star-telegram.com: John Sturbin

THAT'S RACIN': GM exec knows how vital racing is to Chevy's legacy

Thu, 08 May 2008 09:05 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

If you are one of the 1,200 second-shift production workers who, as members of UAW Local 276, are dealing with another week of layoffs at the General Motors assembly plant in Arlington, you have real-world priorities.

That said, you probably are not overly concerned that NASCAR superstars and Chevrolet drivers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. remain winless through 10 Sprint Cup Series starts apiece this season.

That puzzling dilemma, and related racing issues, fall into the laptop of Brent Dewar, GM North America's vice president of field sales, service and parts. Dewar will shed that long-winded title for another effective June 1, when he assumes duties as GM Europe vice president, sales, marketing and after sales.

As such, Dewar's fingerprints are all over GM Racing, which, like the new car market, has gone global.

"Racing's part of our DNA here, so I'm going to have a great team to continue the efforts at Chevrolet," Dewar said in a recent interview. "We race Corvettes at Le Mans. That'll be my home ground... which is a pretty good gig."

GM's reason for racing the Chevrolet Impala SS in NASCAR is obvious -- the brand/marketing exposure afforded by the most popular form of motorsport in North America is undeniable. Similarly, GM's factory-backed American Le Mans Series program, highlighted by the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, is about validating the 'Vette as a world-class sports car.

Decisions on what series GM should compete in, Dewar said, are made by the company's racing council. Consider, for example, the idea that GM needs to compete against Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Honda and Toyota in Formula One.

"We evaluate all sports on three things," Dewar said. "If you're going to race, you've got to race to win. That's the fun part. We think we have the technology to win in any of the race [series] around the world.

"The second thing, you only go racing if it matters to somebody -- that there's a fan base that matters.

"And the third thing is ROI [return on investment]. All three have to be balanced. Some series have a good fan base, but the ROI doesn't make sense. This is a business. It has to meet those criteria to race."

With those guidelines, here are some motorsports topics The General is dealing with in these not-so-kind domestic economic times:

The return of Tony Stewart to the GM family: This rumor took on legs last month after Stewart began looking for a way out of Joe Gibbs Racing and its Toyota Camry lineup before his contract expires at the end of the 2009 season.

"We love Tony," Dewar said. "Tony is our partner on [World of Outlaws] Sprint Cars and Tony Stewart Racing. In the [USAC National] Midget class and Sprints, we're with him as a team owner. We stay in touch with Tony... you never know what the future brings."

GM's plans for the reunited IndyCar Series: Chevrolet last supplied engines/tech support to the Indy Racing League in 2005. "That was a tough decision to leave it," Dewar said. "At this point we don't have any current plans, but we will be in Indianapolis for the Indy 500, and I'm sure there'll be opportunities to continue talks with them."

Alternative fuels in big-time racing: Dewar said most forms of major motorsports could make the switch from unleaded to alternative fuels in "less than two or three years."

"We're pushing hard," Dewar said. "We believe in green racing. Our C6.Rs (Corvette in the ALMS) is racing on cellulosic ethanol made from biodegradable waste products. We're going to have Emerson Fittipaldi pace the Indy 500 in a Concept Corvette E85 vehicle. The next few years, we're going to build 50 percent of GM vehicles to be Flex Fuel -- to run on either biofuel or unleaded gas.

"We have to reduce our dependency on petroleum products. Economically, we have to do it. And we're willing to do it."

PIT STOPS

Kyle Busch wins quarterly vote: In voting concluded three days before Saturday night's infamous "tap heard 'round the world" with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond International Raceway, Kyle Busch has emerged as first-quarter winner for Driver of the Year. Busch won a combined seven races in NASCAR's Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series to earn 14 first-place votes from a panel of 17 motorsports journalists, including this writer, and 142 points. Cup rival Carl Edwards earned one first-place vote and 72 points as runner-up. Danica Patrick, who scored her first IndyCar Series victory in Japan last month, received two first-place votes and 51 points for third. And rising Funny Car star Ashley Force, who posted her first career NHRA national event victory by beating father John Force at Atlanta Dragway, finished fourth with 49 points. A total of 17 drivers received votes for the award, now in its 42nd year.

Stewart reaffirms 'Bowtie' ties: Two-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart reaffirmed his ties to General Motors on Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he helped unveil Chevrolet's all-new Midget racing engine. Designed by GM Racing for the U.S. Auto Club National Midget Car Series, the purpose-built 4-cylinder Chevy engine initially will power Tony Stewart Racing drivers Tracy Hines and Levi Jones later this season.

'Remarkable career' lands Euless rider in Hall

Wed, 07 May 2008 08:51 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

Terry Poovey has a date this fall with the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, where his wife believes his acceptance speech will be a revelation.

Poovey, of Euless, is recovering from the effects of traumatic brain injury, the result of a last-lap, last-corner crash at the famed Springfield (Ill.) Mile on May 28, 2006.

Terry's speech is halting these days, and Kathey Poovey says her husband is "not as fast to get around." But his motor skills and short-term memory are improving, and induction weekend in Columbus, Ohio, near the Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, is not until Oct. 11.

"There's not a doubt in my mind that he won't be able to give a speech," Kathey Poovey said. "It won't be lengthy, but it will be emotional. He'll be able to stand in front of his peers and this wonderful group of people at the American Motorcyclist Association we've known for almost 30 years... and it'll be emotional."

Poovey, 49, is among six inductees selected as the Class of 2008. Poovey earned 11 AMA Grand National victories on mile, half-mile and short track courses aboard Bultaco, Harley-Davidson, Honda and Rotax-powered bikes. One of a select group of riders to have competed in 350 AMA National main events, Poovey posted more than 200 top-10 finishes, 80 top-fives and two championships.

