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Nine Lives's Blog (66)

Why NASCAR is still money on wheels

Corporations are plowing less money into motorsports this year, but the stock-car circuit isn't too worried

The economic crisis may continue to bring leaner times for NASCAR in the next year or two, but the stock-car series remains the favourite to come out of the downturn ahead of the pack. While a report released last month by sponsorship experts IEG found that North American companies would spend about 6 per cent less in motorsport-related activities than in 2008, NASCAR's teams sho… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on March 6, 2009 at 11:05pm — No Comments

Bobby Labonte Real Happy With 73rd Lap

DAYTONA BEACH, FL—Despite finishing a distant 22nd in the 2009 running of the Daytona 500, veteran driver Bobby Labonte expressed supreme satisfaction with his 73rd lap of the tri-oval. "There are laps and then there are laps, but that might be the best lap I've ever run," said a visibly moved Labonte, who compared the lap to his beloved 118th at the 2007 Sharpie 500 and his much-ballyhooed third at the 2004 Tropicana 400. "In a million years I never even imagined I could run a lap like that, an… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on February 26, 2009 at 10:35pm — No Comments

Matt Kenseth Wins his First Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. -- It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Matt Kenseth, winless a year ago, added the biggest jewel in NASCAR to his trophy collection Sunday, winning a dramatic, rain-shortened Daytona 500 before a capacity crowd of some 200,000 at Daytona International Speedway, plus a Fox national television audience. Kenseth somehow dodged a huge pileup shortly after lap 125 that easily could have sent him to the scrap-pile like it did young sensation Kyle Busch. Busch, who had led 88 laps… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on February 15, 2009 at 10:00pm — 1 Comment

Gatorade Duels Post-Race Transcript

KERRY THARP: We're going to roll right into our post duel press conference with our championship race team. That's Kyle Busch, team owner Joe Gibbs, team president J.D. Gibbs, and crew chief Steve Addington. Kyle, congratulations. Had to feel good to get that victory out there today. KYLE BUSCH: It was. It felt really good. This whole team has really worked hard. This whole off season everybody has. From where we ended last year, it felt like it was pretty cool to start off the season this way… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on February 12, 2009 at 11:33pm — 2 Comments

NASCAR Franchising?

The rush to buy into NASCAR teams has occurred at a startling pace. The Fenway Group bought into Rousch, George Gillett made Evernham Motorsports his own and Boston Ventures took a chunk from Richard Petty Racing which has now become Richard Petty Motorsports which has merged with Gillett Motorsports. Confusing to say the least. The apparent pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for incoming investors is the potential for NASCAR to franchise the teams allowing the team owners to double up on th… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on February 12, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

NASCAR's Trouble At The Track {Forbes.com}

It was NASCAR's "Heidi Bowl" moment, and no one cared. On Nov. 9, with 34 laps to go in a late-season race at Phoenix International Raceway, ABC pre-empted its live national coverage of the event for the umpteenth airing of its cheesy reality show America's Funniest Home Videos. Forty years earlier, NBC tried the same stunt when it cut to a made-for-TV version of Heidi from an incredible last-minute comeback by the Oakland Raiders over the New York Jets. Irate East Coast viewers fried the netwo… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on February 10, 2009 at 8:42pm — 3 Comments

NASCAR Underground

Have you seen the new NASCAR promo on Fox yet? Check it out some of the remarkable work by Fox Sports! Continue

Added by Nine Lives on February 4, 2009 at 10:39am — 2 Comments

NASCAR veteran Jeremy Mayfield returns as team owner/driver

After a couple of seasons of partial schedules, Jeremy Mayfield plans to returns to… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on February 3, 2009 at 12:00pm — 3 Comments

An Open Letter to NASCAR Public Relation Peeps

What are you doing?

So you might have heard the Buzz. That question is what Twitter asks! Everybody including CNN is talking about Twitter but you still are not sure how it can enhance your PR activities. Here is a list to some th… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 29, 2009 at 1:00am — 2 Comments

'My plane is going to crash ...'

