Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2008
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
PAGE 3B
Down The Stretch
COT proves worth at Vegas Speedway
A nybody who questioned
the need for NASCAR’s
new “car of tomorrow”
should have their answer after
Sunday’s Cup event at the Las
Vegas Motor Speedway.
In that event, we got two chill
ing reminders of why the car was
necessary.
The first came in the guise of
two-time Cup champ Tony Stewart.
Stewart’s Toyota was running sol
idly in the top-10 when the right
front tire let go on lap 107.
For those of you who don’t follow
NASCAR, a right front tire usually
means a trip at high speed into the
wall, with little or no control.
Stewart’s crash, which occurred
in the fourth turn of the 1.5 mile
speedway, was no exception.
Stewart’s car piled into the SAFER
barrier that runs along the wall hard
enough to lift the left rear tire off
the pavement. It was a crash that
left usually resilient Stewart need
ing assistance in climbing from the
car. Fortunately, other than some
aches and pains, Stewart escaped
unscathed.
Stewart, who has raced everything
from 220-mile an hour Indy cars
to sleek sports cars, said afterward
that the hit was one of the hardest
he had taken in a long time.
The next example occurred with
just four laps to go. On a restart,
four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon
made a run for second place, look
ing for daylight beneath team mate
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Ford jockey
Matt Kenseth. Gordon cleared
Earnhardt, Jr., but couldn’t keep
his car from
sliding up
the track
and into
Kenseth.
Both cars
went spin
ning down
the track,
with Gordon
crashing
hard into the
inside retain
ing wall
in one of the few areas that didn’t
have a SAFER barrier installed.
The hit was so hard that it
reduced the front of Gordon’s
Chevy to a mass of bent sheet
metal, and sent the car’s radiator
back up across the track.
The in-car camera view provided
by Fox showed Gordon unbuck
ling his seatbelt and preparing to
climb out of the remains of his
car moments later. Like Stewart,
other than some bumps and bruises,
Gordon escaped injury.
Gordon, who like Stewart started
his career in open wheel racers,
said it was the hardest hit he had
ever taken.
Gordon’s wreck brought to mind
a horrific accident that occurred
back in 1969. It was at Daytona in
what was then the Permatex event,
now known as the Nationwide
series.
Don McTavish, an accomplished
modified driver, was running fifth
in the event, trying to catch leaders
LeeRoy Yarbrough and Tiny Lund.
Coming off of the fourth turn,
McTavish’s car ran along the out
side wall, and caught the end of a
crossover gate used to allow traffic
to travel across the racing surface
after a race.
The impact was so great that it
literally ripped McTavish’s Mercury
into two pieces. McTavish never
had a chance.
It’s because of situations like
that that the new car became a
necessity in NASCAR. After the
deaths of four drivers in less than
a year in 2000-2001, Gary Nelson,
then Winston Cup series director,
moved forward with the “Car of
Tomorrow” project. It, along with
the SAFER barriers seen at virtu
ally all NASCAR tracks now, are
intended to go a long, long way to
making sure those kinds of trag
edies are averted in the future.
Sure, the car does away with indi
vidual makes’ body shapes. Okay,
so they don’t drive the way the old
cars do. All right, maybe that wing
on the back makes it look like and
old-school IMSA car at best, or a
bad hybrid Batmobile at worst.
But if even one life is saved as a
result of the innovations built into
it, it’s worth all of that.
We may well have seen proof
of that on Sunday. It could be the
difference between celebrating a
great win by a deserving driver,
and mourning the loss of life on a
racetrack.
Brandon Reed is a reporter for
MainStreet Newspapers. E-mail
comments about this column to
brandon@mainstreetnews.com.
brandon
reed
Local recreation team enjoys successful season
Jason Langford’s 9-10-year-old Banks County recre
ation basketball team recently completed a successful
season on the court posting an undefeated record.
Team members included Brock Ivey, Cole Griffin, Dale
Lewallen, Dillon Nix, James Parson, Levi Chambers,
Will Langford and Will Griffin.
One of the team’s biggest accomplishments was its
game against a Commerce team in which it only had
four players and still emerged victorious.
Three of the team’s members — Ivey, Langford and
Griffin — were selected for the 9-10-year-old All-Stars.
Other All-Star players selected included Austin Segars,
Zesman Steeple, Will Ledford, Zack Orr, Levi Craig,
Jordan Barnett and Dillon Patrick.
A Itlght of Hope For Chil dt . ej)
10th Annual Live & Silent
Auction & Dinner
benefiting
The Tree House
March 14, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.
Winder Community Center • $35*00
Get your $10 ticket for a chance to win a 2008 Harley Davidson Fat Boy
or purchase your ticket for the event by contacting Investigator Janis
Mangum at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office 706*367*6028 or call
The Tree House 770*868*1900.
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Area Racing
Peach State ready for 2008 opening
PEACHSTATE TEST
Rookie driver Jeremy Mullinax turns laps in testing at Peach
State Speedway, which kicks their season off this Saturday.
Photo by Brandon Reed
BY BRANDON REED
Preparations are almost complete
at Peach State Speedway for the
opening of their 2008 season, which
is scheduled for this Saturday.
Peach State opens its season with
a visit from the National Vintage
Racing Association, featuring vin
tage racers going door to door on
the Jefferson half-mile, as well as
racing in local divisions.
A new sign greets race fans as
they enter the track. Many build
ings have new coats of paint with
a red, white and blue motif around
the track. A new concession stand
is set up as patrons enter the gate at
the base of the front stretch grand
stands.
The first change that race fans
will notice when they get to the
front gate is a drop in ticket prices.
Tickets for the first show of the year
are set at $10 for the front stretch
grandstands, and Peach State pro
moter Vince Whitmire said he hopes
to keep them in that range all year
for the local events.
“With gas prices being what they
are, we’re just trying to make it
affordable for an entire family to
come see a race,” said Whitmire.
“It’s got to be good and afford
able.”
Whitmire also plans several
promotions, including a money
machine, 50-50 tickets, and free
prizes for the fans.
“When everything is said and
done, at the end of the day, every
body’s supposed to have a good
time,” Whitmire said. “That’s what
it’s all about.”
One thing that won’t change at
the 41-year old speed plant is the
emphasis on putting on great races
for the fans.
The local Sportsman division will
make a return this year, along with
the Super Truck division, the ever-
popular mini-stock class, and the
Outlaw Late Models, which was
formerly called the Iceman divi-
sion.
And, Whitmire says, fans will get
to see a new division, called the
“Bandits.”
“It’s like a pure stock or a street
stock division,” he said. “It’s mostly
a class for fun. You knock the win
dows out, put a roll bar in it and
go racing. We want to try to have
something that fits everybody’s bud
get. If you can go to the junkyard
and buy a $500 car and have it race
ready for $1,000, that’s what it’s all
about. It’s as cheap as fishing.”
Whitmire says he’s encouraging
the teams in the new division to
run “theme cars,” with paint jobs
modeled after famous racecars or
even pop culture icons like the
Batmobile.
The Georgia Asphalt Series also
calls Peach State Speedway home.
The track will play host to five
GAS events this year, along with an
ASA event, and possibly a sprint car
event and a super late model event
or two. Whitmire says fans can
expect to see several rookies in the
GAS series this year.
“I think the time has come where
these guys who started in the
Legends and Bandeleros are start
ing to make a turn up into the faster
series,” he said.
As if to prove a point, 14-year
old Jeremy Mullinax was testing at
Peach State last week in the same
car that ran second in last year’s
World Crown 300.
The track is also expanding by
hosting car shows and swap meets
on a monthly basis.
Peach State’s 2008 season will
again wrap up in November with
the World Crown 300, an event with
a storied history among short track
racers. Whitmire says it’s also a
chance for fans to see the history of
the sport.
“The drivers that you see in the
World Crown today, you’ll see in
the cup series in three or four years,”
he said.
With the improvements and new
ideas at the track, where does
Whitmire want to see Peach State at
the end of the season?
“I would like to see a good crowd
of people in the grandstands for each
event, and see them having a good
time,” Whitmire said. “That’s the
biggest thing. At the end of the day,
it’s all about having a good time. It
should be fun for everybody, for the
racers, the fans, and the employees.
As long as everybody leaves with
a smile on their face, that’s what’s
important.”
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