"He had a remarkable career... like a Kenny Roberts," said Mark Mederski, the Hall's executive director. "We only induct six a year, and it's done very democratically. It's not a boiler room process where they say, 'Hey, it's time to put Terry in.'"

Still, Poovey said he was surprised to learn of his selection.

"I wasn't expecting it at all," said Poovey, synonymous with the No. 18. "I figured I might be elected but I really didn't count on it, even after all I accomplished. It's a good deal. I'm retired now and I'm a little too old to race. But I raced for a long time."

What proved to be Poovey's last race was a "one-off" ride nearly a year after he officially retired. "I never quite saw this in our future. We were home free," Kathey Poovey recalled. "It had nothing to do with anything except for the fact he has a passion for what he does."

Poovey was running mid-pack in the feature when the engine blew on one of the motorcycles ahead of him. Poovey's bike went down when he ran over coolant and oil on the hardened dirt surface at a speed in excess of 100 mph.

"They were flipping and tumbling, and we think he got hit by another bike, not his own," Kathey Poovey said.

The impact with a 300-pound bike knocked Poovey unconscious for 22 days. His list of injuries was extensive, as every rib on his left side was broken, some with multiple fractures; his left shoulder blade was fractured, as were the C-6 and C-7 vertebrae in his neck. He was not paralyzed, but spent 12 weeks in a neck brace and five and a half months in hospital care before beginning an extensive, and ongoing, rehabilitation regimen in Texas.

"We kept thinking he'd wake up and be himself," said Kathey Poovey, an analyst in the cargo division at American Airlines headquarters in Fort Worth. "When he started coming around, he had to re-learn how to do everything. It's been two years and he's gone from being wheelchair-bound to a walker and a cane. They say it could be at least five years before he's back to himself."

Friends have kept up with Poovey's progress via his Web site, www.terrypoovey.com. Meanwhile, the Pooveys will mark their 29th wedding anniversary in October, a celebration including that trip to the Hall of Fame.

"It just validates everything he worked for for so long," Kathey Poovey said. "And he's thought about going back to Springfield. Why? He wants to see the people he hasn't seen in a couple years -- and watch a really good race."

Force's success follows long line of fast NHRA gals

Wed, 07 May 2008 08:51 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

In an effort to place perspective on Ashley Force's historic first NHRA Funny Car victory, let's turn to the young lady herself.

Imagine the staging lanes late Sunday afternoon at Atlanta Dragway, where Ashley's final-round opponent in the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals was none other than her father, team owner and Funny Car icon John Force.

Ashley Force vs. John Force, with history hanging in the balance a quarter-mile down the road. Because while Ashley was aiming for National Hot Rod Association victory No. 1, her old man was staring at round victory No. 1,000.

Who wrote this script? PR reps Dave Densmore and Elon Werner, a couple of good ol' Texans and John Force Racing loyalists?

"It was fun racing his team," Ashley said of her dad during a national teleconference Tuesday. "We were making all kinds of jokes on the radio before we got up to run. I was actually joking with his crew chief, Austin Coil, because I was his flower girl in his wedding when I was 5.

"I got on the radio and said, 'Do you really want to beat your flower girl?' And he gets on and just very calmly and quietly says, 'Yes.' You could hear all the guys laughing. It was fun to race against some of the greatest buddies in life."

Ashley prevailed with a pass at 4.837 seconds and 320.36 mph in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. In what now qualifies as old news, she is the first woman to lead the NHRA Funny Car points standings. Heading into this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals outside St. Louis, she has a 59-point lead over Tim Wilkerson.

Ashley's breakthrough race went into the books one week after Danica Patrick scored her initial IndyCar Series victory at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. Danica is the first woman to win a race in a major open-wheel series, but she is not the first woman to win a major motorsports event.

In terms of gender equality, drag racing truly has and continues to shatter glass ceilings.

"You don't want to take anything away from Danica. She did a great job," said Ashley, aware of the contributions of open-wheel pioneers Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Desiree Wilson. "But I do know that growing up, I've watched Shirley Muldowney, Shelly Anderson, Angelle Sampey -- just so many women win race after race, win championships. The gals in NHRA drag racing, they know what they're doing."

FYI, the 2008 NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series Media Guide contains three pages of records set by female drivers. There are myriad entries for Barbara Hamilton, Shirley Shahan, Lucille Lee, Lucinda McFarlin, Judy Lilly, Shay Nichols, Rachelle Splatt, Lori Johns, Cristen Powell, Erica Enders, Hillary Will, Peggy Llewellyn, Karen Stoffer and Melanie Troxel.

"It's neat to now be part of that history," said Ashley Force, 20 years removed from duties as flower girl. "I hope to someday have a final against Melanie. I think a female and a female in the final -- that would be pretty neat. Maybe we'll make that happen. Maybe in St. Louis."

PIT STOPS

Poovey earns Hall honor: Texan Terry Poovey, who scored his first victory on a motorcycle as a high school sophomore, is among six members selected for induction into the 2008 Class of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. A resident of Euless, Poovey earned 11 American Motorcyclist Association National event victories during a short-track career that also featured more than 200 top-10 and 80 top-five finishes in 350 National finals starts. Induction ceremonies are scheduled Oct. 11 in Columbus, Ohio, near the Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, Ohio. Poovey will be joined by fellow inductees Vaughn Beals, Rod Coates, Scot Harden, Larry "Supermouth" Huffman and Rolf Tibblin. For more information on the HOF weekend, call 614-856-2222 or visit on the Web at www.motorcyclemuseum.org.

