Is this true:

Racin' & Internet Stuff:

By Tom Avenengo

Volume # 91

03/08/2012

Special notice:

The original date for this column is shown, below, some six weeks ago. Along with the heading, I thought I’d keep the “First” item in, just for the heck of it. A major malfunction with my computer occurred – problems with the hard drive, mother board and processor. Hey, all that stuff is “Greek” to this old fart. A nephew, Bobby, was kind enough to make me a new computer and to transfer a majority of what I had in the old one into this new one. As I said, a “majority” of the info I had. Some, of which I’m still hoping to get, which is not in the new one, and some of that is rather critical to me working on these columns. So, for a while, there might be some small changes.

So, here is what I had, back for January 26^th:

Racin' & Internet Stuff:

By Tom Avenengo

Volume # 91

01/26/2012

First:

I’m not sure how this weeks column is going to turn out. ‘Puter problems up the “ying-yang”, if ya know what I mean. I try to do something and it like goes to “restart”, and shuts down then starts up. I have my “Documents” and some have been moved to certain places so I can get to them fairly quickly. Well, on Saturday afternoon, when on one of the times my monitor went completely black, when I went back to my documents, they were all re-arranged, alphabetically. I guess I spend a good deal of time re-arranging them again, only to have the same exact thing happen – again! So, I’m leaving them as they are.

Yup! After that, no more ‘puter! Well, except for the wife’s lap top, which to me, although I could get on the Internet, (and of course I could not think of many of the websites I frequented) it was, a pain in the azz, with the smaller keyboard.

And now for this latest column – another try at # 91 – and yes, it’s great to be back.

First:

Those of you that are on my e-mail list, are quite aware that over the past few months someone hacked into my e-mail and sent out bogus messages saying I was stranded in London and needed cash to get back home. On the first occurrence, the idiot wiped out everything I had in my mail – e-mails, address book, sent folder and trash. You don’t want to know what I had, e-mail wise, as far as info and photos went.

Then last week, the idiot struck again – and again wiped out my address book, sent folder and trash. He did, however, leave the current e-mails intact, which was great, since I had some messages from some who’s e-mail addresses I could not import (from Facebook). However, he had it set up that I could not receive any e-mails, they being forwarded to a different address. Also, when I sent a message, it was not picked up in my “sent” folder. That was on one message that I tried to send. However, when I sent that message, I also included myself in a “Bcc” to another e-mail address that I have. It did go through. Keep in mind, I did change my password between hacks!

Second:

Thanks to the following people - John DaDalt, Jerry Santibanes, Gordon White, Stephen Bubb, Jim Chini, Tom Motter, Ed Hitze, Keith Herbst and about 20 other historians, I’ve been fortunate to get some midget racing results for quite a few tracks here in the northeast, and also some win records of various drivers, with the possibility of getting even more of both. A good portion of the names above were mentioned to me by Jerry Santibanes.

For the drivers, I now have lists of wins for:

Charlie Miller, Ed “Dutch” Schaefer, George Rice, Johnny Ritter, George Fonder, Bill Holmes, Wes Saegesser, Ronney Householder, Len Duncan, Ted Tappett, Johnny Coy, Bill Schindler, Duane Carter, Henry Banks, Mel Kenyon, Sleepy Tripp and Nick Fornoro. Also, George Rice “Big car” results for 1934 & 35.

I have race results (mostly top three in some cases) from the following tracks:

Yellow Jacket (1935-1942),

Yellow Jacket (Post War – 1945 - 1950),

West Haven (1935-1941 & 1945-1949)

Stafford (1948-1952)

Some PA and NJ tracks (1946-1949)

Middletown (1945 – 1949)

Hinchliffe Stadium (1939)

Hinchliffe Stadium (Post War 1945 - 1950),

Menands (1947 – 1949)

Kingsbridge Armory (1946 – 1949)

Dorney Park (1947 – 1951)

ARDC (Southern – VA & Md 1946 – 1950)

Bay State 1^st part (1938, 39, 40 & 41 and 1946-1949)

Bay State 2^nd part (1945 to 1951)

Bridgeport (1935 – 1940 and 1947 – 1950)

Castle Hill (1938 – 1941)

Cedarhurst (1938 – 1941)

