(7-6-2006) – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority (CRVA) held a press conference on Thursday afternoon to announce the hiring of Winston Kelley as executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Also announced at Thursday’s press conference was the addition of Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) as the Hall’s exhibit designer.

Kelley is vice president of economic and business development for Duke Energy Carolinas. Kelley joined Duke Energy in 1979, and after a series of promotions he was named vice president of business and community relations in 2002. Kelly, who was named to his current position in April 2006, has an extensive NASCAR background as he has served as a race reporter for MRN Radio since the late 1980s. In addition to a lengthy radio career, Kelly’s NASCAR background includes several years as a race statistician and public address announcer at Bristol Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway.

“With Winston Kelley, the NASCAR Hall of Fame has a recognized NASCAR personality who has industry contacts that would take a NASCAR novice years to develop,” said Tim Newman, CEO of the CRVA. “In addition, his outstanding reputation as a manager at Duke Energy makes him a great fit for this position.”

Kelley, who graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina State University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in business management and economics, is active in numerous community and civic organizations and serves in several leadership roles. He currently serves on the Charlotte Regional Partnership Executive Governing Committee and board of directors, Charlotte Chamber of Commerce board of directors, Charlotte Center City Partners Executive Committee and board of directors and the 600 Festival Executive Committee and board of directors.

“Everyone in the NASCAR community knows Winston has 20-plus years of experience in the sport, but he also has more than 25 years of business and management experience,” said Mark Dyer, NASCAR’s vice president of licensing and consumer products. “Winston has tremendous credibility and an abundance of contacts in the Charlotte region’s business community. When you add all that to his love for the sport, he’s the perfect choice to lead our NASCAR Hall of Fame.”

The NASCAR Hall of Fame, which will be a state of the art facility capturing the spirit of the sport, will honor NASCAR icons and create an enduring tribute to the drivers, crew members, team owners and others who have impacted the sport in the past, present and yet to come. The NASCAR Hall of Fame, which will be built in downtown Charlotte, is expected to include exhibit space, a Great Hall, a Hall of Honor, interactive entertainment restaurants, retail outlets and a state-of-the-art media center for the industry.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame will be a special place that brings NASCAR’s history to life and preserves that history in the appropriate environments. The new facility will allow longtime fans to have the opportunity to relive NASCAR’s greatest moments and for new fans to learn about them. Design work will continue through 2006, with ground breaking ceremonies scheduled for spring 2007. The NASCAR Hall of Fame is expected to open as early as fall 2009.

RAA, a museum design firm with a large portfolio that includes such projects as the National Constitution Center and the World Golf Hall of Fame and Museum, will be instrumental in the design and development of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

"As one of the world’s premier exhibit designers for museums and entertainment attractions, Ralph Appelbaum Associates will make a great addition to our team as we seek to make the NASCAR Hall of Fame the finest sports hall of fame attraction in the world,” Newman said. “This firm is truly world-class, as is our lead architect Pei, Cobb, Freed & Partners. Together, they will do a great job in designing a great hall of fame experience.”

(7-6-2006) - It’s amazing how much one word can change your life.  When you hear it, feel it, bear it, and breathe it that one word changes your entire view on the way you see every single aspect of your life.  I will never be the same person I was before I found out I had cancer.  I am now a better person for what I have endured just as all the millions of people in our country who feel the same way after battling cancer. 

It has literally changed my life.  I was this guy who was a rough neck, red neck person that raised myself in the most unbelievable conditions and at times thought of myself as indestructible to getting my legs knocked out from under me in the blink of an eye and having it done time and time again battling this terrible disease.  My whole life has been a bit of turmoil.  I’ve been pretty proud to do what I’ve done because I’m a survivor. I was out on the street at 13-14 years old. Ended up doing what I did and got a chance to race with the best race car drivers in the best racing in the world. Now I’m an owner and employ right around 60 people. It’s like Garth Brooks’ song “The Dance:” “I could have missed the pain, but I would have missed the dance.  I just thought that part was hard – until I was faced with cancer.  Ask anyone who’s been there.

It all started for me last year when I had a wisdom tooth on the right side lower part of my jaw that abscessed.  Since the area they needed to operate on was so close to my nerves in my cheek, they decided to wait until the end of racing season to pull the tooth.  Right after Thanksgiving I had the tooth pulled.  Everything was much better in my mouth after that but my neck was swollen.  I went to another doctor who told me that it was an infected lymph node and it should go down.  Well it didn’t.  So I went back after a couple of weeks and told him that we needed to leave for Daytona in one week and I needed the lymph node removed now. 

