WELCOME, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Through a joint effort between Richard Childress Racing, JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and Wrangler®, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will pay tribute to his father’s upcoming induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame by driving the No. 3 Wrangler® Chevrolet Impala in the July 2 Subway Jalapeno 250 powered by NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
The announcement and car unveiling was made today at JR Motorsports and to the fans at Dale Earnhardt Inc., both in Mooresville, N.C. In attendance were Richard Childress of Richard Childress Racing, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Kelley Earnhardt of JR Motorsports, Teresa Earnhardt of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and Craig Errington, vice president of Wrangler® marketing. The No. 3 Wrangler® Chevrolet Impala is an RCR entry but built and prepared by JR Motorsports.
“This was an idea that came up as a way to pay tribute to my Dad, and it’s pretty cool that it’s a collaborative effort between JR Motorsports, RCR and DEI,” said Earnhardt Jr. “The Wrangler car is definitely in the top-10 of coolest cars that have ever been on the race track. A lot of people identify with it, and I can’t think of a better way to honor my dad and celebrate his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame than to bring the Wrangler colors back with the No. 3 on the side, similar to the ‘Wrangler Jean Machine’ scheme of the 80s. I think it will be worth seeing, and I’m looking forward to driving it at Daytona.”
The combination of Earnhardt Jr., DEI and RCR has a very brief yet shining history on the track together. In their one and only race together, Earnhardt drove the No. 3 Chevrolet to victory in the February 2002 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. That car, with just the one race to its credit, is on display at the RCR Museum in Welcome, N.C.
“Bringing this group of people and these organizations together is the best way I can think of to honor Dale Earnhardt’s induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame,” said Childress. “Dale means so much to all of us, as well as his fans across the country and throughout the world. We created a special piece of history together in 2002 and, with Wrangler back on board the No. 3 Chevrolet at Daytona, we look to make some more history in July. I know the fans will love it as much as we all will.”
In support of the program, an array of licensed product will be available to fans from die-cast cars to apparel and select novelty items. Merchandise will highlight both Dale Earnhardt original Wrangler® car and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s current paint scheme. Fans can find the products at www.nascar.com, trackside or through each of the represented team stores.
“Dale’s induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame is truly a special honor for the Earnhardt Family as well as for all of Dale’s fans,” said Teresa Earnhardt. “Dale was a competitor, but he was also a person who loved the fans and worked hard to connect with the people who supported him through his career. Wrangler was one of Dale’s first sponsors and it’s great to connect back with those early years, where it all started for Dale as he drove his way into the Hall of Fame.”
Wrangler® has a long history with all parties involved, and is the first apparel brand to have significant involvement in NASCAR, beginning in the 1980s when Dale Earnhardt was featured in the brand’s “One Tough Customer” marketing campaign. Wrangler® was the primary sponsor of Dale Earnhardt and the famed yellow-and-blue “Wrangler® Jean Machine” from 1981 to 1987. After a couple race team changes in the early 1980s including a brief 1981 stint with Richard Childress, Earnhardt moved back to Richard Childress Racing in 1984, bringing the brand with him as his primary sponsor. In 1998, the brand became one of the first corporate sponsors to sign up with Dale in his new role of team owner of Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
The Wrangler®-Earnhardt legacy continued in 2004 with a relationship between a second generation Earnhardt and a “New Generation of Wrangler®” – Earnhardt Jr. signed on as the endorsee for the Wrangler Jeans Co.TM line of new fits and styles of jeans and apparel. This longstanding relationship continues today with Earnhardt Jr. starring in the current brand marketing campaign.
“For Wrangler, this yellow-and-blue paint scheme signifies a lot of our brand history, marketing and persona from the 1980s,” said Craig Errington, vice president of Wrangler® marketing. “It’s truly a piece of our history that will be on the track July 2 and it makes it that much more meaningful that it’s not only Dale Earnhardt’s son who will be driving it, but also the brand’s current partner and friend – Dale Jr.”
