2 Ladies Start in Top-15 for Vegas Nationwide
Current NASCAR
Things have sure regressed since we were drawing 62-65 cars at Richmond. At least there is full field an I wish them all well.
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
Current NASCAR
2 Ladies Start in Top-15 for Vegas Nationwide
Current NASCAR
clicked too soon... should be right now Ms. Eagle Eye!!
2 Ladies Start in Top-15 for Vegas Nationwide
Current NASCAR
Danica Patrick and Johanna Long both start in top-15 in today's Nationwide event at Vegas.
Danica is 12th.
Johanna is 15th.
Jennifer Jo Cobb will start 37th.
If you don't like these starting positions, they're still the same in Pkl's post below, lol!
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
Georgia Man is the Daytona Race Track Thief, but Drag Fans Beat Him to a Pulp at Gainesville!
General
Amen....
I guess this kinda stuff has been around forever.
I remember in the 80s some personal stuff being stolen from the haulers parked in the Cup garage in the days before they had the big lounges up front and there were no driver motor homes. I'm sure it happened for years before that, too.
Like you say, Robert... glad they caught him.
Georgia Man is the Daytona Race Track Thief, but Drag Fans Beat Him to a Pulp at Gainesville!
General
Remind me not to mess with any drag racing fans!!
Speedway thief nabbed at Gainesville race, police say
By ANDREW GANT
STAFF WRITER, Daytona Beach News-Journal
March 10, 2012 8:44 AM
A Georgia man caught sneaking into an RV at the Gatornationals in Gainesville is the same one who burglarized race trailers during Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach police said today.
Local police charged Steven Garry Sanders, a 51-year-old Macon, Ga., man, after victims in Gainesville caught him in the act -- and punished him for it.
"He was subdued in the pits by some of the fans and spectators, and had to be taken to the hospital and treated before he could get out to the jail," Alachua County sheriff's spokesman Art Forgey told The Gainesville Sun. "Somebody at the track told us that they have had this problem before at the events, of people going into motorhomes and taking stuff. I think we are probably going to find out that (Sanders) is not from the area, and that this may be how me makes his living."
Sanders had his victims' wallet, credit cards, ID and cash in his pocket when arrested, according to the report. And Daytona investigators say he's the same man who stole a collection of wallets from Speedway trailers during the races in 2010.
The victim this year was Lance Willsey, who raced in the Rolex 24. On Jan. 27, Willsey left his trailer closed, but not locked, and moved to the pit area. When he came back, he found his wallet (and the $800 in it) was gone.
After Willsey reported his credit cards stolen, police soon found they were used at Publix, Dillards and Walmart, where surveillance video showed Sanders buying gift cards, bottled water and an 18-pack of beer.
Today, a local judge signed a warrant to have Sanders brought back to Volusia to face charges in Willsey's case, as well as a similar 2010 theft from another trailer at the Speedway.
In that case, the race team of Daniel Harding, M. Allen Milarcik and John Storrie left their trailer unlocked for about an hour, then came back to find things missing.
Harding told police he was changing from his racing outfit into street clothes when he noticed his wallet and $350 weren't in his jeans. Milarcik was missing his wallet and $900. Storrie lost $100 from a computer bag.
Although police got surveillance video of the thief using one of the stolen cards at Target on International Speedway Boulevard, they couldn't find him. He also bought a meal at the nearby Chik-fil-A.
In May of 2010, police wrote: "Due to the fact that the suspect in this case hasn't been identified and no new information and/or evidence is likely until the next race season, this case is pending."
Sanders was charged with grand theft, burglary and fraudulent use of a credit card in this year's case, and grand theft and burglary in the 2010 case. Police spokesman Jimmie Flynt said today that more charges are expected.
In Gainesville, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office charged Sanders with burglary, grand theft and providing false information to law enforcement. Forgey said a race fan tape-recorded Sanders as he stole from a nearby RV, and still had his camera running when Sanders came into his vehicle next.
