NASCAR pioneer Raymond Parks dead at 96

Raymond Parks, owner of NASCAR's first championship winning car and an integral part of the series' formation, has died. He was 96.

NASCAR said Parks passed away at his home Sunday morning in Atlanta. Parks, who was confined to a wheelchair, attended a reception May 20 for the induction of the inaugural Hall of Fame class and was warmly received throughout the industry that evening....

Click here for the full story.

PHOTO GALLERY: Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Race (5/30/2010) by DaveFranksPhotos.com

This is a photo gallery from Charlotte Motor Speedway's Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 30, 2010. Thanks to Dave Franks for sharing his work. You can see Dave's website here.

PHOTOS: Charlotte Nationwide Series race (May 29, 2010) by DaveFranksPhotos.com

This is a photo gallery from the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 29, 2010. Thanks to Dave Franks for sharing his work. You can see Dave's website here.

PHOTO GALLERY: Daytona 500 (2/14/2010) by DaveFranksPhotos.com

This is a photo gallery from Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 14, 2010. It features the Daytona 500 and race winner Jamie McMurray. Thanks to Dave Franks for sharing his work. You can see Dave's website here.

Daytona 500: Post-race quotes - Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Jr. etc.

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS IMPALA: WINNER

FROM JAMIE MCMURRAY: "Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I told my wife today, she was like if you win tonight....oh I am going to cry...it is so unreal. I thought if I made it without seeing my Dad or my wife, I'd be ok. (IN TEARS) It is unbelievable really. I can't explain it. It is a dream. I mean it really it is.

"Where I was last year...and for Johnny Morris (Bass Pro Shops) and Chip (Ganassi) and Felix (Sabates), Bass Pro Shops to take a chance on me and let me come back, it means a lot to me. What a way to pay them back. Happy Valentines Day to my wife. My Dad is here, it is just very emotional.

"After we won Talladega, we went to McDonalds. I think tonight we will have a Big Mac."

TALK US THROUGH THE LAST LAP: "Biffle helped me out. I spun the tires on the restart. It is just a gamble on which line to get the biggest run. Greg gave me an unbelievable push down the backstretch. Then when I saw the No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) behind me, I thought 'Oh no'. He had a good car and Earnhardt at Daytona is just, I mean they win all the time it seems like. So you never know what to expect.

"I certainly thank the fans that stuck around. That was tough having to get in and out of the car but they stuck with us and it was cool to here the applause when I got back in car. Sprint for everything they do. I went to one of their parties the other night and Dan Hesson is just a great guy and it means a lot. Not only Sprint, but everybody that is a part of our sport. With the economy the way it is, we couldn't be here to put this show without all these sponsors. I want to get with my team."

KEVIN "BONO" MANION, CREW CHIEF, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS IMPALA - Winner

"I guess this means I'm going to Disneyland! That was awesome. Chip, Felix, and Teresa give us everything we need. Brian Pattie, you couldn't ask for a better teammate and brother. You'd better watch out for this Earnhardt Ganassi Team this year. Thanks to everyone who helped push. I don't know; I closed my eyes for the last lap."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA, FINISHED 2ND: "I am just disappointed to come that close and not win it but, I'll tell you. We did the right thing by coming down and getting two tires. The AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet was pretty good all day. Just working on some handling issues. I don't know if got them fixed or not. When it gets cold, everybody's car handles good. I want to thank my team for working really hard. The engine shop did an awesome job. The car worked really good. I'm happy for Jamie and his crew chief Bono who helped me when I was younger."

Daytona 500... closed for repairs

With 78 laps to go in the Daytona 500, the race has been red flagged so that a hole in the asphalt (near the bottom of turn 2) can be repaired.

With the cars parked on pit road, Clint Bowyer leads David Ragan, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards and Elliott Sadler.

So far in the race, Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, AJ Allmendinger and Kurt Busch have all led a significant number of laps.

UPDATE: Engines re-fired at 5:01 p.m. after a 1 hour and 40 minute delay to repair holes in the track surface. The party line is that heavy rain and cold temps are to blame. That or a track that hasn't been re-paved since 1978. Dale Jr. had some timely comments on the issue two days before this race.

UPDATE 2: Another red flag, at lap 161. Report from Kevin Harvick (leader) that the original patch is now totally gone. Does anyone have a big wad of gum?

