Racin'
Stuff:
By Tom Avenengo - OWR Staff
First things, first:
This past Saturday, I watched the qualifying from
Something else about the qualifying, and maybe this has something to do with a loss of fans for Indycar – with the down force created in these cars now, I do not recall ever seeing anyone hit the brakes during their time trials. It’s all “Pedal to the metal” today at Indy. Something else that has been taken away from having the driver be a part of the equation. With that, I imagine it also cut way down on the amount of passing, that we might have been able to see.
Going
back, in time:
Most of what will appear in this section will be about what’s happened, mostly in my area, through the years, by dates close to when the column is published. In some cases, you’ll surely recognize the names. Hey, maybe you might have even been in attendance at the events I make mention of.
May 12, 1957:
Buzz Barton won the IMCA
Sprint Car race at the
A.J. Foyt won the USAC
Midget race at the Olympic Stadium,
George Fonder won the ARDC
Midget race at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA
May 12, 1961:
Tony Bettenhausen ... Died
... AAA / USAC driver from 1941 to 1961. He drove in the AAA and USAC
Championship Car series, racing in the 1941 and 1946-1961 seasons with 121
starts, including 14 in the
May 12, 1972:
Johnny Coy won the ARDC
Midget race over Hank Rogers Jr and Russ Klar at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway,
Malta,NY
Jan Opperman won the Super
Sprint Car race over Paul Pitzer, Lynn Paxton, Gus Linder and Buddy Cochran at
the Bedford Speedway, Bedford,PA
Ralph Quarterson won the
Sprint Car race over Lou Blaney, Ted Wise, Frank Raiti and Paul Kekich at the
Lernerville Speedway, Sarver,PA
Bobbie Adamson, in the Al
Hamilton # 77, won the Super Sprint Car race over Kenny Weld, Mike Lloyd, Lee
Osborne and Steve Smith at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA
May 12, 1973:
Art Pollard ... Died ...
He drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1965-1973 seasons,
with 84 career starts, including the 1967-1971 Indianapolis 500 races. He
finished in the top ten 30 times, with 2 victories, both in 1969, at
Jan Opperman, in the Bogar
# 99, won the Super Sprint Car race over Lee Osborne, Mike Lloyd, Tom Spriggle
and Dick Tobias at the Selinsgrove Speedway, Selinsgrove,PA
May 12, 2000:
Adam Petty ... Died ...
The son of Kyle Petty, he was widely expected to become the next great Petty,
following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather Richard, and
great-grandfather Lee. He was the first fourth generation athlete in all of of
sports to participate in the chosen profession of his generations. On May 12,
2000, Petty was practicing his Busch Series car at
____________________
May 13, 1951:
Joe James won the AAA
Sprint Car race at the Dayton Speedway, Dayton, OH
Frankie Luptow won the
IMCA Sprint Car race at the Morgan County Speedway, Jacksonville, IL
Troy Ruttman, in the J.C. Agajanian
# 98, won the AAA Eastern Sprint Car race over Tommy Hinnershitz at the
Williams Grove Speedway,
May 13, 1962:
Tony Bonadies won the ARDC
Midget race at the Nazareth Raceway, Nazareth, PA
Dick Tobias won the Super
Modified feature over Neil Haight at the Susquehanna Speedway, Newberrytown,PA
May 13, 1967:
Russ Klar won the ARDC
Midget race at the Islip Speedway, Islip,NY
May 13, 1971:
Mark Donohue recorded the
first sub-50 second lap (49.73 seconds) and first 180 mph lap (180.977 mph) at
the
May 14, 1950:
Duane Carter, in the J.C.
