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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
BURNING ISSUES-J
■ Why do we look forward
to a new season? Well, ob
viously. because we’re rac
ing fans, but it's kind of
nice to leave some of the
other staples of offseason
sports coverage behind,
too, isn't it? For example:
■ Once Speedweeks gets
under way, we won’t have
to listen to the shrill tones
of ABC college-football an
nouncer Terry Bowden, who
sounds like one of the
munchkins from “The Wiz
ard of Oz.”
■ Less likely is the hope
that maybe we won't have
to see any more of those
Dodge truck commercials
in which the guy in the bro
ken-down car imagines
he’s a big buddy of the guy
in the Ram who picked him
up off the side of the road.
Please! Enough!
■ Surely no one in NASCAR
will behave like Minnesota
Vikings wide receiver
Randy Moss. Or maybe
that’s just what the sport
needs ...
■ If Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins
the Daytona 500 again,
here's hoping no one in the
pit crew makes off with his
crash helmet, a la Doug
Mientkiewicz. He's the
Boston Red Sox first base
man who still has the
baseball used for the last
out of their World Series
win.
■ Of course, NASCAR has
slightly less TV competition
this year. Remember back
in the old days, when there
was such a thing as ice
hockey?
■ We're not sure who will
win the Daytona 500, but
it’s highly unlikely that it
will be as much of a run-'
away as the Orange Bowl.
■ Like the number "18"?
Just make the segue from
Peyton Manning to Bobby
Labonte.
■ Maybe, in NASCAR, there
will be a reason to cheer
Joe Gibbs again.
■ We’re reasonably sure no
NASCAR teams will charge
up into the stands and
have a brawl with the fans.
Monte Dutton
' .... 11
John Clark/NASCAR This Week
Pole cat
Ryan Newman led the Nextel
Cup Series with nine poles
last season but won only
twice.
[• ICQENPS AND LORE^
Seventy-six cars part of
field for '56 Daytona 500
A field of 76 cars took the
green flag for the beach-road
course race held in Daytona
Beach, Fla., on Feb. 26. 1956,
and won by Tim Flock in a
Chrysler. Only once, when 82
cars competed in the 1951
Southern 500 at Darlington
(S.C.) Raceway, have more cars
taken part in a race in what is
now called the Nextel Cup Se
ries.
► If you have a question or a comment, write: NASCAR This Week, <Vo The Gaston Gazette, RO. Box 1538, Gastonia. NC 28053
Nextel Cup Series
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John Clark/NASCAR This Week
Nextel answers on the first ring
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
Officials of telecommunications giants Nextel
and Sprint they announced a planned merger
during the NASCAR offseason have assured
race fans that the Nextel Cup Series isn’t imper
iled in any way by the move. And why should
there be a problem? Nextel officials couldn’t be
happier with the results of the company’s first
year as sponsor of stock-car racing’s premier se
ries.
“We have been presently surprised at the suc
cess of our first year,” said Nextel president Tim
Donahue. “If you take a look at metrics that one
I would like to know why the NASCAR banquet was
n’t televised in Canada. They had the Truck ban
quet televised but not the Nextel Cup. People want
every race and speed program all year, and I’m sure
thousands of other people are wondering the same
thing. ...
... I also would like to know, in the last race of the
year, Jimmie Johnson ... came on the radio, and mil
lions of people heard him say to his crew chief, “Get
me the hell out of this spot."
When Junior swore ... he (was) excited from win
ning the race and (was) comparing himself to how
many times his dad won. He lost points and was
fined. ...
Helen and Jim Hall
Barrie, Ontario
We’re assuming you were able to see the Crafts
man Truck Series banquet because Speed Channel
was available in Canada and that the Cup banquet
wasn't televised because that cable/satellite chan
nel, TNT, wasn’t available to Canadian cable sys
tems. As for the issue of language allowed on TV,
some words are considered acceptable and some
words aren’t. This is more an issue determined by
the Federal Communications Commission, which
sets such standards in the States, than by NASCAR
and the television providers.
Jourdain signs up for Busch Series; Petty looking for crew chief
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
The Busch Series has its first
full-time Hispanic driver.
Champ-car standout Michel
Jourdain Jr. has signed with
the PPC Racing team.
Ford Racing’s Dan Davis
called Jourdain’s signing “an
other important step in pro
moting diversity in
NASCAR.”
Jourdain, from Mexico, won
Champ-car races in Milwaukee
and Montreal in 2003. He made
152 starts in nine years of
CART and Champ Car competi
tion and was third in the 2003
HL€TT€R3"FftOIVI“OUR REAPERS \
I cannot understand people todayl I have 4- and 6-
year-old grandsons, each of whom will say that
“Nana” loves Mark Martin. I watch NASCAR when
they are here, and never have they asked about
“erectile dysfunction." Should they, I would simply say
it was a medication that older people needed some
times. Oh, by the way, there is also a “mute button"
you can push. NASCAR drivers need sponsors.
Peggy Wolfe
Heber Springs, Ark.
Thanks for letting us know how you feel.
