One and the same for all practical purposes... 2 buildings comprise the NASCAR Plaza:
1) HOF
2) Office Tower
http://www.nascarplazacharlotte.com/PropertyInformation/AWorldClassOfficeTower.axis
The NASCAR Office Tower, carrying the NASCAR logo, is next to the HOF, NOT owned by NASCAR, but by Trinity Investment partners who bought it from Wells-Fargo bank in foreclosure.
Chiquita is supposed to be leasing approximately 6 floors of the NASCAR Office Tower.
Ironically, Dole has opened a major research campus just down the highway in Kannapolis on the site of the former Cannon Mills, one-time employer of Ralph and Dale Earnhardt.
I can't imagine CMS going very long without a banana sponsor.
From a recent Denver Post article:
Chiquita has been looking at office space in the NASCAR Plaza, which faced foreclosure proceedings last year. But few involved in the deal have stopped to consider what kind of additional disaster might unfold if a Chiquita executive snidely drops a banana peel on the floor of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, like Chim-Chim in "Speed Racer."
NASCAR Plaza Office Building, Charlotte - Former Home of the NASCAR Foundation
International Motorsports Center, Daytona - New Home of the NASCAR Foundation
Not sure what to make of this transition from Charlotte back to Daytona for the NASCAR Foundation Headquarters. Maybe the new International Motorsports office building in Daytona is nicer than the NASCAR office building in Charlotte?
NASCAR Foundation to move HQ to Daytona
By CLAYTON PARK, Business writer send an email to clayton.park@news-jrnl.com
February 11, 2012 12:55 AM
DAYTONA BEACH -- When Betty Jane France started the NASCAR Foundation in 2006, it made sense for it to be based in Charlotte, N.C., since its chief mission at the time was assisting NASCAR drivers in raising donations for charity.
Over the years, the foundation has grown to support more than 100 nonprofit organizations throughout the country, including several here, such as the Speediatrics children's care unit at Halifax Health Medical Center.
On Friday, the foundation announced it will move its headquarters to Daytona Beach later this year, possibly as soon as August.
Its new offices will be in the eight-story International Motorsports Center, across the street from Daytona International Speedway.
The International Motorsports Center is the headquarters for both the National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR), International Speedway Corp., and Grand-Am, the road racing sanctioning arm of NASCAR.
"This move will enable the NASCAR Foundation to be fully integrated with our corporate headquarters in Daytona Beach," said France in a statement issued Friday.
France's daughter, Lesa France Kennedy, chief executive officer for International Speedway Corp., said, "Today's announcement is exciting news for our community. It brings another nationally known and very well-respected organization to Daytona Beach, and with it comes new jobs."
Kennedy added: "Having the NASCAR Foundation based here, in the same location as its board of directors and key stakeholders, makes a great deal of strategic sense."
Noting that the foundation has raised more than $13 million for charity since its launch six years ago, Betty Jane France said, "In a relatively short period of time, the NASCAR Foundation has built a remarkable legacy of helping communities and children, but we've only just begun. We have a bright future and big plans. This move will help us reach our goals."
Several of the foundation's board members have homes in the Daytona Beach area, including France, Rusty Wallace, a former NASCAR champion, and Mike Helton, NASCAR president. The foundation's move will bring two or three employees here from Charlotte, "as well as three or four open positions that we'll be advertising," said NASCAR spokesman David Higdon.
One of those open positions will be for the foundation's executive director. Sandy Marshall, the current executive director, decided she did not want to relocate but has agreed to stay on the job until her successor is hired, Higdon said.
Joe Sullivan, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Volusia/Flagler Counties, said of the NASCAR Foundation, "Moving their headquarters here is going to be great for the local charities and causes here because they're so generous."
Sullivan said foundation board member Wallace presented the local Boys & Girls Club chapter with a $25,000 check from the foundation last year.
Ray Salazar, president of United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties, called the foundation's plans to move here "exciting."
"The foundation has a national reach," he said. "It's nice to have that kind of reach in our community."
Local friend helps Skinner back to Daytona
By Buddy Shacklette, Staff Writer send an email to buddy.shacklette@news-jrnl.com
February 11, 2012 12:10 AM
SAMSULA -- New Smyrna Beach business owner E.J. Wilcoxon wasn't looking to buy a 1967 El Camino, but it was the only way he could get one-on-one with his Spruce Creek Fly-In neighbor -- NASCAR driver Mike Skinner.
