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Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for
September 2,2003
Vol. II,No.VIXII FINAL EDITION
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7 DAY ARCHIVE
INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: The Feel good hit of the summer Junior happy with Darlington despite woes Norris: Teresa in control at DEI Kenseth isn't laying back Harvick: Points race isn't over...yet Earnhardt Jr. sends hearts racing at fair Earnhardt Jr. sends hearts racing at fair Points system not likely to change Stewart wins in the dirt Racing fans say bye to long-weekend tradition Final Labor Day 500: The track wins again Experience at Darlington never boring The Cup Scene Daily Newsletter off line for now, new one to debut soon! Next Race Race Shop RACE Tickets Fantasy Garage NEW!
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TODAYS FRONT PAGE
MAKEOVER
Darlington's past? History.
Terry Labonte's rousing victory lap around the 53-year-old track brought to an end a bittersweet week of smiles and memories about the final Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway.
When the race teams return next year, the old "Lady in Black," promises to be a vastly different place. There will be light posts and construction on the system to illuminate the raceway, possible new race lineups and maybe new logos and slogans. "We've got with the corporate folks and talked about doing some different things," Darlington president Andrew Gurtis says. "We've got some pretty aggressive things on the slate." Gurtis won't discuss much of it now. Some of the changes are underway. Fans might have tripped over some stakes set up by Musco Lighting technicians as they laid out the 74 lights posts needed for the multimillion project. While construction likely will be complete in time for the next Southern 500 on Nov. 14, 2004, it doesn't necessarily mean Winston Cup racers will end their grueling, 367-lap event under the lights. More probable? A Friday evening truck race, formerly run during Darlington's spring weekend, connected to the Southern 500. "I said five years ago if we could get lights we could run a truck race in conjunction with some other event" at Darlington, said Jim Hunter, the track's former president and NASCAR's chief spokesman. The official NASCAR schedule is expected to be released shortly. Any changes had better work. Darlington, put on notice in January that schedule shifts were possible, is not out of the woods for more shifts because its signature race is gone. The Carolina Dodge Dealers have not officially signed to return as sponsor, although a multiyear deal is expected soon. Hunter, a big Darlington advocate, says nothing is out of the question with NASCAR continuing its realignment process beyond 2004. "I think as long as we don't do anything to change the racetrack, (Darlington) racetrack is the greatest selling point we have," Hunter said. Darlington's race weekends bring the region about $50 million each year, according to a study track leaders commissioned last year. The fans took notice this year. Officials have said they had a strong turnout for the March 16 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400. Gurtis found out Sunday his holiday race sold out for the first time since 1997 before it added nearly 7,800 seats in Pearson Tower. Still, amenities matter over tradition if you want to stay in NASCAR's mix. Hunter knew that in the early 1990s when he began the track's revitalization after years of neglect that saw other race tracks zoom past in appeal. He upgraded infrastructure like restrooms and garages, switched the start-finish line for better TV telecasts and built a gleaming new seating section in turn four.
Gurtis says he'll talk with track owners International Speedway Corp. about how best to market the November race. The early selling point is that as the second-to-last race next season, Darlington's action could be critical to who wins next year's Nextel Cup. "The question for everybody and one we won't answer until fall of next year, is this going to look like the business model," Gurtis says. "We're going to tee it up in a pretty aggressive manner to fill it up again. The switch gives us a chance to do that." He and his staff will review everything from ticket prices to online services to see if there's a better, different way. "All that stuff is on the yellow pad to factor in how we position this event," he said. And Darlington's new ideas could be a large factor in the old track's future. The Feel good hit of the summerSeptember 2 Terry Labontes win on Sunday could be called the "feel good hit of the summer".
'I think he's one of the most well-respected guys in the garage,' runner-up Kevin Harvick said. 'Terry has been here through two or three generations and seen the sport evolve. He's been there when there wasn't anything but 'show up at the racetrack with your box dinner and open trailer.' 'To see him win, I don't know how many races it's been since he won, but we're just proud of him.' Jimmie Johnson too. The newest addition to Rick Hendrick's camp has overshadowed Labonte the past year-and-a-half. But this time, it was the other way around, and Johnson was impressed: 'At one of the longest races we run, on the hardest track to get hold of, Terry kicked all of us young guys' butts and did it in good fashion. 'The communication between (crew chief) Jim Long and Terry and the whole team, it's been neat to see their spirits come up just in the short time I've been at Hendrick Motorsports. You can just see the competitive fire in their eyes.' 'That makes me feel good,' Labonte said. 'I've been racing a long time, and a lot of them are friends, and it was neat a lot of them came down to Victory Lane.' Labonte said that the March race here 'was probably where we turned the corner. I told some of the guys if we could just win a race, it would give us momentum. Hopefully this will do it. If you had asked me where I thought my best place to win was, I wouldn't have picked Darlington. I'd have picked Richmond.' And that's this week's stop. 'Heck, I thought this was pretty cool,' Labonte said of the win. 'But I knew I wasn't going to do any doughnuts. I used to drive for a guy named Junior Johnson, and I couldn't imagine the look on his face if you went out and did doughnuts in his car. I don't think he'd be very happy with that. 'So I don't do them. I think it's goofy looking.' For Labonte to win in this era of high-tech engineering, well, Labonte figured he's having the last laugh: 'Jim and I come from the old school and do things the old way. But everybody puts their heads together, and it works real good. A lot of things the computer says don't work. A lot of things that Jim and I want to try, our computer guy shakes his head and says that won't work. So it's a good mix.' Yes, old school, with memories: 'I never will forget the first race I won here (1980). Billy Hagan came up to the press box and said, 'In five years you're going to win the championship.' It was a pretty bold statement.' But Hagan and Labonte backed it up. However, it was their first race together that really sticks in Labonte's mind, from September 1978. 'Billy called me and told me to go to the shop and meet Darryl Bryant, the crew chief, and get the car ready for Darlington. I asked Billy 'Do you think Darlington is the best place to go for our first race?' He said 'Yeah. I've talked to Donnie Allison, and he's going to help you.' 'I never saw Donnie all week until after the race. They had a rookie meeting before the race, and showed us a film of highlights of the last Southern 500 and all the things not to do. And my car (then driven by another racer) was in 90 percent of the highlights. How not to come in the pits. How not to leave the pits ... all this and that. I said right then the best thing I could do was not make next year's video.' |
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