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Vol. III,No.VIXII OFFSEASON EDITION
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The Worlds first daily e-newspaper devoted to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for Vol. III,No.VIXII OFFSEASON EDITION |
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TODAYS FRONT PAGE<
FANS FIRST
Fans get their first look at Daytona renovations
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Quote Of The Day: "You kind of feel like a monkey at the zoo." -Dale Earnhardt Junior on the new garage viewing area at Daytona International Speedway Happy Birthday: Ernie Irvan, Ron Denton 7 DAY ARCHIVE SundayMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: NASCAR Arrives in Mexico for First Tests For Waltrip, 2005 could be his last at DEI 35 will test at Vegas Sadler is ready for Speedweeks Said still surprises Speed Reading Family loss pushes Baldwin to advocate short-track safety Hotel rooms could be a problem at Daytona Labbes departure from DEI wasn't a happy one Keller to drive Golden Arches No. 35 Rensi Busch car Gustafson fulfilling dream of calling the shots The agony and the ecstasy of 2004
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By Greg Engle
As the first people were let into the area they seemed a bit confused but soon found their way around and it wasn’t long before fans scurried about from window to window peering in to the garages to watch their favorites drivers and teams at work, all the while clutching items they hoped to have autographed. Others stood on top of the “fandeck” and gazed down into the garage area as cars whizzed by on the track. “I love it.” Remarked fan Jennifer Mills from Lancaster Pennsylvania, “this is nice for the fans,“ she said while watching her young daughter playing at her feet.
Jennifer Mills seemed to notice, “It still seems not quite done, but it’s nice and I would definitely want to buy a ticket to the race.” On the other side of the coin, the drivers seemed to be less than thrilled with their new surroundings. Dale Earnhardt Junior admitted yesterday that the new garage stalls with windows is somewhat unsettling. "You kind of feel like a monkey at the zoo," says the defending Daytona 500 champion. "They're utilizing what's great about this place and they're making it what it needs to be," Earnhardt Jr. said. "When they say Daytona International Speedway and call it the Super Bowl of this sport, now they're capturing that. I've always felt kind of uncomfortable with people watching me do anything, but I guess I'll have to get used to it."
All the changes to the infield made other competitors take a second look at the legendary racing facility. "I'm still lost," said Jeff Gordon, a two-time Daytona 500 champion. "It's definitely a big change when you've been coming here for a long time. This is my 12th season in the Cup Series anyway. You get to where you work your way into these tracks and you have an area where you like to park and you know where your truck is and where your team is. "Today when I came, I didn't even know if my team was here. I didn't see my car and I was on the wrong side of the garage. But it's really awesome. We've got to work a little bit on the flow of how the cars come in and out of the garage. But this is certainly beautiful. I'm trying to get coordinated with what was here before and I'm sure everybody is doing the same thing."
"I spent 15 minutes trying to find the race track once I got through the tunnel," Petty said. "I'm overwhelmed with it. This is Daytona. When I came here for the first race in 1959, we didn't come down here and test then. We just came and ran the race. I came through that tunnel as a 21-year-old kid. (Turns) 1 and 2 must have been five miles down there because there were no buildings in the infield. It was just perfectly flat. We didn't even have the garages to inspect the cars. We had to park outside in the grass. So the changes are unreal. "I'm going to have to spend the rest of the day trying to find where I'm at Daytona and I've been coming since they first opened the place." Kyle Petty, who pilots the No. 45 Georgia-Pacific Dodge, gave a thumbs-up to the FanZone, which features a Fan Deck overlooking the garages as well as windows for fans to look inside the garages. "We've got to get to where the fans can at least see a driver when they come to the race track other than just sitting in the race car," Kyle Petty said. "I think it's pretty cool to have a place where they can wonder around look in through the windows and see the cars and view the inspection process and some of that. I think it's probably something a lot of other race tracks should look at in the future."
With his First Daytona 500 Victory Out Of The Way;Earnhardt Jr Now Eyes No. 2
During his previous January testing sessions, Dale Earnhardt Jr. always had the pressure of winning his first Daytona 500 hanging over his head. During NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing this week at Daytona, Earnhardt Jr. has the words "Daytona 500 Champion" emblazoned on his hauler and isn't worrying about a triumph in "The Great American Race." Instead, he's remembers how enjoyable it was celebrating his 2004 victory in NASCAR's biggest, richest and most prestigious race.