Supercross title up for grabs: Chad Reed and Kevin Windham will decide the 2008 AMA Supercross championship Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas in a classic Yamaha vs. Honda matchup. Reed, an eight-time main event winner for Team San Manuel Yamaha, has seen his lead whittled to 10 points (340-330) while dealing with a shoulder injury. Windham scored his fourth victory of 2008 on his Torco Fuels Honda last weekend in Seattle, where Reed ran into the back of Davi Millsaps' bike in Turn 1, but rallied to finish second.

Indy rookies ready to roll: Month of May activities at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway get underway Sunday, the first of two days of the rookie orientation program leading to the 92nd Indy 500 on May 25. Thirteen rookies, the most since 1997, will participate in a series of four phases of running 10 laps each at increasing speeds. Scheduled to participate are Oriol Servia and Will Power of KV Racing Technology; Alex Lloyd and Ryan Hunter-Reay of Rahal Letterman Racing; Mario Moraes of Dale Coyne Racing; Jay Howard of Roth Racing; Hideki Mutoh of Andretti Green Racing; E.J. Viso of HVM Racing; Jaime Camara and Enrique Bernoldi of Conquest Racing; Mario Dominguez of Pacific Coast Motorsports; and Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal, both of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. Rahal is the son of 1986 Indy 500 champion Bobby Rahal, and winner of the first IndyCar Series street race of 2008 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Only eight rookies have won the Indy 500.

Lazier, Hemelgarn reunite: Team- wner Ron Hemelgarn and Buddy Lazier, the combination that won the 1996 Indy 500, are reuniting for a shot at the 92nd edition. Lazier, the 2000 IndyCar Series champ, will drive the No. 91 Hemelgarn Johnson Dallara/Honda in a bid to make his 16th Indy 500. Lazier also will work with Lee Kunzman, crew chief during his title season.

WHO'S HOT

Colin Braun. The teenager, a resident of Ovalo in West Texas, scored a career-best, third-place finish in Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. Braun, driver of the No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford fielded by Roush Fenway Racing, has two top-10 finishes in the first five NCTS races of 2008. Braun admittedly went to school on the 1.5-mile Kansas layout, following reigning series champion/race winner Ron Hornaday Jr. and runner-up Jack Sprague across the finish line. Braun moved from fourth to first in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings, five points (53-48) ahead of Justin Marks' No. 9 Toyota Tundra.

WHO'S NOT

Family keeps Boyd Raceway running despite loss

Wed, 07 May 2008 08:51 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

No matter how great the car count, attendance and racing turns out this year at Boyd Raceway, the season will be bittersweet for Lynda Plato.

Owner/promoter David Plato, Lynda's husband of 42 years, died in a Fort Worth hospital on March 16, two days after the 2008 season opener. He had been hospitalized since Jan. 11, suffering from the symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

"It's like emphysema and bronchitis all together," Lynda Plato said from her home on the speedway grounds. "And what happens is they work so hard trying to breathe that their heart just gives out.

"This [racetrack] is David's dream. He just didn't get to live it because of smoking cigarettes. David did stop smoking in 2002, but that was about five years too late. We just miss him a lot."

Lynda, son David Jr. and daughter Melissa Massey largely have been running the facility since 2002, five years after the Platos purchased the quarter-mile layout from local dirt track impresario Richard Snyder.

"I met my husband at a racetrack," said Lynda, a wholesale commercial insurance broker. "We've raced something ever since I've known David... drag cars to motorcycles to Grand National motorcycles."

David was an accomplished fabricator who sold his interest in Azle Aviation, the makers of aircraft seats, to build race cars. That connection eventually led to Boyd Raceway, originally built by American Honda as a practice facility for 1981 AMA Grand National Dirt Track Series champion Mike Kidd of Euless.

In mid-March, Lynda and her son faced a dilemma. Boyd's schedule had been published in December and the pre-opening advertising was out. But at the hospital, her husband's kidneys were failing.

"David always insisted we race no matter who was sick. He told us nobody's irreplaceable," Lynda said.

"We just felt like it was the thing to do. On the Thursday before he died, I told him I won't be here tomorrow because it's race day. He squeezed my hand... he understood and he knew and that's what he wanted us to do."

Opening night went well, and Lynda reported as much to David on Saturday. He died at approximately 1:15 a.m. the next day. He was 62.

"He appeared to my son in a dream, one day before the funeral, and he told him, 'I love you son. Now get back to work!'" Lynda said. "And that sounds just exactly like something David would say."

Lynda said Boyd has been averaging around 100 cars in five classes, four of them IMCA-sanctioned. Crowds have been between 700 to 800 fans each Friday night, she said.

"We've got a direct mail advertising thing ready to go, a postcard, and we're holding it for the weather to get better," Lynda said. "We'll bulk mail them out to the zip codes in our area... from Decatur to Springtown to Azle to Rhome and all those little happenin' towns in-between.

"We're committed for our lifetimes here, because this place will be willed to my children. We're determined to make the season successful, just because that's what David would have wanted."

Hey, Dale Jr.... don't worry, Danica says you still have it

Wed, 07 May 2008 08:51 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

Hey, Dale Earnhardt Jr., you've got a female fan.

That's not exactly breaking news. But despite the fact that your non-winning streak has reached an exasperating 70 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, this female fan feels your pain.

So, who is she? Well, she's happily married, looks healthy in a white swim suit, and as of Sunday, she officially is a race winner in her own universe.

Yeah, Junior, Danica Patrick says you still have it, no matter what the pond scum in the media or that deluded cadre of Junior Haters might be two-finger typing on the Internet.

"That's something that happens to a lot of drivers," said Patrick, speaking from the experience of having ended her own exasperating IndyCar Series winless streak in her 50th career start at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. "There's definitely no way on God's green earth that he has lost talent or become a different driver. He's the same guy, and it always takes time to adjust to a new team. I experienced that last year with Andretti Green [Racing]."

