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BREAKING:Police Catch Drifter in Smart Case 
Love-or-Hate Relationship
INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: |
By Lee Montgomery
SpeedFX.com,June 21, 2002  Park is among a handful of drivers
who like racing on road courses
There are some drivers who head to Sears Point Raceway this weekend knowing they can win. There are some drivers who head to Sonoma, Calif. knowing they can’t win. There are some who … well, they really have no idea.
_____________________________________ Stewart blazes to first Bud Pole of the year at Sears Point _____________________________________ The guys who love road courses are obvious: Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Rusty Wallace and some others, including the one-race guys like Ron Fellows and Boris Said.But what about the other Winston Cup drivers? What do they really think about road courses?
On the other hand, Spencer says
NASCAR doesn't belong on them.
Guys who like road courses: Steve Park: “I really do love road racing even though it’s not my background. I wouldn’t mind if we had a few more races on the schedule. It seems like all we race anymore are these one and a half-mile ovals, and road courses are a nice break from that. There’s been a pretty big discrepancy in our performances at Sears Point and Watkins Glen (where Park won his first Winston Cup race in 2000), but I think we’re capable of running well at either place. I guess my most memorable moment at Sears Point was ending up on my roof in my first race there in the Pennzoil car. There’s a big difference in that and ending up in victory lane at Watkins Glen.” FULL STORY
Turbulent times have Gordon stuck in rut
Jeff Gordon hasn't quite been himself on the racetrack this season, leading some to wonder if turbulence in his personal life is affecting his driving. But who has time to think about depositions and supermarket tabloids when you're headed toward a concrete wall at 180 mph? "You're just so intense, intently focused on what's happening — your hands, your feet, your braking points, getting into the throttle, what the car's doing — I mean, I don't see how there's any way that something that's happening outside of that race car at that moment enters my mind at all," he says. Gordon's season to date has been very un-Gordon-like: all but invisible on the track and, thanks to a well-publicized split with his ex-race queen wife, too visible off it.
_____________________________________ Gordon has edge for this weekend's road race _____________________________________ He is being outrun by rookie teammate Jimmie Johnson almost every week and has made a few mistakes on the track.Babies conceived around the time of Gordon's most recent victory are due any day. Yet Gordon — who has a career-worst 23-race winless streak and hasn't won since Sept. 30 — heads into this weekend's race with a good chance of catching Winston Cup points leader Sterling Marlin. Gordon is tied with Johnson at 2,054 points, trailing only Marlin (2,164).
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--NEW CUP TEAM PLANNED --ISC BUYING PIKES PEAK? -ARCHITECT SUES KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY --SHEPHERD TO HANDLE WOOD TEST -- MICHIGAN TO ADD GATES --LONG SEEKS RIDE -- DISTANCE CHANGES AT SONOMA --NASCAR TO TEAM WITH BRITNEY --MICHIGAN EASILY OUTDRAWS OTHER RACES ---PETREE BUYING PENSKE FORDS --DERRIKE COPE PLANS MORE RACES --NASCAR OKS SOFT WALLS AT INDY Road scholar
Robby Gordon has been looking forward to this weekend ever since he joined Richard Childress Racing last year. Most Winston Cup drivers hate road racing. Not Gordon, who made his mark in off-road and open-wheel racing. For years, he was a threat on NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit only twice a year -- at Sears Point Raceway and Watkins Glen International, both tough, winding road courses not designed for NASCAR's heavy stock cars. |
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Bill Elliott, with his large, passionate fan club and simple southern charm, has been voted NASCAR's most popular driver a record 15 times. Last year, he was leading the voting, but pulled his name out of the running just months after Dale Earnhardt died because Earnhardt had the second most votes. That, of course, only made him more popular.
It's not hard to see, then, why he was so well-liked and closely followed the past 10 years, even though he won just two races and never finished higher than eighth in the points standings since 1992.
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Johnson to get first taste of Sears Point LapByLap June 21, 2002 
It will be Johnson's first Winston Cup race at Sears Point Raceway.
_____________________________________ _____________________________________ After two mediocre seasons on the Busch Grand National tour, Johnson has blossomed into one of the hottest stars on the Winston Cup tour in his rookie season, and it's not out of the question that he could become the first rookie since NASCAR's very early years to win its top-level championship."I hope you all realize just what a good job Jimmie is doing, because we all do," Dale Jarrett said. FULL STORY Gaston Gazette, June 21, 2002 
Before Jeff Gordon became the winningest road racer in NASCAR history, the driver who defined road-racing excellence among the stock-car regulars was Ricky Rudd. Yet Rudd has only won at Sears Point Raceway once, on June 11, 1989, in the first stock-car race held here. Rudd finished fourth and fifth the past two years, had a controversial second in 1991, and was third in 1990 and 1993. He also has won four poles here, though none since 1995.
_____________________________________ Rudd not angry at NASCAR's 'young guns' _____________________________________ "It’s been a good race track for us over the years," Rudd said. "We probably haven’t taken it seriously enough, I think, until this year. We went out and tested here for the first time in many, many years about a month ago, and they’ve made some pretty good changes to this race track. It has a whole different look than it had before, and I’m glad we came out here and tested because I think guys who haven’t are going to have a few problems."It was Rudd whose footwork while changing gears on a road course was so impressive that ESPN began installing cameras in his cars to show him at work during races. Technological advances — most notably, the Jerico transmission, which allows gears to be shifted without activating the clutch — have taken away some of the edge he once had. |
Guest Columnist's From Team Racin.com -- Should we keep road courses? Ann Stacy -- Race Fans Want to Know: NASCAR, how BAD can you get? Valerie Wood -- Fantasy Racing News Weekly / Dodge/ Save Mart 350 A.J. Caccia -- Replies to Michigan Rankings Tim Haddox --NASCAR THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM Karen Hart -- Kentucky Speedway Fans Case of the Bluegrrr-ass -vs.- Nascar Geography!!! Tim Haddox
Ken Schrader to pilot purple car at Bristol
The votes have all been counted, and it's now official. Purple is the newest color to join the famous "M&M's"® mix, and it's now the newest color car in the "M&M's"® Racing Team's stable.
Voters in more than 200 countries selected which color - purple, pink or aqua - would join the famous candy mix as part of "M&M's"® GLOBAL COLOR VOTE(tm). While chocolate lovers around the globe were choosing which color they wanted to add to the "M&M's"® mix, NASCAR fans were debating which color car they wanted to see driver Kenny Schrader pilot around a high-banked, short track. |
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A compelling, but forgotten, season TSN, June 21 2002  Most of the talk has centered on Steve Park's future with DEI and for whom Elliott Sadler (pictured) will drive in 2003
_____________________________________ NASCAR driver tags flop in Talladega's home state _____________________________________ Sadler's admission recently to the Charlotte Observer: "I've only got one win and no poles so far, so I guess they see something in me." What does anyone see in this guy? He never has finished higher than 20th in points -- he's 22nd going to Sears Point -- and has four top-5 finishes in 120 starts.Running a close second in interest to Sadler is the Steve Park saga. Does Park deserve to be back with DEI in 2003? Should he be in the car right now? Should any of us care? The answers: Yes, no, and only Park and DEI. Park is trying to come back from a severe concussion -- too soon, many think -- and has finished 20th or worse in all 11 of his starts beginning with his return at Darlington. But this has been anything but a normal season for him and his team, so he should not be judged on the numbers he puts up in 2002. DEI should stand behind Park through 2003 and give him a chance to recapture the promise he showed early last season and in 2000. FULL STORY
Suddenly . . . none of the rules apply
Who’d have thought … ? Kurt Busch would have won a race, and at, of all places, Bristol Motor Speedway. And that he would have knocked Jimmy Spencer out of the way to do it. Matt Kenseth would have won three and Jimmie Johnson would have won two. Ryan Newman, a rookie with no previous victories, would have won The Winston. Bobby Labonte would have won a race but done almost nothing else, that the lone win would have occurred at Martinsville. Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Bill Elliott, Jeremy Mayfield and, miracle of miracles, Jeff Gordon would not have won a race. Wallace would not have a top-five finish. Sterling Marlin would be leading the points. A rookie, Johnson, would be second. |
Parts of pop star's NASCAR flick may be shot at Lowe's Motor Speedway
In the as-yet-unnamed NASCAR movie, Spears will play the daughter of a racing team owner who helps a veteran driver find the will to get back in the car.
FULL STORY
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STORIES ELSEWHERE
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-- ASA driver Councilor killed in crash
ESPN.com -- Hamilton could be a surprise this weekend Mike Mulhren, LapBylap.com -- Sonoma: Ken Schrader preview Motorsport.com -- Childress hopes to reverse woeful showing LapByLap -- Komen Foundation benefit from Jarrett's success Motorsport.com -- Jarrett, Newman press conference Motorsport.com -- Wood Brothers' heritage runs deep at two-mile track Monte Dutton,Gaston Gazzette |
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NOTES FROM THE TRACK AND AROUND THE WEB:
LAST RACE Sirius Satellite Radio 400 Winner:Matt Kenesth Average Speed: 154.822 miles per hour Time of Race: 2 hours, 35 minutes, 1 second Margin of Victory: .131 seconds Cautions: 4 for 16 laps Lead Changes: 15 among 10 drivers Unofficial Race Results Sirius Satellite Radio 400 Pocono 500 results MBNA Platinum 400 Results Coca-Cola Racing Family 600 Results |
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NEXT: Time: 2:30 p.m. (Eastern) TV: WINSTON CUP QUALIFYING 5 p.m. (EDT) Friday FSN CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES O'REILLY 200 1 p.m. (EDT) Saturday ESPN WINSTON CUP HAPPY HOUR 2 p.m. (EDT) Saturday FX WINSTON CUP DODGE/SAVE MART 350 2:30 p.m. (EDT) Sunday Fox Radio: PRN Times and stations are subject to change Race Record: E. Irvan 81.412 06|07|92. Qualifying Record: R. Wallace 99.309 06|23|00 |
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