PHOTO GALLERY: Gatorade Duels (Feb. 11, '10) and Danica Patrick Press Conference

This is a photo gallery from Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 11, 2010. It features action from the Gatorade Duel qualifying races to set the field for the Daytona 500, as well as a press conference with Danica Patrick. Thanks to Dave Franks for sharing his work. You can see Dave's website here.

Canadian Motor Speedway open in 2011?

In an interview with the Hamilton Spectator, Azhar Mohammad, excutive director of Emirates Consulting, the Toronto based consultant attempting to build the Canadian Motor Speedway in Fort Erie, ON, said he hopes to have it up and running as soon as 2011.

In the interview, he said "That's a very tight target, I must admit, but I think if everybody continues to work with the kind of positive feedback that we've had with the town and region and our engineers, I think it's a very do-able target."

The process of building the speedway is currently in the government approval phase, with Minisitry of Environment and Ministry of Natural Resources needing to be satisfied with the plan, as well as of dealing with any possible appeals at the Ontario Municipal Board.

Too bad Canadian racing fans don't drink Coke...

COCA-COLA HONORED WITH 2009 NASCAR MARKETING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Coke Becomes First NASCAR Partner to Win Award Two Times

LAS VEGAS (Dec. 3, 2009) – Coca-Cola, a long-time NASCAR partner with the most integrated involvement in all levels of the sport, was honored with the 2009 NASCAR Marketing Achievement Award today at the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards here as part of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion's Week.

In addition to its position as the official non-alcoholic beverage of NASCAR, Coca-Cola has relationships with 15 race tracks and 12 drivers through the Coca-Cola Racing Family. A full portfolio of its brands support NASCAR: Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, NOS, Powerade, and Vitamin Water. Coke is also title sponsor to two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway....

.... "We are honored to be selected as the recipient of the 2009 NASCAR Marketing Achievement Award. For Coca-Cola, competing and winning in the marketplace is the equivalent to competing and winning on a NASCAR track. It requires a season-long commitment by our brands, bottlers, employees and customers to create that emotional connection with the fans that is at the core of our success," said Beatriz Perez, Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing, Coca-Cola North America. "Coca-Cola is proud of the many programs we offer across our portfolio of brands through our associations with NASCAR, our track partners, the Coca-Cola Racing Family and other driver personalities. Being recognized by NASCAR for our marketing activation makes this past year even more refreshing for Coca-Cola." ...

From NASCAR

NCATS: Jason White back behind the wheel of his A&W 'Hot Rod' in 2009

SUN PEAKS, BC - The combination of A&W and Jason White is a natural fit. Both are based in British Columbia. A&W food Services of Canada is a coast to coast corporation with it’s head office in North Vancouver B.C. and White’s family and his RZ Racing team are located in the Sun Peaks area of central British Columbia.

But the western connection goes even further as Jason is the only full time NASCAR Canadian Tire Series driver located west of Barrie Ontario.

Commenting on his association with A&W, Jason said, “We are very proud to carry the A&W brand on our cars and equipment. We have teamed up with a great western based corporation, with intentions to Cruise into race tracks across Canada and into living rooms via TSN broadcasts for each race.”

White was not only the 2008 Rookie of the Year, but he also took home the “Most Sportsmanlike Driver” award. But Jason is not one to rest on past accomplishments. He said, “We have to pick up where we left off and be consistent while finishing races.”

Consistency comes from having a great team. White’s crew chief Brian Uptigrove is optimistic that his team has the stuff to survive the gruelling season of competition that is the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Uptigrove says, “It’s been a great couple of years in this series. I can only thank the crew for the hard work and dedication it takes to compete at this level. We have grown into a very high calibre race team and now it’s time to step up and compete for some “top fives” and eventually some wins!”

The 2009 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule welcomes two new venues this racing season. Delaware Speedway near London Ontario and the Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan will be the new challenges facing Jason and his fellow competitors.

Jason can’t wait for Race #5 (July 18th) on the schedule. That is when he returns to the Sun Valley Speedway near Vernon, BC. This is Jason’s home track. He holds a track championship and has put in more laps on this course than anyone of his competitors.

But this race has special significance for Jason. He said, “It is always fun to come home and compete in front of loyal friends and family. And, with this race being the A&W Cruisin' the Dub® 300, we really want to win it for our corporate partner A&W and for all the fans.”

