Nascar Nextel Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 , NBC HDTV , Sun. 10/30 Noon ET, Chase for the Cup, Race#7

Nascar .com ^ | 10/26/05

[NormsRevenge]

Join us for this weekend's events at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

[WestCoastGal]

Means Not Overlooked By Little E
Retired driver remains a 'hero'

By RICK MINTER
10/28/05
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says that none of the older drivers are closer to his heart than Jimmy Means, a relatively unknown driver who raced from 1976 to 1993.

Means, who ran 455 Cup races without a victory, now owns his own struggling Busch team and has an interest in a start-up Cup team. But few newcomers to the sport even know his name. He can roam the garage at will, rarely bothered for an autograph or interview.

Earnhardt talks with him often.

"He was my favorite driver besides my father," Earnhardt said. "It was amazing to me how he did everything with nothing."

Earnhardt said he and Means' son, Brad, who fabricates race car bodies for Nextel Cup teams, used to wander the garage during races, picking up new spark plugs and supplies cast off by the richer teams and taking them to Means' trailer.

"Jimmy maybe didn't even need it, but I was a fan of Jimmy's so it was cool for me," Earnhardt said. "But Brad probably was doing it because he thought his dad needed it."

Like others in the sport, Earnhardt was heartened in October of 1987, when powerful team owner Rick Hendrick offered Means one of his best cars for the 500-miler at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Read the rest here.......

[WestCoastGal]

By RICK MINTER
10/28/05


Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the face of NASCAR's present and future, but a big part of his heart is in the past.

He says he is proud of every trophy he has won at some of the newer tracks across the country, but his most treasured victories have come at the sport's old speedways where he once roamed the infield with the little die-cast cars while his dad, the legendary Dale Earnhardt, raced.


He bought his first racing movie at a souvenir trailer when he was a kid tagging along with his dad.

"It had old footage of '70s," he said. "That was when I really wanted to know more."

So he has obtained an amazing collection of racing films from that era, and he studies them to learn everything he can about the sport's early days.

The love for the old footage is so strong that Earnhardt is starting a production company. He plans to become the narrator for the old films, and the Speed Channel is negotiating for 10 episodes that likely will debut next February.

Earnhardt said he's excited about sharing his interest with NASCAR Nation.

"A lot of fans, if they're like me, can't get enough of the past, and a lot of the new fans probably want to know what the sport was like," he said, adding that for today's fans to truly understand the sport, a history lesson is in order.

"When you take history class, you're not just taught about the past five years and the present day," he said. "To tell what's happening today, you've got to know the story from the beginning." Read more about the old tracks here......

[WestCoastGal]

For Dale Jr fans.........[There was a Budweiser video-linked One Night Stand last night....here is a bit of what was said.......

They asked him his favorite shows he Tivos...Cops/Amazing Cop Chases and the Dick Butkus ESPN show where he goes back to coach high school football.
He hates exercise but has a boxing ring. Had a friend who bought a bow flex who couldn't make payments so he bought it. Takes Flintstone vitamins [LOL]..and not so great about doing that. Loves steaks and uses a KC Masterpiece rub. Loves the new A-1 steak sauce.

Loves to divide up into sets of 6 people and shoot paint balls on different sides of the creek on his land. Lots of welts and bruises from those activities. Drives his polaris around alot.

Spoke of the tracks a racer wants to win at an Atlanta,Dega,Daytona,and Charlotte are his favorites because of the history of the tracks. Its Nascar roots. Felt the Hall of Fame should be in Charlotte so people could visit the shops also.

He just came from Athens Ga and spent the day rolling in the dirt for a Nascar commercial. Talked about his doggie Killer. That he couldn't come with him this time because he might lose him with the commercial shoot and everything.


He couldn't remember the last movie he saw since they weren't that good. He has seen Wedding Crashers on a movie channel at the hotel when he came test at Atlanta. He was asked about where he eats? He's at the track a lot but he ate at some type of Friars club in the hotel he stayed at for testing. Really good steak. Talked about his dirt go-kart track and how him and his friends just race and build bonfires and drink a few beers to relax.

He spends time in the office at JR Motorsports and how his sister Kelley really handles alot of that for him. But he still goes in and makes decisions. Discussed the special Bud paint schemes. His favorite was the baseball car from that amazing win at Daytona in July 2001.

[NYTexan]

Final Practice on Speed channel now.

[NYTexan]

AAA will sponsor Martin in 2006, Kluever in '07

[umgud]

Qualifying bump.

[tubebender]

Everyone from this thread must be prosecuting Fitzgerald...

[umgud]

Chrissy just indicted Rove/Bush/Cheney. Me? I'm tarred of all this and want a NASCAR break from this pol crap.

[WestCoastGal]

Me too, the same news over and over with this indictment/CIA leak stuff. Blah blah blah. Politics has become pathetic.

Let's go racing.

Qualifying comes up on speed in about 10 minutes.

[WestCoastGal]

Hey NY I made it back in one piece!!

Qualifying up next.

[NYTexan]

"Chrissy just indicted Rove/Bush/Cheney"

Just lock the remote in the speed channel for the next 2 hours and the images of that jerk will fade away! LOL

I got so many burnt thru FRFL drivers that my B & C teams are seriesly wanting!

[NYTexan]

Now that IS good news!

Run accross anything interesting? RS tails?

[WestCoastGal]

I actually stopped at a place I thought might have them, but no luck. I'm still searching. :)

Speed is on semi-live for qualifying. They are about half way through. I was looking for the lineup for qualifying but didn't want to see who was up front. It's more fun when it's a surprise.

Jeff Green looks to be up first, then Jeff Burton.

[NYTexan]

Anybody got a line-up for quals?

[WestCoastGal]

LOL

[WestCoastGal]

Jeff Green sets the time at 28.97.

[NYTexan]

[NYTexan]

[WestCoastGal]

Burton bottoming out times in at 29.52

Very loose.

Burtons hauler driver received the Pilot driver of the year award.

Boris up.....needs to time in, 29.35 good lap.

[NYTexan]