PREDICTIONS FOR THE WEEKEND FROM THE LEGEND
General
Maybe Joe could work a deal with Redskins management to dress that kid for just one play. Send him out on a post pattern and watch him get clotheslined. Then see what he has to say.
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
General
Vets helped to create stock car racing
General
For many, many decades, every NASCAR race broadcast available, as well as every racing show in Richmond, VA was carried by what started as a little 1,000 Watt AM daylight only radio station. I think you'll appreciate the first line or two of it's history and how it came byits call letters.
WXGI
City of license Richmond, Virginia
Broadcast area Richmond, Virginia
Petersburg, Virginia
Frequency 950 kHz
First air date 1947
Format Sports Radio
Power 3,900 Watts daytime
Callsign meaning W EX GI
former owners were retired Army
WXGI is a Sports Radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia, serving the Richmond/Petersburg area. WXGI is owned and operated by Red Zebra Broadcasting.
History This station was signed on in the late 1940s by former World War II servicemen, which resulted in the call letters WXGI, as the station was founded by "ex-GIs" .
Not only did the owners of this small station put NASCAR races on the air, they let folks start racing radio shows, like Joe Kelly who you heard at Occoneechee introducing the cars/drivers on the track. It wasn't just drivers and crew returning from the war who built our sport.
LOGIC OF THE LEGEND (WHO WOULDA THUNK THAT POSSIBLE?)
Administrative
Eloquent and heart warming. Thank you.
GOING IT ALONE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR
Current NASCAR
It's not the stuff that happens under the green flag that bothers me. It's the stuff after the yellow and after the checkers. I have no use for that chicken----. That's like a late football hit after the whistle when the guy is very vunerable. It's like decking the quarterback two seconds after he's released the ball. Chicken----. I'm all for making holes and pushing and shoving when racing. That's some of the stuff we've been missing. It's the other stuff that I can't tolerate. Dale would make a hole at Talladega when none existed and he would rattle your cage, but he didn't go around doing goofy stuff when the green wasn't out.
GOING IT ALONE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR
Current NASCAR
Busch To Race Cup Without Main Sponsor M&M's
by The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. November 10, 2011, 09:46 pm ET CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Kyle Busch will be allowed to race in the final two Sprint Cup Series events but without main sponsor M&M's.
Busch will drive Sunday at Phoenix and in next weekend's season finale at Homestead with Interstate Batteries as his sponsor instead. Although M&M's is Busch's primary sponsor, Interstate Batteries is heavily involved with the team.
In a statement released Thursday night, sponsor Mars said the car will not run with the M&M's paint scheme until 2012, "at which time Kyle Busch will be the driver with the expectation that no future incident take place."
"While we do not condone Kyle's recent actions, we do believe that he has shown remorse and has expressed a desire to change," said Debra A. Sandler, chief consumer officer, Mars Chocolate North America. "We believe our decision will have a positive impact on Kyle and will help him return next season ready to win."
The deal ends a week of wrangling over Busch's future with his race team all fallout from a road rage incident at Texas. Busch wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution early in the Trucks Series race and was parked by NASCAR for the rest of the weekend.
Busch has admitted he lost control of his temper and has since apologized. NASCAR suspended him from all racing at Texas, and this week fined him $50,000 and placed him on probation through the end of the year.
But questions from his sponsors put everything in limbo.
In fact, multiple people familiar with Busch's schedule told the Associated Press that Z-Line Designs asked this week that Denny Hamlin replace Busch in next weekend's Nationwide race at Homestead. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings over Busch's future have been ongoing.
Interstate was JGR's original primary sponsor and only relinquished its role when Busch signed with the team in 2008. The company was the primary sponsor for Busch in six Cup races this season. It also was his sponsor in a Nationwide and Truck Series race and sponsored Hamlin and Joey Logano in one race each.
Busch, who seemed unrepentant after the accident, admitted he lost his cool on the track.