Little did they know that transaction 12 years ago would lead to a long-term friendship, and it would eventually help get Skinner to Daytona International Speedway this Speedweeks for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250.
"I told him I would pay his price (for that El Camino), but that I wouldn't be a good negotiator if he didn't come and do a commercial for me," said Wilcoxon, a 47-year-old Mainland graduate. "He kept buffing the car and said, 'You remind me a little of myself.' I'll do it."
Around 40 commercials together later, they're going racing "together" Feb. 24 in the No. 8 Eddie Sharp Racing Chevrolet. On Skinner's quarterpanel will be an ad for American Auto & Tire, a business Wilcoxon started 23 years ago with $87 in his pocket.
"We went to a lot of relationships that we know and said, 'Hey, help us out a little bit, it's a good deal,' " Skinner said. "E.J. was the first guy to step up and say, 'I want a spot on that thing somewhere,' and it's just going to be kind of a group effort to run Daytona."
Skinner, an area resident for 10 years who has since become a snowbird from Statesville, N.C., will wheel a truck purchased from Kevin Harvick Inc., which won championships in 2007 and 2009 with Ron Hornaday Jr. The truck was a backup last season for Nelson Piquet Jr. at Talladega, where he qualified on the outside of the front row. In it will be a Richard Childress Racing engine.
Team owner Eddie Sharp will also field two other trucks at DIS with Cale Gale and Justin Lofton.
"I'm the red-headed stepchild on this thing, although I have the most experience of any of them," Skinner said. "This was an opportunity, and it just happened to be a Chevrolet. The extras from the other two teams are going to do this effort. If the sponsor comes up with the money, we have someone in mind to crew chief the team."
Skinner -- who started 21 Sprint Cup races last season, mostly with start-and-park teams -- was content to sit on the sidelines in 2012, but he said this Truck ride could turn into a full-time effort if a particular sponsor -- which he would not name -- comes up with the money.
At 54, the grandfather of four said it's this or nothing, and that his start-and-park days are likely over.
"I have not pursued any of that and it's probably stupid on my part as a businessman, but I'm a racer. I want to race," Skinner said. "Even though I could get into a couple of cars and race, they're not cars that I would ever have a chance. "That's really not who I am and what I want to do."
Instead, Skinner is getting by with a little help from his friends.
Poking around on the internet searching for a photo of our Tuesday night radio guest, Dick Trickle posed with his former Richmond car owner, Junie Donlavey, I stumbled across a news release I wrote in 1998 still making the rounds. I am always startled when this happens, usually in some unlikely place since it's been over 13 years since I've done one.
This particular release was one of those obligatory "first entry" releases we always did to generate a little press coverage for our upcoming Richmond race weekend. 1998 happened to be both the 50th anniversary of NASCAR and NASCAR racing at the Richmond track where I was employed.
The hook in the release was that it would be hometown favorite car owner Junie Donlavey's first appearance at a track in over 3 months while recovering from heart surgery. For good measure I added our other favorite Virginia owner, Glen Wood to the mix and "made" their entries the "first" for the upcoming Richmond Cup event.
With us being in the "dead period" before Daytona bored out of our mind with the numbing array of televised basketball, I thought you might enjoy a little look back. Granted, I was no Joe Whitlock, but I thought I had written a pretty fair release with this effort about our two Virginia gentlemen car owners who has each enjoyed great success at Daytona as recently as last year. Glen is still in the trenches, while Junie has finally been able to relax.
You can stop reading at any time without hurting my feelings!
Virginia Gentlemen Wood, Donlavey
File 1st RIR Entries For #21 & #90
RICHMOND, VA (May 20, 1998) - RIR
The first day's entries for Richmond International Raceway's June 6th Pontiac Excitement 400 NASCAR Winston Cup stock car event had a decidedly Virginia flavor. They came from longtime Virginia car owners Junie Donlavey and Glen Wood, boasting nearly 1,700 combined Winston Cup entries between them, dating back to 1950 for Donlavey and 1953 for Wood.
Those stats for the two renowned Virginia gentlemen are but one series of columns in NASCAR's record books. Not included in the tally are entries as car owners in hundreds of NASCAR Modified races for each, Wood's career as a NASCAR Modified and Winston Cup driver, or Donlavey's accomplishments as an owner in NASCAR's Late Model Sportsman ranks.
