End Of A NASCAR Era

[Ron61]

Toyota to make cuts in NASCAR spending.

http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/head...cks/index.html

Ron

[Don]

Richard Petty Motorsports announcement
Racing series NASCAR-CUP
Date 2009-01-19
Legendary Petty Name Continues as Newly-Formed Richard Petty Motorsports

CONCORD, N.C. (Jan. 19, 2009) - NASCAR legend and seven-time Sprint Cup Series champion Richard Petty announced today that his recently merged race team, co-owned by Petty Holdings and Gillett Evernham Motorsports, will continue to carry on the storied Petty legacy in the form of Richard Petty Motorsports.

"This begins the next great chapter for the Petty name in NASCAR," said the team's namesake and co-owner Richard Petty. "It was very important to us, not only to see the Petty name out on the racetrack, but also to be competitive and get all of our cars back into victory lane and competing for Sprint Cup Series championships on a regular basis."

Richard Petty Motorsports will field four Dodge entries in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Kasey Kahne will pilot the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge, Elliott Sadler the No. 19 Stanley Tools/Best Buy Dodge, Reed Sorenson the No. 43 Dodge, and AJ Allmendinger in the No. 44 Dodge.

"To bring the No. 43 and 44 together under the Richard Petty Motorsports banner means a lot to both me and my family," said Petty. "And then to pair with the No. 9 and 19 and their history really shows the spirit of this partnership. We are bringing two winning organizations together to take a competitive step forward for many years to come."

"This is a great day for everyone associated with our race team," said team co-owner George Gillett, whose business interests also include ownership in the legendary Montreal Canadiens in the NHL and the English Premier League's Liverpool FC soccer team.

"To continue Richard Petty's legacy is without question the most important factor in this relationship. Our goal is to win not one championship as Richard Petty Motorsports, but to win multiple championships."

Petty Enterprises was the most successful team in NASCAR history owning 268 Cup victories since 1949. Since spearheading Dodge's return to NASCAR in 1999, Gillett Evernham Motorsports had recorded 15 victories and has consistently been one of the top performing teams in NASCAR.

Richard Petty Motorsports will operate out of the GEM race shops in Statesville, N.C. and engine shop in Concord, N.C.

-credit: rpm

[Bartruff1]

To the beach, to before NASCAR. I remember when Bill France and his nemesis Curtis Turner raced a bathtub Nash in the Mexican Road Race where a 17 year old Hershel McGriff beat all the European Sports Cars with a stock 1950 Olds 88. IMHO the Trans Am Series in the mid 60's was the pinnacle of stock car racing. Today, I would't walk across the street to sit in France the Younger's suite to watch a "race". For me, stock car racing died nearly 40 years ago. Today the races are boring and the drivers (with a few notable exceptions) are even more boring. The post race interviews are painful to watch and appear to be scripted. My fondest hope is that this economic crises will bring back cars that are at least similar to the one's available in the showrooms. And yes, I know the cars have never been actually stock but spec racing is for the SCCA.

[Don]

Source: AutoWeek

" A preliminary and very unofficial Daytona 500 entry lists shows 54 teams, virtually assuring a full field for NASCAR’s Feb. 15 season-opening Sprint Cup race at Daytona International Speedway.

Fourteen of the 54 entries can safely be called one-offs. They include James Hylton, Brad Keselowski, Mike Skinner, Kirk Shelmerdine, Scott Riggs, Carl Long, Kelly Bires, Norm Benning, Boris Said, Mike Wallace, former 500 winner Derrike Cope, 2008 rookie of the year Regan Smith, Joe Nemechek, Jeremy Mayfield and former two-time series champion Terry Labonte.

In addition, the new Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team has an entry, but it lacks a driver and a sponsor. Former champion Bill Elliott is entered with Wood Brothers Racing, which will run only a limited schedule this year. Aric Almirola and A. J. Allmendinger also have rides for the 500, but it’s unclear how often they will race throughout the rest of this year.

The stock-car portion of Speed Week ’09 begins with practice sessions on Friday, Feb. 6. The Budweiser Shootout is Saturday night, Feb. 7, followed by Daytona 500 qualifying and the ARCA 200 on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 8.

Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series teams practice on Feb. 10-11, with the Gatorade Twin 150 qualifying races on Thursday, Feb. 12. The Camping World Truck 250 is Friday night, and the Nationwide Series 300 is the final pre-500 support race on Saturday afternoon. "



http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090126/FREE/901269989

[Ron61]

Cutbacks for some of NASCARs Major sponsors.

http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/head...own/index.html

Ron

[Ron61]

Don,

I was just over on the NASCAR site and they have posted the schedule for this year but with no Print option that I can find. Did they delete that or am I just looking in the wrong places. I don't care much for their new site design at all.

Ron

[Don]

Ron, I did not check the NASCAR site, but the schedule from ESPN:

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/index

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/schedule?seriesId=2