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
|
|
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 |
|
 ABOUT CSD
Race
Shop
Tickets
Fantasy
Garage Opinions
ADVERTISE |
TODAYS FRONT PAGE<
PROVING GROUND
Daytona KartWeek kicks off the racing season
|
Quote Of The Day: “I don’t have near as much common sense as he had, and he banked on that just about all day, every day, of his life.” — Dale Earnhardt Jr., comparing himself to his father Happy Birthday: Brittany Wallace, Joyce Kearns 7 DAY ARCHIVE SundayMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: NASCAR remembers Reggie White "3" actor will try to make Daytona ARCA race Darrell Waltrip's Life Worth a Movie of its Own Tony Stewart to appear at Cincinnati hockey game Sponsor pays one million dollars to appear in NASCAR computer game Office Depot says it will become a title sponsor of NASCAR Limited schedule for Fike in 2005 for Brewco Kenseth's dad forms promotion company Hammond to appear at Motorsports Expo in PA Put a bow on it A NASCAR dream come true The agony and the ecstasy of 2004
NEW!
The official Radio Partner of the Cup Scene Daily The Daily Scene Newsletter is BACK! CLICK HERE To Sign up
Daytona 500 Tickets NEW! Gemstone Jewelry ON SALE NOW. Click Here!
KEEP THE CUP SCENE DAILY COMING! PLEASE Support our sponsors!
Check out the NEW NASCAR Ebay page
|
December 28
Daytona International Speedway, famous for its stock cars, sports cars and motorcycles, is also the home to the world’s largest karting event – Daytona KartWeek happening this week – Dec. 26-30.
Each year for the past few years, DIS has inducted the most successful kart during Kart Week into Daytona USA, just as it keeps the winning car from the Daytona 500 for a year. This year, officials decided to put two karts on display. The 12-year-old Stancill, from Greenville, N.C., has been coming to Kart Week for five years but didn't win a championship in any division until last year when he won titles in the Junior Sportsman Champ Lite Division, the Junior Sportsman Champ Heavy and the Junior Sportsman II Lite divisions. "This is a big thrill and I'm really proud of what I've accomplished," John Stancill said. "I hope to come back this year and win more, so we can maybe do this again." Like last year, Stancill is entered in four divisions and hopes to take home as much hardware as he can in what could possibly be his final year in karts at DIS. "I was thinking that this was going to be my last year and next year I want to move up to the Pro Challenge cars," John said. "But we'll just have to wait and see what happens. That's what I want to do, and some day, I'd like to have a Nextel Cup car in here after winning the Daytona 500. That would be unbelievably awesome." Terry, a 29-year-old native of Sevierville, Tenn., has been racing at Daytona Municipal Stadium during Kart Week every year but one since 1991. He's won so many championships he says he hasn't been able to keep track of them.
"This is a big deal for me because before they started doing this thing at Daytona USA, we had some really good years and probably could have done it before. Since they've been doing it, I wouldn't say we've had bad years, but people have just had better years than us. That's what makes this so special for us." Go-kart racing is one of the many avenues that are used to get a jumpstart into motorsports. Some current stars of NASCAR have participated in past go-karts events at historic Daytona International Speedway, including 2002 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, 2003 Nextel Cup Series Rookie of the Year Jamie McMurray and 2003 NASCAR Busch Series champion Brian Vickers. “From 1987 to 1992, every year, that’s where my family would spend Christmas,” McMurray said. “Sometimes we would leave Christmas Day from Missouri to drive down and other times we would go down early and spend Christmas in our motor home in the Kmart parking lot in Daytona. It sounds funny but that’s what you did.” McMurray, who drives the No. 42 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in the Nextel Cup Series, says there will be probably one or two future stars in racing who’ll be racing in the go-kart events at the Speedway. “There were guys that I raced go-karts with that you didn’t think would make it that did and there were other guys that you knew would be professionals and now there an engineer,” McMurray said. “There not even into racing. Most certainly you’ll find a star somewhere in that field.” Vickers, who now races in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driving the No. 25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, competed in the dirt track events at Municipal Stadium in his early teens. “That was the big race just like (the Daytona 500) is in NASCAR,” Vickers said. “The race at Municipal Stadium was the biggest race of the year. It was tough. It was a big challenge. In one race you may have 300 go-karts trying to make the race.”
Georgia cheerleader hits karting track with gusto
Colbi Bradley is a cheerleader and an A-student, but she also knows her way around an 80 cc engine. Attribute that to her close relationship with her father, Jay, a single dad who works as a crew chief for a Historic Sportscar Racing team. And although she says she wants to be treated as just another driver, she admitted Monday she also doesn't mind it when she takes off her helmet and surprises some of her competitors. "They say, 'Oh my gosh, it's a girl,' " she said with a laugh.