Each owner has racked up racing accomplishments too numerous to easily summarize, and each has had a bird's eye view of the evolution of NASCAR since its earliest days 50 years ago. Ask anyone in the Winston Cup garage, and the word that comes to mind to describe either Virginian is "Gentleman", with a capital "G". Just a list of drivers who've steered their mounts over the decades takes page after page to flow through a computer printer. It reads like a Who's Who of NASCAR chauffeurs.
The exploits of both Wood and Donlavey as NASCAR car owners at Daytona Speedway with their numbers 21 and 90 cars are the stuff of legend. From Tiny Lund's upset win for Wood in the 1963 Daytona 500 after replacing the badly burned Marvin Panch to stirring wins by David Pearson in February and July, Wood and the Wood Brothers race team occupy a place in Daytona history. One wall of Daytona's Steve's Venice - an Italian eatery favored by NASCAR drivers and owners - is covered in nothing but Wood Brothers racing photos, testimony to the legend.
Long before Dale Earnhardt set the record for most consecutive Busch Series wins at Daytona, Donlavey had already fielded consecutive winners for Richmond area driver Bill Dennis in Daytona's Saturday 300 milers three years running - 1972, 1973 & 1974. Ironically, a day after Donlavey greeted Dennis in Daytona Victory Lane at 1972's Saturday 300 miler, Wood was there occupying the same ground to celebrate a Daytona 500 victory with A.J. Foyt.
Each of the two Virginia car owners has also seen numerous changes in their own racing operations. Wood's brother Leonard - an equally respected NASCAR Virginia gentleman - is still found at the track each weekend with the #21, but it has been years since his other brothers Delano, Clay and Ray Lee have been part of a Wood Brothers Racing victory. Today the Stuart, Virginia-based team is guided by Wood's three children - brothers Eddie and Len Wood, along with their sister Kim Wood Hall. Donlavey in recent years has seen his Richmond-based operation evolve as a force to be reckoned with on a weekly basis in Winston Cup racing - thanks in large part to the outstanding sponsorship of the Richmond-based Heilig-Meyers furniture chain.
Completing recovery from recent heart surgery, Donlavey can't wait for his #90 to take to RIR as fans celebrate the "Welcome Back Junie" tour stop at the hospitable Virginian's home track.
When Michael Waltrip wheels the Wood Brothers Racing #21 around RIR the first time, and when Dick Trickle revs up the #90 from the shops of Donlavey Racing, you can bet the cheers from the partial Richmond crowd will be just as directed at their Virginia gentlemen owners as to the drivers themselves. Just listen!
What causes a meniscus to tear?
A forceful twist or sudden stop can cause the end of the femur to grind into the top of the tibia pinching and potentially tearing the cartilage of the meniscus. This injury can also occur with a deep squatting or kneeling, especially when lifting a heavy weight. Meniscus tear injuries often occur during athletic activities, especially in contact sports like football and hockey. Motions that require pivoting and sudden stops, such as tennis and basketball, can also cause meniscus damage.
The risk of developing a torn meniscus increases with age because cartilage begins to gradually wear and lose its resilience. Increasing body weight also puts more stress on the meniscus. Routine daily activities like walking and climbing stairs increase the potential for wear, degeneration, and tearing.
Because some of the fibers of the cartilage are interconnected with those of the ligaments that surround the knee, meniscus injuries may be associated with tears of the collateral and cruciate ligaments, depending upon the mechanism of injury.
I seem to recall Denny Hamlin having his best season following knee surgery.
Friday, Feb. 10, 2012
Kasey Kahne's knee surgery successful
By Jim Utter - jutter@charlotteobserver.com
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne, who will make his debut with the organization in next weekend's Budweiser Shootout, underwent successful outpatient knee surgery on Friday.
In a statement released Friday afternoon, HMS said Kahne would be ready to compete in all activities related to Speedweeks and the organization had no plans to have a backup driver standing by for the Shootout or the Daytona 500.
Kahne had an MRI Thursday after experiencing swelling in his left knee. The MRI revealed a torn meniscus, which was treated Friday morning with a partial medial meniscus removal.
The common arthroscopic procedure was done at a Charlotte-area outpatient facility.
Kahne, who had surgery to each of his knees in late November 2010 to clear out extra tissue, had a third knee surgery in April 2011 to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2012/02/10/3744975/kasey-kahnes-knee-surgery-successful.html#storylink=cpy