The very next morning Dr. Warren at UMC Medical Center worked me in for surgery.  He slit my throat open to remove what we all thought was a lymph node only to find tumors there.  Basically he removed the large tumor and a couple of little ones that had spread around in my neck.  He sewed me back up and waited to break the news.  When I woke up he walked into the room and looked down at that floor.  Right then I knew something was up.  He waited until Lori came in the room before he explained what he had found.  Right then my mind went to how to be strong for Bobby Jr., Lori and the guys at the shop.  How was everyone going to handle this and what was the game plan?  We had a lot to mull over. 

First things first, we called my son and his wife.  They came straight to the hospital for us to explain what we had just been told.  I had cancer.  No one believed what they heard at this point and all of us were completely caught off guard.  What’s next – testing, testing and more testing.  In the meantime I had the season opener and one of the biggest races of the season to prepare for. 

My neck healed in a few days and I left for Daytona and never said a word.  We agreed amongst us four that it was not time to say anything until we had all our ducks in a row.  So off to Daytona we went with our mind on the game.  Immediately after that race it was one test after another.  My kidneys were clean; my lungs were washed for testing and came up clean.  Then I had a biopsy done on my tonsils, tongue and random parts of my throat and mouth.  And the next day I left for race number two. 

Now I had a couple of weeks to figure out the plan.  We did some research and found out that Dr. Murphy at Vanderbilt Medical Center was highly recommended in this type of cancer.  So we made that appointment on March 6th to meet her.  Instantly I knew she was the right doctor for me.  Her calm disposition helped me with what I was facing and encouraged me.

We made my next appointment with her on March 20th for the first round of chemotherapy.  I needed one more race and to get my message across about cancer, my new battle in life.  I spoke with Dodge and they were still with me.  Then I spoke with Fastenal and they were very open to letting Bobby Jr. be their new driver.  Everything was in place, now I just needed the guts to say what I had to say.

It came to me, I don’t know how but it was there.  I blew the entire industry away; no one expected what I said.  In NASCAR we pride ourselves on our close knit family and how we all stick together.  But if we told one person before that time, it would have been a mood point.  So I pulled my team together 5 minutes before the press conference and told them as a whole.  They handled it pretty well, but at this time none of us knew what to expect.  Then I did the walk into the media center. 

I sat down in front of everyone and looked them straight in the face with what I had to say.  I told them of the driver change, this is my last race and that I would be back.  I had made a decision to fight this battle and get on with it.  It was my only choice.  At that moment I vowed for no one to write my name as a cancer victim, that I was not one.  I applauded the media for all their help over the years and asked for their kindness in this manner.  I care about my racing career more than most things in this world and I will be back to start a truck again.  It’s what I do, if it don’t have headers, a four-speed and slicks, I don’t do good with it.

That night I started that starter and got emotional at what my future would hold.  Who wouldn’t?  Every cancer patient and their family members are faced with mortality.  You can’t ever describe that feeling until you live it.  But once that race began I knew nothing except the speed.  My mind was focused and for that two hours cancer didn’t faze me.   

We got an unbelievable amount of e-mails and cards that week.  Race fans, non-racing fans, cancer patients, family members of patients, church members, and all different kinds took time to send us notes.  Some were saying good luck, some were saying do this or don’t do that and some were emotional while others were pumping me up.  We even had some people from race teams who took time to talk with me and explain what they had gone through in their personal or their family’s battle with cancer.  It was overwhelming the amount of support we got and are still getting from people out there. 

Then on Monday morning March 20 cancer fazed me.  What do you expect, what happens each week, where do we go, how am I going to feel, so many questions ran through my mind in flashes.  You see everything at that center from young to old, weak to strong, women to men and every race is there.  Some people knew me, and others didn’t.  Some were scared and some were just getting through it.  I was just there. 

My doctor didn’t know who I was and frankly I liked it that way.  I love the fact that she treats me as she would any patient that walks into her door.  She is there to try to save all our lives and she does a fine job at that.  I met with her and then off to chemo.  As I sat on the table getting that first needle put into my hand my emotions ran wild.  Am I really going through this?  Cancer, me?  Yes I was. 