Agajanian # 98, won the AAA Sprint Car race at the Dayton Speedway, Dayton, OH
Tommy Hinnershitz won the
AAA Eastern Sprint Car race at the Greensboro Fairgrounds, Greensboro, NC
May 14, 1966:
Chuck Rodee... Died ... USAC driver from the 1950's and 1960's. He won 35
career features in USAC midget competition. He drove in the USAC Championship
Car series, racing in the 1957, 1958, 1960, and 1962-1965 seasons. He finished
in the top ten 4 times, with his best finish in 5th position in 1965 at
Russ Klar won the ARDC
Midget race at the Islip Speedway, Islip,NY
Bobby Gerhart won the
Super Modified feature at the Lincoln Speedway, Hanover,PA
Lou Blaney won the Super
Modified feature at the Mercer Raceway Park, Mercer, PA
May 15, 1960:
Gig Stephens won the ARDC
Midget race at the Williams Grove
May 15, 1971:
Danny Caruthers won the
USAC Midget race over Jimmy Caruthers, Billy Engelhart, Billy Renshaw and Dave
Strickland at the Limaland Motorsports Park, Lima,OH
Jim Shampine won the Super
Modified race over Nolan Swift and Norm Mackereth at the Oswego Speedway,
Oswego,NY
May 15, 1977:
Pancho Carter won the USAC
Sprint Car race over George Snider, Sheldon Kinser, Joe Saldana and Billy
Cassella at the
May 16, 1954:
Duane Carter was the
winner of the AAA Sprint Car race over Mike Nazaruk and Johnny Boyd at the
Salem Speedway,
May 16, 1955:
Manny Ayulo... Died ... AAA driver from the 1940's and 50's. His efforts,
along with those of friend and teammate Jack McGrath, helped establish track
roadsters as viable Indy race cars. He ran the
May 16, 1964:
Ray Brown won the ARDC
Midget race at the Orange County Fair Speedway, Middletown,NY
May 16, 1969:
Kenny Weld won the Super
Sprint Car race over George Weaver, Bobbie Adamson, Milt Miller and Johnny
Hubbard at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove, PA
May 16, 1971:
Pancho Carter won the ARDC
Midget race over Johnny Hubbard, Dutch Schaefer, Jim Maguire and Len Duncan at
the Grandview Speedway, Bechtelsville,PA
May 16, 1975:
Dave Humphrey won the NEMA
Midget race at the Westboro Speedway, Westboro,MA
Coming
up:
This Saturday, at OCFS, they are having a special “Bill Wilson” night. Hard to believe, but Bill will hit 50 years of driving race cars.
Also,
this coming Sunday, there is the Indy 500 and the World 600 Cup race, from
Racing on TV:
I’m just going to supply a link to this website: : http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm If, at times there’s something noteworthy, I’ll make mention of it.
Other
forums/message boards and websites:
From
the Track Forum - http://www.trackforum.com/forums/
An
interesting thread about Chevrolet, racing and what might happen, down the
road, IF GM should go into bankruptcy.
It can be found, here: http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122910
From
Jayski - http://www.jayski.com/
Penske
may make bid for Saturn: [NASCAR team owner] Roger Penske says he is contemplating a bid for
the Saturn automotive brand that General Motors Corp. plans to sell or shut
down. While Penske has not yet made an offer, he said Friday a decision would
have to come soon and that a number of unidentified details need to be worked out.
Penske has a vested interest in the automotive industry. He owns the
second-largest
And this was
found on Indycar.com:
Roger
Penske confirmed that Penske Automotive Group Inc. is exploring making a bid
for the Saturn brand of General Motors, which is under a June 1 federal
government deadline to restructure or file for bankruptcy protection.
Penske
is chairman of the Bloomfield, Mich.-based company that has 310 franchises --
152 outside the
"Saturn
obviously is one of the divisions which General Motors is either going to sell
or close down, and we have a distribution experience in bringing the Smart Car
into the United States," Penske said. "We own Detroit Diesel.
"At
this particular time we've made no offer to GM; we're in a due diligence stage,
and it's a very short time frame. So, at the moment, lots of things have to
play out before we'd make a formal bid. The publicity is way ahead of the
process."
Note: While watching TV this past Monday night,
with the “War Department” there was an ad about Saturn and how “well” they’re
doing. Huh?
