Darlington says it's not selling
By Pete Iacobelli
The Associated Press,April 6

Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning got a call Tuesday that sent him scrambling: Was International Speedway Corp. contemplating a sale of the old country track to its rival?

So Browning, who was displaced when North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham was sold last year, called down to the company's Daytona Beach, Fla., headquarters to find out.

"They told me, 'Hey, nothing to it, buddy,' " Browning told The Associated Press. "That was good enough for me."

Browning said the report he read on the Internet speculated that Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports Inc. wanted to buy Darlington and move its remaining race weekend to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, giving that facility a second race date.

But Browning said that's not the case. "There's absolutely no truth to the rumors whatsoever," he said. "I don't know where they got started."

Darlington officials have long dealt with whispers about the track's pending demise.

When NASCAR vice president and chief spokesman Jim Hunter was Darlington's leader during the 1990s, he routinely battled Smith.

Hunter reacted angrily in 1998 to reports Darlington would soon lose its spring race. "I'm tired of them using us as a target," Hunter said then. Hunter thought the rumors likely came from Lowe's Motor Speedway president "Humpy" Wheeler in Charlotte, N.C. — something Wheeler denied.

After Andrew Gurtis became Darlington president in 2001, there was more talk about the track's possible sale to Speedway Motorsports. Gurtis said he was told "to expect some stuff out of Charlotte."

On Tuesday, Hunter said he has heard nothing about selling Darlington. He said the rumors could have come from Smith saying if Darlington were on the block, he'd want to buy it. If there's any truth this time, "then someone forgot to tell me about it," Hunter said.

Virginia track taps alcohol revenue
By Laurence Hammack
Landmark News Service, April 6

For years, the beer that flows into the Martinsville Speedway has come from the coolers NASCAR fans are allowed to tote inside. Soon it will also flow from speedway concession stand taps.

Selling beer to race fans, which will begin at Sunday's Nextel Cup race, is one of the changes implemented by the speedway's new owner, International Speedway Corp.

The change -- which allows both carry-in and concession-sold beer -- runs counter to a national trend aimed at cutting back on drinking at sporting events.

"This is really swimming against the pattern that's been established by professional sports and collegiate sports," said Jerry M. Lewis, a sociology professor at Kent State University in Ohio who studies sports fan behavior.

Beer is sold at professional football, basketball and baseball games, but fans are not allowed to bring their own alcohol, and beer sales are usually cut off before the game ends. While some NASCAR tracks have followed suit, Martinsville is not one of them.

Although Martinsville will let fans buy 12-ounce cups of beer at concession stands, the speedway is limiting the size of coolers it allows through the gates.

Each fan can bring a 6- by 6- by 12-inch container that speedway spokesman Mike Smith called a "six-pack sized cooler." At past races, fans could bring coolers as large as 14 by 14 by 14 inches.

Smaller coolers are part of an ISC policy implemented after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Smith said. The goal was make it easier for track officials to search for weapons, not to restrict the amount of alcohol.

Until fans adjust to the new rule, the policy could have the practical effect of reducing the amount of beer consumed at the speedway. But some still worry about offering two sources of beer at any sport, especially at NASCAR races.

"People are at the race for four hours, they're consuming alcohol, they're watching cars go in excess of 100 mph, and then they get in their own cars," said David Buchanan, a public health professor at the University of Massachusetts. "It's just common sense that this is a very dangerous mix."

Collision during race leads to another run-in
By Jim Pedley
Kansas City Star,April 6

Dale Jarrett wouldn't say what he said to Shane Hmiel after a wreck Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

He didn't have to. The body language was unmistakable.

(Getty Images)

Hmiel didn't have to say what he said to Jarrett, either. The in-car camera captured Hmiel making an obscene gesture to Jarrett.

Unfortunately for Hmiel, NASCAR was watching pictures from that camera. It is expected that NASCAR will take action against him, perhaps as soon as today.

It all started late in the rain-postponed Busch Sharpie Professional 250 race in Bristol, Tenn.

Hmiel closed in on Jarrett's rear bumper. In fact, he got a little too close. Hmiel used his front bumper as a plow blade to shove Jarrett up into the wall.

As a result of the wreck, the race was red-flagged.

Jarrett got out of what was left of his car, waved off an ambulance ride, set his jaw and started walking up the track to where the red-flagged cars were parked. By the time he got to Hmiel's car, Jarrett was leading a small parade of NASCAR officials.

Jarrett went up to the driver's window, lowered his head, raised a pointed index finger and began “discussing” the situation with the 24-year-old Hmiel. The event was caught on pictures, but not sound. One picture was that of Hmiel gesturing to Jarrett as Jarrett turned to walk away.

Later, Jarrett said he didn't understand why Hmiel rammed him.

“I'd like to know where he thought he was going,” Jarrett said. “We were already three-wide.”

About their conversation, Jarrett said that was between him and Hmiel.

Hmiel, did offer a bit of insight. He said Jarrett implied that he would retaliate.

“Jarrett came over to my car threatening me and promising that I would get mine,” Hmiel said.

Hmiel then said of the 48-year-old Jarrett, “He better hurry up because he ain't got much longer.”

Several drivers said Tuesday that they figured NASCAR would have to take some kind of action against Hmiel for the obscene gesture. Especially in light of a penalty issued to Dale Earnhardt Jr. last season when Earnhardt was docked 25 driver points for swearing during a postrace television interview.

Don't take safety for granted
By Jeff Gluck
Rocky Mount Telegram,April 6

It sounds morbid, but there was a get-the-stretcher-ready wreck in Sunday's NASCAR race that no one had any business surviving.

(AP)

Veteran driver Jeff Burton was spun by Jimmie Johnson, and Burton's car bounced off the inside wall at Bristol and launched itself back up the track. When the car stopped, it was facing directly into traffic heading toward Burton at 100-plus mph.

Kurt Busch was the first to arrive. At the moment Burton's car ended its spin, Busch smashed head-on into Burton in a sickening crash.

It didn't matter what angle from which you saw the wreck: each time FOX showed a replay, the reaction was “OOOF!” or “OUCH!”

Fortunately, that's all Busch or Burton felt. Both drivers walked away from the wreck slightly shaken, but uninjured.

That's a common occurrence in today's Nextel Cup Series. The safety equipment has improved so much, it's turned TV viewing into a guilty-free pleasure.