We left that first day and went straight to the race shop.  I was fine; cancer hadn’t got me down yet.  Yet that is.  I went for the second, third, fourth and fifth chemo treatments only to realize on that fifth time that my body was not responding as we hoped to the treatments.  One more time I was blown away.  So quickly Dr. Murphy changed my regimen.  I needed the stronger treatment; why didn’t that surprise me?  I would also start radiation on Monday the 24th of April, a month earlier than planned. 

Radiation is intimidating.  I am very claustrophobic.  The thought of putting a fitted mask on my face and locking it down on the table made me sick.  I didn’t know how I would get through this part, but was kind of glad to be getting it over with.  I had 33 treatments to go, everyday Monday through Friday and the countdown began.

That weekend we attended the race in St. Louis.  I had five radiation treatments behind me and six chemo treatments down.  I didn’t feel taken aback at the time by any of my treatments so I still tried to do as I wanted to.  My mouth and throat were getting sore from the radiation and my white blood count was down from the chemo treatments.  I shook hands with fans, signed autographs and sat on the pit box for the race in the cold weather.  That was the wrong move. 

By the next weekend I had a fever and was very ill.  I was admitted to the hospital for an excruciating six days of regulating medicines.  While I was there, I had a feeding tube put in so I could continue to get nourishment.  Even though I was in the hospital the radiation still happened daily.  My tumor was too aggressive so a break was not an option. 

I missed things, like the race in Charlotte among others, the Craftsman for a Cure Charity event done in my honor, holidays and Victory Junction Gang’s Second Birthday Celebration.  By now I couldn’t be around a lot of people or I could end up worse than the first time.  I was pretty much secluded.  I went to the race shop for meetings with people and they sat all the way across the room from me, I walked around and kept everyone at an arm’s distance because the last thing I needed right now was another infection. 

My throat got worse; it was impossible to swallow.  My neck blistered up like bacon wrapped around my neck.  The thought of what cancer does to you is phenomenal that people survive.  That just shows how strong we are that we do.  Finally my last treatment day came, Wednesday, June 7.  It was like on Thursday that someone had lifted weights off my shoulders.  But the truth is the healing is still happening.  It doesn’t just stop in one night and go away, wouldn’t that be nice. 

The truth is, once you have been diagnosed with cancer you always battle it in some form or fashion.  Yes your body heals and life as you know it goes on, but cancer is always there.  All I expect out of this is if anybody has anything to say about what I’m going through, let’s just attribute it to everybody who’s going through it. I just want to take my battle and use what little bit of celebrity status that I have left and try to promote the awareness for this disease. 

Cancer changes us all.  I have just learned that when you get a second chance, life becomes a different picture the next time around.

(7-5-2006) – Hoosier hero Tony Stewart received more accolades and one-of-a-kind awards for winning the 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard during a public ceremony and media event July 5 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.

Stewart, a native and resident of nearby Columbus, Ind., accepted his race winner’s ring from IMS President and Chief Operating Officer Joie Chitwood. Stewart will try to earn a repeat victory in the 13th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday, Aug. 6.

Two-time NASCAR champion Stewart also helped unveil a piece of artwork by noted motorsports artist Sam Bass that Bass has donated to the Hall of Fame Museum.

The artwork on display at the museum is a one-of-a-kind color reproduction of an original painting that The Home Depot commissioned Bass to create for Stewart. The art commemorates post-race events from Stewart’s long-sought, emotional victory at the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard: Stewart kissing the famous “Yard of Bricks,” climbing the Speedway’s catch fence, his No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet crossing the finish line and a headshot of Stewart.

Stewart also officially opened an exhibit at the Hall of Fame Museum featuring five cars, scheduled to be on display until June 2007, which played a significant role in Stewart’s rise from Indiana short-track racer to motorsports superstar.

“It’s just a huge honor,” Stewart said. “To have visited that museum so many times and seen so many pieces of history, and to have that exhibit dedicated to me is an honor. I don’t know how else to put it.

“There have been a lot of winners (at IMS), and they’ve never had an exhibit like this, so it basically makes me speechless. It’s cool to see all these cars and see them all together again for the first time in a long time. It brings back a lot of cool memories of good times in my career. To see those cars sitting next to the cars of A.J. Foyt and so many other great winners is incredible.”