Changes coming for Daytona/Talladega? NASCAR officials, in
response to #99-Carl Edwards' flip at Daytona, are now studying that slight
aerodynamic rear spoiler [wing] change suggested by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie
Johnson, according to one top Sprint Cup team manager privy to the technical
debate. In fact that change might have been tested at Daytona within the past
few days, during the 10-team Goodyear tire test for the tour's next restrictor
plate race, at Daytona July 4th. Despite the high publicity surrounding the
Talladega issue, crews here [Darlington] this week have so far been reluctant
to discuss any possible NASCAR changes at the tour's two restrictor plate
tracks. Goodyear officials said the Daytona tire testing was to improve stability
in the draft.(mikemulhern.net)(5-9-2009)
Note: Funny, but this, above, is the only thing
I’ve found on this subject.
Bill
Elliott to attempt to topple NASCAR speed record: The current NASCAR top
speed record sits at 212.089 and was set by Bill Elliot at Talladega
Superspeedway in a 1987 Ford Thunderbird. Brent Hajek apparently figures it's
about time that 22-year-old record is topped. Next Wednesday, May 13th, Hajek
will once again put Bill Elliot behind the wheel of a Ford at the famed
Talladega oval in Alabama, only this time, the vehicle in question will be a
Mustang FR500C modified to run on E85. This particular Mustang Cobra Jet has
already managed to clock a 252 mile per hour top speed at the Salt Flats in
Bonneville. On Wednesday, May 13, Hajek Motorsports will embark on its next
challenge, with technical support from Ford Racing, when they attempt to break
the 22-year-old NASCAR speed record held by Bill Elliott. Elliott himself will
pilot Hajek's E-85 Mustang FR500C, which has been reconfigured to NASCAR specs,
at
Note: Make ya a little wager here – if they were to
take the restrictor plates off of a Cup car, I would not be surprised to see
that break the record. As for a Nationwide car – that might be a little difficult.
Gordon
to have treatment on his back: #24-Jeff Gordon said that he will have some
treatment on his back on May 18, two days after the all-star race. Here's what
he said about his back and how it's impacted him.
"(The treatment) is nothing invasive. it's just
some injections that are going to do deal with the pain. They say it's sort of
like an arthritis and it's excessive because of some
of the trauma that my back has gone through, maybe through some wrecks or
something. So that's what we're going to do. That's the plan.''
Q: What is the back pain you've been feeling?
GORDON: "I can't stand up for long periods of time. I can't sit.
It's not like an excruciating pain. People have disc problems. I'm not one of
those people. Mine is more nerves and muscular that when I'm in the car and
really pulling Gs and using the steering wheel a lot and using the brake pedal
a lot, it just really aggrevates the muscle. There are a couple of tracks, like
Q: With your treatment is this still something you're going to have to
live with for the rest of your life or will the treatment eliminate it?
GORDON: "They say sometimes it eliminates it and sometimes it lasts
six months. Everybody is different, so I won't really know.
Q: How long have you been feeling this pain?
GORDON: "I think I ignored it over the last couple of years. It's
been building and getting worse. Last year, it really started aggravating me
and I just didn't get on it soon enough. I tried differnet things but they just
weren't working. It needed a whole routine, a whole different lifestyle for me.
So I started to go to work on that over the offseason because I felt it was
affecting me in the car late in the season and I didn't want to have any
excuses, so I went to work on it. I was surprised over the offseason not doing
any driving how bad it was just starting the season off at Daytona. That's when
I really knew that I've got to get something done.''(Virginia
Pilot)(5-9-2009)
Note: If you’ve ever put your back out, or have
back problems, then maybe you have an idea as to what Jeff is going
through. As for me – been there – still
doing it.
Mayfield,
others suspended after violating substance abuse policy: Jeremy Mayfield, driver of
the #41 Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Tony Martin, a licensed crew
member with the #34 team in the Sprint Cup Series and Ben Williams, a licensed
crew member with the #16 team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, have been
indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for violating the
sanctioning body’s substance abuse policy. All three were found to have
violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 7-5
(violation of the NASCAR substance abuse policy) of the 2009 NASCAR rule book.[was not alcohol due to SPEED](NASCAR PR)
AND NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield has been suspended indefinitely after
failing a random drug test. The result stems from a test last weekend at
Richmond International Raceway. NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter will not reveal
what banned drug Mayfield used. Hunter said it was not an alcohol-related
offense. Mayfield failed to qualify for Saturday night's Sprint Cup race at
Darlington Speedway. He is driving this season in a car he owns himself.
