Ontario was supposedly a clone of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but I guarantee you have never seen stock cars race like this at Indy. Check out Dale, Cale, Darrell and Benny swapping paint in this short clip from the final Ontario race when Dale clinched his first championship.
The Wrangler deal was in place. I had been hired to run the program. It began with this race... lucky us. Good yellow color. And the blue is "Reflex Blue."
The original Wrangler Jeans Machine only ran one race. That one race took Dale Earnhardt to the 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship - his first of seven. It was the final race of the 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup season - The L.A. Times 50 0 at the long gone Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California.
Many people have never seen a photo of that car design, which was the same design Osterlund ran during the year with Mike Curb and Curb Records as sponsor.
Thanks to the search I was doing for a Terry Labonte 1979 Riverside Western 500 photo responding to a posted request, I stumbled across these photos by RR member, Scott Baker on www.bakerracingpix.com of a driver, track and sponsor no longer with us.
This is the one of a kind, one race only, original Dale Earnhardt/Wrangler Jeans Machine - the car that took Dale Earnhardt to his first Winston Cup Series Championship.
So, Biff will leave Roush after 2013 and join Gibbs.
I swear I heard it from a very reliable source, lol!
I don't see it happening, but the rumor mill is trying hard to separate Matt Kenseth from Jack Roush:
Auto racing notes: Kenseth won't discuss future with Roush
By: Times-Dispatch Staff | Times-Dispatch
Published: June 25, 2012
SONOMA, California --
Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth declined to discuss his future with Roush Fenway Racing before Sunday's race at Sonoma, where there was rampant speculation he's been talking to other race teams.
The NASCAR points leader acts as his own agent. He has been with Roush his entire career. But his No. 17 Ford has limited sponsorship, and team owner Jack Roush has been paying out of his own pocket to ensure Kenseth runs a full season.
"You know I don't talk about my contract," Kenseth said. "I'd like to have something to tell you, but I don't have anything to talk about right now. Until I have something to announce, I don't talk about it."
Everybody else was talking, though, and Kenseth's name this weekend was linked to both Joe Gibbs Racing, a Toyota team, and Penske Racing, which is moving from Dodge to Ford in 2013. Kenseth is a longtime Ford driver.
JGR team president J.D. Gibbs declined to discuss any possible negotiations with Kenseth. JGR not only has room for expansion to a fourth car, but Joey Logano's status as driver of the No. 20 is unresolved. Logano is in the final year of his contract.
I've told you before about working a little with Hershel. They don't come any nicer. My wife still tells of driving him around Charlotte in 1987 in a stick shift and missing gear after gear!
SONOMA, CA - JUNE 23 : Hershel McGriff, driver of the #04 Park Corporation Chevrolet, leads Austin Dyne, driver of the #9 William Rast Ford, during the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Pick-n-Pull Racing to Stop Hunger 200 at Sonoma on June 23, 2012 in Sonoma, California.
Getty Images
84 years old. Absolutely unbelievable.
I just noticed that the last race listed by Racing Reference at Texas World Speedway was the Western Auto Shootout in 1993.
That race had one of the most interesting fields I've ever seen for a stock car race. It was a combination Winston West / ARCA race . Never knew there was such an animal. Somebody paid some serious deal money.
Look at the field of drivers for that race. Very unusual:
http://racing-reference.info/race/1993_Western_Auto_Texas_World_Shootout_II/P
