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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL msm 2006 Nextel Cup Top Owners | I Green Flag m News and Notes Earnhardt Jr.’s stepmom challenges commitment The relationship between Teresa Earnhardt and her stepson. Dale Earnhardt Jr., continued its slow burn this week. The widow of Dale Earnhardt told the Wall Street Journal her stepson needs to concentrate more on his career with the family-owned team. “Right now the ball's in his court to decide on whether he wants to be a NASCAR driver or whether he wants to be a public personality.” she said. It was another salvo in a relationship that’s deteriorated since the team founder died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Tiie driver already has worked through a lengthy contract extension with both sides working hard to gain an advantage over the other. Teresa Earnhardt owns Dale Earnhardt Inc., but her stepson clearly is the foundation of the entire ojieration - and the most popular driver in the sport. Earnhardt Jr. has qualified for the Chase for the Championship twice in the three-year history of the playoffs. Missing racing suit recovered by police The racing suit and helmet donated by Dale Earnhardt to the Texas Motor Speedway was recovered. The suit was stolen by an employee of the racetrack, police front Fort Worth said. The former seven-time champion donated the suit to the speedway presi dent Eddie Gossage, It was in storage after being on display. Busch beer to puli series sponsorship 'file 2007 season will be the last for Anheuser-Busch’s sponsorship of the second-tiered series. Busch has been a sponsor for 25 years. When it leaves after next season, Wal-Mart, Samsung and Subway may move into tire title role. Ganassi: New driver drawing attention Car owner Chip Ganassi created a stir this year when he signed former Indianapolis 500 winner and Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya to drive the No. 42 Dodge next year in NASCAR. Ganassi talked about the worldwide attention the deal has received in a question and answer session with NASCAR.com recently, including a new crush of interest from Montoya's homeland of Columbia. Here are excerpts of that interview: Question: What's been the most eye-open ing thing you've seen around this Montoya fever? Ganassi: Seeing with my own two eyes peo ple coming to a racetrack in lowa from Colombia. Certainly, we've seen the [increase in] Web hits and our Spanish Web site. But boy, for people to come from Colombia to a track in lowa, that was surprising. People from Bogota, Colombia. That blows me away. Question: Do you have plans to put 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon in a stock car? Ganassi: We often talk about it. Dan knows that if he ever wants to, the opportunity is there for him to do it. He's one of the people that has a keen eye on Montoya to see what happens. I know Dan has some goals he still wants to achieve in open-wheel racing. When he accom plishes those goals, we'll take another look at it. Question: Montoya said open-wheel drivers believe NASCAR is easy. Is he changing his mind? ERick Hendrick I •Jimmie Johnson gave him sixth title I • Put three cars in the Chase I • Other cars finished 6th. 10th and 15!h • Nine series wins in 2006 I • Finished with 69 top-lOs, 42 top-5* jm * Johnson title ended five-year drought MJI • gm pjfCT? l f \t} fc / y . MM m iHj w v - t - IHraTjPl m PHOTO COURTESY OF NASCAR Former NASCAR champion turned TV analyst Benny Parson (left) shares a laugh with driver Ryan Newman. Parsons was diagnosed with lung cancer in July but beat the disease thanks to radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Cancer-free Parson embraces life By Oon Coble Morris News Service Author Allen Carr and former racing champion Benny Parsons both quit smok ing more than 2?> years ago; both were diag nosed with lung cancer during the same week las! July. Parsons thinks about that connection all tiie time. Hr 1 knows Carr was credited for helping a lot of superstars kick their smok ing habit with books like. “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking:” ‘The Only Way to Stop Smoking;” and “Allen Carr’s Easy Way for Women to Stop Smoking." “I read where people like Johnny Cash stopped smoking because of him,” Parsons said. “Then he got cancer. 1 was diagnosed in July; he was diagnosed in July. It’s amaz ing how things work.” Carr died three weeks ago. Parsons now is cancer-free. That could have been me,” he said. “If not for the grace of God, that could have been me* One of the most-popular figures in stock car history will celebrate Christmas attached to an oxygen machine, but it's a lot better than a tumor. Doctors attacked the Ganassi: It's a tough question. Juan has been in three races now. He's learned a tremendous amount of informa tion. The learning curve is steep. If you call each one of these races a step, you could say, yes, he's made solid steps. He's got to make eight or nine more solid steps before he’s where he needs to be. Did he make three solid steps? Absolutely. Was I happy with the steps he made? Absolutely, Does he have eight more he’s got to make? Absolutely. So we're not by any stretch of the imagination there yet. A lot of steps to make. Question: Did you have the same thoughts when you expanded from open-wheel cars to NASCAR? Ganassi: No. None. I knew it was difficult. I was racing week-in and week-out with Roger Penske [in open-wheel] and I knew the effort he put into it and that it wasn’t exactly a lay-up for him. Question: What was your first real dose of reality in NASCAR? Ganassi: I would say if you look at it like the sweet spot of a tennis racquet, the sweet spot in open-wheel racing is four of five inches and there are a couple of three teams in it. In NASCAR, the single-cell cancer iti his left lung aggres sively. giving him massive doses of radia tion and chemotherapy to keep the disease contained in the lung. Unlike most lung cancer victims. Parsons’ disease was diag nosed early before ,it had a chance to spread to other organs. “i had two things working in my favor: A. i! was only in the lung; B. J was in good health,” Parsons said. “I know you wouldn’t believe it, but I was in pretty good shape, i was working out three days a week at the (YMCA). 1 was in good shape for a 65-year old man.” Parsons got a second scan a couple weeks ago and it confirmed the first; the cancer is gone, but at a price. Tiie treat ment caused severe damage to the lung. “i may end up being a one-lunger,” he said, “it’s going to be another six months before they know for sure. Tiie best we can hope for is for it to be back at 25-50 percent. It will never be KM) percent They had to get the tumor out of there. “If they said i could beat it but 1 was going to lose the lung, I would have taken that deal. It’s better than the cancer, it would have been 100 percent, it kills.” NEWSMAKER Chip Ganassi SPORTS Richard Childress ■jj/r’ ill • Put two cars in Chase ||J II • Driver Kevin Harvick won Busch title m * cu p car * ,in,she(| 4,h 7,h * n(i i7,h • Six Cup wins in 2006 • Finished with 51 topTOs. 26 top-5s • Enjoyed best season since 1993 sweet spot is the size of the whole tennis rac quet. Here's what gets me. in other forms of rac ing if you have a good car with good engineering you’re 90 percent of the way there. If you have a good car and good engineering in NASCAR that's about 40 percent. You've still got to get Out of the pit, have some luck. It's just a more complex group of moying targets. Question: You’ve won a lot of races in the IRL and Champ Car Series, but you've only won five times in the Nextel Cup in six years - - but none in the last tour seasons. Are the struggles in NASCAR hard to accept? Ganassi: No. Not at all. I love the challenge. The challenge is what it is for me. Sure it's diffi cult. I've never been one to take the easy street. I don't look at it that way at all. We’re still in the building process. A lot of these teams, it took a long time for them to become championship material. I'd like to think we're moving forward. We don't seem to be going backwards like I've seen a lot of teams do. Question: Which form of racing do you favor, open-wheel or NASCAR? Ganassi: I don't favor either one. Fans look at racing from year-to-year. But when you're in the business you can't look at it in a short period of time. You've got to look at it in five- and 10-year chunks. Question: Would you rather win the Indianapolis 500 or the Daytona 500? Ganassi: Well, the Daytona 500 since I've won at Indianapolis a couple of times. I need a The sport wrapped its arms around the former Detroit city cab driver, much like it did in 1973 when he won the Nextel Cup Series championship. The series winner back then was the driver who completed the most laps during the season. Parsons crashed early in tiie season-finale at Rockingham, N.C.. and crewmen from competing teams went to the garage to help make repairs. His championship proved to be a collective effort. Just like his cancer. Car owner Rick Hendrick, a leukemia survivor, put Parsons in touch when some of the best doctors in the country. Teams made their private jets available to the driv er-turned-television commentator. Tiie rush of emotion from the racing communi ty itself was overwhelming. “I never thought about the connection (between the championship and his battle with cancer," Parsons said. “But there is a lot of similarity there. The reception I got last year was unbelievable. When I showed up for the last race with oxygen, i couldn’t believe the support 1 got, the passion they had for me. 1 can’t tell you what that meant to me.” THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2006 ♦ ■ Joe Gibbs • Driver Denny Hamlin was top rookie • Driver Tony Stewart won five races • Cart finished 3rd. 11th end 30th • Seven Cup wins in 2006 • Finished with 41 top-10*. 23 top-5s • Hamlin first rookie to make Chase Parsons was in good hands from the start. Not only were fans, friends and fellow racers rushing to his side, the medical com munity made him a priority as well. Their aggressive approach turned a possible death sentence into a second lease on life. “i was diagnosed on a Thursday and i met with the doctors on the next Monday,” he said. They were convinced we were going to beat it. Ail 1 had to do was fight the fight and put it in God's hands. 1 was never scared.” During the fight. Parsons continued to work for NBC and TNT, as well as his Monday night radio show on the Performance Racing Network. He missed four races on television and only one week on the radio. He also continued to make his dream a reality near ids home in North Carolina. The first batch of Benny Parsons Rendezvous Ridge wine is in the barrels. He hopes for his first bottling in spring. He lias also signed a new deal to stay with TNT for its coverage of the Nextel Cup Series next year. “This is going to be a good Christmas.” Parsons said. “It’s definitely going to be special.” Daytona. Question: Is Juan Pablo Montoya the guy who can win you a Nextel Cup Series champi onship? Ganassi: Some day, sure. Obviously, you don't bring a guy into your team because you think they're going to lose. We want to win cham pionships, sure. When I look at who the picks were out there, across the board, all the drivers that are available, you’d have to be foolish if you passed on Juan Pablo. Question: Do you see anyone else jumping from to NASCAR? Ganassi: I don't want to tell anybody. When the other owners start giving me driver picks, I'll start giving them driver picks. Question: You used to be a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Do you miss base ball? Ganassi: I used to go to baseball games with my father. I really got involved in the ownership at a time when the team was thinking about leaving the community. I feel being involved in your com munity is important. It was a good fit. Question: Felix Sabates is a minority owner of your racing team. What is it like to work with somebody like that? Ganassi: He is the best, the best. The sad thing to me is not a lot of people know Felix Sabates like I know him. He's a gem of a guy. He’s in front of it as much as he wants to be. He's not in the back by any stretch. compiled by Don Coble 3B