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Danica Patrick Announces 12-Race Nascar Schedule

GetUsedParts.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:40:20 GMT

NY Times Wheels
January 29, 2010, 9:20 am
[b]Danica Patrick Announces 12-Race Nascar Schedule[/b]
By DAVE CALDWELL

[img]http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/01/29/automobiles/wheels-Danica-Patrick/articleInline.jpg[/img]

Danica Patrick said Thursday that she planned to compete this year in at least 12 races on the Nascar Nationwide Series, the second highest level in the sport. Officials at the racetracks where she expects to compete promptly stomped on their marketing accelerators to sell tickets.

In a statement, Patrick, 27, who also will compete full-time in the Izod IndyCar Series, said, “We just want to be smart and calculative about this process. The tracks we’ve selected not only complement the IndyCar schedule, but will give me quality seat time at a variety of facilities.”

Patrick is to make her stock car debut Feb. 6 at Daytona Beach, Fla., in a race in the Automobile Racing Club of America series, one notch below the Nationwide Series. A week later, her car is entered in the Nationwide Series race on Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway — but JR Motorsports will determine after the ARCA race whether she will drive Feb. 13.

“We want to give Danica the best opportunity to compete at Daytona, and that includes making sure she is 100 percent comfortable in that driver’s seat,” said Kelley Earnhardt, the sister of the stock car star Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the general manager of JR Motorsports. “The Nationwide race there is perhaps the most competitive race of the year.”

Patrick will race in Nationwide Series events on Feb. 20 in Fontana, Calif., and on Feb. 27 in Las Vegas. Then she will focus on the IndyCar Series before racing in a Nationwide Series event June 26 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The speedway later sent out a news release that called Patrick’s announcement a “gift.”

Jerry Gappens, the executive vice president and general manager of the racetrack in Loudon, N.H., flew to the JR Motorsports shop in Mooresville, N.C., last month with 20 pounds of fresh lobster to entice Patrick and her crew to race at New Hampshire. She did not eat the lobster, Gappens said, so he might buy her a pair of fashionable high heels.

“This is great news for our fans here in New England,” Gappens said in a statement that also mentioned that tickets were on sale for the race for as little as $25. “She is a talented racecar driver and a major sports personality that will bring the national spotlight to the largest sports and entertainment facility in New England.”

Patrick plans to participate in Nationwide races at Chicagoland Speedway on July 9; Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 14; Dover, Del., International Speedway on Sept. 25; back in Fontana, Calif., on Oct. 9; Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 15; Gateway International Raceway in Illinois on Oct. 23; Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 6; Phoenix International Raceway on Nov. 13, and Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida on Nov. 20.

Roger Curtis, the president of Michigan International Speedway, said, “Danica and her team, JR Motorsports, felt that M.I.S. would be a facility she could have some success at in her first year in stock car racing. It will be special for our race fans to watch. At least we didn’t have to bring her a lobster to get her to race here.”

From: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/danica-patrick-announces-12-race-nascar-schedule/

John Phillips: Twenty New Rules to Boost NASCAR’s Ratings – Column

GetUsedParts.com — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:44:13 GMT

[b]John Phillips: Twenty New Rules to Boost NASCAR’s Ratings – Column[/b]

CARandDRIVER.com
January 25, 2010 at 5:21 pm by John Phillips

[img]http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Phillips-placement-440x268.jpg[/img]

Another NASCAR season has concluded, yet I still don’t grasp the “Race for the Chase.” You get most of the way through the season, then the dozen best drivers lose all their points and start over again, while the rest of the field—the losers, who already feel like crap—are excluded from championship contention and are showcased nationally as losers, tried twice for the same crime.