By Marty Smith on ESPN. The blanket on the counter just inside the garage door is a chilling reminder, and will be for some time. It is white, stitched at the edges in black thread, adorned corner-to-corner with baseball-sized Red Cross logos. Piled atop it is a blue-beaded necklace, the lone surviving accessory from the outfit Amber Wells was wearing the day US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River. Everything else was ruined by murky river water and pungent jet fuel. Her fa… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 22, 2009 at 5:03pm — 2 Comments

Dale Jr to drive for Fastenal in Nationwide Series

FASTENAL ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH JR MOTORSPORTS… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 20, 2009 at 12:00am — 2 Comments

A tattoo I bet he wishes he could take back

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Added by Nine Lives on January 16, 2009 at 1:05am — 1 Comment

Is this really the best time to start a Sprint Cup team?

By Mike Smith · January 13, 2009 · 8:03 PM Forget about the stumbling economy. Forget about the automakers’ crumbling fortunes. Forget about the declining sponsorships. Forget that Sprint Cup teams are laying off personnel. Tommy Baldwin thinks this is a good time to become a Cup team owner. While other teams, some which have been around for decades, are merging in desperate attempts to… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 14, 2009 at 7:35am — 4 Comments

Wheeler helping unemployed find work

At 3:30 in the morning, H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler woke up like he'd been hit with a bolt of electricity, his mind occupied by only one thought: "There has to be something we can do to help these people out." "These people" are the ever-growing number of unemployed racers who are finding themselves out on the street as NASCAR teams and the companies that depend on racing slash payroll to survive during these tough economic times. Since the end of the 2008 NASCAR season, an estimated 700 to 1,000 mo… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 12, 2009 at 7:23pm — 2 Comments

The Science of ...Missing Oil Tank Covers

Danny LaDue asks: Can you explain the location of a NASCAR oil tank reservoir and how the lack… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 11, 2009 at 12:00am — No Comments

How good would Robby Gordon be if he gave up off-road racing?

From Sports Illustrated Robby Gordon celebrated his 40th birthday last Friday in Argentina, where he was overseeing final preparations for Team Dakar USA in the Dakar Rally. An owner-driver just as he is in Sprint Cup, Gordon has put together an impressive effort to win the marathon of endurance races, transplanted this year to South America from Africa because of security concerns. Gordon has entered three veh… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 7, 2009 at 5:43pm — 2 Comments

American Jona Street Street Wins First Dakar Stage

Team Double Diamond Rally PanAM KTM’s Jonah Street won the first-ever Dakar Rally stage of his career today, the American taking advantage of the tire problems by the sport’s top two riders - Marc Coma and Cyril Despres - on the fifth stage between Neuquen and San Rafael. While both Coma and Despres had to stop to change flats, Street didn’t and that gave him his first stage victory. Coma lost some 20 minutes fixing his flat with Despres losing an additional seven minutes when he later encounte… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 7, 2009 at 3:31pm — No Comments

Death on the Dakar

It is with great sadness that the organization has been informed that rider Pascal Terry (192), 49 years old, has been found dead in the night of January 6th to 7th at 2:10 AM. The biker was in a very hard-to-reach area in the middle of very dense bush-like vegetation 15m from his bike. He had taken his helmet off and had sought shade; he had food and water by him. The Pampa Province police and authorities will now carry out the necessary legal investigation in order to determine the causes of… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 7, 2009 at 8:30am — 4 Comments

Developing COT became fortuitous move

Whether through happenstance or through foresight bordering on prescience, NASCAR's development of the Car of Tomorrow was a brilliant move, says four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. Gordon's view has nothing to do with the way the car drives. In truth, he'd probably prefer a car without bump stops in the front suspension, one that turns more easily through the corners at the high-banked tracks that make up the bulk of the Cup schedule. With United States automakers struggling to survive… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on January 5, 2009 at 12:12pm — 1 Comment

Carmichael Tries His Hand At Stock Cars During ARCA RE/MAX Series Test

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 20, 2008) -- Ricky Carmichael has raced motorcycles and sports cars at Daytona International Speedway. This weekend, Carmichael, a five-time Daytona Supercross By Honda champion, added stock cars to the list as he participated in the three-day ARCA RE/MAX Series test… Continue

Added by Nine Lives on December 30, 2008 at 12:53am — No Comments