"I've been wrecked four weeks in a row, and I've had enough of it, and I retaliated," he said. "So it's certainly my fault for doing that. If everybody wants to say, 'Hornaday is racing for a championship, roll over,' that's not my fashion. That's not anybody else's fashion out here."
His tone changed considerably a day later, after NASCAR "parked" him from all competition at Texas.
"I've had a lot of time today to sit and reflect, and try to put my thoughts into words as best I can," he wrote in a lengthy apology posted Saturday on the Kyle Busch Motorsports website. "I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during Friday night's Truck Series race at Texas."
It's been a tremendous fall for the 26-year-old Busch, who just two months ago was the favorite to win his first Sprint Cup championship.
He opened the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup tied with rival Kevin Harvick for the top seed based on his four regular season victories. But he again faltered in the opening Chase races and was never a serious title contender.
This latest problem comes at the end of what's been a rough year for Busch, who actually had made huge strides in showing more maturity and patience both on and off the track. But he still had many missteps, including one on pit road with Harvick at Darlington that earned him a $25,000 fine.
Busch also lost his North Carolina driver's license and was fined $1,000 for driving 128 mph in a 45-mph zone in May. He was ordered to do 30 hours of community service and serve a year of unsupervised probation.
Busch was also in a confrontation in the garage with rival team owner Richard Childress, and NASCAR fined Childress $150,000 for his actions.
He also had contact with Elliott Sadler during a Bristol truck race in August, then intentionally wrecked Sadler a few minutes later as retaliation. Sadler drives for Harvick, a longtime Busch rival, in the Nationwide Series.
In his apology Saturday, Busch noted that his missteps have undone all the progress he's made in maturing this season.
"Through a lot of support from the people around me, I feel like I've made a lot of strides this year, but this was certainly a step backward," he wrote. "Moving forward, I will do everything I possibly can to represent everyone involved in a positive manner. However, I know my long-term actions will have more of a bearing than anything I say right now."
Busch is one of NASCAR's most successful and polarizing drivers. He has 104 victories spanning NASCAR's top three national series, and consistently dominates in both the Nationwide and Trucks Series.
This year, Busch has four wins in the Cup Series, eight in Nationwide and six in Trucks. He drives for his own truck team and said last month he'll field a Nationwide team next season and planned to drive for himself in some of those races.
But he's disliked by some fans for everything from his success, his feuds with Harvick and others and his aggressive on-track attitude.
Although JGR has not said if Busch's job is in jeopardy, he has been fired before. Hendrick Motorsports let him go at the end of the 2007 season, when the team made room to sign Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dick Brooks' Frightening Veteran's Day and a Salute to All Veterans
General
Here's the history of the famous tune, God Bless America , from the official Kate Smith website www.katesmith.org . I was proud this past September to hear the New York City Fireman sing it in pre-race ceremonies at Richmond International Raceway commerating the 10th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 tragedies. To this very day, by contuctural arrangement of the late Irving Berlin and Kate Smith, all profits from performances of the song go directly to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.
God Bless America, Land That I Love
By Richard K. Hayes
The United States Senators sang it on the steps of the Capitol that fateful day, September 11, 2001, another day that will live in infamy. It was sung at the reopening of the stock market the following Monday, and Canadian soprano Celine Dion sang it at the two-hour fundraiser "America: A Tribute to Heroes" on September 21. The song was God Bless America, and on NBC's Saturday Today show, after mentioning the national anthem and Willie Nelson's rendition of America the Beautiful, it was reported that Ms. Dion sang "the song that galvanized the American spirit."
In the days and weeks that followed the horrendous events of September 11, it was indeed God Bless America that was on the lips of Americans everywhere. Baseball officials decreed that the anthem would be sung at the seventh inning stretch of all major league ballgames. Flags were quickly printed, containing the title at the bottom. And it appeared on marquees of eating establishments, tire stores, and car washes from coast to coast.
