Short-tracks often lead to PR wreckage
By Bill Whitehead
Palm Beach Post,April 8

For the first time since 1999, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series schedule features short-track races on consecutive weekends, with teams sliding over to Virginia from Tennessee. And judging by last week at Bristol, this Sunday at Martinsville could be a hectic day for everyone.

In the past, short tracks have been called a fabricator's nightmare. All the beating, banging and rough driving lead to busy Mondays back at the shop, where hammers and bats — hardly the delicate, refined tools of the trade — are commonly used to pound out the shoves and nudges of life on the half-mile.

But while the guys handling the sheet metal, nose clips, stickers and paint get a workout at short tracks, there's another team member who likely dreads the thought of his driver saying something out of line or doing the unthinkable, like assaulting another driver or making a fool of himself on national television. That's the public relations rep.

Armed with a tape recorder, a computer and the Internet, the PR individual has a tricky job — giving the race recap for his or her driver and throwing in some driver quotes along the way, hopefully ones that won't put the sponsor, driver or team in a bad light. That's not easy at Bristol or Martinsville.

Let's say you're a PR person and your driver has just wrecked another driver, then the wreckee's so upset that he throws the first thing he can find in the general direction of the wrecker, plus there were probably some choice expletives tossed around as well. Then you've got to get some quotes from an upset driver, hope they're clean — if not, you'll have to sanitize them — and pass them on to the media without portraying your sponsor as Enron.

"Thanks, Bristol," you'd likely mutter as you left the high-banked track in Thunder Valley. And your job won't be any easier this week either — remember, it's the first consecutive short-track events in six years, so you're a little out of practice on this, and Martinsville is every bit the powder keg Bristol is.

Harvick has the 'mo' after Bristol
By Mike Mulhren
Winston Salem News Journal,April 8

NASCAR on TV is looking pretty good this spring, and Fox executives just got another reason to take Bristol's August night race to prime time - Sunday's Food City 500 set a ratings record, with a 6.3 final national, which makes Kevin Harvick's victory run the highest-rated telecast in Bristol history.

That's a five-percent increase from last year's 6.0.

Fox said the 6.3 translates this way: More than 9,750,000 people watched the race in 6.9 million homes.

With his first win in more than a year and a half, Harvick should be upbeat coming into Sunday's second straight short-track race, and he said he is.

"That's what Richard always talks about, 'mo'," Harvick said of his team's momentum. "If you get 'mo' on your side, you can do some great things.

"I think it's on our side.

"Winning definitely does a lot to help.

"We had bad luck at SpeedWeeks, and instead of worrying about it, we knew we had to come back strong. We have been good everywhere, with maybe the exception of Atlanta.

"I think we are getting to a good place with our race team. We've done a lot of hard work over the winter and it looks like it's starting to pay off."

Car owner Richard Childress will once again be atop the pit box, helping fill in for suspended Todd Berrier. Scott Miller will again be the interim crew chief.

France denies trying to join NFL
By Godwin Kelly
Daytona Beach News Journal,April 8

The rumors that Brian France has sold shares of the family racing business to buy into an NFL franchise keep chasing the young NASCAR chairman and CEO like a rabid dog.

The rumor flared up again two weeks ago when former NBA great Magic Johnson told USA Today, "It would be wonderful that Brian France would be interested in being a part-owner or owner in the Los Angeles franchise."

"It may be wonderful, but I'm not interested, so that's where it stands," France said in a telephone interview from his Los Angeles office Thursday.

"We've gotten to know each other through the NASCAR diversity council, and I've had dinner with Magic a couple of times, and I like him a lot," France added. "He knows I've had a home out here in Los Angeles before and all that stuff. We've never had a conversation regarding the NFL."

France chairs the NASCAR board of directors, comprised mostly of his family members. NASCAR is a private company. He also owns a large chunk of the publicly traded International Speedway Corp. Both NASCAR and ISC are headquartered here.

When asked about selling off his shares of NASCAR or ISC stock back to the family, presumably to finance an NFL bid, France would not discuss it.

"We don't get into any of our family planning within the business," the 42-year-old executive said. "We do all kinds of financial transactions within the family.

"What I can tell you is that I'm heavily invested in the industry of NASCAR. I have a financial interest that, in my little world, is very important to me and I plan on keeping for a long time."

When pressed for more information, France would not budge off the non-comment.

"The public company (ISC) has various filings we've had, but we've never talked about the infrastructure of the private company and I can't get into that," he said. "I'd break the family tradition."

The rumor that France wanted to buy into the NFL started near the end of the 2004 racing season and has followed him into 2005 like his own shadow.

"I don't understand it," he said. "No. 1, I would have to hit the lottery to be able to afford an NFL team, the last time I checked," he said. "Economically, I'm not in that position.

"Secondly, I have a big interest in NASCAR. I have a huge financial and 20-years-of-my-life, interest in NASCAR. I'm in big-time sports. I don't need an NFL team to satisfy my sports needs."

Home at last: 'The righteous run to it'
By Ronda Rich
Gainesville Times,April 8

Stevie, my friend for almost 20 years, is special. No one who knows her will dispute that.

It is almost impossible to find someone who is gentle and sweet yet stubborn and strong-willed. Normally, one gives way to the other, but not with Stevie.

"Watch out for the Redhead," her husband will say, because 35 years of marriage to her has taught him well.

She is one of the four close friends that I have christened "The Saints" because they all are prayer warriors strung together by the commonality of their strong faith and friendship with me.

I often joke that I am the sinner cast among them to humanize them.

Otherwise, they would all be floating in a realm far above us common mortals. They all are as close to perfect love as is possible to find on earth.

When one has a problem or heartache, I say, "I'll call the other Saints right now." I do, and the prayer chain begins.

Several years before Stevie's husband, Darrell Waltrip, retired from NASCAR racing, she began a Sunday ritual of selecting a scripture for him, which he would then tape to the dash of his race car.

One day, Dale Earnhardt happened to be with the Waltrips when Stevie handed the scripture to Darrell just before race time.

"What's that?" he asked. When she explained, he asked, "Where's mine?"

That was Earnhardt. He never liked to be outdone in any way by anybody.

From that moment on, Stevie took out her Bible every Sunday morning and found two scriptures which she then copied in her neat print on small pieces of paper. It was a rule.

Earnhardt got to read both and then choose which one he wanted.