NASCAR This Week welcomes letters to the editor,
but please be aware that we have room for only a few
each week. We’ll do our best to select the best, but indi
vidual replies are impossible due to the bulk of mail re
ceived. Please do not send stamped and self-addressed
envelopes with your letters, which should be addressed
to:
NASCAR This Week
The Gaston Gazette
PO. Box 1538
Gastonia, N.C. 28053
points standings.
■
Petty looking for new crew
chief Kyle Petty is looking
for a crew chief after dismiss
ing incumbent Bill Henderson
last week. The team also lost
engineer Adam Stevens, who
took a job at Joe Gibbs Rac
ing.
“When we made the change
to put Adam and Bill in charge
of the ‘4s’ team in August of
last year, we looked at it as a
combination effort,” said Petty.
“When Adam came back from
the Christmas holiday and told
SPORTS
would look at to judge whether or not from a fi
nancial success we were getting the return, every
metric we blew away. We wanted to be sure that
we won the hearts and minds of the fans, so (the
first year) wasn’t about hawking phones. It was
trying to better understand how to enhance the
experience. I’m pleasantly surprised with the re
ception we got from the fans.”
Nextel can exploit its sponsorship in ways that
Winston never could. There is no notable stigma
attached to cell-phone use. No one watches warily
when a communications entity attempts to market
its products to kids.
But the admitted novices also have begun to un
derstand NASCAR and draw conclusions from the
NUTS AND BOLTS
us of his intention to take an of
fer with Gibbs, we decided to
re-evaluate the leadership of
the team.”
■
Like father, like son Barry
Dodson, who helped lead Rusty
Wallace to his lone Cup cham
pionship in 1989, is now in
charge of directing the career
of the veteran driver’s son,
Steve, in the USAR Hooters
Pro Cup Series.
“Barry was watching me
when I was just a rookie on the
experience of having Nextel identified so closely
to stock-car racing that the corporate name now
almost defines it.
“In terms of what have we learned about the
sport, in terms of managing the sport and our re
lationship with NASCAR, first of all, these are
very smart people, and I have an enormous
amount of respect for them,” said Donahue. “Sec
ond of all, I think they’ve learned that we’re pret
ty good at this stuff, as well.”
Nextel’s ad campaign concentrates more on de
picting a positive image of stock-car racing than,
to borrow Donahue’s words, hawking the phones.
Contact Monte Dutton at hmd4Bsß@peoplepc.com
1 JT m m -m m
Carnegie bobblehead a
popular toy at Indy
The voice of public-address an
nouncer Tom Carnegie has provided a
soundtrack for fans at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway for 59 years. A talk
ing, bobblehead doll of Carnegie is
now available for purchase for
$29.95 at the online store of the
speedway’s Web site, www.indi
anapollsmotorspeedway.com. The
bobble-head also includes audio
recordings of three of Carnegie’s
most famous sayings: “And it’s a new
track record,” “And heeee’s on it,"
and, “Oh, no, he’s slowing down on
the backstretch.”
‘St. Dale’ a fictional record
of a year on the circuit
Sharyn McCrumb, a Virginia writer,
has written a stock-car racing novel ti
tled “St. Dale,” which is about a
group of fans who make a pilgrimage
to Southern speedways. The book will
be available in February and is pub
lished by Kensington Publishing Cor
poration.
Cup Series, and he helped get
me the Blue Max ride,” re
called Rusty Wallace. “We’ve
been like brothers ever since.
There’s nobody I’d trust my kid
with more than Barry Dodson,
and we’re so pleased that he’s
agreed to take the reins and
lead Steve’s team.”
“Steve is the real deal, and I
can guarantee you that,” said
Dodson. “This is a case where
the apple didn’t fall near the
tree; it hit it.”
■
Meanwhile, in Vegas An
other former Wallace crew
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2005 ♦
Martin has plans for
museum in hometown
Mark Martin,
who grew up in
Batesville, Ark., and
now owns an auto
mobile dealership
there, is raising
funds for a muse
um on the site of
his new Ford deal
ership. Martin’s
"The Road Home
Brick Program" allows fans to share
in the fund-raising effort. For more in
formation, visit the www.markmartin
fordmercury.com site.
Motorsports calendar will
be a handy reference
Having trouble keeping up with all
the auto-racing shows on TV? “Lou’s
Motorsports TV Calendar" tracks
NASCAR as well as all other forms of
motorsports. The email service costs
sl4 U.S. or sl6 Canadian. Send a
check and e-mail address to: LMTVC,
27 Bayberry Drive, #2, Sharon,
Mass. 02067.
chief, Bill Wilburn, will le
the Truck Series effort
Brendan Gaughan at the L
Vegas-based Orleans Racii
team. Gaughan will compete
at least 16 truck races as
teammate of Steve Park.
“It’s not often someone
Wilburn’s caliber becom
available,” said Gaughan, “a:
to be able to have him come
our race team is a real plus f
our team, and it will only ma
our team stronger than i
ever been.”
Contact Monte Dutton
hmd49sß@peoplepc.com
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