Although he raced it into the season-opening Daytona 500, he has failed to
qualify for six of the 11 other Sprint Cup events this season. Mayfield is the
first driver suspended under NASCAR's improved substance abuse policy, which
went into effect this season.(Associated
Press)(5-9-2009)
Mayfield Statement: Statement from Jeremy Mayfield – Owner/Driver of the
#41 Toyota Camry: “As both a team owner and a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series, I have immense respect for the enforcement policies NASCAR has in
place. In my case, I believe that the combination of a prescribed medicine and
an over the counter medicine reacted together and resulted in a positive drug
test. My Doctor and I are working with both Dr. Black and NASCAR to resolve
this matter. Mayfield Motorsports remains committed to the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series and the organization will announce an interim owner and a temporary
replacement driver early next week. Those roles will commence immediately
beginning with next week’s Sprint Open and continuing through
Yeley to sub for Mayfield: J.J. Yeley will drive the
#41
UPDATE: Who will replace the
suspended Jeremy Mayfield? That's the question on everybody's mind after Tony
Furr, crew chief of the #41 Jeremy Mayfield Motorsports entry, rescinded
earlier comments to FOXSports.com that J.J. Yeley was tabbed for the position.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Shana Mayfield said no decision has been made
but Yeley is on the short list. Mayfield was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR
on Saturday after violating the sanctioning body's substance abuse policy. The
team is expected to name an owner of record shortly, as Mayfield is not allowed
to be owner of record during his suspension.(FoxSports)(5-11-2009)
UPDATE 2: also hearing that Todd Bodine and Mike Wallace are other
candidates to drive the #41 Toyota.(5-11-2009)
UPDATE 3: Mayfield Motorsports will
field a #41
Note # 1: Touchy subject. There are some that are coming out and saying
that NASCAR should come out, in public, as to what “drugs” are not
allowed. As for JJ – I really like the
guy ever since my grandson and I were able to cover a midget tire test at the
Note # 2: A very interesting thread about this subject,
which is over
on the Track Forum, and can be seen, if you go here:
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122775
Note # 1: I guess this will be a weekly/race thing, now
– lower TV ratings. Supposedly,
a while back, NASCAR had come out and said that it had “X” amount of millions
of race fans. Well, either
they’ve lost them, or maybe they don’t have TV’s?
Note # 2: The following came out on Wednesday, on
Jayski:
NASCAR Looking
into decline in TV Ratings: A double-digit decline in ratings for NASCAR on Fox has officials
researching why the audience is shrinking and what, if anything, can be done to
reverse the trend. Through the season’s first 10 races, Nielsen ratings on Fox
are down 11.5 percent and viewership is down 10.8 percent from 2008 numbers,
which don’t include a 2008 rainout. Ratings for each of the last seven Sprint
Cup races going into last week’s event at
Note # 3: Somehow, I guess those that run NASCAR just
can’t see that how they’ve changed things over the last few years,
has actually chased many fans away. You
know, things like: “Spec” cars,
suspicious “debris” yellows, the ridiculous “lucky dog” thing, where you are
given a lap back. Hey, maybe even the
Saturday night races, where maybe some fans are going to their local tracks to
either watch their local drivers instead of staying home and watching racing on
TV – or maybe even competing at their local track.
NASCAR: New evidence that
Dodge, Chevy maybe forced to cut back: Much has been made of the extent to which Chrysler
and General Motors' financial problems might impact their NASCAR participation.
With Chrysler filing for bankruptcy, and General Motors expected to follow suit
within the next 10 days, there is cause for concern. Dodge executives have said
all the right things regarding the company’s participation in NASCAR -- that,
despite the bankruptcy, no changes were planned. Now, there is evidence that it
may be beyond their control. According to Automotive
News, Chrysler wanted to spend $134 million in advertising over the nine
weeks it is expected to be in bankruptcy, but the U.S. Treasury's auto industry
task force gave it half that. “So if General Motors, which is wrestling with
the possibility of a Chapter 11 filing itself, is wondering how much influence
the task force will have over marketing, the answer is plenty,” the publication
said. “Transcripts from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of
New York, which is hearing the Chrysler case, showed that the task force at
least understands that advertising is a necessary expense -- even if it doesn't
think Chrysler needs $134 million for nine weeks of car ads.” Meaning what?