Today's younger generations may not be familiar with the origin and history of the song Irving Berlin considered his most important composition. It was written during the First World War, for an army camp show where Berlin was stationed: Camp Yaphank on Long Island. The show's producers rejected it as too jingoistic, so Berlin placed it in a trunk of rejected manuscripts.
There it lay for twenty years, until Ted Collins, manager of popular singer Kate Smith, approached Irving Berlin for a new patriotic song for Kate to introduce to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I. Berlin had recently returned from a trip to England, during which he was saddened to see signs of another war in the making. He was more thankful than ever to come back to his peaceful adopted homeland (his family had come to America from Russia when Irving was a small boy), so he was motivated to answer Collins' request, on Kate's behalf.
After several days of futile attempts to write a new patriotic song, Berlin remembered the one he had written in 1918. He asked his secretary to retrieve it from the trunk, and he made a few changes to the lyrics. One was from "Stand beside her and guide her/ To the right with a light from above" to through the night," since "right wing" and "left wing" had taken on political connotations in the interim. The line "From the mountains to the prairies/To the oceans white with foam" had originally been "From the green fields of Virginia to the gold fields out in Nome", a decided improvement!
Now Kate Smith was the No. I popular songstress in America in 1938, and her weekly Kate Smith Hour was heard by many millions of radio listeners that Thursday, November 10. The shy composer was invited to attend the show, but he declined, opting to listen with a few friends in his office at his music publishing company in New York. Kate sang it as her closing number, after which Berlin's phone began to ring, as people began to ask, 'Where can we get that song that Kate Smith just sang.?" Berlin was so touched by those calls that he decided to attend the rebroadcast three hours later for the west coast audience. At the conclusion of the broadcast, Kate called Irving to the stage and gave him a bearhug that swept him off his feet!
The new anthem electrified the nation and Kate sang it on nearly every broadcast through December 1940, after which there was a ban on public performances of ASCAP songs. She had exclusive performance rights for a time. She recorded it for RCA Victor on March 21, 1939, and that version has been reissued countless times over the years.
The lyrics were inserted into the Congressional Record, and there was a movement to make the song our national anthem. Kate addressed Congress, imploring its members not to do that. She argued that the Star Spangled Banner was written during a battle (Francis Scott Key wrote it during the War of 1812). It fact, she recorded it on the flip side of God Bless America.
God Bless America was sung at both the Democratic and Republican national conventions in 1940, and again at the Republican national convention in Philadelphia July 31, 2000, the convention that nominated George W. Bush as our 43rd President. At the latter a videotape of Kate singing it on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1957 was played. Although it was recorded by Bing Crosby, Barry Wood, Gene Autry, and Horace Heidt's orchestra at the time, it was destined to be associated with Kate Smith forever, giving her a certain immortality, as well as a guaranteed standing ovation at all of her concerts.
In 1940 Irving Berlin established the God Bless America Foundation, with all royalties from its performance earned by either Berlin or Miss Smith going to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America. That arrangement exists to this day. These organizations were chosen, to quote the contract, because "the completely nonsectarian work of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts is calculated to best promote unity of mind and patriotism, two sentiments that are inherent in the song itself."
When Warner Brothers made "This Is The Army" into a technicolor motion picture in 1943, Berlin insisted that there be a scene in which Kate herself re-created her radio introduction of God Bless America. She sang it complete with the seldom-heard verse. When she died in 1986, that clip was played as part of nearly every television obituary.
