Contingency Sponsors

General

There was some kind of 7-Eleven official NASCAR contingency award I used to do back in the 80s in Cup. NASCAR specified the exact placement of every official NASCAR contingency decal, but it was up to me to convince the car owner to participate in the program. I remember every single car owner but one would run my decal. The one exception was an independent owner/driverwho quite frankly was surprisinglybelligerent about it, considering I had always respected him. I really lost all respect I ever had for him because he acted so nasty to me about it. Turn around is fair play. When it came time to help drivers/owners, you could be sure who wouldn't be getting my help. That driver/owner later had a driver killed in his car at MIS when he rented it out. That pretty much ended his career in all respects. Nobody really wanted anything to do with him. I couldn't help but wonder why he had become such a jerk, but he really ended his own chances by taking such a nasty tack with folks over most things, including not "playing ball" and running contingency decals of folks posting significant purse additions. It was always was an interesting sidelight that the King wouldn't run in the Busch Clash, but I remember Richard saying he had promised his mother he would not display a beer decal on his car.

Impressed by Ricky Craven in the ESPN Booth

General

After watching today's ABC/ESPN telecast of the Charlotte Nationwide Series race, I was impressed once again by Ricky Craven's thoughtful comments in the announcing booth. Quite a refreshing change to the comments I'm sure to cringe at on Fox tomorrow. It made me think back tohow impressed I was with my first encounter with Craven in 1991. I was Media Relations Director at Richmond and got a blind call from Ricky in Maine. He had entered the combined Busch Series / Busch North race at Richmond that used to draw 62-63 entries. He had just secured a Virginia based franchise sponsor (SpeeDee Oil Change) for the event and was calling to inquire how to get them event passes, etc. He wanted to be sure he did eveything perfectly right - by the book.He was so young and sounded so professional compared tomany of theracing folksI dealt with. I was greatly impressed. I was even more impressed when I met him in person that long ago race weekend. He wound up as the highest Busch North finisher in 14th, 1 lap downbehind Harry Gant, Dale Earnhardt and Kenny wallace in a 35 car field that included a huge number of Cup drivers. Ricky had some tough racing breaks. I really enjoyed seeing him on the air today and hope to see more of him. I thought he did an excellent job.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

NASCAR Driver License Written Test

General

No, Tim... not smart enough to come up with that - all the credit belongs to the web site allleftturns.com.

NASCAR Driver License Written Test

General

The NASCAR Driver License Written Test as it appeared in allleftturns.com last year:

License test.

1. Going into Turn 2 at Bristol, you have been involved in a minor collision, do you: a. report the incident to a NASCAR official b. exchange insurance information with the other driver c. put him in the wall in Turn 3

2. Bump Drafting at Daytona is: a. forbidden b. allowed c. "forbidden" (if you know what I mean)

3. You are about to make a left turn. You must signal: a. when you are 50 feet away from turn b. if other motorists are present c. it's just a sticker

4. The Commitment Line signifies... a. the beginning of pit road b. the dimensions of your pit box c. that you and your crew chief want to take your relationship to the "next level"

5. If your car becomes disabled on the track... a. stay in your car until roadside assistance arrives b. set off road flares to warn other drivers c. get out and throw your helmet at the car of the offending driver

6. Continuous hard braking should be applied... a. when approaching the Commitment Line b. when approaching your pit box c. if you're Jamie McMurray on restarts d. all of the above

7. Which of the following describes the thinking of a defensive driver? a. slow and steady wins the race b. the first 495 miles at Daytona c. the opposite of what Juan Pablo Montoya is thinking

8. On the final lap, you approach the leader. What do you need to be mindful of? a. always pass on the left b. objects in the driver's mirror appear smaller than in real life c. 'be careful, Rusty, he's going to slingshot past you!'

9. A "track bar adjustment"... a. adjusts the suspension on the rear of axle, often used for help in the middle of turns b. is another term that describes the rear spoiler c. should be done in the privacy of your own home

10. Regardless of what place you finish, what should you say in the post-race interview? a. the folks at the [car manufacturer] [sponsor-name] car did a great job b. i'm really proud of how our team handled themselves today. c. that Brad Keselowski is a complete whack job! (Denny Hamlin only)

updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

The Royal (Race) Wedding

General

A little levity from today's Charlotte paper. I'm sure a lot of dads would have loved to have gotten by so cheap on their daughter's wedding!! I noted that the groom is from my hometown - Richmond.