As part of Earnhardt Jr.’s tribute to his father, Wrangler® is also launching a consumer promotion offering racing fans a way to honor their own fathers with the chance to win a trip to Daytona Beach to meet Earnhardt Jr. and watch him drive the yellow-and-blue racecar. The winner will be announced on Friday, June 18, in time for Father’s Day. Fans can get more information, view the official rules and enter by visiting www.wranglersalutetodad.com beginning April 30.
Hi folks -- thanks to former colleague Ed Garten for the idea. I have always like Laura Bush. She seems practical, kind, and open, and not the shrewish kind of woman so often married to politicians. But then George W. was not that much of a calculating, overly ambitious politican.
In the near future, Laura is coming out with her book, and in it she discusses what had to be one of the most difficult times in her life as an adolescent -- the involvement in an accident that was her fault that killed a fellow high school classmate. Yes, it is important to note that it doubtful that design flaw in the Corvair had anything at all to do with this accident. We try to blame technology, perhaps in an effort to soothe our souls, but in fact I doubt that the Corvair's sway bar design had anything to do with what transpired. To be sure, virtually any car of the early 1960s was far from what we would deem safe by today's standards -- seat belts, ABS, crumple zones, etc. We know that Laura was thrown from her car, but I do not know whether or not that car was equipped with seat belts. Let's face it, young drivers get it trouble, and that is what happened with Laura, as she was distracted by her conversation with a passenger.
The bigger point here is not to point fingers at either the Corvair or Laura, but to understandthat as much as there are people who have a love affair with cars, there is also a flip side, one in which the car can be seen as hell on wheels, to use the title from David Blanke'srecent book on auto accidents and Americanculture. Accidents, especially thehorrific kind, leave us numb and hurt inside, and with memories that are carried with us forever. And this is the case of Laura Bush, whose few fleeting minutes in 1965 are etched in her mind to this day. Obviously, Laura came out of this with a sensitivity for others, as is exemplified in her open heart.
See account from her book:
“In those awful seconds, the car door must have been flung open by the impact and my body rose in the air until gravity took over and I was pulled, hard and fast, back to earth,” she says. “The whole time,” she adds later, “I was praying that the person in the other car was alive. In my mind, I was calling ‘Please, God. Please, God. Please, God,’ over and over and over again.”
“It was sporty and sleek, and it was also the car that Ralph Nader made famous in his book Unsafe at Any Speed,” she states. “He claimed the car was unstable and prone to rollover accidents. A few years later, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration went so far as to investigate the Corvair’s handling, but it didn’t reach the same grim conclusions. I was driving my dad’s much larger and heavier Chevy Impala. But none of that would ever ease the night of November 6. Not for me, and never for the Douglases.”
LAKEVILLE, Conn. - The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototypes made their long-awaited first appearance at Lime Rock Park on Tuesday, taking part in an unofficial test in preparation for the Memorial Day classic.
A total of 19 cars - including 11 Daytona Prototypes - tackled changing weather conditions throughout the six-hour session. The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 will race here on Monday, May 31, at 2 p.m. ET (SPEED, live), featuring both the Daytona Prototypes and production-based GT cars.
Competitors gave favorable reviews to the new 1.5-mile layout, using the optional uphill with the classic West Bend.
Daytona Prototype teams participating included two cars from both Michael Shank Racing and Starworks Motorsports, along with single cars from TELMEX Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, Brumos Racing, Action Express Racing, SunTrust Racing, AIM Autosport and Krohn Racing.
GT teams included three Mazdas from SpeedSource plus the Dempsey Racing/Team Seattle Mazda, Racers Edge Mazda, Magnus Porsche, Turner BMW and Whelen Corvette.
By the end of the day and on a dry track, Daytona Prototype drivers were turning laps in the 49-second range. Drivers in the GT class, which last visited Lime Rock in 2008 on the old course, clocked in at 53 seconds. "A lap goes so quick here," said Rojas, testing the championship-leading TELMEX BMW Riley with Joey Hand. "The biggest thing I remember is that you have to stay on top of things the entire time. There isn't a lot of time to do things here."
David Donohue is happy to see the Daytona Prototypes becoming part of the Memorial Day Weekend habit.
"Lime Rock was one of the tracks I grew up on and a place my father (Mark Donohue) was really good at," said Donohue, sharing the No. 59 Brumos.com Porsche Riley with Darren Law. "I'm definitely looking forward to coming back on Memorial Day and being part of that tradition."
