News From The Past Week... or So

Ryan Newman Foundation raises $155k for conservation and animal welfare efforts.
It was presented by Alltel Wireless as they try to squeeze everything they can out of their wanning days with Ryan. Of which I'm bummed. All my Ryan diecasts are Alltel. Now What!!??

They had 319 fishermen, and a different event with celebs and pro fishing guys.

Pretty cool. You can see more over on NASCAR.
~

Here's a reminder: Drug Testing Commences for NASCAR in January.
NASCAR will start testing drivers in the 3rd week of Jan. while crew members must submit their own drug test results from approved labs no later than Jan 16th.

What was once a floating threat of an occasional drug test has become a standard regime of presence after the Aaron Fike scenario over in the truck series.

Now we see how it all goes. source
~

Another one Bites the dust as Bill Davis Racing has sold majority ownership of both his race team and his engine company in an effort to stay afloat. Not sure you can call selling off the majority of your team as "staying afloat", but there it is.

Mike Held, a California businessman, and Marty Gaunt, an executive with Bill Davis Racing, are the new majority owners and have also taken control of Triad Racing Development, which supplied engines, chassis and bodies for all three of NASCAR's top series.

They've changed the name of the company to Triad Racing Technologies.

source
~

NASCAR Settles
Like all large entities that see the cheaper side of litigation, the discriminatory litigation between NASCAR and Mauricia Grant has been settled.

And done so on mutually acceptable terms. Whatever acceptable terms could be from a $225 million lawsuit.

This was all in relation to 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination during her employment in NASCAR, January 2005 until her October 2007, for the Nationwide series.

During this whole ordeal, NASCAR did fire 3 officials.

The specific terms of the settlement are confidential.

source: NASCAR Public Relations

News from the Track - Wed May 16, 2007

As everyone may know, Jeff Gordon got his 7th win at Darlington last weekend in the COT event! Weekends results at nascar.com
~~~

So the DEI #8 made non-contract changing news this last weekend when the team was caught with illegal brackets on the COT, and the ensuing penalties are Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. - $100,000 fine, suspended from NASCAR until July 4, 2007. Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., 100 point penalty, Car owner Teresa Earnhardt - 100 point penalty.
(I think this is a wee bit excessive, but I'm not the boss of the track, so there you have it.)
~~~

Here's a new one: Team Docked for Unnapproved Driver!!
NASCAR penalized Bill Davis Racing on Tuesday for allowing an unlicensed driver behind the wheel of Johnny Benson's truck during a test session last week. (Hmm, I guess that's a massive whoops!!) Benson was fined $10,000 and docked 50 points, and crew chief Trip Bruce was suspended for two races. See the article here.
~~~

Mark Martin has added 3 races to his part time schedule with Ginn Racing. The additional races include Pocono (Aug. 5), Richmond (Sept. 8) and Dover (Sept. 23).
~~~

NASCAR is gearing up for All-Star week, and it offically kicks off Wednesday night at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena where 24 teams will do battle in the NASCAR NEXTEL Pit Crew Challenge. Full Story
~~~

Just from observations and stories read, Montoya may not be making friends when he's 2 laps down and still driving hard like it's for the win. (But racin' is racin'! Right?)
~~~

I'm off market here, BUT as of today, there are still 11 spots left in the 33 car field for the upcoming Indianapolis 500, but this upcoming Saturday will probably see the field fill up.
sportingnews.com
~~~

At Darlington, during the last round of pit stops, Denny Hamlin fell from 2nd to 16th, and still battled his way back up to second, despite the pit road error. From this, Joe Gibbs Racing is swapping team members around, hoping to mix it up and get the performance edge back that they need to keep the car in contention. sportingnews.com
~~~

Kenny Wallace has been hired by Rusty Wallace Inc to coach and spot for his nephew, Steve Wallace in the upcoming CUP companion Busch races. Scenedaily
~~~

John Andretti has got himself a ride with Panther Racing and will be attempting to qualify for the Indy 500.
~~~

That's it for the moment.