Danica was referring, of course, to Junior's eight-race stint with Hendrick Motorsports, where he ranks a solid third in Cup points while outpacing celebrated teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

"Dale Jr.," Danica said, "is still the same driver that everybody loves and cheers for. He'll get it, and I would hope that he knows that he can do that."

Rest assured, Junior Nation, your hero is heading to Talladega Superspeedway this week confident that his first victory in nearly two years is merely a slingshot move away.

"Coming up on two years without a win, it's definitely something you recognize," said Junior, who scored his last victory on May 6, 2006, at Richmond International Raceway. "It's not a whole lot of pressure. I still drive for a good team, I still have a great opportunity to win every time I show up."

Indeed, Junior has recorded three top-five and six top-10 finishes in his No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet Impala SS. He is six points behind runner-up Kyle Busch and 86 behind leader Jeff Burton. But the stat Junior Nation remains fixated upon is his five victories on the high-banked, 2.66-mile Talladega oval -- second only to Gordon's six among active drivers.

"We obviously [have] had a lot of success at Talladega, there is no denying that," said Junior, referring to his restrictor-plate racing tenure at Dale Earnhardt Inc. "Probably four or five years ago I definitely went into these races with a little more confidence than I would carry into the other events. I definitely like running Talladega. Just being up front and leading some laps and getting the fans on their feet -- that's what I'm looking forward to."

Junior also realizes exactly what his fans expect on Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the Aaron's 499.

"They're ready for a win," Junior said. "You just have to wait. When it happens, it will happen."

That's right, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Just ask Danica.

PIT STOPS

TMS billboard "invading" Indy: Texas Motor Speedway is in the billboard business again, and this time it's out-of-state. Beginning Monday, TMS will tout the Bombardier Learjet 550 night race June 7 on a 14x48-foot billboard in the Crawfordsville Road area heading toward the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The theme, as espoused by TMS president Eddie Gossage, reads: Indy Traditions... milk... bricks and... Texas Motor Speedway. TMS is paying $10,000 for a month's worth of promotion Gossage believes is good for his track, the 92nd Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series. "There's nothing but good meant by that billboard," said Gossage, who informed Indy Racing League founder and IMS chief executive Tony George of the buy a couple of weeks ago. "This is part of our aggressive promotional activity. They've got fans coming from all around the globe to the Indy 500 and we're wanting to tell them, 'Don't forget there's another great race on the schedule.' The billboard is a compliment to Indianapolis."

Stewart to leave JGR? Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart reportedly is working on an early exit strategy from Joe Gibbs Racing, and a move to Haas CNC Racing as part owner of that nondescript team as soon as next year. Stewart's contract with JGR runs through 2009, but SI.com's Tom Bowles is reporting the driver is "in need of a new challenge" 10 years into his tenure with Joe and J.D. Gibbs. The move would return Stewart to the General Motors camp from Toyota, as the engines supplied to Haas CNC's Chevrolets are provided by Hendrick Motorsports.

Force chasing dual milestones: Funny Car icon John Force will leave Atlanta Dragway with a pair of milestones if he runs the table during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals this weekend. The event will be Force's 500th in National Hot Rod Association competition, making him second to six-time Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson (528 starts) all-time. And if Force wins the event in his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, he will become the first driver to reach 1,000 round victories. He has won 996 quarter-mile rounds en route to a record 14 championships. "To go after 500 -- hey, I got to show up to get it," said Force, 58, who continues daily therapy for a series of foot and hand injuries suffered in a crash at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis last September. "One thousand [wins], that's something. I'm excited I'm going to get a chance to continue to set those records."

WHO'S HOT

Danica Patrick. Her historic first IndyCar Series victory at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan on Saturday night has re-ignited Danicamania during a coast-to-coast media blitz that has included appearances on every major talk show and network but The Weather Channel. And look out, Heather Tesch. Here's betting Danica can point at a map of the United States and describe a trough of unsettled air moving into North Texas... as well as NASCAR TV analyst Larry McReynolds did back in March.

CART's lone TMS visit remains a memory served with a tray

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:46 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

The trophy that sits in the office of Mike Zizzo, director of media relations at Texas Motor Speedway, has become the object of high curiosity and borderline ridicule since the events surrounding April 29, 2001.

If you were one of the estimated 60,000 confused fans in attendance on that otherwise beautiful spring Sunday morning, you are well-versed in the outcome of the Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented by Pioneer. It was the first and last Championship Auto Racing Teams event booked for TMS, and The Race That Never Was.

"That was the last CART race. The patient stayed on life support for another seven years," said TMS president Eddie Gossage, aware the official open-wheel finale for what now is badged as the Champ Car World Series is scheduled for Sunday, the highly successful 34th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Champ Car already is two races into its merger with Tony George's Indy Racing League and the IndyCar Series, a union announced in February that ended 12 years of bitter separation. Among the innocent victims were those fans and TMS -- then only recently dubbed "The Great American Speedway" -- and certainly the CART organization headed by "Jargon" Joe Heitzler.

Hours before the scheduled start, CART officials announced the race had been canceled in the interest of safety. The decision followed a tumultuous drivers' meeting, during which 23 of 26 entrants reportedly voted not to race because of the effects of dizziness and disorientation due to g-forces created by constant speeds in excess of 230 mph.

Among those voting to race was Kenny Brack, who qualified on-pole at a track record 233.447 mph, and bad boy Paul Tracy. Among those voting to pack-and-scat were CART superstars Michael Andretti and Alex Zanardi.