Meaning that, under bankruptcy -- and remaining in business primarily using
government money -- the government is not hesitating to tell the manufacturers
how much money they can spend on marketing, which is where the lion's share of
motorsports funding comes from. Very little -- less than ever -- comes from
research and development. In the government is willing to cut Chrysler's
marketing allocation in half -- and that's half of what Chrysler was asking
for, not half of what it is used to spending -- then it may be a tough sell to
convince the feds that taxpayer dollars should go towards supporting Dodge,
which has won just one race this year, Kurt Busch's victory at Atlanta.(Orlando
Sentinel)
Note: Did you check out that link to the Track Forum, above?
OCFS
- http://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/
As noted above, there is the special “Bill Wilson” night this Saturday. Also, there is a “Streerod” car show this weekend, from Friday through Sunday, on the fairgrounds property and in the arena.
I did find this info on
it: Streetrod Weekend — May 15-17,
Orange County Fairgrounds,
Note: When news of this first came out, I called
Mr. Marino, since I was somewhat concerned about parking for the races on
Saturday night. He told me that they
would be out of the fairgrounds by 3:00 PM.
Hmm, dunno about that!
Accord
- http://www.accordspeedway.com/
The “Big A” had another rain out last Friday night. Things are looking better for this weekend!
Accord will again have their “Mid Week Madness” series of racing on Wednesday nights, beginning on June 3rd, up to September 2nd. Quads, Bikes, Slingshots and for 2009, 4 cylinder cars. No Karts – I imagine due to low Kart counts in previous years.
OVRP’s
Dirt Oval - http://www.ovrpdirtoval.com/
Checking out news on the internet, it looks like the Dirt Oval is remaining fairly constant with Kart counts. If you’re interested in their results, you can find them here: http://newenglandtractor.com/racereport/ That website (Jeff Johnson) has offered to let John Schoebel put his race reports on it, and has also let me put my weekly columns on it, too. Thanks, Jeff!
Former OVRP Dirt Oval
runners:
At
At New Egypt, Johnny Guarino
was 6th in the modified feature.
At Utica/Rome, on Saturday,
in the CRSA feature, Danny Hennessey was 9th and Chuck Alessi was 17th. On Sunday, in the Vic 200, Mike Storms was 6th.
At
At Selinsgrove, in the 358
sprint feature, Davey Franek was 23rd.
At Hamlin, in the wingless
600 micro sprints, Brittney Tresch was 10th in the feature.
Down in
At OCFS, on Saturday, in the
modified feature, Mike Storms was 3rd, Clinton Mills 8th,
Danny Creeden 21st and Jamie Yannone 25th. In the sportsman feature, Anthony Perrego was
4th, Mike Ruggiero 7th, Matt Hitchcock 10th,
Rich Coons 12th, Joe Conklin 16th, Bobby Hassenmayer 18th,
Matt Janiak 20th and Doc Young 21st. – Not like last week, when the top five in
the Sportsman feature were all former Dirt Oval runners, that’s for sure!
At Linda’s
At Wyalusing, on Sunday, Rick
Casario was 7th in the 270 Micro feature
while Jacob Hendershot crossed the finish line in second, but was to light over
the scales.
Family
members in racing:
Grandson
John had problems with his new car and was unable to make the feature race in
the Pro 4 class at the
Other racin’ stuff:
Last Friday night, I went over to IndyCar.com.
to check out the days doings at
“INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
CENTENNIAL ERA FACT OF THE DAY: The Borg-Warner Trophy, one of the most
recognizable trophies in all of sports, has been awarded to the winner of every
Indianapolis 500 Mile Race since 1936. Crafted out of sterling silver by
Spaulding-Gorham of Chicago, it was unveiled at a dinner in New York in
February 1936, featuring bas-relief sculptures of every "500" winner
up until that time. The new winner has been added every year since, and in 1986
(the trophy's 50th anniversary), the final space became filled. The solution
for 1987 was to add a base, but this too became filled, and in 2004, an even
larger version replaced it, this one with enough spaces to last through 2034.