Suspected Thief Sanders
Surveillance video from Target in Daytona Beach, showing the image of a man suspected of using stolen credit cards belonging to race crews at Daytona International Speedway.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
What Goes Around (as DW always said) Sometimes Comes Around- Can Richmond Track Save Virginia State Fair?
General
On a side note...
All this drama is taking place at Meadow Farm, birthplace of the one and only Secretariat - "Big Red" , acknowledged by most as the greatest race horse in history. Property was also owned at one time by Eric Freedlander, owner of Cup cars driven by Tommy Ellis and Dale Jarrett. Ellis and Freedlander are now both in prison resulting from totally different financial fraud charges.
Small world.
What Goes Around (as DW always said) Sometimes Comes Around- Can Richmond Track Save Virginia State Fair?
General
From its origination in 1946 until the mid 1990s, the Richmond Cup track was leased from the Atlantic Rural Exposition, operators of the privately owned (not state affiliated), non-profit State Fair of Virginia.
During most of those years the late Richmond promoter Paul Sawyer who leased the track beginning in 1955, was treated like the proverbial "red headed stepchild" by the fair operator.
It was a constant battle. They were monied "horse people" who looked down their collective noses at automobile racing.
Sawyer paid for every single improvement out of his own pocket, even though he didn't own the property.
Sawyer opened the beautiful 3/4-mile Richmond International Raceway in 1988, spending millions of dollars, but again not owning the facility he built. He still leased the property.
Finally, late in the 1990s, Sawyer purchased the property from the cantankerous State Fair and began to lease them his property for the fair until they built their new site outside of Richmond.
Imagine their surprise when not too long after they sold the property to Sawyer, he turned around and sold it to ISC for 4 times what he paid the Fair!!!
Now comes word out of Richmond this week that those brilliant monied horse folk who ran the Virginia State Fair and looked down their nose at Sawyer and his auto racing have declared bankruptcy.
Current track owner, ISC has thrown out a possible lifeline for the populace of Virginia to continue to have a State Fair by offering to host it, if wanted.
Do you think that on some cloud up above ole Paul Sawyer and his business partner Joe Weatherly (who began leasing that track from the Fair in 1955) are grinning ear to ear and punching each other in the rib cage with their elbows as they try not to fall off the cloud from their laughter attack?
Sometimes, what goes around comes around!!!
Raceway willing to host 2012 State Fair
UPDATE: State Fair of Va. ceasing operations, liquidating assets
State Fair shutting down, bringing end to 150-year run
By: RANDY HALLMAN | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: March 10, 2012
Richmond International Raceway, home to the State Fair of Virginia before it moved to Caroline County in 2009, is interested in hosting the 2012 fair if that's what it takes to rescue the event.
SFVA Inc., the nonprofit organization that ran the annual event, shut down Wednesday after converting from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which held out the possibility of a reorganization, to Chapter 7, liquidation.
Since then there has been speculation about the possibility of another organizer stepping in to run the fair, which had been scheduled for Sept. 27-Oct. 7.
RIR President Dennis Bickmeier said Friday that the racetrack is willing to resume its role as a home for the fair. He said the prospect has been raised in his conversations in the community since Wednesday's bankruptcy news.
"The word I keep hearing throughout the community is 'save what can we do to save the fair?' " Bickmeier said.
He said the history of the RIR complex as the fair site from 1946 until it moved to Meadow Event Park in Caroline County in 2009 would resonate with past fairgoers.
"We've talked about it a lot in the last 48 hours," Bickmeier said. "No one has contacted us, and we have not contacted anyone. Could we do it? Yeah, we could. We know how to work with promoters; we know how to host events; we know how to operate events.
"We're willing to sit down and listen to anyone who would want to talk to us about it," he said.
Marla Calico, director of education for Missouri-based International Association of Fairs and Expositions, a trade organization, and a former fair manager, said RIR is a natural choice to put on a fair because of its experience producing large events.
"That's a skill set," she said.