I do understand why sanctioning bodies—now including the NHRA, with its awkwardly named “Countdown to One”—might be drawn to such contrivances. It effectively bestows two championship titles per season. But if spectators are really such obliging nitwits, how about this: The driver who wins any race is immediately crowned the champion. Maybe even the world champion. And he remains the world champion until someone else wins—probably at the next event—and then the series gets to crown yet another world champion. This system theoretically gives NASCAR 36 champions per year and the NHRA, 24. Here are 20 other new rules to boost NASCAR’s ratings:

1. Fans may throw anything on the track at any time, as long as it is: a) an item made of glass, b) a car battery, or c) a riding mower.

2. One grandstand at every track must be reserved exclusively for: a) alcoholics (blood-alcohol levels will be tested), b) persons wearing electronic ankle tethers, and c) rodeo clowns with snakes.

3. All cars must be capable of 300 mph. To achieve this, no scrutineer will ever glance under the hood of a competitor’s car. (Note: Solid rocket fuel, while discouraged, will not be expressly banned as long as it is “The Official Solid Rocket Fuel of NASCAR.”)

4. The speed limit on pit lane will be 175 mph—strictly enforced, no exceptions.

5. Three (3) celebrity drivers and/or politician drivers will compete in every race. At least one (1) must be severely maimed or paralyzed in a crash so violent that it shuts down the track for thirty (30) minutes, a period henceforth to be known as “Free-Beer Time.”

6. A lottery will be undertaken in which three (3) RV and/or bus owners in the infield will be permitted to compete in the actual race for any ten (10) laps of their choosing.

7. During “Free-Beer Time,” fans will electronically vote to sacrifice between six (6) and nine (9) spectator vehicles to a peat bog maintained at every track, starting with the automobile the promoter drove to that day’s race.

8. During the event, the spectator who starts the largest fire will be invited to participate in the victory celebration.

9. At one race each year, the National Rifle Association will hold its annual convention and, during green-flag racing, will oversee a competition that determines the organization’s “Marksman of the Year.”

10. During “Free-Beer Time,” drivers will demonstrate their helmet-throwing abilities. Any driver who inflicts a closed head injury will be crowned that day’s “Helmet-Hurling Hero” and will restart the race in first place.

11. Every pit crew must employ one (1) actual simian, with DNA to be tested by the San Diego Zoo. This simian may have any name as long as it’s “Walker, Texas Ranger” and must perform a vital pit function—changing tires, adding fuel, or challenging the driver to a game of rock/paper/scissors.

12. At any time, members of the France family can demand the installation of snow chains on the driven wheels of five (5) competing vehicles.

13. On lap 100, one (1) driver will be selected at random to undergo a personal IRS audit that is televised live on the infield JumboTron.

14. The TV broadcasting team will, at every race, include two (2) of the following persons as color commentators: John Madden, O.J. Simpson, Ellen DeGeneres, Michael Jackson’s physician, Sly and the Family Stone, Sharon Stone, Oliver Stone, Stone Phillips, or the Rolling Stones.

15. One (1) car per event must explode.

16. Twenty (20) minutes of each TV broadcast will be allotted to a segment videotaped in the grandstands. This segment will officially be known as “Is She Wearing a Bra?”

17. Any competitor with the surname “Busch” will be ejected from the premises of all tracks, including those tracks that have never hosted a NASCAR event.

18. At the night event at Bristol Motor Speedway, the back straightaway will include a ramp-to-ramp leap of no less than sixty (60) feet. Competitors who misjudge their entry speeds and land amidst throngs of spectators will be subject to a drive-through penalty but will not lose a lap.

19. Any driver whose car is disabled can reenter the race but only in a rental car acquired through “The Official Rental-Car Agency of NASCAR.”

20. On an undisclosed lap of every race, NASCAR will prominently display a handsome skull-and-crossbones flag, informing drivers that the event, effective immediately, will proceed in a clockwise direction.

NASCAR reserves the right to change any of these rules at any time it pleases. (This is not a new rule.)

