SPEED Offers 15 Hours Of Rolex 24 Coverage
January 8, 2004
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 7, 2004) — SPEED Channel, the exclusive North American broadcaster of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series, will offer race fans more than 15 hours of live coverage of the 42nd Anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 31 - February 1.
Daytona Testing: Wednesday Speeds
January 7, 2004
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Results of Wednesday’s Nextel Cup testing at Daytona International Speedway:
MORNING SESSION
1. Michael Waltrip, No. 15 Chevrolet, 48.418 seconds, 185.881 mph
2. Joe Nemechek, No. 01a Chevrolet, 48.694, 184.828
3. Dale Jarrett, No. 88a Ford, 48.699, 184.809
4. Jamie McMurray, No. 42h Dodge, 48.715, 184.748
5. Jeff Green, No. 43b Dodge, 48.748, 184.623
6. Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19b Dodge, 48.789, 184.468
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8b Chevrolet, 48.823, 184.339
8. Mark Martin, No. 6a Ford, 48.827, 184.324
9. Brendan Gaughan, No. 77a Dodge, 48.828, 184.320
10. Tony Stewart, No. 20b Chevrolet, 48.852, 184.230
11. Dave Blaney, No. 22a Dodge, 48.877, 184.136
12. Kurt Busch, No. 97a Ford, 48.927, 183.948
13. Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Chevrolet, 49.024, 183.584
14. Ricky Craven, No. 32a Chevrolet, 49.033, 183.550
15. Matt Kenseth, No. 17a Ford, 49.035, 183.542
16. Ward Burton, No. 0b Chevrolet, 49.054, 183.471
17. Kasey Kahne, No. 9b Dodge, 49.268, 182.674
Interview: Richard Childress Discusses His Trip To Iraq
January 7, 2004
Richard Childress, Owner Of Richard Childress Racing, Visited Media To Discuss His Recent Trip To Iraq During The Holiday Season:
(How Was The Trip, How Long Were You There, What Did You Do, And Who Did You Meet?) “We were there about five or six days. We met a lot of the troops and spent a lot of time visiting the bases and places they had set up for the troops. We went into some really unique places. The morale the troops still have is really unbelievable. To see what they’re doing for us to give us the opportunity to do what we do, was a great feeling. Probably one of the neatest things we did was fly one of the Blackhawk helicopters right over the city of Baghdad. We went into one place where they were overtaking an electrical plant. They had gone out that night on a mission and captured 36 terrorists and still came out for autographs at 10:00 the next morning. That just let us know how strong they felt about NASCAR and how glad they were to get to see us. We were the first civilians to ever go into this particular camp area. It was a unique trip.
Joe Gibbs Returns To Football
January 7, 2004
It has been widely rumored and finally confirmed today that legendary Washington Redskins coach and NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs will return as head coach of the team that he lead to 3 SuperBowl victories. Since his retierment from the Redskins in 1992, Gibbs founded Joe Gibbs Racing. Gibbs’ racing teams have been among the most successful in NASCAR, with two Winston Cup championships in the last four seasons. Bobby Labonte took the title in 2000, Tony Stewart in 2002.
While this is great for Redskins fans, the NASCAR folks are left to wonder what will become of his racing teams? Gibbs says the racing team will continue under the same management. Gibbs’ son J.D. Gibbs will remain team president, and all of the drivers and key sponsors have long-term deals…
ESPN: Gibbs returning to Redskins’ sideline
NASCAR.com: Gibbs returning as head coach of Redskins
JoeGibbsRacing.com: Joe Gibbs Returns to NFL as Head Coach of the Washington Redskins
JoeGibbsRacing.com: Comments From Tony Stewart and Jimmy Makar on Coach Gibbs’ Return to NFL
Notes From Chevrolet Teams-Daytona Pre-Season Testing
January 7, 2004
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Driver Of The No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, Visited With The Media After The Morning Test Segment
(How Has The Session Been Going So Far?) “We ran all day yesterday. We brought two cars. One is a new car and the other is a car we’ve run the last two or three years at all the plate tracks. It’s always been a good car. We’ve won with it at Talladega - I think three of those races - and we’ve run good with it here at the (Daytona) 500 with it. It’s still good. We haven’t really run it a whole lot. I’d like to concentrate on it more because it’s probably the car I’m going to run in the 500. But Tony (Eury Jr.) wants to really work on the other car so we’ll have two or three new cars when we come back instead of just one. They’re both about the same now. We had some trouble getting the second car up to speed. We gained about four tenths on it this morning. Yesterday we gained about two tenths on it. So we really worked to get that car quick. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll get to do a lot of drafting and that will be more exciting then.”
New Williams Flies At Jerez
January 7, 2004
Juan Pablo Montoya gave the new “noseless” Williams FW26 a great debut today at Jerez testing. Montoya topped the time sheets in the new car while Marc Gene rode the “old” Williams to the fourth fastest time…
PlanetF1.com: Jerez: The FW26 Shines On Debut
No Gun To Frank Williams’ Head
January 7, 2004
I think Frank Williams has made it blatantly clear that he has a maximum amount he will spend on a driver’s salary…after that they can go scratch. Ralf hasn’t really picked up on this until today when it was announced that he has called off 2005 contract talks with the Williams team in order to concentrate on his driving…
PlanetF1.com: Williams Won’t Let Ralf ‘Hold A Gun To His Head’
Provisional System Altered For Nextel & Busch Series In 2004
January 7, 2004
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 6, 2004) - The provisional system for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and NASCAR Busch Series will have several changes beginning with the 2004 season, NASCAR officials announced today.
Testing Rules Changed For NASCAR’s Three National Series
January 7, 2004
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 6, 2004) – NASCAR announced today changes in testing policies for the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, increasing the number of tests available to teams at facilities hosting events on the three 2004 national series schedules.
Kalitta Motorsports adds third dragster for Grubnic
January 7, 2004
Ypsilanti, Mich., Jan. 6, 2004 — Kalitta Motorsports, based in Ypsilanti, Mich., has served notice to the rest of their NHRA Top Fuel competitors that their quest for the 2004 Top Fuel championship just added some new muscle from Down Under. Veteran driver, native Australian, and all-around nice guy David Grubnic has been handed the reigns of the new Kalitta Motorsports third dragster to accompany the Mac Tools dragster, driven by Doug Kalitta, and the Mac Tools/Jesse James dragster, driven by Scott Kalitta, for the entire 2004 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series schedule.