Earnhardt Jr. will shoot for back-to-back victories in the 47th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2005. Earnhardt Jr.'s attempt at back-to-back Daytona 500 wins will not be an easy feat as only Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84) and Sterling Marlin (1994-95) have been able to pull off consecutive triumphs in "The Great American Race." While he wouldn't mind a second Harley J. Earl trophy on his mantle, he's happy to have won his first Daytona 500 in the early stages of his career. His legendary father Dale Earnhardt needed 20 attempts to win his first Daytona 500 in 1998. "It's tough to lose it but to finally get it out of the way and be able to take it lap for lap is good," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I don't have to get an ulcer over the first 499 miles and wait on that last lap. Now we can just race." Aside from the possibility of repeating as Daytona 500 champion, one subject Earnhardt Jr. addressed extensively yeasteday was the off-season crew switch with Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate Michael Waltrip.+ Tony Eury Sr., Earnhardt Jr.,’s former crew chief, is now DEI’s director of competition. Former car chief Tony Eury Jr., is now Waltrip’s crew chief. Meanwhile, Pete Rondeau, Waltrip’s former crew chief, heads the No. 8 team. And although Earnhardt Jr. was 16th fastest in Tuesday’s opening session, 20th fastest that afternoon, and only 29th fastest in Wednesday morning and 27th fastest Wednesday afternoon, he says speed isn’t an issue.
“There are a lot of things we haven’t done to the car that we’ll have done when we come back to race. We’ve just been going down the list of things we want to try to see what helps and what doesn’t” Waltrip, who visited Daytona’s media center following Wednesday’s afternoon test session, concurred. “That’s a pretty special feeling to team up with a bunch of guys who’ve just chased a championship and won five or six races,” Waltrip said of his new crew. “I’ve never showed up for a job with that many guys who have had that much success the year before.” As for the shakeup: "My initial reaction was, 'How did that all go down?'' " Waltrip said. "When I heard it, I said, 'That's strange.' But for Dale Jr. to be happy ... well, it just seemed like this is what Dale Jr. wanted. "I can't go into much depth because that's all I know. They didn't ask me about it. But they knew I wanted something different for 2005. I'm thankful I have this opportunity ... when you've been ridiculed and talked about as much as I have been over my career. "But I'm like (NFL quarterback) Rich Gannon: Surround me with the right people and I can take you to the promised land." Earnhardt Jr. thinks this season’s fresh pairings will benefit both him and Waltrip. The two teams continue to work together as Earnhardt Jr. has included Eury Jr. in discussions of certain track setups, and although it was difficult to part with Eury Jr., Earnhardt Jr. thinks it’s a necessary move for both men. Working with different people may be the boost both need to further their careers. “Working in that environment with those guys is what I need to turn that corner,” Earnhardt Jr. said of Rondeau and his new crew. “I don’t think anything I was doing in the past kept me from the championship, but that’s the kind of corner I need to turn to get there. Hopefully I’m right.”
At the time the move was announced, Earnhardt said he had really liked working with his cousin but, he added, "At the same time, the bad times were really, really bad. I told him, 'I don't want to lose you as a cousin and lose the family and friendship side of it.' We were so stubborn and disrespectful of each other." Earnhardt says the decision wasn't based on his failure to capture the Nextel Cup despite winning six races. He does say the change will force him and his cousin out of a zone of familiarity in which they operated. "For him, it's going to open up a lot of doors to try to be more of a people person," Earnhardt said. "He's going to have to understand how to motivate people. He's going to have to learn, now or never." Rondeau, who is from Maine, is subdued and calm, especially compared to Junior's fiery personality. "There's going to be times when he's excited and wound up, and I'm not like that," Rondeau said. "It will be my job to calm him down. He just wants me to be straightforward with him, and I hope he's straightforward with me." Another new twist for 2005: Earnhardt Jr. is the owner of some new wheels – the airborne kind. He recently purchased a Lear 60 jet. The Lear 60 seats six passengers comfortably, plus two pilots, and travels at about 520 mph. Earnhardt wouldn't give specifics on his purchase but said they cost between $5 1/2 million and $8 1/2 million. And that doesn't include the cost of pilots and fuel. The new plane means he can pay back peers like Tony Stewart and Dale Jarrett for all past helicopter and jet rides. Plus, he’s got a tongue-in-cheek offer for one of his public relations representatives, Jade Gurss. “With your own plane, you don’t have to wait on the NAPA team or all the guys to show up to take off,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I gave Tony Jr. a ticket for every week so he’s going to ride with me. And I can charge Jade Gurss trips back and forth and make some money back.
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