 |
|
 FRONT PAGE
Race
Shop Tickets
Fantasy
Garage Opinions
Contact |
|
|
Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for
August 31,2003
Vol. II,No.VIXII RACEDAY EDITION
|
7 DAY ARCHIVE
INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: Johnson, Marlin fast in practices Darlington patches upset J. Gordon, others Free Jimmy Worn-out tires likely to produce increased passing at Darlington Craven parks his heart at Darlington Elliott has eased into celebrity role Thanks for the memories Jeff Gordon is looking to make a little history Under a new light The Cup Scene Daily Newsletter off line for now, new one to debut soon! Next Race Race Shop RACE Tickets Fantasy Garage NEW!
SEARCH THIS SITE: The Cup Scene Daily T-Shirt Shop
Nacar Pit Caps are now only $15 at Lids.com. These hats were regularly $25.99! Get one and support your favorite driver today! |
LABOR NO MORE
When the hot South Carolina summer sun sets today, a Labor Day weekend tradition will be no more.
NASCAR, looking to extend its reach to larger markets with tracks newer, bigger and more glittery than Darlington's "Lady in Black," has awarded the Labor Day weekend date in 2004 to 7-year-old California Speedway. It's a second race for the track 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Darlington has been fighting a losing battle to fill its 58,910 seats for the Southern 500 and its spring race, while the California track has consistently sold out its approximately 110,000 seats since being given a spring race in 1997. Darlington will retain its Southern 500, but the race will be run in the cool of November, probably under the lights that are due to be installed during the next year. Most drivers - probably the least comfortable people on the grounds, with temperatures up to 140 degrees inside the cars in the Darlington heat - aren't particularly happy with the change. "It's supposed to be hot and the track's slick and everything. I'm one of the ones that hate to see it leave," said Terry Labonte, a two-time Winston Cup champion whose first of 21 victories came in the 1980 Southern 500. Ryan Newman, who won the pole for today's race, has only been racing here for two years, but he already has fallen in love with the unique, egg-shaped 1.366-mile Darlington oval. "It's disappointing the things that are happening to the racetrack itself and the market that it's in," Newman said. "I wish somebody would take notice and build a racetrack like this, the walls in the same place, and put it someplace else in a better market, if it were possible." The first Southern 500 was run in 1950, eight years before land was cleared for Daytona International Speedway, or more than a quarter-century before Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch were born. Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett and Sterling Marlin, all nearing the ends of their careers, grew up playing touch football in Darlington's infield while their dads, Richard, Ned and Coo Coo, raced in the Southern 500. The race was run on Mondays back then. ``I've been going there every year since I was born, and when you talk about tradition and how things got started in our sport, you certainly think of Darlington and the Southern 500,'' Dale Jarrett said. "Everybody has always associated the Southern 500 with the Labor Day weekend and Darlington, South Carolina and it's sad to see that go away, but I understand the reason for it. If the sport is going to grow, then you've got to take it to where the people are and where they have plenty of seats to sell -- like California. So I understand the reason for doing it, but it's still sad to see." Said Jarrett's father and former Winston Cup Champion, Ned. Former NASCAR driver Junior Johnson says he's loved Darlington since he ran and won a race there in 1953. It was his first win. "Heck, I'd never really raced before. Didn't know what NASCAR was about. I brought down one of my moonshine-running cars from out of the mountains," he said at Charlotte's Speedway Club on Tuesday night. "I won that race on one tank of gas, and I was surprised as anyone." Johnson, who plans to be at today's race, said Darlington is the toughest track in NASCAR. "It's tricky. You gotta hold back and stay in your groove long enough to still be around at the end of the race to make your move," said Johnson, 73. "The hardest thing is not running too fast too soon, because I'm telling you, you get out of your groove, and that track will punish you. Throw you into the wall and put a hurt on you." Car owner Junie Donlavey entered every Southern 500 through 2001. In an interview before the 50th Southern 500 in 1999, he offered a vivid recollection of the first race. ``We started 75 cars, three