Cherry Park (1946 – 1950)

Danbury (1940 – 1942, 1945 – 1949 & 1951)

West Springfield (Pre war – 1939, 40 & 42)),

West Springfield (Post war – 1945 through 1950),

Rhinebeck (1947 – 1951)

Mineola (1946 – 1 race),

NASCAR Midget winners (1953 – 1968)

Deer Park (1947)

Polo Grounds (1948 – wood track)

Mineola (1946 1 race only)

Freeport – (ARDC - 1948, 49 & 50)

Islip (ARDC – 1947 & 48)

Third:

I checked out OCFS’s website prior to listing some up-coming dates and there have been some changes made to their schedule. As you probably know, the WoO Sprint Cars are making a return and they will be at OCFS on Saturday, May 19^th. The Sportsman class will also see action that night.

On July 20, 21 & 22, Moto & Monster Truck Madness is scheduled. OK, here’s a complaint from me – this is during the fair when there is no parking. Will parking for this show be allowed in the Drive-in? If so, would there be transportation to and from the Drive-in to the stands? Hey, YOU can inquire with OCFS – in a way, I’ve given up asking them questions. One thing I’d love to see, and would jump at the change to make mention of it, is to have some hand rails put in on the half covered grandstands. They don’t have to go completely from top to bottom, just put a few on each stairway, with some spaces between them – ya know, for safety? Over on the Syracuse Forum, there was a discussion going on, and a member of the OC staff came to inform us “Morons” of a few things. I offered to call this individual or even e-mail him, about a safety concern I had (those hand rails) but he never responded to me, as to when would be a good time, and yes, I believe I’m included as far as being a “Moron” per his post. Hell, I’ve been attending races at OCFS since before he was born. Nice, huh?

Fourth:

I’m pretty sure I made mention of my having some surgery that had to be done on the aneurysm that’s on my aorta. Well, it was done back on February 9^th. What should have been an overnight stay ended up being for five days. Seems the dye they had to use to make sure the stent was put in the correct place, kinda did a job on my kidneys. Oh, and that stent – when completely inserted, it looked like an upside down “Y”. It took two incisions, one on the lower right of my abdomen and one on the lower left.

One thing about being in a hospital – you are kind of a prisoner. Another thing, I am rather concerned about the health care in this country – down the road. Spend some time in a hospital and maybe you’ll see why. Not saying where my surgery was done, but the surgeon did confide in me, when I had a post-op appointment to see him, that’s there’s a certain hospital in our area that he will never do surgery again. ‘Nuff said on this subject!

Fifth:

With the announcement that Roger Penske will be leaving Dodge and going with Ford in NASCAR, next year, I checked out the entry lists for this weeks Cup and Nationwide races at Las Vegas.

In Cup there’s Brad Keselowski, A.J. Allmendinger and Robby Gordon. In the Nationwide event, Sam Hornish, Jr, Keselowski and Jennifer Jo Cobb.

With the Truck Series not racing this coming weekend, I checked out the finishers for the Truck race at Daytona. In Dodge trucks were: Clay Greenfield, Parker Kligerman and Keselowski.

Sixth:

Accord will have a 4 Cylinder class that will alternate with the Lightning Sprints, on Friday nights. I went to the Accord Speedway website and found the following, as far as rules for them:

The 4 cylinder division is open to any steel bodied North American manufactured passenger car built from 1978 through 2002 which was originally available with a front wheel drive, four cylinder gasoline engine. Excluded are trucks, convertibles, four wheel drives, rear wheel drives, midengine, aluminum bodied, fiberglass or composite bodied, and special production sports cars. No American cars with foreign motors allowed.

BODIES

All bodies must be steel and remain completely stock as manufactured. Body style must match chassis and engine being used.

Another class, for the Mid-week shows is a “Body Snatcher” class, which, from what I can surmise, are either Sportsman or Modified chassis, less all the exterior sheet metal. Unfortunately, my new computer is not set up to be able to see the rules for this new class. If I’m not mistaken this was tried a couple of years ago, and I don’t think it drew enough entrants to be feasible. Maybe now? Time will tell.