Check out the article here: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/10q1/john_phillips_twenty_new_rules_to_boost_nascar_s_ratings_-column

Listen to this Aussie crap...

tjonessss — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:01:39 GMT

Here's what some guy wrote me on some other blog:

[b]"Hi all you yanks, I think all your u.s motorsports series are a load of bollocks exept for the RIGHTIOUS C.A.R.T champ car world series.
NASCAR is a load of old willie nelson listening old geriatric good old boys racing overweight bloated taxi cabs around in circles, and the I.R.L ( or as it's now called indycar, even though it isn't worthy of the name ) is a sad parody of the cart series in its heyday,
It was created because you americans couldn't bear to watch a series where your american boys were getting beaten by foreign opposition, so tony george created a dodgy series with no class whatsoever but hey the yanks are winning (oh sorry they aren't much anymore).
The u.s racing scene is a closed shop you have created series that are american for americans with drivers who would get their butts kicked if they ever stepped out of their irl or nascars and tried to compete on an internaional level,
The true american driving talent like ryan hunter-reay, richard antinucci, memo gidley, townsend bell etc ,are in r.h.rs case not being backed by american corporations or or in the memos cases have fallen out of top flight competition.
I bet you nascar fans have never heard of them!
American motorsport needs a new phil hill or mario andretti, you have plenty of jeff gordon, tony stewart, dale earnheart jrs and frankly nobody outsde the u.s gives a monkeys about these over hyped tractor racers.
SUPPORT YOUR TALENT!!!!!!"[/b]

what do you think about that crap???

Fark.com says "The recession is hitting the NASCAR and pork rind crowd harder than others"

tjonessss — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:00:02 GMT

[b]State’s economic health hurting[/b]

By Michael E. Kanell

Sunday, June 07, 2009

That longtime Southern financial luster has — for the moment — dimmed.

After decades of leading the nation in growth, Georgia and the Southeast have stumbled. And the fall has been harder than for most of the rest of the country.

The region surged through good times with faster growth and had slipped the rigors of recessions with lighter penalties than most areas of the nation.

Now, unemployment rates here are higher and job loss more painful.

What happened? Ironically, it was some of the region’s signs of success — primarily the housing boom, with its aggressive borrowing by consumers — that made it vulnerable.

Riding that boom, the region was actually slower to enter recession. But when it did, it did so with a vengeance.

“I would have expected our local economy to be affected,” said Adrian Cronje, Atlanta-based chief investment strategist for Wilmington Trust Investment Management. “But it is surprising to me that it is worse than the national average. The measures of employment weakness have been decidedly worse.”

The unemployment rate in Georgia last month was 9.3 percent, compared to the U.S. rate of 8.9 percent. Georgia’s jobless rate has been tracking higher than the nation’s for more than a year.

While some places have been hit harder — say, southern California or some manufacturing areas in the Midwest — the slide in the South has been dramatic. During the past year, the nation has shed 3.5 percent of its jobs. But Georgia payrolls have hemorrhaged 4.5 percent of their positions.

Unemployment rates reflect that much of the Southeast looks even worse than Georgia: Alabama (9 percent), Florida (9.6), Mississippi (9.1), North Carolina (10.8) and South Carolina (11.5).

Just two years ago, Georgia’s employment picture was brighter than the nation’s. In early 2007, when the overall economy was still expanding, the state was adding jobs 30 percent faster than the U.S. pace.

That superiority had been a function of habit.

“You can go all the way back to 1945,” said Mike Chriszt, assistant vice president for research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. “That is pretty much when the South started to grow.”

Besides warmer weather, Georgia and the region held some key growth advantages: land was available and cheap; regulations were less restrictive; and workers were mostly non-union and lower-paid.

“That’s why you would locate your business here as opposed to somewhere else,” Chriszt said. “It cost you less to set up shop and it cost you less to pay your employees.”

Success only bred success. As companies moved South, so did many thousands of workers — which drew more businesses.

For instance, the eastern division of the Beck Group, a design and building company, has been in Atlanta for seven decades, drawn here and kept here by the work needed in a growing area, said Brad Phillips, managing director.

The network of colleges and universities acts as an accelerant for the growth of both region and company, he said.