The only incident of the day occurred late in the session, when Nick Longhi spun the No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8 into the guardrail on the back straightaway. Longhi was uninjured. The team currently leads the GT team championship by three points (118-115).
The Memorial Day weekend will also feature a Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race on Saturday, May 29. The Rolex Series events will be compressed into a single day, with practice at 9 a.m. and qualifying at 11:55 a.m.
What could possibly top a scene like the one I took in towards the end of my post-Asheville vacation to Washington, D.C. to see friends and family...
I was sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, wishing my dad a happy birthday while scattered storms meandered past The General's monolith, interspersed with golden rays of evening sun. The faint but powerful driving rhythm of bass and drums could be heard across the reflecting pool, its surface brushed in waves by unseen fingers of air, beneath the familiar melody of "Message in a Bottle."
I'd left Sting, my friends, and Earth Day to fulfill what must be done on a trip to DC: to read Jefferson's and Lincoln's timeless words, to see the 58,000 names, to think for myself. No matter how many times I come back...it must be done. I began walking after standing and sitting for hours on the grass between the museums, while all matter of legends spoke and sang to us, from Jesse Jackson to Booker T, but finally my stiff and injured back could take no more. While Sting brought his pomposity to the stage I could get my 90 minute pilgrimage accomplished, and then meet everyone again for dinner.
And there I was, on those steps, above that inspiring vista, when two Marine helicopters, one almost certainly carrying the President, approached from the north and banked east, just above me, towards the Mall and the crowd. And as it turned south again, a great roar rose up from the people, assembled on America's lawn, letting loose their approval at this salute to their Earth Day celebration.
What could top that, I ask you.
Perhaps a bike ride on a misty Saturday on a rented beach cruiser with a friend at my side. Down the lanes, both marked and unmarked, over the crushed gravel in Lafayette Park, and posing for a picture in front of the White House. Up Capitol Hill, past police and tourists and senate staffers. And down, down past colorful townhomes and walk ups, down past bodegas and bars. Down the hill toward the mouth of Anacostia to the Navy Yards, a neighborhood in flux, perhaps turmoil from economic uncertainty, but a destination the less. The new Nationals Park stands almost timeless amid it's surroundings, not trying to be anything its not, and in the process being much more. A familiar venue without any pretension beyond the $8 beer, its structure is a testament to understatement. That, and the idea racing Presidents is just as good as racing Sausages.
What could top that, I ask you.
Perhaps, topping all of that, is the first moments you see your friends and family, after many months...appearing in the gloam, looking up over a freshly lit cigarette, or popping through a doorway, with a smile for you and the promise of another year's memories.
The Opti-Car-lusion was sent in by Becky Morris aka Queen Becky who recently moved to west Virginia. She has a 97 Mazda Miata painted over with a variety of optical illusions that are to sure to daze and confuse other drivers. I wonder if its a bad idea to be driving around a car like that, just don't tailgate to closely you might end seeing things that are not there.
We are pleased to present you some news. Ref 1003 Universal brass bearings compatible with all major slot brands ( for 2,38 mm axle ). Ref 1015 will be used only with the future Reynard car ! We provide also now steel ball bearings one flanged ( ref 1006 for 2,38 mm axle and ref 1007 for 3 mm axle ) and double flanged ( ref 1008 for 2,38 mm axle ) A new measure of allen screws M2 x 6 mm for front axles ( ref 9306 ) And finally, a new Aluminium-Magnesium wheel called Atlantis in five measures : 15 x 8 mm - 15,9 x 8,5 mm - 16,9 x 8,5 mm - 16,9 x 10 mm and 17,5 x 9 mm !
Smitty's percolating coffee psycho is bike ride that's all about the coffee. There is plenty of space for the coffee pot, the mugs and off course the coffee grinds. You never have to go looking for a coffee shop, because the bike is brewing all the time, now I want coffee, only 12 hours until my next cup.
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Slot Car Corner, the world's largest distributor of 1/32 Super Tires (R) and Yellow Dog Super Tires, now offers twelve (12) additional "Yellow Dog" (urethane) Super Tires. Until now, these tires were only available in the "Classic" (silicone) compound. For more information or to place an order, please visit our website.