"These guys were warriors, and these guys had a true concern," said Zizzo, then employed as CART's vice president of competition and public relations. "Eddie and I will never agree on this. [Helio] Castroneves or [Tony] Kanaan or one of the guys blacked out momentarily [during practice]. Max Papis said it was like a video game -- it was so fast he couldn't understand where the pits were. Michael Andretti said he felt like there was a huge weight on his chest, and it was hard to breathe."

And so the race was canceled via separate news conferences staged by Heitzler and Gossage, followed by the inevitable breach of contract lawsuit and the obligatory out-of-court settlement.

In addition to the ill will, what remained was the "trophy," fittingly enough a backup to Gossage's original hardware.

"We marketed the race as an international event," said Gossage, who charged a staffer with having gold, silver and bronze medals cast for the top three finishers, like the Olympics. On Friday of Race Week, Gossage got his first look at the medals and decided they were gold, silver and bronze junk. Plan B produced a hastily engraved sterling silver tray, measuring approximately 2 feet long and 1 foot high.

"It looks like a little vanity plate a woman might have on her dresser. It is not a trophy you'd give for a big-time event," Gossage said.

"It looks like a serving tray for tea... a tray you would win at Wimbledon," said Zizzo, who unearthed the prize after joining the TMS staff in 2005. "Found it in a box, all wrapped up. I said to Eddie, 'Boss, can I put this in my office? For all the hair I lost that day, I deserve the damn trophy.'"

PIT STOPS

COT test set for Lowe's: NASCAR will conduct an open test for the Sprint Cup Series' Car of Today at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 5-6, responding to half of the requests issued by Speedway Motorsports Inc. last week.

TMS president Eddie Gossage and Lowe's Motor Speedway counterpart H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler called on NASCAR officials to test at their sister 1.5-mile quadovals in the wake of complaints voiced by a number of Cup drivers after the Samsung 500 in Fort Worth on April 6. NASCAR approved the open test at LMS in advance of the Sprint All-Star Race on May 17 and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25.

However, Gossage said he and Brian Z. France, NASCAR's chairman/CEO, have been playing phone tag since last Thursday. "I still want an open test in Texas," Gossage said. "Now that they've given it to Charlotte, I would think there's no way they could say 'no' to an open test in Texas and for the Dickies 500 in November. Glad they listened to me. We're making progress."

TMS fall race tickets on sale: Tickets for the NASCAR fall weekend at TMS, highlighted by the fourth annual Dickies 500 Cup race Nov. 2, are on sale. Tickets for the Dickies 500, Race No. 8 in NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, range from $52 to $130. Also scheduled are the O'Reilly Challenge Nationwide Series race Nov. 1 and the Silverado 350 Craftsman Truck Series event under the lights Oct. 31. Ticket prices are as low as $25 for the O'Reilly Challenge and start at $34 for the NCTS race. All tickets are available by calling the TMS ticket office at 817-215-8500, on the Web at www.texasmotorspeedway.com or through Ticketmaster locations. Camping for the Dickies 500 tripleheader weekend will go on sale on Wednesday.

Harvick exploring NHRA: Cup regular Kevin Harvick and wife DeLana are looking to expand their sphere of ownership influence into professional drag racing. Already co-owners of NASCAR Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series teams under the banner of Kevin Harvick Inc., the Harvicks reportedly are looking at the National Hot Rod Association's Top Fuel ranks in partnership with Bob Vandergriff Jr. The proposed Harvick-Vandergriff Motorsports team would field a Top Fuel Dragster in addition to Vandergriff's UPS-sponsored rail.

Rahal smashes monopoly: Graham Rahal's victory in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on April 6 for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing marked the first for an IndyCar Series team other than Andretti Green Racing, Target Chip Ganassi Racing or Team Penske since Aug. 14, 2005 -- a span of 37 races. Scott Sharp's victory for Fernandez Racing at Kentucky Speedway was the last by a team outside the open-wheel series' Big Three.

WHO'S HOT

Gossage making the calls, but NASCAR isn't listening

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:41 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

Updating and cleaning out the notebook from Sunday's aesthetically unappealing -- that is, boring -- Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway:

Hey NASCAR, pick up the phone: Somebody at NASCAR World Headquarters in Daytona Beach needs to re-check the phone messages for Brian Z. France, the company's chairman/CEO. Because Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage says he has been trying to connect with France and some "other officials" to talk about what can be done to improve the quality of racing with NASCAR's Car of Today in the wake of Sunday's snoozer in Fort Worth won by Carl Edwards.

"I imagine they know what I'm calling about and that's why they're not calling me back," Gossage said Wednesday. "I just wanted to visit with Brian and share some of the messages I'm hearing from fans."

Gossage said he also wanted to "strongly encourage" France and NASCAR to test extensively during the five weeks leading to the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, sister 1.5-mile track to TMS in Concord, N.C. Coincidentally, H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president/general manager of LMS, offered Wednesday to open up his Speedway Motorsports Inc. facility for testing on May 5-6.

Gossage said all the money Cup teams are spending to test at tracks not on the Cup schedule and via state-of-the-art seven-post shaker rigs obviously have not solved the handling issues experienced by Samsung 500 runner-up Jimmie Johnson, third-place Kyle Busch and others.

"If they [NASCAR] continue with what they did Sunday, everybody loses," Gossage said. "I am absolutely puzzled why they won't help themselves. That makes no sense. And before the Dickies 500 rolls around [at TMS] on Nov. 2, they absolutely have to have an open test here. Will they? I don't know. I doubt it, judging from phone calls not being returned. They've got a lot of explaining to do if they don't."

Eddie Gossage can be reached by calling 817-215... ah, you have the number, BZF.

Check off one Chevy brand: As NASCAR officials mull whether or not to introduce the COT platform into the Nationwide Series, Chevrolet officials already have eliminated one nameplate out of the Muscle Car Era.