Seventh:

When one has some health issues, and the only “Insurance” they might have is Medicare, less prescription coverage, it kinda hurts when a doctor prescribes some kind of a “Kit” to fight a bacterial infection that’s been detected in ones stomach. In our case, the price of the “Kit” at our local Walmart pharmacy, was $486.00. One of the druggists went to work to see what he could do, price wise. He managed to get it down to close to $300.00. In the end, the final cost was $249.89. Now, I’m wondering – if one was on Welfare, would Welfare pick up the tab – at our expense, really?

Eighth:

While talking about health issues, when I came home from the surgery to put that stent in, I was placed on “Home Care”. That is covered by Medicare.

Well, as I said, I came home on Monday, and that following weekend, my daughter, Judy, offered to take me food shopping. I was told what I would have to do, per my normal doctor (I did have oxygen delivered to the house and was using it at night, while sleeping), and I also called up “Home Care” on Saturday (shopping on Sunday) to make sure it was ok with them. Their only question was: “Is Medicare paying”? My answer was that it was.

Come Monday, I get a call from Home Care, and the woman was making mention of the phone call I had made on Saturday. When I told her I only called to see if it would be ok for me to go shopping, she asked if I did. I replied, “I sure did”. IMMEDIATELY I was off of Home Care. Seems like Medicare will not pay if one is not HOME-BOUND. Like – they want to keep you down! Uh huh – Medicare pays – you know where I’m heading on that, right? My personal doctor is not for that Home Care, especially when one had the same “issues” as I had. Of course, if needed I could go out of the house to visit my doctors office – where there could be untold thousands of germs floating around. Gotta love it, folks!

Ninth:

I received the following e-mail, from my friend “Benzee”, around 10:00 PM on Wednesday, just after I had closed out this column:

Hello all ,

We will be returning to Dover on Sun June 3rd for the Nascar Race .
We have secured the hospitality Tent at the track through the NLEOMF
Includes

R/T Deluxe Motorcoach
4 am depart Middletown Wal Mart
430 Monroe Wal Mart
One motorcoach only hosted by Benzee

Reserved Premium Race Ticket Turn #1 or #2 ( $84 section )

Hospitality Tent at Hospitality Village at track
All you can eat cont breakfast
All you can eat full lunch
All you can drink refreshments and adult beverages as well

Nascar Driver Meet Q and A ( Driver TBA )
NOTE : 2010 race we seen Greg Biffle

Pre Race Trackside Tour

Entertainment , Raffles and Door Prizes

Cost is $180 per person

Money order , check , cash or pay pal

Contact Erwin " Benzee" Benz
benzee95@hotmail.com
C- 845 234 5323

Coming up:

OCFS:

March 24^th: “Work day”

March 30, 31 & April 1: Motorsports Car Show in the arena.

April 7: Practice (Free admission in stands)

April 8: Rain date for the 7^th

April 14: Opening night!

July 13 to July 31: Orange County Fair

Accord:

April 6: Practice (Free admission for the stands)

April 7: Rain date for the 6^th

April 13: Practice (Free admission for the stands)

April 14: Rain date for the 13^th

April 20: Opening night!

Found on Jayski’s website:

http://www.jayski.com/

Stewart would like to run Indy Grand Am race:

Sprint Cup champion #14-Tony Stewart might try to add another racing series to his already full calendar this summer. Stewart, who was at Texas Motor Speedway Tuesday as part of the track's media days, said he didn't think he would run in the Nationwide Series at Indianapolis this July. The Sprint Cup weekend at Indy also features a July 27 race in the Grand-Am Road Racing Series. That is something that might suit Stewart. "If I do anything, I'd like to run the Grand Am race to be honest," Stewart said. "We might be able to try and put something together for that hopefully." Stewart said he didn't want to deny a Nationwide spot to a driver who was trying to live out a dream of running at the storied venue.(Fox Sports)(3-7-2012)

Robby Gordon hoping for more Dodge support:

#7-Robby Gordon obviously could use more sponsorship in any form, so if the Penske Racing move from Dodge to Ford in 2013 helps him, he's all for the additional support. As a driver and team owner, Gordon has run Dodges the last four years in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series. He gets his motors from Joey Arrington's Race Engines Plus. Gordon believes he has an advantage over other teams possibly looking for Dodge support because his team builds all his own cars. He doesn't have an alliance where he gets cars and engines from another organization. Gordon, who has successfully qualified for the first two races of the season after finishing outside the top 35 in 2011, plans to field a car in every race this year, but whether he will be the driver and how much of each race is run, due to finances, is still to be determined. His only funding comes from some Menard's sponsorship, from Dodge and whatever profits he can bring from his Speed Energy drink. "If I had a [full] factory program in place, I'd show up and drive all the races," Gordon said. "Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to fund this thing. With Speed Energy, that's been about the only way I can build a business that actually can turn some profit [for sponsorship].(Scene Daily)(3-7-2012)

Note: It’s gonna be interesting to see what happens with Dodge & NASCAR in 2013. Rumors are floating around that there might be another manufacturer thinking of getting into NASCAR – maybe Honda?

NASCAR to use extra pace car behind jet dryers:

NASCAR officials announced a change to have an extra pace car with flashing lights behind the last jet-dryer truck on the track in all races in all three series -- Sprint Cup, Nationwide and the Camping World Trucks Series. The change, which was explained to the Sprint Cup teams during the drivers' meeting Sunday morning at Phoenix International Raceway, comes after Juan Pablo Montoya's car spun into a jet-dryer truck during a caution period in the Daytona 500 Monday night. The drivers of the jet-dryer trucks also will wear helmets and fire suits during each race, but that is a change agreed upon by officials at race tracks that play host to NASCAR events, not a rule instituted by NASCAR.(ESPN)(3-5-2012)

Note: The Montoya/Jet Dryer accident was maybe a one in a million happening. Methinks having an additional pace car is meaningless – UNLESS there is a speed limit for the whole track that would include cars trying to catch up to the field. And then – why? Huh?

Smith, Menard escape injuries in Colorado road accident:

NASCAR drivers #78-Regan Smith and #27-Paul Menard, along with Smith's wife Megan and a friend of the Smiths, escaped injuries in a Colorado road accident today (Wednesday, approximately 8:45 a.m. MT). The foursome was on the way to a nearby ski slope. Smith lost control of his Silverado truck after hitting a patch of ice near his mountain home in Evergreen, outside of Denver. The truck slid off the road and crashed into a collection of trees. Smith and Menard will compete in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Funiture Row Racing/RCR)(3-7-2012)

DuPont celebrates 20 years of sponsorship with Gordon:

It may have been risky to take a chance on a 21-year-old-kid in 1992, but the gamble was worth it. This year marks the 20th season Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports and DuPont have partnered on the now iconic #24 Chevy, and this Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be the debut of the DuPont "20 Years" paint scheme designed by Sam Bass. The success of the partnership has been visible on the track. Gordon will attempt to drive the #24 car into Victory Lane for the 86th time on Sunday, and crew chief Alan Gustafson will be an integral part of that if it occurs.(Performance PR Plus), see an image of the car on the #24 team paint schemes page.(3-7-2012)

Stewart's team working to determine EFI issue:

Crew chief Steve Addington said it was incumbent on his team to find the cause of Sunday's fuel-injection malfunction that fouled #14-Tony Stewart's bid for a top-10 finish at Phoenix International Raceway. And with NASCAR teams getting accustomed to an electronic fuel-injection system after 63 years of using carburetors, the problems aren't likely to be exclusive to the three-time Sprint Cup champion. Stewart, regarded as a master of fuel conservation, was attempting to save gas Sunday when a caution came out on lap 247 of 312. Running 13th and hoping to make it to the finish without another pit stop, Stewart went to one of his old gas-saving tricks - shutting off his engine. The problem: It wouldn't come back on. "Turned it back on, and it never re-fired," Stewart said. "I honestly don't know why. It's not really my department." By the time Addington's crew diagnosed the problem (a tripped breaker switch), Stewart returned to the track two laps down, on his way to a 22nd-place finish. Immediately after the race, Addington huddled with engine specialists at Hendrick Motorsports, which provides engines for Stewart-Haas Racing. "We'll keep working with them to try to figure out what happened," Addington said. "We've got to dig into it and find out what happened, when it happened and what caused it."(USA Today)(3-6-2012)

Going back, in time – in racing history:

Note# 1: Most of the following information was found here:

http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/history.html

Note: 2: Yes, most of this info is mostly from Open Wheel racing from “Back in the day”.

