigger than me and bigger than you. NASCAR was here before me and it will definitely be here long after you are gone”!
So Kurt take some friendly advice. Loose the bad attitude, the sense of entitlement, and the abusive mouth. If you do those things you might have a shot a getting a job with a first class organization in NASCAR, this is probably your last second chance!
What are your views?
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
By Leon, on May 14th, 2012
(photo courtesy of tommytarlton.com)
Last Saturday night I took both of my sons, Jason and Jeremy, as well as my grandson, Cole, to the Tulare Thunderbowl in Tulare, CA, the place where this old redneck was born, to watch The King of the West Series sprint car races. As you all know, I will do what ever I can, any place, any where, any time, to “work on my redneck”! Therefore, being in Fresno for the week lended itself to a great night at the race track.
The venue for night was three divisions of racing. There was the 410 cubic inch wingless sprint cars, the 410 cubic inch winged sprint cars, and the IMCA modifieds slinging dirt and hauling the mail!
Many of the marquee names in the NorCal winged, and non-winged, sprint car community was on hand. Among the premier drivers of this region that raced were the three Keadings, “King Of the West” Brent Keading, and sons Tim and Bud, who are equally as fast as the old man. Additionally competing at this event was Jonathan Allard, Oregon favorite Roger Crockett, local favorite Tommy Tarlton, and Kyle Larson.
Notwithstanding the “royalty” that was in attendance, the class of the field, in both wingless and the winged sprint cars, was a skinny little 19-year-old kid from Elk Grove, CA named Kyle Larson. He really put on a racing clinic for both the fans as well as his fellow race car drivers!
Larson was able to go to Victory Lane in both the winged and wingless sprint car features Friday night! Not only has he put all the West Coast drivers on notice that he is a factor to be reckoned with, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has put Kyle under contract as their developmental driver! He will drive in the K&N East Series in selected races this year, as well as the full season in the K&N East Series next year for EGR.
For the young skinny kid with a heavy right foot, it was quite a driving performance. In both sprint car divisions Larson gave the fans, and his fellow drivers, a lesson in dirt track racing!
For all the local fans of Tommy Tarlton, he, too, had a very good evening of racing. He was very fast in his heat, and finished third in the A Main behind Kyle Larson, and Jonathon Allard.
Even though a night of racing is a night of racing at many of the country’s dirt tracks, there was one really cool feature that the promoter did that I found was very unusual, and quite interesting. The neatest part of the whole evening was the way that Tulare Thunderbowl ran the dash. Instead of lining up the four fastest qualifiers and the four heat winners in order, they allowed each driver to pick an envelope. That envelope had a number, 1-8, inside of it. Then they allowed each driver to either keep his envelope or trade it with another driver for his envelope! It is a way for a driver to get into a fellow competitor’s head before the race!! Then they ran the dash, and the way they finished the dash is the way that those 8 racers lined up in the first eight spots for the A main!
A really cool touch!
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
By Leon, on May 13th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
It took 16 races, spanning seven months, before Jimmie Johnson and Rick Hendrick were able to win another Sprint Cup race, and climb the summit for the organization’s 200th win. Who would ever thought that Hendrick Motorsports would not notch a victory in the 2012 season until the eleventh race of the year? Who would ever have thought that either Jimmie Johnson, or Jeff Gordon would be winless in the first ten races of the season? The answer to both of those questions are that nobody would have bet the farm that HMS, Jimmie Johnson, or Jeff Gordon would be winless in their first ten tries this season!
Nevertheless, Saturday night Jimmie Johnson won the Bojangles Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway, stopping the 16 race winless streak that both Johnson and HMS had to endure, spanning over the tail end of the 20112 season and through the first 10 races of 2012.
“I want to thank all of the drivers,” team owner Rick Hendrick said, “all of the crew chiefs, and you (Jeff Hammond) and Darrell (Waltrip) and Geoff Bodine and everybody else. I can’t believe we won 200 of these things. I can’t believe it took this long after 199. I want to remember all those folks we lost. And everybody that helped this thing happen. Brad Paisley is in his bus on the way here and we’ll have a big party.”