"It won't be Camaro, for sure," said Brent Dewar, General Motors' North America vice president of field sales, service and parts. "We're launching the Camaro later this year. We've got a very iconic design with our Corvettes and Camaros. And because of the way the formula works here [NASCAR's templates], we're not going to compromise our brand integrity.

The vehicles [in NASCAR] are basically the engine packages, and we work with design differentiation. We've got to figure out how to best brand it."

Rain (tires) won't go away: Fans looking for something different during the Nationwide Series events in Mexico City and Canada should pray for rain. Greg Stucker, Goodyear Racing's director of race tire sales, said the manufacturer has not abandoned its rain-tire program.

"We've had it for road-racing since the mid-1990s," Stucker reminded. "It's just never happened that NASCAR wanted to utilize it in a race condition.

"But we have had it available and conducted race sessions with it. And we'll continue to have it available. If you look at the Nationwide Series now, they go to Mexico City and to Canada. We don't have a lot of versatility in our dates there. If we get rain, we want to make sure we can put on a show for those folks."

PIT STOPS

Massey's IHRA debut impressive: Fort Worth's Spencer Massey launched his International Hot Rod Association Top Fuel career in stunning fashion Sunday with a victory in the final of the season-opening Amalie Oil Texas Nationals. Massey, who defeated Terry McMillen at San Antonio Raceway in Marion, had earned his Top Fuel license only six days prior to securing the ride with car-owner Mitch King.

"We were just worried about qualifying, then we just looked at things one round at a time," said Massey, who covered the eighth-mile in 3.261 seconds and 256.26 mph. McMillen's rail broke after his burnout and coasted to numbers of 15.164 seconds/59.94 mph. Earlier, Massey defeated Bruce Litton and Kevin Jones, highlighted by a best pass of 3.193 seconds/264.86 mph vs. Litton.

"I have a really good team behind me and there aren't any long-term plans," said Massey, a former Top Alcohol Dragster champion of the NHRA's South Central Division. "But then again, who would have ever thought we'd leave the Texas Nationals with the points lead?" Massey leads McMillen by 19 points after the first of 11 events in the 2008 Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series. Massey is scheduled to compete Friday through Sunday at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, site of Round 2 of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.

Mosley video good to go: London's sleazy tabloids are having a blast with the Max Mosley sex scandal. Britain's High Court refused Wednesday to prevent the News of the World from posting a video on its Web site of Mosley, president of the Federation Internationale de l' Automobile, consorting with prostitutes. Mosley, 67, has admitted taking part in a five-hour orgy but denied any Nazi role-playing was involved. Judge David Eady ruled the paper could post a 90-second clip. "The very brief extract which I was shown seemed to consist mainly of people spanking each other's bottoms," Eady told The Associated Press. The FIA will determine Mosley's future by vote of the Extraordinary General Assembly on June 3.

Triad's chassis passes test: The chassis that saved the life of NASCAR rookie Michael McDowell during his horrifying crash at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday was built by Triad Racing Development in High Point, N.C. TRD is led by Todd Holbert -- son of champion sports car racer Al Holbert.

WHO'S HOT

TMS president provides some insight as race week heats up

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:40 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

Jeff Burton ruined a perfectly solid story line last April 15, when he became the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver to score a repeat victory at Texas Motor Speedway.

Twelve Cup races, including two Dickies 500 fall races, had produced 12 different winners on the 1.5-mile quadoval in Fort Worth... and a ready-made hook.

It's OK, Jeff Burton, we're over it now. And we've moved on, anticipating the competitive debut of NASCAR's Car of Today from qualifying Friday through Sunday afternoon's Samsung 500.

With the insight of TMS president Eddie Gossage, here are some story lines worth considering as NASCAR's circus invades North Texas:

1. Will the quality of racing at TMS depend solely on the compound Goodyear Racing brings to the track?

Recall that a number of Cup drivers, led by two-time series champion Tony Stewart, exited sister intermediate track Atlanta Motor Speedway last month complaining about a lack of grip in their Goodyear Eagle radials. Goodyear officials later informed Gossage they would be using essentially the same compound run in both Cup races at TMS with the "old Cup car" last year again this weekend, only with a slightly different mold and construction to better suit the COT.

Gossage is confident Goodyear's engineers have made the right choice. "The question is how the balance between the new car and that tire is going to work out," Gossage said. "Should there be a problem, the burden falls on the shoulders of NASCAR -- not Goodyear. We asked them (NASCAR) to add a full-blown open test, or at minimum, add testing time to the race schedule (this week). They refused in both cases. Goodyear would have come tested further if given the opportunity."

2. What kind of crowd is TMS management expecting?

Last year's spring Cup race drew an estimated 191,000 fans, up 2,000 from the prior spring. But including the estimated 183,500 fans who turned out for the Dickies 500 -- Chase race No. 8 on Nov. 4 -- TMS now has failed to crack the magic 200,000 barrier for five consecutive events.

Gossage isn't expecting the trend to reverse itself this weekend. "We're flat (with ticket sales) with last year, which is great," Gossage said. "This is still one of the big weekends for the sport. This is a top three or four crowd of the year."

Gossage said ticket sales have been up "substantially" over the last six weeks. "We went into a little stall in January and early February," Gossage said. "But since mid-February, we've been blowin' and goin.'"

In a unique marketing twist, TMS will launch a one-shot print campaign later this week via purchase of a full-page color ad in USA Today. "It's more for TV ratings than selling tickets," Gossage said. "And it creates a bigness for the event."

Meanwhile, rising gas prices hardly have deterred NASCAR Nation from filling up its RVs and rolling into the TMS parking lots. "We were up about 10 percent on campers over the weekend this year," Gossage said. "We'll sell out camping by Wednesday."