Originally, in column # 91, I was going to cover the days from January 27^th to February 2^nd. For this week, I’m covering from January 27^th up to February 8^th.

JANUARY 27
1934

George Follmer... Born ... One of the most successful road racers of the 1970's also raced in the USAC Championship Car series in the 1967-1971 and 1974 seasons.

1966

Craig Dollansky... Born ... World of Outlaws Sprint Car driver.

JANUARY 28
1926

Gene Hartley... Born ... He drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series. He ran at Indy but without much success in 10 races entered. His best finish was 10th in 1957. Hartley was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1985.

Jimmy Bryan... Born ... He drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1952-1960 seasons with 72 starts, including each year's Indianapolis 500 race. Bryan won the 1958 Indianapolis 500 and the 1954(AAA), 1956 and 1957(USAC) National Championship.

2009

Sabino "Sab" Venezia... Died ... He was a URC Sprint Car owner champion in 1963 and 1969. Sab and his brother Ralph owned Sprint Cars with 27 as their signature number. In 1963, Jim Maguire drove the Venezia Brothers Special to the URC championship and in 1969 Earl Halaquist won the URC championship in the Venezia car.

JANUARY 29
1915

Johnny McDowell ... Born ... AAA driver from the mid 1930's to 1952. He drove Midgets and Indy Cars. McDowell competed in the 1949 to 1952 Indianapolis 500 races. He died in a qualifying crash at the Milwaukee Mile the week after the 1952 Indy 500.

1929

Jerry Hoyt... Born ... AAA driver

1950

Jody Schecter... Born ... F1 driver

JANUARY 30
1927

Tommy Copp... Born ... USAC driver from the 1960's

1929

Al Smith... Born ... USAC driver from the 1960's

1979

Jason Meyers... Born ... World of Outlaws Sprint Car driver

2011

Tommy McAndrew... Died ... Eastern racer who drove Sprint Cars, Stock Cars, Midgets and 3/4 Midgets during the 60's and 70's.

JANUARY 31
1908

Bill Cantrell... Born ... Midget, sprint and Indy car driver from the late 1930's to mid 50's and later he became the West Coast supervisor for USAC.

1966

Robbie Groff... Born ... Driver in the Indy Racing League and CART Championship Car series and is brother of Mike Groff. He raced in the 1994 CART season and 1997-1998 IRL seasons with 9 combined starts. His best career finish was in his first race, a ninth place at the 1997 Indianapolis 500.

1976

Buddy Rice... Born ... Driver best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 as part of Rahal Letterman Racing.

FEBRUARY 1
1965

Mike Dillon... Born ... NASCAR driver, retired in 2001

1996

Ray Crawford... Died ... AAA & USAC driver from the 1950's & 60's

2000

Dick Rathmann ... Died ... AAA & USAC driver from the 1940's, 50's & 60's

2009

Jim McWithey ... Died ... He was a lifetime member of United States Auto Club and Indianapolis 100 Mile An Hour Club. He competed in the USAC Sprint and Midget Car Series and raced in the Indianapolis 500, finishing 16th (1959) and 33rd (1960). He raced from 1951-1955 in the Little 500 at Anderson Speedway.

FEBRUARY 2

1920

George Tichenor... Born ... AAA driver that raced in the 1950's

1966

Billy Boat... Born ... USAC midget, sprint and IRL Indy car driver. Seven Indy 500 starts with a best finish of 3rd in 1999.

1985

Bob Glidden is the first NHRA Pro Stock driver to run the 1/4-mile in under 7.6 seconds (7.557), at Pomona, California.

FEBRUARY 3
1922

Johnny Moorehouse... Born ... USAC driver from the 1950's

1929

Major H.O.D. Seagrave set a new land speed record of 231.4 mph at Daytona Beach, Florida, driving a car called the Golden Arrow.

1944

Lennie Waldo... Born ... Sprint car driver

1950

Rocky Moran... Born ... USAC/CART driver 1980's & 90's

FEBRUARY 4
1927

Dale Van Johnson... Born ... USAC driver

Malcolm Campbell sets a Land Speed Record of 174.833 mph in his Bluebird at Penpine.

