Archive for July, 2008
World of Outlaws Sunday Results
A quick update on the World of Outlaws Sunday Results:
World of Outlaws Late Model Series from Eriez Speedway A Main Results:
- Francis
- Blair
- Richards
- McCreadie
- Knight
World of Outlaws Sprints were off on Sunday and will be racing at Paducah International Raceway on Monday to makeup the event that was rained out on May 10th.
Relight The Wick! Rescheduled Firecracker 100 Set For Tuesday
By Eric Westendorf
Sarver, PA — The long-awaited finale of the second annual Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com is ready to roll this Tuesday night (July 29) at Lernerville Speedway.
The two-day show was originally scheduled for Friday-Saturday/June 27-28, but after a sizzling night of heat-race action Day 2 of the spectacular World of Outlaws Late Model Series program was washed out on both Saturday and Sunday’s raindate. The pesky weather forced officials to reset the headline night of the Firecracker 100 to a midweek date on Tues., July 29.
The buzz is now building back up for what promises to be the best dirt Late Model show of the summer.
All time-trial and heat-race qualifying results from June 28 will stand, and the fields for the C-Main, B-Mains and the first eight rows of the 100-lap A-Main are set. Drivers who were not in action on June 28 can join the program on July 29 and will start at the tail of the C-Main based on a random pill draw.
Eighteen drivers are locked into the $40,000-to-win A-Main, led by heat winners Shane Clanton, Steve Francis, Earl Pearson Jr., Josh Richards, Darrell Lanigan and Brian Birkhofer. Those six drivers will redraw for positions 1-6 in the Firecracker 100.
The remainder of the drivers locked into the A-Main include Coleby Frye and Brandon Kinzer (Row 4), Billy Moyer and Donnie Moran (Row 5), Tim Fuller and Chub Frank (Row 6), Shannon Babb and local hero Mike Blose (Row 7), Gregg Satterlee and Chris Madden (Row 
and Jeremy Miller and Tim McCreadie (Row 9).
Drivers set for action in the B-Main the B-Main include Doug Horton, David Scott, Davey Johnson, Rick Eckert, Clate Copeman, Dutch Davies, Mike Knight, Chuck Kennedy, Robbie Blair, John Flinner, Chad Valone, Brent Rhebergen, Josh McGuire, Danny Johnson, Gary Lyle, Jimmy Owens, Matt Lux, Ron Davies, Keith Barbara, Scott Bloomquist, Clint Smith, Tony Burke, Dan Stone, Bob Close, Todd Bachman, John Mollick, Dave Hess Jr., John Blankenship, Vic Coffey and Alex Ferree.
Drivers tentatively scheduled to run the C-Main, (which may be dissolved or expanded based on the number of cars in the pits on July 29), include Jason Covert, Nick Reges, Dane Laraway, Sean Beardsley, Joe Isabell, Lynn Geisler, Ken Schaltenbrand, Ryan Scott, Russ King and Jared Miley.
Tickets and pit wristbands from the original dates will be honored on Tues., July 29 – in fact, they will be upgraded! Any fan with a ticket or wristband from the original race on June 27-28 will be allowed to upgrade to a FREE pit pass and will also receive a $10 voucher good towards the purchase of any GottaRace.com merchandise purchased through the www.GottaRace.com website.
A limited amount of reserved seats are still available by clicking on the “Buy Tickets Now” link on the Lernerville Speedway website at www.Lernerville.com or by calling the speedway office Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at 724-353-1511. One-day advance reserved seats are selling for $34 for adults. Senior and student pricing is available.
Newly purchased general admission tickets are not eligible for the Free Pit Pass upgrade, but as always, children 10-and-under are admitted FREE for general admission seating.
Schatz Picks Up 12th Win of Season At K-C Raceway
Donny Schatz was just 0.091 second from winning his third consecutive Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event at K-C Raceway in Ohio last season, as he finished second after leading a number of laps. He made up for that near miss on Saturday night as he picked up his third win in his last four starts at the track.
Schatz’s series leading 12th A-Feature win of the season was worth $10,000, as he passed early leader Chad Kemenah on the 24th lap in heavy lapped traffic and would lead the remainder of the 40-lap contest. In five starts at the track with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, he has finished fourth or better in each and every one.
“It’s been a good place for me,” said Schatz. “We qualified well and got ourselves in the right spot. We had a great race car tonight. We had to borrow our time a little bit and get to halfway to burn some of the fuel off that thing to get it to drive forward.”