A&W is Canada's original hamburger quick service restaurant chain, and today is one of its fastest growing. The first A&W drive-in restaurant in Canada opened on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg in 1956. The combination of great tasting burgers, onion rings and frosted mugs of famous A&W Root Beer® served by friendly carhops was an instant hit. Since then, A&W has continued to grow and evolve with the times, expanding into over 700 locations from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland. At the heart of that growth is the fact that, while so much of our world has changed, the simple things that made A&W so popular in its early days are the same today. We still serve A&W Root Beer in frosted mugs. Our onion rings are made fresh from whole onions every day. With a rich history behind us, we look forward to an even more exciting future ahead of us. A&W continues to expand all across Canada, with particular emphasis on Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic provinces. For further information go to: www.aw.ca

On your way to the next NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES race, be sure to "CRUISE " into an A&W near you!! See you at the races!!

NASCAR: Canadian J.R. Fitzpatrick joins Kevin Harvick Inc. for remainder of 2009 season

J.R. Fitzpatrick Joins Kevin Harvick Inc. for Remainder of 2009 Season...
Canadian Driver to Compete in Select Truck and Nationwide Series Races

KERNERSVILLE, N.C. (May 21, 2009) – Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) announced today that J.R. Fitzpatrick will compete for the team in selected events in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series throughout the remainder of the 2009 season.

The Cambridge, Ontario, Canada native will pilot a KHI entry in eight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events, beginning with the AAA Insurance 200 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway on May 29.

“This is a great opportunity for me and I firmly believe that I am joining the best team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,” said Fitzpatrick. “I was fortunate enough to meet Kevin Harvick last year at Phoenix and he really helped me out a lot. Since then, I have gone to him on and off the track for advice and he has been great to learn from. Ron (Hornaday) has also helped me before and now that I will be a teammate of his, it gives me more confidence going to tracks that will be new to me. I believe racing is all about confidence and I have that knowing that I am going to be in great equipment driving for Kevin Harvick Inc.”

“We’re glad to have J.R. Fitzpatrick join KHI for the remainder of the 2009 season,” said KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick. “J.R. and I both got our starts in go-karts and he has taken a path similar to mine, moving up through the stock car ranks, during his career. I feel like our equipment speaks for itself and it will be exciting to watch him attempt to take that next step in his racing career.”

In addition, Fitzpatrick will compete in two NASCAR Nationwide Series events in a KHI entry, the first being at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International Raceway August 8 and the second at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada August 30.

About Kevin Harvick Inc.: Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001, is a 70,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. KHI houses two full-time Truck Series teams, including the 2007 series champions, the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado driven by three-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday and the No. 4 KHI All-Stars Chevrolet Silverado driven by Ricky Carmichael and a variety of NASCAR Sprint Cup stars. KHI is also home to the No. 33 Chevrolet Impala competing full-time in the Nationwide Series, with drivers Kevin Harvick (a two-time Nationwide Series champion), Hornaday and Cale Gale. The 2009 season marks KHI’s sixth year of full-time competition in NASCAR’s elite divisions. Visit www.kevinharvickinc.com for more information.

###

From Tyler Patterson // Kevin Harvick, Inc.

MARK MARTIN: I PRACTICED DRIVING!

Mark Martin stepped away from the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet literally shaking.

"I ran out of talent," admitted Martin as he talked about his pole-winning qualifying effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday night for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500; his first pole in 281 events dating back to Richmond in 2001.

"I feel like a rookie, I really, really do. Not only did the lap scare me and I felt like I ran out of talent up off of turn four, there was no possible way I could hold my foot on the floor and not hit the wall with the back end first up off of turn four. It was really fun, I live to scare myself like that, that is part of it. But, I continued to be nervous all the way through the rest of qualifying much like I used back in the early '90s when we lucky enough to get poles back then. Has been a long time. I do want to commend the No. 8 car bunch for putting me the outside pole six times last year, which was pretty incredible. But I wouldn't come out of the trailer until (Travis) Kvapil (final qualifier) ran. I would not budge because that would just be my luck. So, I feel like a rookie right now. It was a pretty strenuous qualifying session, I'm looking forward to working on race setup tomorrow."

Martin's lap of 29.640 seconds, 187.045 mph, was a full tenth of a second faster than second place qualifier Kurt Busch and seven tenths faster than last place qualifier Mike Bliss.

For Busch, Martin's lap was strong enough to convince him he couldn't match it. It was, according to Busch he difference between "shaking and tentative."