3. Since Jeff Burton already has ruined the no-repeat story line... who ya got to win Sunday?

"My pick is Dale Earnhardt Jr. coming back to a place where he has done well," Gossage said. "Texas is the site of his first Nationwide and Cup wins, and Hendrick Motorsports has done well here in the past, going back to Jimmie Johnson's win last fall. I'm also playing the odds... Hendrick Motorsports (winless in 2008) and Dale Jr. are due."

NASCAR PULSE

A look at NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers worth watching during the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth this weekend:

Who's hot

1. Jeff Burton. A victory at Bristol Motor Speedway and third-place run at Martinsville Speedway has moved him into the points lead for the first time in 2008. And Burton is the only two-time Cup winner at TMS.

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. The most consistent of Hendrick Motorsports' superstars, and the only Cup driver with five top-fives this season. Junior has improved his points position after five of six races run in 2008.

Johnson eyeing Martinsville as fix for Hendrick's 'slump'

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:20 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

Jimmie Johnson didn't fall and crack a bone in his wrist or suffer a concussion or bruise his tailbone while skating as wannabe member of the Dallas Stars last Thursday, one of the few highlights for the two-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion this season.

For those who might have forgotten about the Cup points standings during the Easter weekend break, Johnson and teammate/mentor Jeff Gordon -- the drivers who made a joke out of the 2007 Chase -- are decidedly "off-pace" five races into the schedule. Yes, NASCAR Nation, it's early. But under the format that will qualify the top 12 in points for the 10-race Chase after 26 events, Johnson is 13th with 581 points, 14 behind 12th-place Martin Truex Jr. Gordon, a four-time series champion and last year's runner-up to J.J. by 77 points, was leading the standings by three points over Jeff Burton one year ago. Today, Sir Jeff is 14th with 574 points, 21 behind Truex.

Even more puzzling for Hendrick Motorsports lovers and haters alike is the fact that no HMS driver has won a race in 2008. A year ago, HMS had notched three victories (two by Johnson, one by Kyle Busch) and two poles (by Gordon). Three of four Hendrick drivers (anybody not named Casey Mears) occupied the top six in the standings.

Heading to Martinsville Speedway for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500, new HMS recruit Dale Earnhardt Jr. has emerged as the point man for owner Rick Hendrick. Junior sits fifth on the strength of three top-five and four top-10 results in five starts, and an average finish of 11.8.

So, are we witnessing the first cracks in the foundation of the Hendrick "dynasty?" Has HMS completely lost the handle on the Car of Today? Are super crew chiefs Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte hyperventilating?

Well, before issuing a blanket eulogy, consider that next up is Martinsville -- the venerable paper clip-shaped bull ring. Martinsville also represents old home week to HMS. Johnson is a four-time winner there, including the last three consecutive events, and both races run with the COT last year. Gordon owns the most wins and poles of any active driver at Martinsville with seven each. Even Junior, hardly a short-track ace during his tenure at Dale Earnhardt Inc., has been decent at Martinsville with seven top-fives and an average finish of 14.8.

"We're playing a little game of catch-up," said Johnson, aware that Texas Motor Speedway's 1.5-mile quadoval follows Martinsville . "No one has had this car on the big tracks yet [until this year]. We're now getting into the short tracks and we'll have to see how Martinsville, Richmond and Phoenix go to really compare apples to apples to where we were last year."

Is a win at Martinsville a must-do for the slumping Jimmie and Jeffie? No. But it sure would restore the natural order to all things NASCAR.

PIT STOPS

Newman pans helmet toss: Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway is the last chance for a Sprint Cup driver to earn $15,000 by tossing his helmet at somebody/something in anger. That's the bounty offered by Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, who wants the lid for his collection but also is trying to hype ticket sales for NASCAR's Samsung 500 weekend in Fort Worth on April 3-6. One driver not interested in a gimmick AutoWeek noted as "Pure Genius" is Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman. "It's a joke," Newman said Tuesday. "I'm classier than his money. That's the difference between a used-car salesman and Bill Gates. A used-car salesman does anything he needs to sell a car. Bill Gates has some class."

Da Matta launches comeback: Former Champ Car champion Cristiano da Matta aced the first test in a projected comeback that he hopes will land him a full-time ride in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series with Dallas businessman/racer Bob Stallings. Da Matta hot-lapped around the new 2.5-mile Eagles Canyon racetrack northwest of Dallas last Friday in the Gainsco Auto Insurance Pontiac Riley that Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty drove to the title in 2007. The test marked Da Matta's first laps since August 2006, when his Champ Car hit a wandering deer at full speed at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Stallings would like to run the 2002 Champ Car champion in a second car with 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser, possibly as soon as May, if sponsorship can be secured.

WHO'S HOT

Tony Schumacher. The five-time/reigning Top Fuel champion is the only National Hot Rod Association professional driver to have won multiple events this season. Schumacher, driver of the U.S. Army Dragster, won at Pomona, Calif., and Gainesville, Fla. Schumacher holds a 52-point lead over Larry Dixon, the winner at Phoenix. Only one of Schumacher's 43 career victories, however, have been at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, site of this weekend's 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals.

WHO'S NOT

Dario Franchitti. The NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate is one of those unfortunate souls outside the top 35 (38th) after the series' first five races of 2008, meaning he will have to qualify on speed beginning at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. Franchitti, the reigning Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion, has not qualified better than 23rd (Atlanta Motor Speedway) or finished higher than 32nd (Auto Club Speedway), where he led his only lap in Chip Ganassi's No. 40 Dodge.

ON THE GRID

NASCAR Sprint Cup

Goody's Cool Orange 500

Site: Martinsville, Va.,

Martinsville Speedway

Kyle Busch making his case as NASCAR's next big thing

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:21 CDT

By JOHN STURBIN

Steve Addington's driver is the topic du jour as NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series takes its traditional Easter Sunday break after five points-paying races.

