NASCAR - Pepsi 400 - from Daytona, on TNT Saturday 7/7/07, at 7:30pm ET [race #18 of 36]

Jayski/Nascar ^

[tubebender]

Plane crash in Fla has links to France family...

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post?id=1863562%2C1

[SouthTexas]

Heard this several times on the radio this morning, but they never said who was involved.

Prayers for the families.

[tubebender]

From Fox News... http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7008396

[SouthTexas]

Statement from NASCAR

"This morning, at approximately 8:40 a.m. Eastern Time, a Cessna 310 registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau, Inc. of Daytona Beach, crashed in a Sanford, Florida, area neighborhood. At this time, we can confirm there were two people on-board, including the pilot, Dr. Bruce Kennedy and Michael Klemm, a senior captain with NASCAR Aviation. Both were killed in the crash.

"Dr. Kennedy was the husband of NASCAR Board Member and ISC President Lesa France Kennedy.

"It is clear that numerous families were affected by this terrible tragedy and unfortunately several people were deceased or seriously injured. Our deepest sympathies and prayers are with all of those who were involved in this tragic accident and their families. We will provide additional information as it becomes available."

[WestCoastGal]

Jeff, Ingrid and Ella...People Mg.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20045422,00.html

[WestCoastGal]

July 10, 2007

Below the Yellow, and Under the Checkers
by Carol Einarsson

CHEERS to coming back to Daytona and Lake Lloyd. Anyone who thinks it would be a good idea to move the first race of the season at Daytona to be the last race of the season has clearly been drink-— er, rather... dropping a soda in his car and trying to pick it up while he drove erratically. The only way Daytona should be the end of the season is if it’s also the beginning and the middle as it is now.

JEERS to the new Suspended Crew Chief rule prohibiting punished crew chiefs from being anywhere near the track, including the stands, the parking lots, the surrounding hills,...etc. Can anyone say “Constitutional Rights”?

JEERS to the rain, but mostly to NASCAR. Sure, we’ve lined up by points for some time, now, but we haven’t always given up on qualifying so soon. NASCAR’s ridiculous rule sent not just Michael Waltrip home, but they sent the POLE SITTER home!! I didn’t think it could get this bad so soon after Bill, Jr. died.

CHEERS to all the fans standing around the Race Day stage booing the name change to Sprint Cup. I even heard people yelling “Winston Cup!” Wow. Those are my people! Not just because they aren’t fond of the new series name, but because they all seemed so averse to change.

CHEERS to Junior’s frightening helmet being an interesting contrast to his patriotic car.

CHEERS to Tony, Jr. outing NASCAR as the ones who told him he could be at the track. I wonder how that will go over.

CHEERS to the Pride of NASCAR and Kyle Petty interviewing The King.

CHEERS to “You snuck off to South Carolina and got married, what was that about?” And a hamburger wedding supper, too.

JEERS to picking your nose on TV, looking at the booger, and wiping it on your steering wheel! Eeeewwww!!!! After the spit in Victory Lane, and the Busch Booger Bomb, I’m sure those are two mighty proud parents.

CHEERS to God Bless Our Troops, God Bless America, and Gentleman Start Your Engines. I thought he was gonna pass out!

CHEERS to the majority of people that are watching the race on that small TV. The way Gordon described it, though, if that were accurate, big screen high-def viewers wouldn’t be seeing that stuff at the bottom that I’m looking at right now.

CHEERS to King Richard in the tribute car. Very cool, but I’m not sure anyone in the booth knew what was going on. I’m glad Kenny Wallace told us what was happening before we saw it.

JEERS to a wreck on lap four. Is there anyone spotting for Jeff Green?

JEERS to badness begetting badness. First Tony tagging his teammate in the turn, and then Junior and Stremme wrapped up in it, too. Looking at Denny’s car, I don’t think that’s the kind of kink that Kinkos likes to see. And until I saw Bobby’s wreck, I was about to feel sorry for no attention being paid to Stremme’s damage.

JEERS to Tony throwing his innocent teammate under the bus. I hope he has a meeting this week with JD over those comments. I’m telling you, dieting Tony is cranky.

JEERS to putting the commercials in a small box and then tricking us into watching them by having a whole parade of new and amusing ads!

JEERS to JPM putting Harvick in the wall. Oh, and then he pulls way left as if to try and trick the viewer’s eye that he was nowhere near the 29. Does anyone else have family pools placing bets on how many cars Montoya will wreck each week?

CHEERS to the Subway commercial that had me fooled. And Larry Mac with a stopwatch at the Subway stand. See? Now they have all these very cool commercials, but they’re squished into a small box. I think the best shot of the whole spot was the look Wally gave Larry Mac. Just a shake of the head in disgust.

JEERS to seeing a replay of Juan Pablo driving OVER Bobby! Kyle can kindly try to absolve him by saying that Bobby checked up, but of course he checked up. He SHOULD HAVE checked up. The question is, why didn’t Montoya? Does he know there’s a race going on beyond the nose of his own car?

CHEERS to Jamie being pushed to the front, ironically by the guy he passed out of bounds early in the race.

http://racejournalonline.com/index.cfm?Pagename=column&id=322

[WestCoastGal]

Bits and pieces

Although interested, adidas didn’t commit until after Earnhardt decided to leave DEI at the end of this season, said Mark Clinard, business director for motor sports at adidas America.
“Obviously you sign him because he’s enormously popular, but this focus on wanting to get better and committing to doing everything he can to win a championship just really fits perfectly with us,” Clinard said. “When people get serious about winning and make some really tough decisions like he made, it’s really a natural.”

The DEI decision may have pushed adidas over the edge, but Lavielle said Earnhardt’s expanding portfolio doesn’t correlate directly to changing teams. Instead, it’s a culmination of the work she has done with his sister, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, in the year since Lavielle joined JR Motorsports.

Now that they’ve inked two significant deals, Lavielle said they will wait to see how sponsorship of his new Hendrick ride shakes out before making more moves. Budweiser has sponsored Earnhardt’s Cup car since 1999 and wants to stay with him, but Hendrick might not be interested in signing the company. Regardless, Earnhardt has a personal services contract with Bud through 2008.

Here is another part of the article that I found interesting but truly sad. It shows all that he did for the sake of DEI....but yet never got appreciation for it!!!!!

He announced in May that he was leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., and decided a month later to sign with powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports. The adidas and Sony deals came right after, and the timing is not lost on anyone.

Earnhardt has spent his entire career with his late father’s race team, and often found himself locked into deals that the late Dale Earnhardt picked for him. That didn’t ease after the elder Earnhardt’s death in 2001, as Junior had to take over many of his father’s contracts to help DEI retain the business.

“We had all them sponsors that DEI was bringing in, whoever they wanted to work with, and they didn’t always match perfectly with me,” Earnhardt said. “And when Dad died ... I had to help out to keep the contracts good. >>>>>They were selling pieces of me here and there just to keep things going.

Whatever company ends up sponsoring Earnhardt’s new ride will use an intense marketing campaign, and Lavielle said they don’t want the driver to become a rolling billboard. His late father was widely recognized as a pitchman for just a handful of companies, and Earnhardt wants the same image.

“We want a small stable of partners, to align him with brands that he’s comfortable with and projects that are fun for him,” Lavielle said. “This sport is, by it’s nature, riddled with sponsorships. But we are in a good position where we can say ‘Hey, I don’t know if that one fits for us,’ and make careful choices when it comes to his lifestyle management.”

One deal already in the pipeline, though, is a candy bar that Earnhardt has had a hand in developing. He won’t reveal many details, only that he and the JR Motorsports staff tasted endless combinations looking for the perfect match. Earnhardt has been involved with how the bar will be shaped, what it will look like and “if it’s going to break into pieces when you take a bite. You gotta have it how you want it if your name is on it,” he said.

He’s come a long way since his days as a short, skinny kid just trying to fit in at school, and Earnhardt has clear ideas on how he wants to be perceived. He believes carefully choosing his endorsement deals helps him convey his desired image.

“I would like to be the guy, your friend next door that you hope gets home early so you can start playing video games,” he said. “I want to be that guy.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070711/ap_on_sp_au_ra_ne/car_nascar_marketing_junior;_ylt=AluNDY4ZVWUkMDwdGvefgw0LMxIF

I want that candy bar tasting job! And, he can come over and play video games here anytime. :)

[WestCoastGal]

These two articles were included in the newsletter I get from JR Motorsports. Interesting.......

Budweiser looking at another driver to sponsor next year

ESPN.com (July 10, 2007) – Budweiser officials are shopping around for their best sponsorship option in NASCAR, a clear indication that the beer company will not sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports next season, sources confirmed Tuesday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2932210

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: ‘Drinking Up’ as Coke, Pepsi Trade Places?

CNBC.com (July 9, 2007) – This week Pepsi is expected to give way as to Coke as the official beverage of most of NASCAR’s tracks and speculation is that Pepsi will be putting some of the money they would have used for the tracks, to getting its Mountain Dew brand on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s racing car hood next year.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/19676544

[LasVegasMac]

Interesting article. Sounds like he was being sold, a piece at a time.

Leaving DEI was the right move.

[WestCoastGal]

Number 8: The Jailhouse Interview

The corridor is smotheringly hot. Light filters in sparingly thru microwave size barred holes hugging the spider web braided ceiling. A wall of black tempered steel bars separate me from the condemned as Barney scouts me to my elusive destination……….ironically, cell #8. But we are not in Andy’s jail up the river a ways in Mayberry, no; this place is right out of the movie Birdman of Alcatraz. Town’s people rumble that unexplained “accidents” and “disappearances” occur naturally around here, like apple pies on Aunt Bee’s window sill across from the ball park.

LINK

[WestCoastGal]

Pretty much looks like a clean break from DEI< BUD and the 8 and most of all the WWW Tess!

[WestCoastGal]

taggy change