Written by Tom Higgins Wed, 2016-08-17 11:27
Aug. 17, 1975. “It’s a date that forever will be draped in black in NASCAR history.
That’s the day that one of stock car racing’s most colorful and popular characters, Tiny Lund, lost his life in a crash at Talladega Superspeedway. The accident happened just eight laps into the Talladega 500 at the 2.66-mile track then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway. There was contact between cars in heavy traffic coming off the 33-degree banking of the second turn. Suddenly, eight of the cars were spinning and colliding in a cloud of dust and smoke.
"Tiny came by me backwards," said J.D. McDuffie, tragically destined to lose his own life in a wreck on Aug. 11, 1991 at Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Written by Tom Higgins Thu, 2016-08-11 17:15
I am certain that the wreaths will be out there on the grassy knoll as always in mid-August, ribbons waving softly in a slight summer breeze.
It will be for 29 years now, that the flowers have appeared on Middlebelt Road, just a mile or so from Detroit Metro Airport.
They are placed there in memory of the lives lost on the awful Sunday evening in 1987—August 16–when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 bound for Phoenix went down at that spot, killing 154 of the 155 people on board. Two people on the ground also died.
Wed, 2016-08-10 10:33
A new video from Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing explains the thought and emotion behind the Wood Brothers' throwback paint scheme for the Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Wed, 2016-08-10 10:30
With one ferociously fast pit stop, Kyle Busch erased a lackluster qualifying effort and cruised to victory in Friday night’s Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
A master at getting on and off pit road in minimal time, Busch entered the pits in fourth place under the first caution of the race after a tap from J.J. Yeley sent Justin Marks spinning into the frontstretch grass on Lap 48.
Busch was first off pit road—decisively—and at that point it was game over, thanks for playing, and Busch was well on the way to his sixth NASCAR XFINITY Series victory at Richmond, his eighth in 14 starts this season and the 84th of his career, extending his own gargantuan series record.
Written by Monte Dutton Tue, 2016-08-09 17:13
It occurs to me, with this off week looming before Bristol, that the rise in the importance of television proceeds in unison with the rise in the popularity of NASCAR road racing.
Road racing is great on TV. It's not so hot in person. In Sonoma, a few locations exist where one can see, oh, two thirds of the course. Watkins Glen has no high vistas, and visibility is limited to the part of the course in front of the grandstands or along the fences where fans wander over from their campsites.
Writing about a road race onsite is the NASCAR equivalent of covering a golf tournament. Everyone sits inside and watches TV. At home, it's impossible to stroll over to the garage and talk to drivers, crew chiefs, owners and other potentially valuable contacts. Without the proper credentials, it's impossible to do that at the track.
By Reid Spencer Mon, 2016-08-08 08:30
Denny Hamlin, winner of Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at the Glen, entertained a sold-out grandstand with a celebratory burnout that trailed a plume of smoke the entire length of the frontstretch at Watkins Glen International.
But Hamlin’s smoke show—with a bad back, no less—paled in comparison to the fireworks that preceded the checkered flag, Hamlin’s first at a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series road course.
The race was in doubt until the final corner, with Martin Truex Jr. pressuring Hamlin, who led the final 10 laps after surging past Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch in Turn 1 following a Lap 81 restart.
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Sun, 2016-08-07 07:31
Joey Logano finally finished what he started.
The driver of the No. 12 Ford won Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Watkins Glen International from the pole, giving Team Penske its first victory in what has been a disappointing season so far.
Written by Monte Dutton Sat, 2016-08-06 16:46
Miracles happen. Not often, lest they lose their coveted miraculous status.
A last-lap pass isn't a miracle. Neither is a two-out base hit. A Hail Mary pass is. A long bomb isn't. Last week the Washington Nationals turned a 3-3-5 triple play. Supposedly, it was the first in major-league history. Baseball has been around a while. That’s a miracle.
Written by Monte Dutton Sat, 2016-07-30 09:26
When the Clampetts "loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly," they didn't stay that way. Elly Mae's daughter won a Rhodes Scholarship. Jethro's son is now on the board of Goldman Sachs. The Jed Clampett Scholarship is fully endowed at Stanford.
The Waltons have likely changed since the old man sat outside his "mart," chewing the fat and smoking a corn-cobbed pipe. The ones who followed him and married into the clan are now paying for fine-arts centers and the like.
by Kelli Bennett Mon, 2016-07-25 09:05
Kyle Busch just makes it look easy. Not just driving a race car -- breaking records and making history as well.
The 2015 Sprint Cup champion became the first driver to sweep both poles and win both races in the same NASCAR weekend after his dominating victory in Sunday afternoon's Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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