An interesting chapter was added to the Kate Smith- God Bless America story in the twilight of her 50-year career. Officials noted that when the national anthem was played at the opening of Philadelphia Flyers' hockey games, the fans were not properly respectful, while they listened more quietly to Kate's record of God Bless America. Furthermore, a statistician noted that they won most games when the latter was played. Fans were given a surprise on October 11, 197 3, at the season opener, when Kate Smith walked across the red carpet on the ice to sing her anthem in person. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0. Announcer Gene Hart commented that Kate "brought chills and a standing ovation of three minutes. It fully met the ultimate definition of the word triumph." At critical games Kate was driven down from New York to repeat the favor. When the Flyers clinched the championship and won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins 1-0, even the Bruins skated over to shake Kates hand. She was called their talisman and good luck charm; she loved the free publicity! She repeated the role the next season, and the Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres to retain the Stanley Cup. (Thanks to Steve for the correction to the name of the defeated team!) In 1987 they erected a bronze statue in memory of their "rabbit's foot" or "secret ice weapon," who had died the previous year.
In one of the few positive results of the unspeakable events of September 11, God Bless America has played an essential part in rekindling a tremendous burst of patriotism at a time when it is needed more than ever in our great nations history.
Dick Brooks' Frightening Veteran's Day and a Salute to All Veterans
General
Many of us fondly remember the late Dick Brooks, a Talladega winner, pilot, owner of car dealerships and MRN pit reporter patrolling pit road in his bib overalls. From Porterville, California, Dick was very much at home in his transplanted southland and even had what I would characterize as a southern drawl.I used to stay ina lot of the samehotels on the Cup circuit as Dick and one night in Atlanta he invited me to join him for dinner, along with his mom & dad (who'd come east for a visit).
A little historical background first:
Jack Billmyer who owned a Ford Dealership in Greenville, NC and had messed around with sponsorship of Junie Donlavey modifieds and was also a car owner of eastern NC dirt cars, became a high ranking executive of American Honda as National Sales Manager. Before he was convicted of accepting bribes and sentenced to prison along with 18 other Honda execs in the 90s, Billmyer set up many of his NASCAR acquaintances with Honda dealerships, including Dick Brooks, Sunny King, Junie Donlavey and Rick Hendrick. This was the same man Rick Hendrick was convicted of bribing when he was sentenced to house arrest due to his medical condition. Billmyer even had Doug Richert on the payroll of a Connecticut Honda dealer when he was Donlavey's Cup crew chief.
As he related that night at dinner in Atlanta, Dick Brooks eventually had several Honda dealerships, but his first was in Albemarle, NC. The American public at the time was not yet in a mode of universally accepting the large scale automobile assault by our former WWII adversaries Japan and Germany, especially in the more rural areas. Anyway, according to Dick, on the first Veteran's Day (or Armistice Day as Dick still called the day of remembrance and honor originally celebrating the end of WWI) that Dick owned the Albemarle, NCHonda dealership, he received an early morning phone call at his home in Spartanburg, SC from his Honda dealership General Manager. Townsfolk were angry over having a Japanese made car sold in their town. In the wee hours of Veteran's Day, these Albemarle, NC residentshad broken out the showroom windows and replaced the American flag flying in front of Dick's Honda dealership with the Japanese flag of the Rising Sun. According to Dick, it was an ugly scene and took quite a while for that dealership to become successful.
With Friday being Veteran's Day, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every veteran, past, present and future. Thank you for your sacrifice and for allowing me and my family the freedomwe enjoy as an American citizen.
With our country in the midst of the Great Depression and world war on the horizon, it was exactly 73 years ago today - November 10, 1938 - that the marvelous singer Kate Smith debuted the Irving Berlin written classic, GOD BLESS AMERICA - on a national radio broadcast. Berlin wrote the piece especially for Kate, a native of Greenville, Virginia and affectionately known as the " Songbird of the South ." I daresay many of you have never heard the long forgotten original closing lines which begin "From the green fields in Virginia to the gold fields out in Nome."