1931

Bay Darnell... Born ... USAC and NASCAR driver from the 1950's and 60's

1955

Tim Brewer... Born ... NASCAR crew chief

1973

Carl Williams... Died ... USAC driver from the 1960's & 70's.He ran the Indy 500 6 times with a best finish of 9th in 1970. He was killed in a motorcycle accident in Kansas City.

1987

Bruce Jacobi... Died ... USAC driver from the 1960's and 70's. After coming out of retirement to drive, he came to the 1983 Daytona Speedweeks without a ride but picked one up with a smaller independent team by the time of the Twin 125 Qualifiers. During the first Twin 125 qualifying race , he lost control of his car at the exit of Turn 2 and flipped upon entering the grass infield, eventually coming to a stop near the inside dirt bank. The car flipped end over end and it is speculated that his roll cage failed during the crash. Jacobi suffered extensive head injuries from the crash and was in a coma for almost four years before passing away at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

1989

Connie Kalitta becomes the first man in NHRA history to record a speed greater than 290 mph in the quarter mile when he runs 291.54 mph at Pomona, California.

2001

Ernie McCoy... Died ... Eastern midget, sprint and Indy car driver.

FEBRUARY 5
1931

Malcolm Campbell sets a Land Speed Record of 256.09 MPH in his Bluebird on the beach at Daytona, Florida.

1934

Ted Johnson ... Born ... He briefly drove a midget in his early years before settling into a career as a china salesman, never could shake the racing bug and in 1978 he unveiled the World of Outlaws, a collection of the biggest names in sprint car racing that traveled around the country trying to swipe purses from local competitors. The series drew huge crowds, attracted national television audiences and major sponsorship all while competing nearly 100 times a year with Johnson calling the shots every step of the way.

1947

Darrell Waltrip... Born ... A three-time former NASCAR Winston Cup champion, the 1989 Daytona 500 winner, current television race commentator.

1953

Dorsey Schroeder... Born ... Trans-Am and sportscar driver.

1981

Justin Labonte... Born ... NASCAR driver. He is the son of legendary NASCAR driver Terry Labonte and nephew of driver Bobby Labonte.

1986

Reed Sorenson... Born ... NASCAR driver.

FEBRUARY 6
1916

Cliff Griffith... Born ... AAA and USAC driver from the 1950's & 60's. He drove in four Indy races, '51, '52, '56 and '61 with his best result, a 9th place finish in 1952.

1986

Willard "Bill" Cantrell... Died ... Nicknamed the "Silver Fox" because of his gray hair and the sly tricks he used to win races, Cantrell came to Southern California from Missouri before World War II. He started racing in jalopies in 1936, and raced midgets with the United Midget Association in 1939. In 1940 and '41 he drove more than fifty different midgets looking for a car that would make him a winner. In 1942 he found that car and scored 15 wins and a 2nd in the UMA points. From 1945 thru 1964, Billy won more than 120 main events with the United Racing Assn., AAA, and USAC. Included in this total is the 1962 "Turkey Night Grand Prix". He won the URA Red Circuit Title in 1947 and was that association's overall champion in 1951 and '52. He also collected 18 sprint car wins with the California Racing Association in this period. After retiring from driving, he served for a time as the west coast supervisor for USAC and as starter for the USRC midget club.

1987

Ira Hall... Died ... AAA driver that raced in the 1920's , 30's and 40's.

1999

Mike Dunn sets an NHRA Top Fuel 1/4 mile ET record of 4.503 seconds at Pomona, California.

FEBRUARY 7

1959

Daytona International Speedway formally opened. 13 cars were on hand for the first qualifying round, but 6 failed tech inspection. "Fireball" Roberts turned in a speed of 140.581 mph in a Pontiac to earn the pole for the inaugural 100 mile Grand National qualifying race. Marvin Panch ran 128.810 mph to pace the two convertibles that timed in.

1999

Joe Cooksey, ARCA stockcar driver, wrecked himself and the pace car during the Firstplus Finacial 200 at Daytona International Speedway at Daytona.

FEBRUARY 8
1920

Mike Magill... Born ... Three time United Racing Club champion 1950, 1951 and 1953. Ran AAA and USAC from 1955 to 1961

News from the AARN:

http://www.aarn.com/

For a while I won’t have anything in this section, and am thinking of dropping it, entirely. A lot depends on time needed and what might be on the horizon. Hope ya don’t mind!