Note: Slot Car Corner Canada will also carry these additional Yellow Dogs shortly (approx. 2 weeks).
The process of transferring the slot.it domain to a different provider is going completely wrong, so we are currently left with no site and no email. The company can still be temporarily contacted as slotit.mferrari@gmail.com
I cannot give any dates for resuming of normal operations but should not take more than one week.
I just got this in tonight and thought it would be a great addition to ACC. Its a 1990 GMC 3300 17 passenger school bus located in Capitan, NM (near Ruidoso). Its owned by Linda & Kurt Howard, owners of Horsemen's Grill & Cabins in Capitan, NM and was painted by This Side That Side, J. Atlasand and completed in only 20 days, December 2009.
The art bus will be used as leisure vehicle for Linda & Kurt and a seasonal shuttle to/from and around the many art communities around Capitan and parts of New Mexico.
Ok... I know, I know... I'm laughing in a slightly giddy and embarrassing manner. Trust me, if anyone was in my position during this video they'd be doing the SAME thing. I had the extremely good fortune to have a member of the Corvette Club from Rochester to offer me a shot gun seat in his C6 Corvette as he did 3 laps at the Glen today. The first lap we did (that you will see in this video) was "only" about 90 mph on a straight. But the second and third laps were over 100 mph. Which might not sound like a lot for a race track but HOLY CRAP it was amazing! I've done over 150mph on a straight on the Autobahn in a Porsche 911 but THIS was fantastic, over 100 on the uphill turn at the Glen was... well... a real "holy crap" moment!
We did 3 laps and this was the first, and slowest, of the laps I had the good fortune to do in a dream Vette. Wow, a yellow Vette at the Glen, does it get better than that?
VW has announced that it will begin fuel savings modifications on all VW Golfs using wild boar dummies. Any one interested in this fuel savings upgrade can get it at no cost. Once the car is hits a wild board crossing the street the need for gas will go down to zero, since the car will be totaled, think of the savings. VW is also thinking about sharing this fuel savings technology with other car manufactures.
hi folks -- Jason Vuic and Hill and Wang publishers were thoughtful enough to send me a copy of Jason's The Yugo this week, and I quickly devoured it despite the fact that I had papers to grade. Our knowledge of the history of the automobile in general post 1960 is rather meager, and this work greatly adds to a very slim amount of good history on this period and subject. the post 1960 era is clearly a weakness that I perceive is in my book The Automobile and American Life, although my work does a better job than most surveys regarding the recent past, especially culturally.
What I found most interesting in this book was how Vuic set the broad historical context for a study that is primarily about a car. He does an excellent job in placing this story in Eastern Europe -- with accompanying tales concerning both America and Italy as need be -- into the narrative. Until I read the book, I really knew nothing about Malcolm Bricklin and his various schemes associated with the auto industry that led up to the importation of the Yugo into the United States by the mid-1980s. Bricklin was a car guy, entrepreneur, projector, snake oil salesman, and fraud all rolled into one. But he was also a visionary and idealist, who was one of a number of automobile industry outliers who attempted to break into a U.S. market that was dominant ed by the Big Three and a handful of foreign manufacturers after 1970. Bricklin seemingly never quite got it that "the devil is in the details," and that positive thinking can take you only so far.
The Yugo is at times remarkably funny, and I appreciated the humor, although it was at the expense of those sorry consumers who took a chance at a car that was clearly not adequate for the American market and consumer preferences and expectations. But at times, the narrative devolved into a discourse hat you might expect more in an "Introduction the Modern Europe" undergraduate history class, and I found it important to understand this background material.
My criticisms are few. I really wanted for the author to get behind the wheel of one of the surviving cars, and take it for a spin! And that never happened. People in East Germany love the Trabant, but I did not sense that the same emotions are true fore Yugo. Why? And finally, I never had a sense after finishing the book that the question of "was this car the worst ever" not answered to my satisfaction.
What I want to do now is talk to a Yugo owner and drive a Yugo, so that I can make up my mind beyond knowledge gained from a book. Cross country in a Yugo through the desert this summer? I doubt I am that bold!