The track is already familiar, and has the infrastructure in place, to manage large crowds, Calico said, as well the knowledge needed to market and advertise something of the magnitude of a state fair.
Also helping RIR is its network of vendors.
But in order for it to pull off an event of this size, it needs to reach out to the agricultural community and volunteers who are the linchpin of a state fair, Calico said.
Another potential issue is signing the food vendors, entertainers and carnival operators with State Fair experience. While many may have committed to attend this year, word that SFVA was ceasing operations likely sent them scrambling for new gigs.
Asked if RIR could pull it together in time to hold a state fair this year, Calico said it's a possibility.
"I would say it's very, very, very difficult. Every minute that goes by is time that can not be regained," Calico said. "But I would never be one to say it's impossible."
Bickmeier said saving the fair seems to be a point of pride in Virginia. He also said he hoped the fair could continue as a source for scholarships. Since 1989, the fair has awarded 2,439 college scholarships worth $1.8 million.
In its statement Wednesday, SFVA said that under the guidance of a bankruptcy court-appointed trustee, scholarship funds would be sent to Virginia Tech's foundation for administration and distribution.
Caroline County Board of Supervisors Chairman Wayne A. Acors released a statement Friday expressing the county's hope that the fair will resume on the 360-acre, $81 million site in Caroline.
"We remain hopeful that the State Fair will operate again in Caroline County soon," Acors said. "The Meadow Event Park is a user-friendly, safe and beautiful venue for the fair. We believe that other potential investors will find it a very appealing place to operate a State Fair."
The statement also pointed out that because the Caroline site has zoning restrictions and limited utility agreements with Hanover County, "any use of the land, other than for State Fair purposes, may be difficult."
Tucker Martin, a spokesman for Gov. Bob McDonnell, could not comment Friday on whether the governor would support a new fair with state funds.
"Our focus right now is on the state budget so it would be premature to discuss any future State Fair proposals or plans," Martin said in an email.
Earlier this week, Tucker said that "the governor is hopeful that someone will step up to ensure the continuation of a great fall event and perhaps the other annual events that the fair conducted."
Up in the air is whether a group wanting to put on the fair will be able to use the traditional name State Fair of Virginia.
G. William "Billy" Beale, SFVA's board chairman who also is CEO of Union First Market Bankshares, said the nonprofit would like to hold on to the name and make it available to an organization that wanted to resurrect the fair. He wasn't optimistic about the possibility, though.
For the lender group likely to benefit from SFVA assets, the rights to the name could be a valuable commodity. Defunct companies such as Circuit City and CompUSA have sold their names and intellectual property to third parties. The buyers have continued to operate the businesses using the monikers.
SFVA also is asking to keep the rights for the Strawberry Hill Races and Meadow Highland Games & Celtic Festival.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Just look beyond the forest to see the trees.
Stock Car Racing History
Jim...
here's the answer about the car's location as posted on the web site www.oldstockcars.com by Fritz Wilson's nephew, Tim (the final photo shows Fritz working on the car before the Daytona 500):
1959 Holman-Moody Thunderbird NASCAR
This was my uncle. This car was campaigned in the first Daytona 500 race in 1959. The #64 Holman-Moody Thunderbird was the car driven by Fritz Wilson who finished in 56th place with a blown piston. He actually only made 15 laps before leaving the race. The car that finished in 2nd place was driven by Johnny Beauchamp in the #73 car. In a photo finish #73 was initially declared the winner. The #64 car still exists and can be found in Mark Martins Klassix Car museum in Daytona Beach , FL.
Just look beyond the forest to see the trees.
Stock Car Racing History
Robert, I see several different places that Bob represented Champion Spark Plug's Safety Program and often spoke to high school students on driver safety.
This link is to a story in a Maine newspaper in 1978. Must be like what Bob did at your school.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19781004&id=v-08AAAAIBAJ&sjid=Yi4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4191,1235591
Just look beyond the forest to see the trees.
Stock Car Racing History
Here's a Bill Rankin posted photo:
