NASCAR- Darlington Dodge Charger 500 (Happy Mothers Day to All Mothers)

Self/NASCAR ^ | 05/04/05 | ChefKeith/WCG/Jack(the office helper)/NASCAR

[Aerohawk]

You should be able to buy the little soft-sided coolers at Walmart, they look more like little lunch boxes due to the size. As for the bags, normally if you buy something from the team vendor trucks you will get a bag. I'm not sure if you can buy them. We are headed down to the race as well and it will be the first for my husband. I hope the weather cooperates!

[glock rocks]

The plain (but has a great personality) Updating Doppler...

[WestCoastGal]

Wow, they are tough there.

I would try a store that sells cards and gift wraps that include bags...I've seen clear bags there. The cooler looks like a small lunch bag size to me. I know some people that are going, I will ask them and get back to you.

[glock rocks]

Yer ma dresses ya like Jeff Gordon.

[glock rocks]

Please pray on this day, and every day, for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the families awaiting their safe return.

The Federalist - It's right, and it's free.

Please drop in and say hi and thanks to our troops, veterans, and their families here...

The FR Canteen

[NormsRevenge]

Yer ma dresses ya like Jeff Gordon.

---

Check out her Army boots. ;-)

There's one in every crowd...
Helllooo .. Hellloo..

[GRRRRR]

I think Jeff Gordon, 4 time Winston Cup Champion, actually lives in NY City...not certain, but I think I heard a blurb on that when they had the awards dinner last year...

G

[glock rocks]

Nice!!

[GRRRRR]

YeeHaw...Darlington at night...this will be a real treat!

Cooler temps on the roughest surface in NASCAR...GoodYear better have the best tars!

G

[WestCoastGal]

Darlington: Jeff Gordon preview
Racing series NASCAR-CUP
Date 2005-05-04

GORDON WILL PUSH THE LIMITS IN SEARCH OF SEVENTH DARLINGTON WIN

DARLINGTON, S.C. - There is no doubt about it. According to Jeff Gordon, Darlington Raceway is the toughest track on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup calendar.

Gordon, who dominated last Sunday's event at Talladega Superspeedway to post his series-leading third win of the season and 72nd career victory, will look to capture his seventh career victory at the egg-shaped track in Saturday night's Dodge Charger 500.

"This is a tough track," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. "Before they added the safer walls here last year, we were running up near the wall lap after lap.

"With the safer walls, there's 30 less inches of racing room that we didn't have to begin with."

Last November in the first night race held at Darlington, Gordon led 155 laps before a pit road miscue late in the event relegated him to third. The track "Too Tough To Tame" proved even tougher with the setting sun.

LINK

[glock rocks]

oh yah...

[NormsRevenge]

The finger pointing continues..

Jumps in my bunker.. :-)

------


Earnhardt faults Johnson for big Talladega wreck


http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpcmM5ZG1iBF9TAzk1ODYyNzYwBHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=ap-nascar-blamingjimmie&prov=ap&type=lgns

By JENNA FRYER, AP Motorsports Writer

May 3, 2005

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. called Jimmie Johnson an ``idiot,'' and blamed the Nextel Cup series points leader for causing a 25-car accident at Talladega Superspeedway.

``If there was one idiot out there it was him,'' Earnhardt said during a break Tuesday in a test session at Lowe's Motor Speedway. ``To be honest about it, I think Jimmie Johnson caused about all the wrecks out there.''


Both Earnhardt and Johnson were at the center of the massive accident in Sunday's race at Talladega that wiped out half the field and ranked as the second-largest melee in track history.

Earnhardt was behind Mike Wallace on the front straightaway when he used his car to push Wallace ahead. The practice is called ``bump drafting'' and the drivers had been asked by NASCAR in their prerace meeting to be cautious when doing it.

But when Earnhardt used his speed to get Wallace moving faster, Wallace wiggled just a bit. Johnson drifted up the track at the same time and ran into the side of Wallace.

The contact sent Wallace careening into the wall, and 24 other cars piled up behind him.

Earlier Tuesday, Greg Biffle blamed Johnson for the six-car accident that knocked Biffle and Earnhardt out of contention in the closing laps. Johnson bounced off the wall, and when he tried to save his car by moving back down the track, the cars piled up around him.

``I hate to point fingers, but if (Johnson) hadn't been in the race, we wouldn't have had those wrecks,'' Biffle said. ``I've seen both replays and I don't care what anyone says. I like Jimmie. He's a talented driver. But he caused both wrecks.

``Bump drafting had nothing to do with it. Restrictor plates had nothing to do with it. It was orientation to where you are on the racetrack and where the other cars are.''

Johnson deflected the criticism for both accidents, saying the first was a series of events that culminated in the big wreck and the second was ``hard racing.''

``I think that our wreck on Sunday was a racing incident,'' Johnson said. ``If you took one of those components out of what took place to start that big wreck, it wouldn't have happened. It's hard racing.

``You're an inch and a half apart from one another, cars bouncing all over. They're hard to drive.''

Johnson, who leads the Nextel Cup standings by 130 points over Kurt Busch, has been criticized recently by his fellow competitors for his driving style.

Jeff Burton was angry with Johnson after Bristol, where Johnson hit him from behind and sent him into the wall. And Tony Stewart has been feuding with him on and off since Daytona, when Johnson blocked him up and down the race track in the closing laps.

Then, two weeks ago in Phoenix, Stewart said Johnson hit him to cause a spin that also wrecked Rusty Wallace.

``I don't know what he was doing,'' Stewart said after the race. ``He was running guys up and down the racetrack.''

Both Johnson and Stewart said at Talladega that everything was fine between them.

Jeff Gordon, Johnson's car owner and teammate, defended his protege Tuesday and said Johnson is upset about all the criticism.

``I talked to him and I know he's feeling really beat up over it,'' Gordon said. ``But he really feels like it wasn't his fault. To blame one person in that accident is very unfortunate because I don't think it was any one person.''

---

There was 3 lines and more of 'idiots' out there that wrecked a couple times.. bump drafting makes for mishaps,, imho

[NormsRevenge]

Taking blame (Joe did)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpcmM5ZG1iBF9TAzk1ODYyNzYwBHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=jb-takingblame050305&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

By Jerry Bonkowski, Yahoo! Sports
May 3, 2005




Kevin gets slammed by several of his fellow drivers for an incident at Daytona. Shane disses DJ and gives him a nationally-televised finger at Bristol. At Texas, Tony blasts Stanton, who blasts right back with videotape that "proves" he was wrongly accused.

And then there's poor old Jimmie, who after being fingered several times already this season for on-track incidents, appears ready to start singing the refrain from a 1950s hit, "Why's everybody always pickin' on me?"

Class and accountability are two words that don't seem to be in the vocabulary of quite a few NASCAR drivers these days. Whenever an on-track incident occurs, hardly anyone is willing to admit fault.

Rather, even if the evidence is overwhelming to the contrary, the common response given by singled-out drivers always seems to be to blame the other guy.

Thus far this season, we've had numerous on-track mistakes. Yet I can only recall just a few instances where a driver shrugged his shoulders and sheepishly admitted, "Yep, I messed up. It was my fault."


The first that comes to mind was when Dale Earnhardt Jr. got into the side of Brian Vickers at Las Vegas, knocking them both out of the race. Instead of copping out and saying Vickers did something to him, Junior was a man and admitted he was the offending party.

"It was a big mistake on my part," Earnhardt said afterward. "It's my fault and I apologized to [Vickers]. I don't make too many mistakes, but today I made one and I feel real bad about it."

Three weeks later, Bobby Hamilton Jr. caused a multicar pileup at Bristol. To his credit, he admitted his culpability. "Leave it to me to do something stupid and tear up a bunch of race cars," Hamilton said. "I'm sure I'm a pretty good SOB right now."

Then while battling for position at Martinsville, Jeff Gordon inadvertently – although some might say intentionally – forced Kurt Busch into the wall en route to taking the checkered flag.

Still, Gordon apologized after the race: "I didn't mean to get into [Busch], but there wasn't a lot of give in either one of us."

Other than those rare exceptions of self-blame, almost every other multicar wreck that has occurred in Nextel Cup or Busch Series racing this season has been followed with some variation of "I was just minding my own business when (fill in the name) got into me."

But not this past Saturday in the Aaron's 312 Busch race at Talladega. What resulted from a costly multicar wreck late in that race wound up being one of the classiest moves thus far this year.

Joe Nemechek, Denny Hamlin, Paul Menard and Casey Mears were among a tightly-bunched group of drivers jockeying for the lead. Nemechek tried to squeeze by Hamlin but ran out of free real estate and clipped him, sending Hamlin, Mears and several others spinning and slamming.

Quite naturally, many of the drivers involved in the wreck were angry at Nemechek, who is normally considered one of the cleanest drivers in the business.

Last year, when Ricky Rudd ran second to Nemechek at Kansas, he had this to say: "Joe will race you close, but he'll race you clean from start to finish. He's one guy I never have to worry about if he's alongside me. I can't say that about a lot of other guys."

When it came time to talk about Saturday's crash after being released from the infield medical care center, Nemechek could have passed the buck or tried to blame someone else.

But not Front Row Joe.

Nemechek stood in front of the TV cameras and microphones and readily admitted he was at fault for causing that wreck. He screwed up, he knew it, and he quickly accepted the blame.

"I take responsibility for what happened and I apologize to the other guys involved," he said.

It would have been easy for Nemechek to say something different, but his mistake was his story and he was sticking to it. That it also happened to be the truth made his actions all that more admirable.

I commend Nemechek for admitting his faux pas. He stood up, took the blame and didn't try to weasel out or put the blame on someone else. He showed us what class and accountability truly are.

"I take responsibility, but we'll learn from it and go on," Nemechek said.

It's an example from which other drivers could learn a great deal.

[steveegg]

Entry lists for the weekend:

Dodge Charger 500 (the Cup race) -

Car	Driver	Hometown	Make	Sponsor	Owner
0	Mike Bliss	Milwaukie, OR	Chevrolet	NetZero Best Buy	Gene Haas
01	Joe Nemechek	Lakeland, FL	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Nelson Bowers
2	Rusty Wallace	St. Louis, MO	Dodge	Miller Lite	Roger Penske
4	Mike Wallace	St. Louis, MO	Chevrolet	Lucas Oil Products	Larry McClure
5	Kyle Busch*	Las Vegas, NV	Chevrolet	Kellogg's	Rick Hendrick
6	Mark Martin	Batesville, AR	Ford	Viagra	Jack Roush
7	Robby Gordon**	Orange, CA	Chevrolet	Harrah's	James Smith
07	Dave Blaney	Hartford, OH	Chevrolet	Jack Daniel's	Richard Childress
8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Kannapolis, NC	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Teresa Earnhardt
9	Kasey Kahne	Enumclaw, WA	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	Ray Evernham
09	Johnny Sauter**	Necedah, WI	Dodge	Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts	James Finch
10	Scott Riggs	Bahama, NC	Chevrolet	Valvoline	James Rocco
11	Jason Leffler	Long Beach, CA	Chevrolet	FedEx Express "Birdies for St. Jude"	J D Gibbs
12	Ryan Newman	South Bend, IN	Dodge	ALLTEL	Roger Penske
13	Greg Sacks**	Mattituck, NY	Dodge	Vita Coco Coconut Water	Greg Sacks
15	Michael Waltrip	Owensboro, KY	Chevrolet	NAPA Auto Parts	Teresa Earnhardt
16	Greg Biffle	Vancouver, WA	Ford	National Guard/Travelodge	Geoff Smith
17	Matt Kenseth	Cambridge, WI	Ford	DeWalt Power Tools	Mark Martin
18	Bobby Labonte	Corpus Christi, TX	Chevrolet	Interstate Batteries	Joe Gibbs
19	Jeremy Mayfield	Owensboro, KY	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	Ray Evernham
20	Tony Stewart	Rushville, IN	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	Joe Gibbs
21	Ricky Rudd	Chesapeake, VA	Ford	Motorcraft Genuine Parts	Glen Wood
22	Scott Wimmer**	Wausau, WI	Dodge	Caterpillar	Bill Davis
24	Jeff Gordon	Pittsboro, IN	Chevrolet	DuPont	Rick Hendrick
25	Brian Vickers	Thomasville, NC	Chevrolet	GMAC/ditech.com	Mary Hendrick
29	Kevin Harvick	Bakersfield, CA	Chevrolet	GM Goodwrench	Richard Childress
31	Jeff Burton	South Boston, VA	Chevrolet	Cingular Wireless	Richard Childress
32	Bobby Hamilton Jr.**	Nashville, TN	Chevrolet	Tide	Calvin Wells, III
34	Jeff Fuller**	Auburn, MA	Chevrolet	Mach One Inc.	Chris Edwards
37	Kevin Lepage**	Shelburne, VT	Dodge	R&J Racing	John Carter
38	Elliott Sadler	Emporia, VA	Ford	M&M's	Robert Yates
40	Sterling Marlin	Columbia, TN	Dodge	Coors Light	Felix Sabates
41	Casey Mears	Bakersfield, CA	Dodge	Target	Chip Ganassi
42	Jamie McMurray	Joplin, MO	Dodge	Texaco/Havoline	Floyd Ganassi
43	Jeff Green	Owensboro, KY	Dodge	Cheerios/Betty Crocker	Richard L Petty
45	Kyle Petty	Randleman, NC	Dodge	Georgia-Pacific/Brawny/Mother's Day	Kyle Petty
48	Jimmie Johnson	El Cajon, CA	Chevrolet	Lowe's	Jeff Gordon
49	Ken Schrader	Fenton, MO	Dodge	Schwan's Home Service	Elizabeth Morgenthau
66	Hermie Sadler**	Emporia, VA	Ford	East Tennessee Trailers	Jeff Stec
77	Travis Kvapil*	Janesville, WI	Dodge	Kodak/Jasper Engines	Douglas Bawel
88	Dale Jarrett	Hickory, NC	Ford	UPS	Robert Yates
89	Morgan Shepherd**	Conover, NC	Dodge	Victory in Jesus/Red Line Oil	Cindy Shepherd
97	Kurt Busch	Las Vegas, NV	Ford	IRWIN Industrial Tools/Sharpie	Georgetta Roush
99	Carl Edwards	Columbia, MO	Ford	Office Depot	Jack Roush
100	Kenny Wallace**	St. Louis, MO	Chevrolet	Bryan Foods	Elizabeth Waltrip
108	Shane Hmiel**	Pleasant Garden, NC	Chevrolet	Win Fuel	Todd Braun
161	Tony Raines**	La Porte, IN	Dodge	Buddy Sisco Racing	Buddy Sisco
192	Stanton Barrett*/**	Bishop, CA	Chevrolet	Front Row Motorsports	Bob Jenkins
200	Carl Long**	Roxboro, NC	Chevrolet	Buyer's Choice Auto Warranties	Raynard McGlynn

* Denotes Rookie
** Denotes driver/team not in the top 35 in owners' points, must qualify their way in (top 8 of 14, no past Winston Cup champs among them)

---

Diamond Hill Plywood 200 (the Busch race) -

Car	Driver	Hometown	Make	Sponsor	Owner
0	Kertus Davis*/**	Gaffney, SC	Chevrolet	RaceGirl	Johnny Davis
1	Johnny Sauter	Necedah, WI	Dodge	Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts	James Finch
2	Clint Bowyer	Emporia, KS	Chevrolet	ACDelco	Richard Childress
4	Jeff Green**	Owensboro, KY	Dodge	GEICO	Fred Biagi
5	Jimmie Johnson	El Cajon, CA	Chevrolet	Lowe's/Spectrum Spectracide	Rick Hendrick
6	Jeremy Mayfield**	Owensboro, KY	Dodge	Country Crock Spread	Ray Evernham
7	Jeff Fuller**	Auburn, MA	Chevrolet	Big Boar Customs	Andrea Nemechek
8	Martin Truex Jr.	Mayetta, NJ	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker	Teresa Earnhardt
10	Michel Jourdain Jr.*	Mexico City, Mexico	Ford	ppc Racing	Greg Pollex
11	Paul Menard	Eau Claire, WI	Chevrolet	Menards/Moen	Teresa Earnhardt
12	Tim Fedewa	Holt, MI	Dodge	Hot Tamales	Mimi Fitz
14	David Stremme	South Bend, IN	Dodge	Navy "Accelerate Your Life"	Terry Bradshaw
17	Matt Kenseth**	Cambridge, WI	Ford	Waste Management	Jack Roush
18	J.J. Yeley	Phoenix, AZ	Chevrolet	Vigoro/The Home Depot	Joe Gibbs
20	Denny Hamlin*	Chesterfield, VA	Chevrolet	Rockwell Automation	Joe Gibbs
21	Jeff Burton	South Boston, VA	Chevrolet	Reese's	Richard Childress
22	Kenny Wallace	St. Louis, MO	Ford	Stacker 2	Greg Pollex
23	Mark Green**	Owensboro, KY	Chevrolet	Vassarette	Keith Coleman
25	Ashton Lewis	Chesapeake, VA	Ford	U.S. Marines	Ed Rensi
27	David Green	Owensboro, KY	Ford	Kleenex	Tammy Brewer
28	Derrike Cope	Spanaway, WA	Ford	Jay Robinson Inc.	Jay Robinson
32	Shane Hmiel	Pleasant Garden, NC	Chevrolet	Win Fuel	Todd Braun
33	Tony Raines	La Porte, IN	Chevrolet	Outdoor Channel	DeLana Harvick
34	Randy LaJoie	South Norwalk, CT	Chevrolet	Dollar General	Frank Cicci
35	Jason Keller	Greenville, SC	Ford	McDonald's	Sam Rensi
36	Stanton Barrett	Bishop, CA	Chevrolet	TUCSON	John McGill
38	Kasey Kahne	Enumclaw, WA	Dodge	Great Clips	Brad Akins
40	Sterling Marlin	Columbia, TN	Dodge	Jani-King	Armando Fitz
41	Reed Sorenson*	Peachtree City, GA	Dodge	Discount Tire	Chip Ganassi
44	Justin Labonte	Thomasville, NC	Chevrolet	U.S. Coast Guard	Terry Labonte
47	Jon Wood*	Stuart, VA	Ford	Clorox/Wisk	Jodi Geschickter
49	Steve Grissom**	Gadsden, AL	Ford	Advil Liqui-Gels	Jay Robinson
52	Eric McClure**	Chilhowie, VA	Ford	Means Racing	Jimmy Means
58	Brent Sherman*/**	Chicago, IL	Dodge	Hickory Farms/Serta	Doug Stringer
59	Stacy Compton	Grit, VA	Ford	Kingsford/Bush's Beans	Tad Geschickter
60	Carl Edwards*	Columbia, MO	Ford	Charter Communications	Jack Roush
64	Jamie McMurray	Joplin, MO	Dodge	Top-Flite Golf	Rusty Wallace
66	Greg Biffle	Vancouver, WA	Ford	Duraflame	Clarence Brewer
72	Geoffrey Bodine**	Chemung, NY	Chevrolet	Denver Mattress Company	Pat MacDonald
90	Dale Jarrett	Hickory, NC	Ford	CITI Financial	Robert Yates
96	Gus Wasson**	Bloomdale, OH	Chevrolet	Service Link, Inc.	Julian Burgess
143	Kevin Conway*/**	Lynchburg, VA	Dodge	Channellock/Supra Boats	Mike Curb
146	Robert Pressley**	Asheville, NC	Ford	Edy's	Tad Geschickter
157	Brian Vickers**	Thomasville, NC	Chevrolet	Pizza Hut	Rick Hendrick
185	Damon Lusk**	Kennewick, WA	Chevrolet	House Hunter	Daniel Kinney
195	Bobby Hamilton**	Nashville, TN	Dodge	Sadler & Son Racing	Earl Sadler

* Denotes Rookie
** Denotes driver/team not in the top 30 in owners' points, must qualify their way in (top 13 of 16, plus Steve Grissom-1993 Busch Series champ, who is the only eligible past Busch Series champ. Past champs Brian Vickers and Jeff Green did not race in the Busch Series in either 2004 or 2005. Also, the #87 of Joe Nemechek, currently in the top 30 in owners' points, did not enter this week.)

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for the lists!

The Plywood 200? :-}

Now that just sounds kind of funny to me..

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for the ping, WCG. Did you see any photos of Jeff's new Tag Heuer ad? Looking mighty fine.

[NormsRevenge]

Tiger Woods' caddie crashes again

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-tigerscaddie&prov=ap&type=lgns

May 3, 2005
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Tiger Woods' New Zealand-born caddie Steve Williams walked away uninjured from his second speedway crash this year.

New Zealand TV3 showed footage Tuesday of Williams' limited saloon car flipping and rolling four times during a dirt-track race in New Zealand's central North Island on Saturday.

Williams was examined by trackside paramedics, but did not need further medical treatment.

In late January, Williams had surgery on his left hand after gashing it to the bone when the same style of car flipped and hit a safety wall on the last lap of a dirt-track race, also in New Zealand.

[NormsRevenge]

NASCAR penalizes Kenny Wallace 25 driver points for violations

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpdHM4N24zBF9TAzk1ODYyNzYwBHNlYwN0aA--?slug=rulesinfractions&prov=st&type=lgns


May 4, 2005
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA (TICKER) -- Kenny Wallace was penalized with the loss of 25 driver points due to rule infractions this past weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR announced on Wednesday that 11 penalties have been issued to Nextel Cup Series competitors for inspection violations.

Wallace, the driver of the No. 00 Chevrolet team, lost 25 championship points because of an unapproved rear axle housing, a violation of Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and Section 12-4-Q (car parts and equipment that do not conform to NASCAR rules. The violations were found during pre-qualifying inspection.


Along with Wallace, car owner Elizabeth "Buffy" Waltrip was penalized 25 owner championship points and crew chief Terry Wooten was fined $25,000.

Harold Holly, crew chief for the No. 32 Chevrolet driven by Bobby Hamilton Jr., was fined $10,000. During opening-day inspection, the No. 32 car had unapproved upper rear coil spring mounts, violating Sections 12-4-A and 12-4-Q.

Jimmy Elledge, crew chief for the No. 41 Dodge driven by Casey Mears, was fined $2,500 because of unapproved use of refrigerant near the fuel system, violating 12-4-A and 12-4-Q. The violations were found during pre-qualifying inspection.

In addition, $1,000 fines were issued to Alan Gustafson, crew chief for the No. 5 Chevrolet driven by Kyle Busch, because of an unapproved right-side window, and to Mike Ford, crew chief for the No. 88 Ford of Dale Jarrett.

Four crew chiefs were fined because of unapproved window nets presented at opening day inspection. The four fined were Robert Barker for the No. 0 Chevrolet driven by Mike Bliss; Dave Rogers for the No. 11 Chevrolet driven by Jason Leffler; Bob Osborn for the No. 99 Ford driven by Carl Edwards and Richard Labbe for the No. 19 Dodge driven by Jeremy Mayfield.

[steveegg]

Four crew chiefs were fined because of unapproved window nets presented at opening day inspection. The four fined were Robert Barker for the No. 0 Chevrolet driven by Mike Bliss; Dave Rogers for the No. 11 Chevrolet driven by Jason Leffler; Bob Osborn for the No. 99 Ford driven by Carl Edwards and Richard Labbe for the No. 19 Dodge driven by Jeremy Mayfield.

Hate to sound anti-homer, but I seem to recall Matt Kenseth's window net among those confiscated.