The cars driven by Stewart which are on display are:

•The 1995 USAC Midget and Sprint championship-winning cars that carried Stewart to USAC’s “Triple Crown.” In 1995, Stewart became the first driver to win USAC’s three national championships (Silver Crown, Sprint and Midget series) in the same year.

The Midget car is the No. 9 Performance Racing Industry Beast/Gaerte owned by Steve Lewis at the time, and the Sprint car is the Glen Niebel-owned No. 20 Boles Chevrolet. The Niebel Silver Crown series car will be added to the display in about a month.

•Stewart’s No. 22 The Home Depot Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone IRL IndyCar® Series car and the No. 20 The Home Depot Pontiac that he drove at the 1999 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Stewart became part of an elite group that year, becoming only the third driver after John Andretti and Robby Gordon to race “the double,” competing in both prestigious races the same day.

•The No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet in which Stewart won the 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

A sampling of Stewart’s driver’s suits, helmets and other memorabilia are also on display, including:

•Driver’s suit and helmet from the 1995 USAC Triple Crown season.

•Driver’s suit and helmet, promoting the motion picture “Shrek2,” which Stewart wore at the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge on May 22, 2004 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

All the cars, driver’s suits and helmets are part of Stewart’s personal collection, generously loaned by him to the Hall of Fame Museum.

Stewart will attempt to earn back-to-back Allstate 400 at the Brickyard victories when the NEXTEL Cup Series returns to IMS for the 13th running of the race at 2:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Aug. 6.

His 2005 win at IMS in the No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet was one of the most emotional moments in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history and among the highlights of the 2005 season in which he won his second NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship. His first season title came in 2002.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) every day of the year except Christmas, and features extended hours reflecting public gate times during the Indianapolis 500, United States Grand Prix and Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Approximately 75 automobiles, including numerous Indianapolis 500-winning cars, stock cars, sports cars and vintage motorcycles, are on display at all times. The Museum also houses an impressive collection of artwork, trophies and other artifacts.

Stewart’s Crew Wins Pit Crew Challenge at Daytona

(7-4-2006) - Tony Stewart’s over-the-wall crew picked up the Checkers®/Rally’s® Double Drive-Thru Challenge win Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, helping lift the team to its second consecutive victory in the summer classic at the 2.5-mile tri-oval.  

This is the third pit crew challenge win of the season for the No. 20 team, which now owns second place in the season-long standings. They also took the honors at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway in March. Jimmie Johnson’s crew is in the lead with four victories.

"I've never worked with a group of guys that were more dedicated to what they do and why they do it,” said Stewart. “That's what makes nights like this that much more impressive. This is not a race where a driver can go out and just win it. You have to have a fast car -- one that's prepared well -- and you have to have a crew that gets you in and out of the pits consistently fast all night.  We had it all working for us tonight.  It was a total team effort."

The No. 20 over-the-wall crew consists of: Jason Lee (jackman), Tom Dean (front-tire carrier), Ira-Jo Hussey (front-tire changer), Jody Fortson (rear-tire carrier), Todd Foster (rear-tire changer), Jeff Patterson (gasman), Brian Larson (catch can) and Scott Geerts (windshield). The team’s crew chief is Greg Zipadelli and the pit stop coordinator is Paul Alepa.

Stewart’s Home Depot Chevrolet spent 205.081 seconds on pit road. The crew will be awarded the weekly $10,500 prize and an additional $105,000 will be presented to the pit crew with the most wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule. 

 The Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge is in its second season with the Nextel Cup Series. 

2006 Nextel Cup Winners

Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge

Daytona (2/19)    Jimmie Johnson Team
California (2/26)       Jimmie Johnson Team
Las Vegas (3/12)        Kyle Busch Team
Atlanta (3/20)          Tony Stewart Team
Bristol (3/26)          Tony Stewart Team
Martinsville (4/2)     Elliott Sadler Team
Texas (4/9)       Denny Hamlin Team
Phoenix (4/23)    Clint Bowyer Team
Talladega (5/1)   Elliott Sadler Team
Richmond (5/6)    Kevin Harvick Team
Darlington (5/13) Kyle Busch Team
Charlotte (5/28)  Jimmie Johnson Team
Dover (6/4)       Jeff Burton Team
Pocono (6/11)     Kurt Busch Team
Michigan (6/18)   Brian Vickers Team
Infineon (6/25)   Jimmie Johnson Team
Daytona (7/1)     Tony Stewart Team

STEWART REPEATS IN PEPSI 400

(7-1-2006) - Tony Stewart scaled the fence at Daytona Int’l Speedway capturing the checkered flag following his victory in the Pepsi 400. Then he did the unbelievable, he climbed down from the grandstands into the front stretch crowd.