“It is," said Busch when asked about shaking and being tentative. "It’s amazing. When you hit a lap as good as Mark did tonight, I think everybody saw that lap get posted and say ‘man, I can’t touch that, I’m not even going to come close.’ Everybody is holding their breath the 30 seconds they are out there. The fact is, if you hit it just right, you’ll know if you’re tight or loose, you’ll know if you’re sliding. You hope that the lap ends and it’s over with. Whoever could slide their car the fastest was going to end up the quickest. For us, I couldn’t get in the corner right because I was shaking, I felt like I was too tentative to throw it in the corner and step on the gas hard. I’m still surprised that we’re second. We ran a different groove and maybe that came into play. We ran a groove up, the second lane of asphalt. It was a little slower through the corners, but a little better down the straightaways. There’s where our Penske Dodge has been running better this year. I think that is going to be a trend the rest of the weekend, running up a little higher.”

Jamie McMurray's third place effort prompted the Roush Racing driver to believe a lot of his fellow competitors would be complaining come race day. For him, the car and the lap were okay, even thought he admitted to shaking just a bit from the experience.

“I wasn’t on the pole, so maybe I should be shaking more," McMurray said. "I don’t know, I think it’s been more adventurous for me here when I’ve qualified 30^th and you’re trying to hang onto that car. My car, it wasn’t that thrilling of a lap. I think my save last week at Vegas was way more exciting for me than my qualifying lap here.”

Following the mandatory victory lane functions Martin, still in constant motion as he sat before the media, talked about his lap, which was possible because of a combination of good preparation and driver discipline.

"Most of the day, I didn't know what to tell the team to do," Martin explained. "The car was tight in practice and we loosened it up and that didn't help. We went the other way and that didn't help. From there, I told them to leave the car alone and I practiced driving.

"I'm an old man and I don't need to practice how to drive but today I needed to practice discipline."

It might be that a few of Martin's fellow competitors should take a cue from the old salt and instead of searching frantically on how to adjust the car to go faster, practice a little discipline in their driving and see if that doesn't transfer into faster speeds.

By Stan Creekmore

Come to Bristol Speedway with Have Bus!

From Have Bus Will Travel...



We have a special offer for the Holy Grail of Motorsports.... Bristol Motor Speedway. Have Bus Will Travel Racing Tours along with the Quality Inn and the Track have reduced the price by about 15%.

Please see the trip flyer here for pricing and weekend details to the "World's Fastest Half Mile" March 19 - 23, 2009. Don't delay, we leave in just three weeks and still have a few seats available.

You can also check out our Bristol commercial on "You Tube" here (but ignore the pricing as it's been reduced).

Thank you to all of you who came by to visit us at the Canadian International Auto Show and fill out a ballot for a Canada Day at MIS Racing Tour. Our lucky winner was Joann Subject of Limehouse, ON, Congratulations.

Don't forget to stop by the Have Bus Will Travel Racing Tours booth at the Performance World Car Show at the International Centre March 13, 14, & 15 to get your own Tour of our MotorSports SuperCoach, and reserve your spot on one of our Racing Tours.

Contact us for more information 1-888-428-3287.

Looking foward to taking you Racing.

Doug Andrews & Tara MacLeod
Have Bus Will Travel Racing Tours
536 Pefferlaw Rd.
Pefferlaw, ON L0E 1N0
www.havebus.com

Joe Gibbs Racing to be punished

Penalties are expected to be handed down to the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 (driven by Tony Stewart) and the No. 20 (driven by Joey Logano) NASCAR Nationwide cars after being caught attempting to alter their dyno results with 1/4 inch thick magnets under their gas petals.

Toyota has won 15 of 25 races this year in the Nationwide series, 14 of which have been Camry's for Joe Gibbs Racing. This resulted in NASCAR mandating Toyota Nationwide teams to use a smaller spacer to cut about 15 horsepower in their motors.

"The intention was to manipulate the numbers that we get when we get our information and data off the dyno," NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said.

The magnets prevented the throttle from going 100 percent wide open.

"Let me just say that, first and foremost, that that was a really poor, foolish decision on the part of our key guys there at JGR," Gibbs said. "I want to apologize to NASCAR, to our partners, to Toyota guys. A couple guys chose to make a decision there that really impacts all of us."

NASCAR officials are to meet Monday or Tuesday to decide on possible penalties.

More can be found here: http://tsn.ca/auto_racing/story/?id=246681&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_auto_racing