CONCORD

Fans jokingly called it the "Royal Race Wedding" because of all the camera-toting, microphone-waving reporters who showed up at Charlotte Motor Speedway to cover the ceremony. The track even sent a security guard for crowd control. And when it was all done - after race fans Linda Ward and Greg Waters had exchanged vows at the track's Peninsula Campground - they were whisked around on a decorated golf cart to wave at well-wishers. That was royal enough for a truck driver from Virginia and a nurse at the Iredell County Jail, who met 12 months ago to the very day while camping opposite each other at the track. "It's everything I imagined," said the gushing bride, who wore an embroidered sundress purchased at a Cherokee, N.C., souvenir shop. "I tried not to cry," added the groom, who wore shorts and a tan shirt. "But I teared up because she's such a special woman." It was with the blessing of the speedway that the couple married at the campsite, and the track even threw in pit passes to the Coca-Cola 600 as a wedding present. Speedway spokesman Scott Cooper says many weddings have been held at the track's Speedway Club, but very few have been staged in the campgrounds. That's where you'll typically find the die-hard NASCAR fans, who'll bring a tent or camper and stay for the entirety of Race Week, weathering the heat, the rain and the occasional mud. Linda and Greg were among them last year. But they were strangers until the day he offered to help her carry some jugs of water back to her campsite. "I told him: 'I can carry my own damn water and I don't need no man's help.' Then I walked off," she recalled. Yes, it was love at first sight, NASCAR style. One date led to a long-distance relationship, then he proposed and one of them suggested getting married at the campground. "It made sense," said Linda, "because all our friends and family were already going to be there for the race." The wedding took place at the campground's hospitality tent, operated by Full Life Foursquare Church in Concord. (Sign at the tent: "Loving God. Loving Racing. Loving People.") Members of the congregation transformed the tent into a chapel, bringing in chairs and greenery, draping streamers and even baking a chocolate groom's cake in the shape of the No. 18 NASCAR. (That's Kyle Busch's car, his favorite driver and her least favorite.) Somebody else ran over to Wal-Mart and got the bride a veil. "This is a community here at the campground, a family," says church member Tracy Rhodes. "The same people come from all across the country, year after year, and the relationships are long-term." Coincidentally, she's the one who started calling it the "Royal Race Wedding." "It's getting so much publicity. And let's face it; it's in a hospitality tent at the racetrack." The ceremony itself lasted only nine minutes, starting with Linda being escorted through the campground to the sound of Waylon Jennings' singing "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys." Track etiquette requires men to take off their ball caps during prayers and so they did, including the ones not wearing shirts. Greg tried not to cry. Linda cried like a baby. The pastor pronounced them man and wife, and a pickup loaded with girls in bikinis drove by and they waved like they were in a parade. At that point, fellow camper Chad Parrett of Virginia dubbed the ceremony "perfect" and popped open the second of two beers he brought along. "I think it's awesome that they had their wedding here. It makes it easier, since everybody was already here," he said. As for the happy couple, they intend to spend their honeymoon at the track this weekend with family and friends. After that, she'll go back to work as a nurse at the jail and he'll go back to truck driving from his home in Richmond, until they can work out the long-distance details. "Getting married at the campground kind of felt weird at first," said Greg. "But we kind of feel famous." For a brief time Friday, everyone they know - and many they didn't know - showered them with support, love and attention. At least until that truckload of girls drove by and waved.

updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

INDY, BEWARE OF THE PITFALLS

General

Well, I did think maybe I was reading a NASCAR story when I saw where the Andretti team had bought a driver's seat in the Foyt team's already qualified car due to "sponsor committments."

INDY, BEWARE OF THE PITFALLS

General

Tim, I read that same report this morning and agree 100% with the thoughts both you and Ernest express. Again, have a wonderful time with the grandsons at CMS on Sunday!

A Great American

General

I had the wonderful experience to work directly with Bud from 1982-1984 while managing the Wrangler Jeans racing program with Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd in Bud's #15 Wrangler Fords. Later, in 1986 when I moved to Spartanburg from Dallas, TX to set up a racing program for Derrike Cope, Bud and his wife, Betty insisted that my family move into their lake house on Lake Bowen until we found housing in Spartanburg. WhenI arrived after a two day drive from Dallas with my wife and two girls, Bud and Betty met us at the lake house with 2 weeks of groceries. My grown daughters still cherish playing with the ducks and squirrels at "Mr. Moore's" lake house. Many years later Bud's daughter-in-law stopped by the track at Richmond and returned several of my girls' coloring books that had fallen behind a dryer at Bud's lake house. They don't make them any nicer than Bud Moore and his late wife, Betty. Same goes for Bud's three sons. Bud is not just a great American, he is a great, unselfishperson.

NASCAR Track Length Measurements Incorrect

General

During the years I was directly involved working in the NASCAR field, 1980-1999, the measurement rule was DEFINITELY 15 feet in from the outer wall. Here's a copy of an interesting FOX/Sporting News report in 2004:

SAFER causing remeasuring of tracks? Size does matter -- especially when it comes to racetracks. And with the SAFER barriers installed at many NASCAR tracks, the dimensions of the circuits have changed. "We're going to have to remeasure all the tracks where we've put in the SAFER wall," says Jim Hunter, V.P. of corporate communications. "I don't have any idea how it will affect it, but I'm sure it will affect it to some degree." The SAFER walls at Darlington come out 30 inches from the outer wall. NASCAR measures tracks 15 feet in from the outer wall, but it doesn't expect changes in dimensions to be significant enough to affect records.(FoxSports/Sporting News)(3-24-2004)

Jim Reep Jr said:

Nascar complied with the FIA ruling on measuring track length from 18" of the outside wall back in the early 70s. Before that they were measured 18" from the inside. Safer walls change nothing. The rule allows safety modifications.

NASCAR Track Length Measurements Incorrect

General

I was there in 1966 when Earl Balmer almost took out the Turn 1 Darlington Press Box. Note in this NASCAR photo there were now two tiers of Armco. The late Joe Whitlock gave me the original petition that was circulated and signed by the entire press corps that day stating they'd never cover another Darlington race until another press box was built. After ISC bought Darlington, I gave that petition (on the old yellow AP/UPI teletype paper) to Jim Foster for the National Motorsport Press Association Hall of Fame to display at their exhibit at the Joe Weatherly Museum.

This Hugh Boulden photo shows Balmer already had a Darlington stripe before the green flag waved!!!