Otherwise, the 15-year-old from Flowery Branch, Ga., isn't much different from the hundreds of other racers at this week's World Karting Association events in Daytona Beach. Her ambitions include racing professionally someday and, after all, NASCAR pros such as Tony Stewart and Jamie McMurray came up through the karting ranks. The races at Daytona International Speedway and Municipal Stadium are billed as the karting world's largest. They draw more than 1,000 entries, including hundreds of racers from all over the country, said David Talley, a Daytona International Speedway spokesman. Some of the dirt races scheduled for Monday night were postponed because the Municipal Stadium track was too muddy from weekend rains, Talley said. But Colbi and scores of other youngsters in jumpsuits and helmets strapped themselves into their small-engine machines and motored around a midget track on the Speedway infield Monday, hitting speeds of up to 70 mph. They were taking trial runs, trying to get acclimated with the course and searching for ways to maximize their performances. They brought their families and friends, people who comprise their racing teams. The lucky ones -- including Colbi -- even have sponsors. Jay Bradley's relationship with Dennis Spencer led to his daughter's re-entry into the karting world. She got her first kart at age 4 and raced while growing up in Texas. But after Colbi's mother left home when she was 8, her father was left to raise her by himself. He couldn't afford to keep her in karting. After they moved to Georgia four years ago, he found Spencer, who agreed to cover all the expenses for her to race in the 2004 Big South series. "Dennis sees this as a good opportunity for parents and children to do something together," said Reese Harper, her team manager. Part of the deal requires Colbi to maintain good grades. She hopes to go to college and study mechanical engineering. But she also would like to race as a pro. "It's all in the seat time," she said. Another kart driver, 15-year-old Tommy Nigro of Lee's Summit, Mo., said most of the racers understand the odds are against them. "Everyone here aspires to be a professional driver, but they know it's far-fetched," he said. "Now it's for fun and doing your best." Colbi Bradley said she feels fortunate she's been able to drive this year, and her father said their karting travels are not about building the perfect driver. "It's not just about racing," Jay Bradley said. "It's about spending time together. We're best friends." ORIGINAL STORY-Daytona Beach News Journal
Carts' roar relaxes McMurray
By Buddy Shacklette After working 10 straight months with seldom a day off, you'd think a guy in his late 50s would look forward to a little rest and relaxation. Problem is, Jim McMurray doesn't know what rest is, and his version of relaxation was speeding around Daytona International Speedway on Monday at upwards of 100 mph on a go-cart.
McMurray is spending of couple of days off at Daytona KartWeek, where he will compete today and Wednesday in 30-minute, 125-Spec Sprint races at DIS. It shouldn't be a big surprise to find McMurray at a racetrack. The 58-year-old is employed by Ganassi Racing as his son's motor coach driver during the Nextel Cup season, a stretch that spans 38 weeks from February to November. The elder McMurray, who once spent 13 consecutive weeks on the road away from his Mooresville, N.C., apartment, lives in the coach Sunday through Wednesday, driving and prepping the home on wheels for his son's weekend stays. "It is and isn't the offseason because we do so many other things with appearances and getting everything ready for next year. I take him to do all of it and get paid good money for doing it. It's not like having a real job," Jim McMurray said. "Three or four times I've told him that I wanted to quit, but I don't think he'll ever be able to have another coach driver. He's real personal about his stuff. That's his personal time to be away. Having family there is a little different than having somebody that you don't know." McMurray started his son out in go-carts at age 14, and the younger McMurray, who will compete in the Rolex 24 At Daytona here in February, won the Junior (restricted Yamaha class) Class at DIS in 1990. Jim steered his son's racing career through the go-cart, modified and late model ranks until the costs put Jamie behind the wheel of equipment other than his father's. "He raced for me and drove my cars until he was 21 years old, and then he left me and went and drove for other people. It got to the point to where I couldn't afford it," McMurray said. "We were never able to go out and buy rides. Someone always came to him and asked him to drive their stuff." The younger McMurray's progression through the NASCAR ranks now leaves little time for a return to his racing roots. While Jamie has taken part in the filming of an episode of NBC's "The West Wing" -- which will air Jan. 19 -- and gone to Hawaii to shoot promos for football games with Fox Sports Net, dad has dusted off his racing suit. KartWeek gives McMurray, who ran seventh in class here last year, a chance to visit and race against old friends -- his version of rest and relaxation. "The older you get the easier it is to do this. That sprint racing and that dirt racing is for them kids," McMurray said. "I love it. I can go to the shop and work all day long on a go-cart and never eat. It doesn't bother me a bit. I'm not here to win, I'm here to have a good time and see all of my friends ORIGINAL STORY-Daytona Beach News Journal
|
Speak your mind!
|