Fact is, seems everybody from Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Tony Stewart to Dale Jarrett to the talking heads in Fox TV's broadcast booth has gone completely ga-ga over Kyle Busch, points leader in both NASCAR's Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck series.

"Working with him is great," said Addington, crew chief on Busch's No. 18 M&M's/Interstate Batteries Toyota at Joe Gibbs Racing. "I mean, he just pushes you to make the car better. He's fit right in here. The guys love him to death. I believe they'd walk through fire for him right now."

Addington made those remarks after Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of the Toyota Camry's historic first Cup victory. It was an afternoon made for going completely ga-ga over the 22-year-old driver nicknamed "Rowdy" and "The Shrub" and other choice terms.

"You know, I warned them," said Addington, referring to his crew. "I said, 'He's going to go off on us at some point here. But just let it roll off your back. He's just competitive, wants to win races.' It's a cool deal."

Kyle Busch is wicked fast in anything he drives. And it is hardly an exaggeration anymore to say he is NASCAR's next great driver.

"I don't know if he's the next one; I think he is it right now," said Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion and second-generation NASCAR star. "He is an amazing young man, talent-wise. Pretty incredible what he can do with a race car, a truck... just different types [of vehicles]. He's fearless and has that youth about him. And just by what I see, he doesn't think that race car can ever get out from under him and he drives it to that limit every single time."

The knock on Rowdy Busch, of course, is his short temper when things go awry. He was in full meltdown mode on Saturday, for example, stomping helmetless out of Bristol Motor Speedway and back to his motorhome after wrecking out of the Nationwide Series race.

And until scoring his fifth career Cup victory for Gibbs and Toyota at AMS, nothing quite defined Kyle Busch as clearly as his hasty exit from the No. 5 Chevrolet after getting swept up in a wreck during last April's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. As recounted in a feature article running in this week's Sports Illustrated, Busch bolted the garage area while his crew repaired the car. Once Kyle was declared MIA, Earnhardt Jr. was asked to fill in during the final laps... a series of events that triggered Junior's interest in driving for Hendrick Motorsports and prompted team-owner Rick Hendrick to decide Busch might be a better fit elsewhere.

"Well, I'm definitely more comfortable with where I'm at," said Busch, who team-owner Joe Gibbs said was fully endorsed by JGR teammates Stewart and Denny Hamlin during his brief free-agency. "Yes, I feel I fit in more with Denny and Tony and more with the Gibbs folks than maybe I did over at the other side [HMS]. And for whatever reason that is, I'm just not quite sure. I'm happy with being where I'm at and being in my own skin and being able to do the things that I want to do and being supported in that."

Busch said he is the same driver he was when he made his Cup debut for Mr. Hendrick in 2004... maybe just a bit more mature.

A maturing Kyle Busch? Get ready to go completely ga-ga.

PIT STOPS

NASCAR pulls strong local ratings: The first full season of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing with the Car of Today is proving popular with viewers in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The nation's fifth-largest market has witnessed a 20 percent increase in ratings -- from 4.9 to 5.9 -- through the first four events of 2008. That stretch includes Ryan Newman's upset victory of sorts in the season-opening Daytona 500 in a Dodge, Carl Edwards' back-to-back wins in Fontana, Calif., and Las Vegas in a Ford and Kyle Busch's historic first win for Toyota at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The DFW market has experienced the fourth-largest increase among the country's top-20 locales, trailing only Denver (38 percent), Detroit (23 percent) and Los Angeles (21 percent).

NASCAR purses set TMS records: Total posted awards for NASCAR's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 6 will be in excess of $7.3 million, a track record for a single-race purse. TMS president Eddie Gossage announced Tuesday that the purse of $7,336,866 is an increase of $83,224 from last year's event, which was the fourth-largest payout in the Cup Series. Only the Daytona 500, Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and the Dickies 500 fall race in Fort Worth paid more to NASCAR's stars in 2007. TMS also has upped the ante for the Nationwide Series O'Reilly 300 on April 5. The posted purse of $1,527,668 is an increase of $23,067 from last year, and a record for the series at TMS.

Transition teams test at Sebring: KV Racing Technology was the fastest of three former Champ Car World Series teams participating Wednesday in IndyCar Series testing at Sebring International Raceway. KV Racing's new lineup of Oriol Servia and Will Power combined to run 173 laps on the 11-turn, 1.7-mile layout. Power posted the day's top time/speed of 52.9685 seconds/113.501 mph. Dale Coyne Racing and Conquest Racing also logged their first laps with the Dallara/Honda package and will test again at Sebring today. Testing moves to Homestead-Miami Speedway for oval-track shakedowns on March 24-25. The 2008 season opener will be at HMS on March 29.

AGR signs Arie Luyendyk Jr.: Andretti Green Racing, already home to IndyCar Series stars Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti, has signed Arie Luyendyk Jr. for its developmental Indy Pro Series effort. Luyendyk Jr., son of the two-time Indianapolis 500 champion, will join Raphael Matos in cars sponsored by Automatic Fire Sprinklers. Arie Jr. was runner-up to native Texan A.J. Foyt IV by 54 points for the inaugural Indy Pro Series title in 2002.

Who's hot

Tony Pedregon. The reigning National Hot Rod Association Funny Car champion moved from 16th to fourth in the points standings with his victory over Gary Densham in the final of Sunday's ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. Recall that Pedregon escaped serious injury after riding out a spectacular explosion in his Q-Horsepower Chevy Impala during the season-opening Carquest Auto Parts Winternationals last month. The victory was the first of the season and 37th of Tony P.'s career.

Who's not