“I don’t know why I do half the stupid stuff I do,” Steward jokingly remarked when asked about joining the fans in the stands. “I’ll be honest, there is no way I was going to let those race fans down tonight. I was either going to get all the way up (the fence) or I was going to fall off. I wasn’t going to let those race fans down.”

While Stewart got up close and personal with the  thousands of fans surrounding the flag stand, two Busch brothers commiserated over what might have been had the caution not brought the race to an abrupt end just as they were teaming up to steal away the victory.

EARNHARDT WINS WINN-DIXIE 250

(7-1-2006) - "The outcome was never really in question. Or was it?

Dale Earnhardt won the Winn-Dixie 250 with a couple car lengths to spare despite a green/white/checkered finish. Brian Vickers finished second, followed by Kevin Harvick, J. J. Yeley and Carl Edwards. The win was his 21st Busch Series victory, tying him with Harry Gant and his late father, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., at seventh on the all-time winners list.

Once Earnhardt finished his display of fireworks at the finish line, he found he couldn’t drive the No. 8 Menards Chevrolet to victory lane. It wouldn’t budge.

“Well, I broke my transmission,” Earnhardt said laughingly. “I was shifting on my burnout there trying to get to fourth, to see if I could burn it to fourth. It’s actually stuck in gear; we’ll be pushing it to victory lane.”

Later, following the ceremonies in victory lane Earnhardt discussed a victory that wasn’t nearly as easy as it looked.

“I would have given up a victory to have a car that was driving better.”

The issue was tires. Harvick was the most vocal in his complaints, and Earnhardt backed up those complaints.

“That was a pathetic show tonight,” Harvick said, clearly determined to make a point. “I am not going to completely trash the tires, but they were terrible.”

(7-1-2006) - Terry Cook came from a lap behind to break a 94-race NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winless streak with Saturday’s victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway.

Cook, who beat outside front row starter Rick Crawford by 2.040 seconds, led a Ford sweep of the top three positions for the first time in 2006.

The 38-year-old Ohio native led just once, taking the point at lap 127 of 167 when Budweiser Pole winner Mike Skinner pitted for fuel and tires under caution. He outraced Crawford over a final, 16-lap sprint following the afternoon’s eighth caution. Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Marcos Ambrose was third in a side-by-side finish with Brendan Gaughan that was confirmed via use of the start-finish line camera.

Cook, who won $55,450, averaged 111.581 mph for the 250.5 mile distance as caution consumed 38 laps. The race was stopped for just over nine minutes after lap 107 for a backstretch accident involving Kelly Sutton. Sutton, who earlier had become just the second female driver to lead a series race, was awake and alert and listed in fair condition at KU Medical Center after being admitted for further evaluation.

Sutton was the only driver that failed to finish the season’s 12th of 25 races.

The victory was Cook’s sixth in the series but first since August 2002 when he won the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Saturday hardly looked like it would be his day after a cut tire sent Cook’s Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford to pit road at lap 17.

Kerry Earnhardt’s lap 40 accident in Turn 2, however, triggered the race’s second caution to give Cook a free pass to the rear of the lead lap. He battled back from there.

“To finally put it all together is huge,” said Cook, whose crew chief Dennis Connor elected to mount four tires at lap 105 when others – including Skinner – opted for two and were forced to surrender track position when the yellow waved some 20 laps later.

“This was all Dennis Connor. I saw on that last run the guys that had sticker tires and the guys in front of me that were on old tires. I felt at that point that Dennis had made the right call and he certainly did.”

Connor, the series leading crew chief, now has won 26 times with four drivers.

Skinner finished just behind Ambrose and Gaughan to round out the top five. David Ragan was sixth in his best drive for Roush Racing. Todd Bodine, who started 35th after his Toyota failed to pass pre-qualifying inspection, rallied for a seventh-place ranking. David Starr, Johnny Benson and David Reutimann completed the top 10 as 27 drivers ran all 167 laps.

Bodine added 12 points to his championship lead which stands at 138 over Reutimann. Benson is third 143 points behind.

The series next moves to Kentucky Speedway for next Saturday’s Built Ford Tough 225.

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