The only sculptured face not of a winning driver is that of the late
And,
from Sunday:
INDIANAPOLIS
MOTOR SPEEDWAY CENTENNIAL ERA FACT OF THE DAY: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway
features 17 grandstands with a footprint of 22 acres. If the seat boards were
laid end-to-end, they would stretch 99.5 miles.
Do you have any idea as to what is the fastest 4 lap time trial at Indy? How about on May 12, 1996 – Arie Luyendyk averaged 236.986 MPH. And for one lap he had a speed of 237.498.
Sarah Fisher tops the females as far as the fastest lap speed and fastest 4 laps – speed wise, when she did 229.675 for one lap and 229.439 for the four laps, in 2002.
More racin’ stuff:
Roger Penske on the IRL
– found on Indycar.com:
Being
involved in three racing series, along with automotive-related business
interests, Penske has seen first-hand the impact of the global economic
downturn. He said the IndyCar Series is a value for sponsors.
"I
take my hat off to the IRL because our costs to run this series are probably a
third of what it costs to run an up-front NASCAR team this year," said
Penske, whose Team Penske is seeking its 15th Indianapolis 500 victory.
"The cars are the same. We've got a great engine program with Honda. There
are parts available. There's a used car market so people will buy your older
cars and they can compete with them at the highest level.
"I
would say the costs, anything that was going to add cost to this series, Brian
Barnhart and his team have pretty much wiped out, which is good. So it's a
level playing field. So I think the cost here is really in good shape and we
can continue, and you'll see more people go forward.
"I
would say an average team today can get in this probably for, to run the season
in the $4 (million) to $5 million range and to run up front in NASCAR it's
probably 20 (million dollars). We've got good teams out here. You just look at
the equipment, lots of new drivers, teams that have moved up. I'm really
thrilled to see that."
Rick
Hendrick:
These last few Cup races – where has Rick Hendrick been? Is he having some health issues, or might he be attending to some business affairs what with all the car dealerships he has. With Chrysler going into bankruptcy, and with it looking like GM will be doing the same, I imagine that anyone that owns multiple car dealerships is quite worried, today.
Note: I wrote the above on Tuesday, 5/12. On Wednesday the 13th, this came out on Jayski’s website:
Hendrick set
to return from illness:
Sidelined the past several weeks by a fast-spreading sinus infection, NASCAR
team owner Rick Hendrick plans to return to the track this weekend after a
five-race absence. Hendrick has not been to the track since Jimmie Johnson
helped his boss celebrate his 25th anniversary in NASCAR with a March 29th
victory at Martinsville Speedway. He skipped the next two events, races in
Ralph Corwin:
I’ve known Ralph for quite a few years. This year, as is usual for him, he’s spending
the month of May out in
and here, for a direct link to the Indy pics: http://ralphcorwinphotos.com/Indy2009Sitemap.htm
Note: Ralph likes to take
photos of the ladies, guys.
The
History of the Sport (This is similar to my “Going back, in time” section.):
Some names from the past – could be drivers, car owners, photographers, writers or anyone else associated with racing, get included in these lists that I come out with, on occasion. Some you’ll know – some you won’t.
Hey, I imagine you’ve heard of ARCA, right? Did you know that they sanctioned more than what we see on TV on occasion – cars similar to the Nationwide Series cars? They’ve had Figure-8 Series, the ARCA Auto Value Midget Series, the ARCA Pro-4 Series and the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series.
Some of those that have raced in the midgets with ARCA, are:
Jim Hettinger, Mike Fedorcak, Gene Lee Gibson, Les Scott, Jimmy McCune, Rich Vogler, Jerry Nuckles, Mack McClellan, Jeff Nuckles, Gary Koster, Jack Calabrese, Sarah Fisher, Mel Kenyon, Sarah McCune, Dan Boorse, Nick Fornoro, Jr., Ryan Newman, Teddy Beach, Tom Bigelow, Leigh Earnshaw, Sondi Eden, Aaron Pierce, Bob Cicconi, Kevin Doty, Bobby East, Aaron Fike, AJ Fike, Stan Fox and Ken Schrader.