It was Johnson’s 56th career victory.
“What a day,” Johnson, who led a race-best 133 laps, said after embracing Hendrick in Victory Lane. “There was a lot of drama. This race is so special, so great.
“Oh without a doubt. You have got to love that man (Rick Hendrick), he just said 200 is great but let’s goget 250. So that tells you where his head is, I love it. Oh man, what a day. Very fast race car. I want to thank Chad (Knaus, crew chief) and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for an awesome race car. The Kobalt Tools Chevy was bad fast. We had a little pit thing that went awry earlier in the race, but we still worked our way back up there. Had a great race car and won the race.”
We are nearing the halfway point in “the regular season” of racing. There are several key players that have to “let the dogs out”, if they have any hopes in making the Chase. They only way for some of those marquee drivers to get into the Chase is to secure a few wins before the Sun sets on Richmond in September! The said marquee drivers include, but are not limited to, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, and Carl Edwards!
It is time to let the big dog eat!
The NASCAR crowd has two weeks to enjoy all the festivities that surround Memorial Day and the Coke 600. There is the, The Pit Crew Challenge, the Camping World Truck Series race Friday night, followed by the gala of the fan favorite Sprint cup All-Star race Saturday night.
This Saturday night is when “the Stars come out, and the gloves come off “, and to the winner goes all the spoils a $1,000,000 pay-day at Charlotte Motor Speedway! It is also the day when not many of the race cars will be able to be driven up on the haulers, because of that $1,000,00 payday, some of the race cars will be in various stages of wrecked, crumpled, and mangled sheet metal!
Check out the unofficial results from the Bojangles Southern 500.
After eleven races here is the official Sprint Cup standings.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
By Leon, on May 7th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
Sometime ago in the previous century, Charles Davis, Jr. made a trip to Yuma to race at the former Yuma Speedway. He can’t remember just exactly what year it was, however, he will not forget his Saturday night visit to this race track!
In the night’s showcase event, the . . . → Read More: Wingless Sprinters Sling Some Mud At Cocopah Speedway
By Leon, on May 6th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
“Blazingly Bad” Brad Keselowski got a push from Kyle Busch on the green-white-checkered restart to win the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega.
Keselowski’s win was his second at Talladega, remember the Edwards in the catchfence race a couple of years ago, the sixth of his young career, and the first . . . → Read More: “Bad Brad” Out Wheels ‘Em In The Aaron’s 499
By Leon, on May 5th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
This wasn’t just any Nationwide race, this was Talladega! Talladega is the place where it is high-speed, high-banks, and high-danger. It is also the place where strange bedfellows make for a good story. Another way of putting it is that you have the opportunity “to dance with the devil”!
. . . → Read More: Logano Slingshots Kyle At Talladega NNS Wild One!
By Leon, on May 4th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
The latest rumors from the garage area in Talladega this weekend has Furniture Row Racing’s owner, Barney Vissor, talking to Kurt Busch. The speculation is that Vissor is talking to Kurt Busch about the possibility of signing him to a contract for a second team in 2013!
Furniture Row . . . → Read More: Kurt Busch To Furniture Row Racing in 2013?
By Leon, on May 4th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
“Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynard Skynard has to be Dale Jr.’s favorite song! After all, he has won ten races in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at this sprawling superspeedway, known as Talladega, the most of any active driver.
Additionally, when you drive around this part of Alabama . . . → Read More: Talladega Is Dale Earnhardt,Jr. Country
By Leon, on April 29th, 2012
(WOMR file photo)
“The action track”, Richmond International Raceway, as it is affectionately known amongst the NASCAR community lived up to its moniker. As the race was concluded last night, there was the usual “NASCAR officials/drivers conferences” that occur after a traditional short track “confrontation”! However, it was not because there was . . . → Read More: Richmond Produces Bruised Egos And Hurt Feelings!
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