abreast, and we pitted right on the race track,'' Donlavey said. ``I'm telling you, that was some kind of race, because the cars were wrecking everywhere. ``We didn't have the equipment we needed for a big track. The pedals were breaking, the wheels were breaking, tires were blowing. I'd have to say the good Lord was definitely with us, because it was a dangerous thing.'' Qualifying for the first 500 took 15 days. Johnny Mantz of Long Beach, Calif., won the race. The story of how he won is part of stock-car racing lore. Originally from Indiana, Mantz was a midget-car racer who had competed in the Indianapolis 500. He befriended NASCAR founder Bill France and driver Curtis Turner at a road race in Mexico City and the trio came to Darlington together. On the way, they stopped in Winston-Salem, N.C., and bought a Plymouth sedan they planned to use for errands. The plan was for Mantz to roam the racetrack and find a fast car to drive in the 500. Mantz couldn't find a ride. So the day before the race, he told France he was going to enter the Plymouth. Most drivers thought Mantz was crazy, because a six-cylinder Plymouth wouldn't have a chance against the powerful Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs. But Mantz had brought a set of hard-rubber racing tires, and that proved to be the difference. Mantz wasn't nearly as fast as the stock-car stars, but the racing tires enabled him to stay on the track while everybody else was changing tires. He also knew to pit during caution flags, and he timed his laps by a stopwatch for consistency. He won by more than nine laps. Today is the end of an era, though, and it would be appropriate if the final Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend ended with the kind of flourish that Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch gave the March race. With two laps left, the leaders' cars bumped and Busch hit the wall in turn one. Craven took the lead, but Busch recovered and hit the back of Craven's car, moved him aside and regained first place. But Craven slid low and alongside Busch, the two bouncing off each other and grinding to the finish. Craven won by two-thousandths of a second - a matter of inches and the closest finish in Winston Cup since NASCAR began using electronic timing in 1993. The aftermath of that finish, with Craven and Busch smiling and shaking hands, was in direct contrast to the overheated situation two weeks ago in Michigan, where Busch and Jimmy Spencer banged together repeatedly late in the race and Spencer wound up punching Busch in the face while Busch still sat in his car following the event. Spencer was suspended for a week and fined $25,000, while Busch was fined $10,000 for his part in the altercation. Busch, the winner last week at Bristol, will start 31st and Spencer, who sat out last week's race in Bristol, will start 38th on Sunday. Craven said he hopes the spotlight will remain on the race today, rather than on individuals or confrontations - on or off the track. "Growing up in New England, I felt like this was one of the four or five big races every year, and the distinction was that it was on Labor Day," Craven said. "There will be (more) Southern 500s yet to win, but there's a lot of emphasis put on winning this one." NASCAR's first media circus occurred at the 1985 Southern 500 when Bill Elliott had a shot at the ``Winston Million.'' The $1 million bonus, then an astounding prize for a backwoods sport, was available to any driver who could win three of NASCAR's four ``crown jewels.'' Elliott had won the Daytona 500 and Winston 500, and after faltering at the World 600, he had to win at Darlington. He won the race and made the cover of Sports Illustrated. ``Cale was leading late in the race and his power steering went out,'' Elliott said. ``It was quite a ride. The way it unfolded it was pretty unreal from my standpoint.'' Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was enormously popular in the Carolinas, won nine times at Darlington. He added another chapter to the track's legend when he fell asleep before the start of the 1997 Southern 500. Three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip got the last of his 84 career victories in the 1992 Southern 500. In 1997, Gordon became the second ``Winston Million'' winner at Darlington when he beat Jeff Burton in a thrilling last-lap duel. An armored truck followed Gordon around the raceway on his victory lap. Not surprisingly, former driver Cale Yarborough would like to see the Southern 500 remain where it is on the calendar. ``Who knows,'' he said. ``Maybe moving the date will even be better for the race track, but Labor Day weekend will never be the same again. |
DAILY BRIEFS
|
