Talladega Diary, Day 2
(8:00 am) Got up at 7:00, got ready and
left the hotel around 7:30. Made it here to the track by about 7:45. After
getting the computer set up, got the official qualifying results from yesterday.
There were several changes from what I posted last night. Four drivers were
disqualified for either a shock absorber infraction or rear spoiler height,
including Bob Schacht (who was originally 5th) and Tim Steele. Had to get that
fixed and resposted to the Motorsports
Forum, as well as write and post my good morning message.
The ARCA cars have just hit the track and
either practicing drafting or trying to get clean air for a qualifying
simulation. As I sit here in the media center, I’m able to see several
Winston Cup cars being pushed back and forth to the gas pumps.
(8:50 am) The ARCA cars have just come off
the track, so things will be pretty quiet for about 30 minutes until they go out
for second round.
(9:40 am) ARCA 2nd round qualifying
started about 10 minutes ago, which is 15 minutes later than scheduled. I’ve
been in the Winston Cup garage area checking things out. Usually there are a lot
of teams having to do body work to make the cars fit the templates. I’ve only
seen a few that have had Bondo work done. As usual, the #3 of Dale Earnhardt
needed quite a bit of work. The most common areas that needed work were the
sides of the rear bumpers and the roof in front of the new spoiler.
The media center is filling up rapidly
with people. Net Jarrett is sitting on one of the tables behind me. David
Poole, Deb Williams, Monte Dutton, and Larry Woody are the faces I recognize immediately.
I’m sure there are other names I’d recognize, but I don’t know the faces. The
ESPN and MRN guys are here as well.
I’ve just been handed the RJReynolds
Winston Cup weekly update. This is a book that’s about an inch thick and is
updated every week with all the statistics you could ever want to know, plus
some you didn’t know existed. For example, Joe Nemechek, despite his qualifying
efforts, has still yet to finish in the top ten at Talladega.
(10:40 am) The Coleman press conference
has just ended. Coleman announced that they’ve extended their endorsement
agreement with Richard Childress through next year. Outside the media center,
they’ve just parked one of the new Dodge’s that’ll be racing next year.
(11:00 am) Went out to look at the new
Intrepid. They’ve got a production car next to the race car. The lady from Dodge
was nice enough to give me a new clean hat to replace the "It’s Time"
hat I got here last year and have been wearing since.
The final ARCA qualifying results have
just been released. Got those entered and posted to the Motorsports
Forum on Compuserve. The Winston Cup cars are on the track. Of the 15
cars that have run laps so far, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is the fastest with a 50.9
second lap.
(noon) This is a first. Today is
"Ricochet Qualifying Day." Ricochet as in the country
band. They’re on the media center stage right now singing a couple songs.
They just did a "Talladega" jingle they wrote and now they’re singing
"Seven Bridges Road." Oh, and all the media just got a copy of
their new cd, "What You Leave Behind." They’ll be performing a
75-minute concert at 9:15 am on Sunday morning, and will have Charlie Daniels up
for one song as well. Daniels is on the hood of Joe Nemechek’s car this weekend.
(12:10) Just posted the ARCA starting grid
to the Motorsports
Forum. Getting ready to go back to the ARCA garage here in a few minutes to
see what’s going on.
(12:50) Well, got to talking with Larry
Woody and ended up not going to the ARCA garage after all. It’s a good thing
too. I would have missed out on the nice jacket that RJReynolds gave all the
media members. Let’s see…last year they gave us a nice sweatshirt, and the
year before a set of 4 glasses, all with the Winson No Bull 5 logo. So the next
time you see a prominent sponsor mention in a news article, you know why. Just
looking around the media center here, I don’t think I see a single media person
who doesn’t have an article of clothing on that doesn’t have a sponsor logo.
They’re setting up for the ARCA press
conference that’s scheduled for 1:00 pm. They’ve got a couple of NICE Sony
flat screen wide monitors set up. Not sure if those are for the ARCA deal or
not.
(1:10 pm) Well, the monitors weren’t for
the ARCA conference. ARCA announced that their new title sponsor is RE/Max. So
the series for the next 3 years will be known as the ARCA RE/Max Series.
They’ve also issued the 2001 schedule as well. I’ll be posting that to the Motorsports
Forum shortly as well as the Winston Cup practice speeds.
(1:30 pm) Still no sheet on practice
speeds. The press conference by Dodge on their one-year anniversary of their
Winston Cup program is getting ready to start. Turns out those slick Sony flat
screen monitors are theirs. I want one.
(2:30 pm) Made a quick trip to the ARCA
garage to the Racing Electronics van. They were nice enough to clone the ARCA
frequencies onto my RE2000 scanner. Then took a lap around the Winston Cup
garage. With only 30 minutes left until qualifying, teams are making last minute
adjustments to the cars. They’re also going through NASCAR’s inspection line,
where they’re being given the shocks they’re running this weekend.
(5:50 pm) Qualifying is over with Joe
Nemechek getting the pole. I’ve written my two qualifying stories, plus my
good-night story, and have the qualifying results entered. We’re now waiting for
Nemechek to come into the media center for his interview. I guess we’re also
waiting for NASCAR to "bless" his car after qualifying so that the
numbers are official.
(6:05 pm) Nemechek just concluded his
press conference, and I’m uploading the last stuff to the Motorsports
Forum. From here I’ll go back to the hotel room, relax for a few minutes,
then head to the RJReynolds No Bull 5 party up the street from where I’m
staying.
(10:45 pm) Just back from the Winston
party. Actually I left around 10:00 pm, and stopped at the Wal-Mart on the way
back for some stuff.
As I type this, I don’t know what the
condition of Tony Roper is. All I know is what they were talking about at
the party. Apparently he hit the outside wall at Texas head on, and NASCAR
went into "we’re not releasing any info" mode. They did have a TV on
at the party. It started off with some baseball game, but pretty soon it had the
Texas truck race. They turned it on just in time to see Derrike Cope take his
wild ride. I hope that Roper is not seriously injured.
I stood next to Steve Park and watched the
last part of the race. Afterwards, Park talked with a few of us about how
he thinks the racing will be Sunday. He seems to think that there’ll be a
lot of passing and that you won’t see guys take chances like you normally would.
The reason is that if you let off the gas, you won’t lose a ton of spots, so if
you get inside someone and the car starts pushing, you’ll let up and fall back
in line right behind him so you can get another run the next time.
I’m getting ready to go online now and
post this. I’m afraid of what I’ll find out about Tony Roper.
(10:50 pm) NASCAR Online is down, but I
didn’t really expect them to have any info on Roper anyway. Thatsracin.com
reports that Roper was unconscious and unresponsive and was airlifted to a
Dallas hospital where he was listed in critical condition.
Sometimes I wonder about this sport.