“The educational system puts people into the work force that we want to hire” Phillips said. “Employers come here because there is talent already here looking for work.”

Just after World War II, Georgia payrolls represented about 1.8 percent of the nation’s jobs. At the end of 2007, Georgia’s share was 3 percent — a 67 percent expansion in the state’s share.

Personal income in Georgia rose an average of 6.1 percent a year in the six decades after 1948, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That compares to a national average of 5.7 percent a year.

Those changes add up. In 1948, per capita income in Georgia was 68 percent of per capita income in the United States. Before recession hit, Georgia’s per capita income had climbed to 90 percent of the U.S. level.

Throughout the recessions of 1980, 1981-82, 1990-91 and even 2001 — when Georgia’s hospitality and telecom sectors were pounded — the state’s unemployment rate never rose as high as the national average.

Coming out of the 2001 recession, job growth in Georgia reclaimed its place in front of the tepid national pace. In March 2006, Georgia payrolls were expanding at a 3 percent clip — 40 percent faster than the nation.

Housing tells the story. In 1959, the South represented one-third of the housing starts in America. By mid-1980, the South accounted for fully half the new building.

But that percentage dipped. A decade ago, the South was building new houses at a 672,000-a-year pace, around 40 percent of the national total.

Then in 2001, with the economy sputtering, the Federal Reserve shoved interest rates down. Housing starts jumped, in spite of a recession. Mortgage rates were at near-record lows, and “teaser” loans made the starting payments even lower.

Four years later, the rate of monthly starts in the South for the first time rose above 1 million, once again accounting for half the nation’s new home building.

But those good times led to trouble.

“We were just overbuilt,” Chriszt said. “The thing that is different this time around is that the very large increase in construction in 2004, 2005 and 2006 was taking place faster than the pace of people moving to the area.

“When the music stopped, it was a big shock.”

Credit was easily available to first-time home buyers, often with no money down. Many move-up buyers also took low-rate, low-down payment loans to buy larger houses.

In short order, many home buyers found themselves unable to make monthly payments when their loans adjusted upward. As the mortgage bubble burst and home prices started dropping, many others suddenly owed more than their homes were worth.

To those unable to sell their homes in the chilly market, debt — leverage — was an albatross.

“Perhaps we in the Southeast became more over-leveraged,” Cronje said. “Perhaps we have been particularly vulnerable to this current dynamic. It is a fundamentally different dynamic than at any time since the 1930s.”

By October 2007, the pace of job gains in Georgia had slipped below the national rate. And when the job losses started, the contraction was faster in Georgia than nationally.

Neverthelesss, even with Georgia and the South deep in recession, some companies still want to expand here.

NCR last week announced plans to shift its corporate headquarters from Ohio to Duluth, promising to bring the area 1,250 jobs, along with 850 more to Columbus. The state put up more than $60 million in various incentives but presumes a much bigger payoff for Georgia down the road.

Most of the economy is made up of low-key companies whose decisions don’t make headlines. And some of those businesses have moved here too.

Uncle Julio Corp. opened its first Atlanta Tex-Mex restaurant in 1998 and plans a second, said Todd Conger, president and CEO of the Dallas-based company.

“We have grown every year we’ve been in Atlanta,” he said. “And I think Atlanta’s economic platform is varied enough to get through this.”

That kind of hope is taking hold, even as the nation is struggling to find the recession’s bottom. Because after the bottom — maybe sooner, maybe later — will come a turn toward growth.

And as that happens, the historical advantages of Georgia and the South will again arise, Chriszt said.

“I don’t know if the immediate aftermath will be any better for Georgia than the U.S.,” he said. “But once the recession fades, those drawing cards are still going to be there.”

[url]http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2009/06/07/south_recession_economy.html[/url]

Why Does JUAN PABLO MONTOYA Suck?

tjonessss — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 14:34:20 GMT

I think it all comes down to the fact that his sponsor is Target and the car is manufactured by Chevy. BLEH!