Video
time:
With the Indy 500 coming up, I thought I’d put in a link
to some Indy crashes. From what I
recall, the only fatal in this link is that of Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs, that is towards the end – the one with the tremendous
double explosions. That accident starts
at 3:48 into the video and goes to 4:00.
The last accident, with the
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLxsZ6iLrxk
Other (non racing)
news:
With me being kind of
“up there” in years/age, I’m a member of the AARP. And I get the monthly AARP magazine. When I received my latest issue, last Friday,
I came across an interesting letter that was sent in. It concerned our economy and the auto
industry.
The letter:
“If automakers can’t
afford to pay skilled laborers an hourly wage of $50 to build cars, as noted by
Lee Iacocca in “What This Country Needs”, then how can they afford to pay
executives thousands of dollars an hour to run a company into the ground? There seems to be plenty of money to
compensate the millionaires, but not enough for the working class.”
And
keeping with the problems in the auto industry, isn’t it strange how Ford is
still advertising on TV about getting credit for new car purchases, through
Ford – meanwhile, whatever happened to GMAC – and why can’t GMAC do the same?
Social
Security and Medicare are in bad shape, so it says in the link, below. Like we didn’t know this already? I wonder – what would happen if all those
that are drawing Social Security, and should not because they haven’t put into
the system, were to be dropped from the program. Ya know – we read about “Illegals” collecting
it, etc etc. Same probably can go for
Medicare, too. If you are not a citizen,
you shouldn’t get it. My
thoughts, of course.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090513/ap_on_bi_ge/us_social_security;_ylt=AvcpMmQyEnJZqZsW9DS2s_ADW7oF
Bad
news coming out of Chrysler – I found this on Yahoo! News on Tuesday night:
And,
even probably worse news from GM and Chrysler – this came out Wednesday night –
up to 3,000 dealers getting closed. Not
looking good, folks, not looking good, at all.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090513/bs_nm/us_autos_dealers
Closing with this:
Usually, I close my columns out with a joke, but not
this week. Back on May 8th, I
received an e-mail from Sarah “Sally” Strickland. Sally is the daughter of the late George Rice
(Viola), the 1947 ARDC driving champion.
Now I’m not saying that I might agree with what is said, below, but when
we were talking about this on Mothers Day, a grand daughter of mine, Kylie,
said that where she works, at a restaurant, they do not hold onto sliced onions
– they do get thrown out, after a short time.
As for the Mayonnaise – I guess we’ve all refrigerated for all so long
that, in a way, it doesn’t sound right.
But if you’re old enough to remember, there was a time when eggs were
not refrigerated.
Onions
Written by Zola Gorgon - author of several
cookbooks.
I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products. Mullins is HUGE
and is owned by 11 brothers and
sisters in the Mullins family. My friend Jeanne is the CEO.
The facility is mammoth. We toured about 280,000
square feet! Questions about food poisoning came
up and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist.
The guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. He's one of the brothers. Ed is a
chemistry expert and is
involved in developing most of the sauce formula. He's even developed
sauce formula for McDonald's. Keep in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz.
During the=2 0tour, someone
asked if we really needed to
worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil.
Ed's answer will surprise you.
Ed said that all commercially-made Mayo is completely safe. It doesn't
even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it,
but it's not really necessary. He
explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not
survive in that environment.
He then talked about the
quintessential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table and how
everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick. Ed says that when
food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where
those onions came from.
Ed says it's not the
mayonnaise (as long as it's not
homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the onions, and
if not the onions, it's the
POTATOES. He explained, onions are a huge magnet for
bacteria, especially uncooked
onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion. He says
it's not even safe if you put it
in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator. It's already contaminated enough just by being
cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you. (And doubly watch out for onions at
the baseball park!)
Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably
be okay, but if you slice that
leftover onion and put in on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both
the onions and the moist potato
in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will
even begin to break down.
Dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize
onions.
Have a peek at this Mullins site:
http://www.mullinsfood.com/aboutus.html
May “Guardian Angels” sit on the shoulders of all of our race drivers and guide them safely around the
tracks!
Drive safe!
As
usual, you can reach me at: ygordad@yahoo.com