Former Oakland Valley Speedway (Dirt Oval) runners:

In the indoor racing held down in Atlantic City, Chris Daley won the Champ Kart race onSaturday night. Ryan Kendall was 7^th, Joey Bruning 13^th and Eric Zeh 16^th. Anthony Perrego was 13^th in the Slingshot feature.

Down in Florida, with the modified at Volusia, Billy VanInwegen had a 16^th in the 50 lap feature and a 17^th in a 20 lap feature. Michael Storms had a 22^nd in the 50 lapper and a 14^th in a 20 lap feature. Methinks I missed one of the races.

Racing and television:

CLICK HERE FOR U.S. LISTINGS WITHOUT THE SPEED CHANNEL (PDF FORMAT)

http://www.racefantv.com/xUSTV-NS.pdf

And this: CLICK HERE FOR U.S. LISTINGS WITHOUT NASCAR (PDF FORMAT)

http://www.racefantv.com/xUSTV-NN.pdf

Also this one: CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE PDF VERSION

http://www.racefantv.com/xUSTV.pdf

Chili Bowl on TV:

http://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/schedule

Note: I’ve really been out of the “loop”, so to say, so as of now, I’m not sure just when they’ll have the taped delayed broadcast. Sorry!

More racin’ stuff:

Over on the Track Forum, there’s quite an interesting thread that is titled:

The ALL Danica Patrick NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide thread 2012

http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?159410-The- ALL-Danica-Patrick-NASCAR-Sprint-Cup-and-Nationwide-thread-2012

Note: For some odd reason, you’ll have to copy and paste the link above.

I get e-mails:

Not only do I get them, I also send some out. And, unfortunately, some “hacker” has also sent out some e-mails from my e-mail – twice – and even with my changing my password and not even having a computer except for the wife’s lap top he hit me a second time! As he did the first time, he wiped out my address book, sent folder and trash. Then he set it up that any e-mails I was sent went to ymail.com. One thing he left, this second time was the e-mails that I had received. No idea why, but I was able to pick up quite a few addresses, luckily!

I get e-mails and is this true? # 1:

Please tell your EVERYONE, including your children about this.

Subject: danger

Important Warning – Home made bottle bombs – aka “Works Bombs”

Kids are putting Drano, tin foil, and a little water in plastic drink bottles and capping it up - leaving it on lawns, in mail boxes, in gardens, on driveways etc. just waiting for you to pick it up intending to put it in the rubbish, but you'll never make it!!!

If the bottle is picked up, and the bottle is shaken even just a little - in about 30 seconds or less it builds up enough gas which then explodes with enough force to remove some of your extremities. The liquid that comes out is boiling hot as well.

Don't pick up any plastic bottles that may be lying in your yards or in the gutter, etc.

Pay attention to this. A plastic bottle with a cap. A little Drano. A little water.
A small piece of foil. Disturb it by moving it; and BOOM!!

No fingers left and other serious effects to your face, eyes, etc.

Please ensure that everyone that may not have email access are also informed of this.

For verification and more information, click on: http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp

A video called - Bottle bomb detonated - can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU3CXyCabHg&feature=player_embedded#!

Some non-racing stuff:

....AP Exclusive: Iran may be cleaning up nuke work

In part:

“VIENNA (AP) — Satellite images of an Iranian military facility appear to show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating an attempted cleanup of radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The assertions from the diplomats, all nuclear experts accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency, could add to the growing international pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.

While the U.S. and the EU are backing a sanctions-heavy approach, Israel has warned that it may resort to a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent it from obtaining atomic weapons.

Two of the diplomats said the crews at the Parchin military site may be trying to erase evidence of tests of a small experimental neutron device used to set off a nuclear explosion. A third diplomat could not confirm that but said any attempt to trigger a so-called neutron initiator could only be in the context of trying to develop nuclear arms.

The diplomats said they suspect attempts at sanitization because some of the vehicles at the scene appeared to be haulage trucks and other equipment suited to carting off potentially contaminated soil from the site.

The images, provided by member countries to the IAEA, the U.N's nuclear watchdog, are recent and constantly updated, one of the diplomats said. The diplomats all requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information on the record.”