Please enjoy this inspirational original recording of the original radio performance by Kate Smith on Armistice Day 1938 of God Bless America .
updated by @dave-fulton: 10/01/17 04:05:42AM
No Kyle for Nationwide Finale at Homestead? How about Hornaday's New Phoenix Ride
General
Man, I sure hope Kyle Busch races at Phoenix this weekend in Nationwide, now that Ron Hornaday has announced he has obtained a ride in the #32 car for the event... fireworks on the horizon? Here's the latest regarding one of Kyle's sponsors from the Associated Press:
Hamlin to replace Kyle Busch in Nationwide finale
By Jenna Fryer, Associated Press
CHARLOTTE The fallout from Kyle Busch's road rage at Texas Motor Speedway continued Thursday when one of his sponsors asked for him to be removed from the season-ending Nationwide Series race, The Associated Press has reported, citing multiple people familiar with Busch's schedule.
The sources said that Z-Line Designs asked this week that Denny Hamlin replace Busch in next weekend's Nationwide race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because Busch's future was still being discussed Thursday with sponsors and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Among the options being considered is Aric Almirola replacing Busch in the final two Sprint Cup Series races of the season, as primary sponsor M&M's decides how it wants to proceed with Busch. Although NASCAR has cleared Busch to race this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, JGR officials have been silent on his status in Sunday's Cup race.
Busch has been off the track since he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution in the early laps of last Friday's Truck Series race at Texas.
Busch has admitted he lost control of his temper, and has since apologized. NASCAR suspended him from all racing at Texas, and this week fined him $50,000 and placed him on probation through the end of the year.
Busch, who seemed unrepentant after the accident, admitted losing his temper.
"I lost my cool, no doubt about it," he said. "I've been wrecked four weeks in a row, and I've had enough of it, and I retaliated. So it's certainly my fault for doing that. If everybody wants to say, 'Hornaday is racing for a championship, roll over,' that's not my fashion. That's not anybody else's fashion out here."
His tone changed considerably a day later, after NASCAR "parked" him from all competition at Texas.
"I've had a lot of time today to sit and reflect, and try to put my thoughts into words as best I can," he wrote in a lengthy apology posted Saturday on the Kyle Busch Motorsports web site. "I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during Friday night's Truck Series race at Texas."
It's been a tremendous fall for the 26-year-old Busch, who just two months ago was the favorite to win his first Sprint Cup championship.
He opened the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup tied with rival Kevin Harvick for the top seed based on his four regular season victories. But he again faltered in the opening Chase races and was never a serious title contender.
This latest problem comes at the end of what's been a rough year for Busch, who actually had made huge strides in showing more maturity and patience both on and off the track. But he still had many missteps, including one on pit road with Harvick at Darlington Speedway that earned him a $25,000 fine.
Busch also lost his North Carolina driver's license and was fined $1,000 for driving 128 mph in a 45-mph zone in May. He was also ordered to do 30 hours of community service and serve a year of unsupervised probation.
Busch was also in a confrontation in the garage with rival team owner Richard Childress, and NASCAR fined $150,000 by NASCAR for his actions.
Busch also had contact with Elliott Sadler during a Bristol Motor Speedway truck race in August, then intentionally wrecked Sadler a few minutes later as retaliation. Sadler drives for Harvick, a longtime Busch rival, in the Nationwide Series.
In his apology Saturday, Busch noted that his missteps have undone all the progress he's made in maturing this season.
"Through a lot of support from the people around me, I feel like I've made a lot of strides this year, but this was certainly a step backward," he wrote. "Moving forward, I will do everything I possibly can to represent everyone involved in a positive manner. However, I know my long-term actions will have more of a bearing than anything I say right now."
Busch is one of NASCAR's most successful and polarizing drivers. He has 104 victories spanning NASCAR's top three national series, and consistently dominates in both the Nationwide and Trucks Series.
This year, Busch has four wins in the Cup Series, eight in Nationwide and six in Trucks. He drives for his own truck team, and said last month he'll field a Nationwide team next season and planned to drive for himself in some of those races.
But he's disliked by some fans for everything from his success, his feuds with Harvick and others and his aggressive on-track attitude.
Although JGR has not said if Busch's job is in jeopardy, he has been fired before. Hendrick Motorsports let him go at the end of the 2007 season, when the team made room to sign Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM