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2B
WEEKEND, SEPTEMBER 27-29, 2003
Earnhardt Jr. favored at Talladega
If you’re a betting man
person the money has
to be on Dale Earnhardt
Jr. Sunday when the teams
return to Talladega.
Junior in his No. 8
Budweiser
Chevy has
won the
last four
Winston
Cup races
at the
track.
O f
course
there are
co n -
tenders.
For
starters,
ther e ’ 8
Jeremy
Mayfield
who as
fans know
has fin
ished run-
EA Sports 500
Talladega, Ala.
Sunday
2 p.m. E.T.
NBC, 1:30 p.m.
E.T.
Race length: 500
miles/188 laps.
2002 winner:
Dale Earnhardt
Jr.
2002 polesitter:
Jimmie Johnson.
(Qualifying rained
out; starting grid
based on car
ner-up twice in the past three
races. He also won the pole
when the teams were there
before.
There’s also Terry Labonte
who has returned to champi
onship he won the title in
1984 and ’96 form and
leads all active drivers with 14
top-five and 23 top-10 finishes
at the 2.66-mile superspeed
way. Jeff Gordon has two wins
there and 11 top-10 finishes in
21 starts. Tony Stewart has
finished in the top 10 in five of
the nine races he’s run there,
including three second-place
finishes.
And of course, there’s no
way anyone can forget about
the other half of the DEI
restrictor-plate equation,
Michael Waltrip who has won
three times at Daytona (two
Daytona 500 s, one Pepsi 400)
but still seeks a first victory at
Talladega where he has a
highly respectable 11 top-10
finishes in 35 races.
Can they pull off the upset
over Dale Earnhardt Jr.? It
will be tough and that’s an
understatement. And, would
you believe the first time he
ever raced there, he finished
42nd?
TALL ORDER: NASCAR
will adjust the aerodynamic
rules package for restrictor
plate racing slightly this
weekend. The plate openings
for all makes will increase
from 7/8-inch to 29/32-inch
(an increase of 1/32) and spoil
er heights will be raised a half
inch on all makes to bring it to
six and three-quarters inches.
“We’ll put a taller spoiler on
it so we’ve still got a handle on
the speeds but essentially it’s
a matter of putting a little
more drag on the car and a lit
tle more horsepower under
neath the hood,” said
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
director John Darby.
VICTORY LAP: One hall of
fame driver and past
NASCAR Winston Cup cham
pion will lead the way for a
future one and two-time
champion Sunday, as Bobby
Allison and Terry Labonte are
honored as part of NASCAR’s
“Victory Lap” tribute to the
NASCAR Winston Cup era
and series sponsor R.J.
Reynolds. Prior to the EA
Sports 500, Allison, the 1983
champion, will tour the 2.66-
mile tri-oval followed by
Labonte, who is currently
ninth in the points standings.
RED WIGGLER: Tony
Stewart and Red Farmer, one
of the last members of the leg
endary “Alabama Gang” and
winner of three straight
championships in the Late
Model Sportsman Division
(now the Busch Series and
from 1969-71), have struck up
a friendship.
To that end, Farmer has
gotten Stewart interested in
outdoors. This week on the
agenda: Fishing.
“It's a good release,”
Stewart said. “It's like hitting
a reset button. And Red's a lot
of fun. The one thing we don't
talk about is race cars. It's not
even something we talk about
not talking about. We just
know when we go out there,
that we’re there to fish and
eryoy the outdoors. Neither
one of us wants to talk about
race cars."
SEASON SWEEPS:
They’re not uncommon at
Talladega. In fact, it’s hap
pened six time in the 33 years
of twice-a-year racing there.
HE SAID 1T...
•♦lama pretty taH guy to race a car - the (roof) hatches are going to
be very wed welcomed in our sport. Once again, a great innovation in
NASCAR Winston Cup racing.* - Elliott Sadler
•» “Its just pretty much pedal to the metal and go* - Kevin Harvick
•* “Little things make a big, big difference at Talladega ... it’s kind of
funny when you think about it. This is our longest, biggest, widest track
but the littiest things can determine how well you run there.* - Ken
Schrader
•* Tve always said driving a car around Talladega (at 190 mph) is not
that big of a deal. Doing that with 42 other cars out there, well, that's
kind of where the trick comes in.” - Kyle Petty
•+ “It will be interesting to see how much, if any, effect is noticed from
these new changes. We always seem to be racing three and four wide
in packs of 40 here and I don't think you'll see that change this week
end.* - Jett Gordon
Here’s the rundown: Pete
Hamilton (1970), Buddy
Baker (1975), Darrell Waltrip
(1982), Dale Earnhardt (1990
and 1999) and Dale
Earnhardt Jr. (2002).
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON:
Robert Yates Racing will field
a third car Sunday when
Jason Jarrett, son of Dale
Jarrett makes his Winston
** SASCAM
\HinstonCaa
Series
—Wfiotes Rank
Following Race 28 of 36 (Dover) -f o p In I—.
Rk Driver Points Wins 5s 10s Top 10 Week
1. MattKenseth 4158 1 10 22 27 1
2. Kevin Harvick 3722 1 10 13 25 3
3. Jimmie Johnson 3685 3 8 13 28 4
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3668 1 10 16 25 2
5. Ryan Newman 3578 7 11 16 10 5
6. Jeff Gordon 3542 1 9 13 24 6
7. Bobby Labonte 3393 1 10 13 21 8
8. Kurt Busch 3372 4 8 11 27 7
9. Terry Labonte 3294 1 4 8 3 9
10. Tony Stewart 3291 1 7 11 13 11
AddWenal dumptoraNp-pohit Mnwre:
11. Michael Waltrip (3206) 25 Johnny Benson (2742) 39 Mike Skinner (1600)
12. Rcbby Gordon . .(3189) 26. Joe Nemechek (2704) 40 Jack Sprague (1264)
13. Jell Burton (3173) 27 Oale Jarrett (2619) 41 Larry Foyt (921)
14. Rusty Wallace .(3096) 28. Dave Blaney (2601) 42 Mike Wallace . (903)
15. Bill Elliott (3073) 28. Jimmy Spencer (2501) 43 Jerry Nadeau (844)
16 Mark Martin (3037) 30 Kenny Wallace . .(2378) 44 Christian FMipaWl (717)
17. Starling Marlin . (2973) 31. Steve Park (2376) 45 Demke Cope (607)
18. Jamie McMurray (2969) 32. Todd Bodine (2348) 46 Jason Leffler (546)
19. Greg Bitfle (2893) 33 Jett Green . (2091) 47. Johnny Sauter (356)
20. Elliott Sadler (2877) 34 Casey Mears . (2084) 48 Kevin Lepage (348)
21. Ricky Rudd (2825) 35. Kyle Petty (1976) 49 Brett Bodine (308)
22. Jeremy Mayfieid . (2821) 36. Ken Schrader (1953) 50 Hermie Sadler (260)
23. Ward Burton (2816) 37 Tony Raines ... .(1941)
24. Ricky Craven . . .(2745) 38. John Andretti . ...(1690)
Note : The Top 10 in the NASCAR Winston Cup championehip share In $12.28 million of the record
sl7 midion points fund and are recognized in December at the NASCAR Winston Cup Awards
Ceremony in New York City
MILITARY APPRECIATION
NIGHT
K at 4P|
Every Tuesday Night 'S
Show Your Active Duty I.D. Card J
I and Receive 25% Off Your Dinner
Tab! Dependents Welcome too!
(Does Not Apply To Lounge) \
OUR WAY OF SAYING J
*“THANK YOU” FOR ALL YOU DO^
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Conveniently Located At 2706 Watson Blvd 2
Cup debut. It will mark just
the second time the father
and son have started a
NASCAR event together, but
the first in the NASCAR
, Winston Cup Series. Dale and
Jason’s lone start together in
a NASCAR event was the
NASCAR Busch Series event
on May 23, 1998 at Lowe’s
Motor Speedway.
SPORTS
Eagle's Landing blanks Lady Bears
By Josh Gordon
HHJ Sports Writer
WARNER ROBINS -
Houston County dropped
their fourth region contest of
the year to front-runner
Eagles Landing 2-0 on the
road Thursday night. The
Lady Bears only had one hit
while Eagles Landing tallied
seven off the Houston
County staff.
The game was knotted at
Russell Gold Cup sets seniors, mixed city dates
By Joann Harrison
president, Warner Robins
Women’s Bowling
Association
WARNER ROBINS The
Gold Cup off Russell
Parkway will be the site of
several tournaments in the
coming months including the
20th Annual WRWBA
Seniors Tournament and the
20th Annual Mixed City
FAST-PITCH
From page 1B
she started having some
pain. Monday she was down
and out.”
To that end, Tucker said
she had been admitted to the
hospital (Friday) to run tests.
“Hopefully we’ll know
before the weekend’s up
what is going on,” he said.
Tucker also wanted to add a
note of appreciation for Dr.
Dan Stewart who takes care
of the team’s medical care at
“the drop of a hat.”
“He has just been super,”
said Tucker, “calling, coming
by the house to check on her.
He goes way beyond the call
of duty. We at Perry appreci
ate that.”
As far as the tournament,
the Lady Panthers finished 3-
3 overall but the staff was
more than happy with the
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0-0 until the
bottom of the
sixth inning
when Eagles
Landing
scored the
only run nec
essary for vic
tory.
“We contin
ue to compete
but are still
Eagle's
Landing 2,
Houston
County 0
trying to get over the hump,”
Championship.
The seniors will be held
Oct. 11 and 12. The closing
date for entries is Oct. 9.
The Mixed City
Championship will be Nov. 8,
9, 15, and 16. The closing for
entries in that is midnight
Nov. 6.
Applications are now at the
centers. Pick one up and join
us. Also, the Middle Georgia
results in comparison to the
competition.
“We lost two games to quad
A teams but they were
ranked in the top 10 in the
state,” said Tucker. The
other loss, Pickens County
was ranked fifth in AA And
we only lost to them 1-0.
“We lost to Ridgeland ...
ranked seventh in AAAA 2-1.
The only team we lost bad to
was Northgate, 8-0, and
they’re ranked fifth. Plus,
Amanda didn’t pitch that
game. We beat Cartersville
twice and Fitzgerald.
“Our goal going up was to
see how the girls faced differ
ent teams not in our region
and we found out they’re for
real. They’re going to make
some noise at state.”
Other developments with
in Perry is the move of fresh-
Cleats
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Lady Bear head coach Christi
Griffin said.
Houston County now sits
at 2-4 in the region but
Griffin remains hopeful
about the remainder of the
regular season.
“I think we have a good
chance as far as the region
tournament is concerned,”
Griffin said. “It will be a real
ly good time for us to peak
and get over that hump.”
Senate will present the
Triple X Fall Competitions
Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2, also at
Russell.
Entries will close at 9 p.m.
Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday
and Sunday. Pick up the fly
ers at the bowling centers
and contact Tommy Tomlin
at 922-6097/542-3979 or
Mathis Chatfield, 328-
2858/335-6412.
man Jessica Wright to third
base. That came against
Southwest and she did
play there in a game of the
tourney and partially to
off-set the loss of Tucker. The
result: “She had a great
game,” said Tucker, “offen
sively (1-1 with a double and
RBI) and defensively.
“We think with her speed
and range, she’s going to
shore up our defense ... espe
cially in terms of bunting,
which will help against high
er level competition.”
Perry will play Central
the only team to beat them in
regular/region competition
on the road Tuesday (4:30
p.m.). Their Tuesday game at
Peach County was cancelled
due to wet conditions. It has
pushed to the last game of
the regular season.