The race began with Kemenah who started on the pole charging down the front straightaway and powering his way through turns one and two on the high side of the track. Schatz aboard the Armor All J&J, kept pace as he looked to the low side of turns one and two and then three and four several different laps as Kemenah utilized the high side of the track while leading.
The first caution of the night came out on the fourth lap, bunching the field up. On the restart Kemenah again used the high side of the track, leaving the bottom open in turns one and two for Schatz to take a look, though he was able to pull even a couple of times, he was not able to get around Kemenah.
Near the 10th lap, Kemenah found himself in traffic, which gave Schatz a couple of opportunities to make a pass for the lead. The caution flag waved twice more in the next few laps, with Schatz closing in on the leader.
Kemenah continued to work the high side of the track after the halfway point. Schatz got even with him a couple of times on the straightaways, before diving under Kemenah exiting the third and fourth turns on the 24th lap.
“You have to go where he is not and he was not going to get off that middle and top,” explained the winner. “It was good up there, though when the track slows down you aren’t going to run 40-laps up there. We had to bide our time and try to get my tires set in there on the bottom and let the race track get cleaned off a little bit and it worked. It didn’t work as soon as I would have liked, but I’m glad to get back to Victory Lane again.”
For the last 15 laps of the event, Schatz had to negotiate very heavy traffic, as well as hold off Dale Blaney and Jason Meyers. With his win, Schatz remains the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in every event this season.
“We got Chad (Kemenah) there,” Schatz noted of lapped traffic. “He got to traffic and tried moving around before that and his race car wouldn’t let him really move around. I scraped the whole race trying to figure out how to get my car better and how to get my car on the bottom. It took me a while to get going. Traffic is always fun, and that is where these races are won and lost and that’s what the people come here to see.”
The win for Schatz was the 82nd of his Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series career, which place him in sole possession of the fifth spot on the all-time win list, ahead of the 2001 series champion Danny Lasoski.
“Just liked when we tied Danny (Lasoski) it’s bittersweet,” noted the North Dakota native. “When you are a competitive person like I am, we don’t look at the number of wins. We do what we do here today and we worry about tomorrow and it’s obviously all about winning races. He is a person that I have always looked up to and he is definitely a true champion. It’s fun to put your name ahead of his, but it’s also bittersweet, but that’s how racing is.”
Blaney lined up fourth and gained a spot on the opening lap, getting around Jason Sides, before battling with Schatz. He would later get around Chad Kemenah to move into second and tried several times at the end to gain ground on Schatz.
“I think we finished in that same spot in 2006 to (Donny) Schatz,” shared Blaney, who pilots the Berlin Bakery Maxim. “We’ve always been pretty good here and always good against the Outlaws here. We felt like we had a good chance.”
Jason Meyers continues his string of Top-Fives, racking up his eighth consecutive Top-Five finish. The California native lined up fifth and lost a spot on the opening lap. He then battled with Jason Sides and Terry McCarl for the fifth spot. McCarl was running fourth on the 14th lap when he was caught up in an accident, which forced him to the work area and the back of the field on the restart.
“We had another good night,” said Meyers. “I think it was one of the slickest race tracks that we have been on all year long. We just weren’t quite good enough. I don’t know if we didn’t have the right tire on or what. It was still a good run.”
Kemenah led the first 23 laps of the contest at the high-banked 3/8-mile where he has nine career wins and wound up fourth. The Ohio native has eight Top-Five finishes on the season, including three in the last four races.
“I feel like we are getting closer,” commented Kemenah, who drivers the Kantor Oil Company Maxim. “My crew is doing a great job. I am really happy. We are trying to do our best for Jon Kantor (car owner), because he has given us everything to come out here and compete every night. We are proving right now that we can run in the Top-10 and we have had some Top-Fives here lately. That is my goal, to run in the Top-10 every night and if I am there, the wins will come.”
Joey Saldana was fifth aboard the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. Kerry Madsen came all the way from the 20th starting spot to finish sixth in the TK Concrete Maxim. Jac Haudenschild was seventh in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim. Steve Kinser was eighth in the Q Oil Maxim, with Butch Schroeder ninth in the All Star Plumbing & Heating Maxim. The pair got into a hard crash after the checkered flag flew. Tim Shaffer rounded out the Top-10.
Blaney ran third for most of the race, after snagging that position on the opening lap. He began the night by turning the fastest lap in time trials of the 42 cars that took to the track. He also used a strong run in the Crane Cams Dash, where he started 10th and ran fourth to earn a second row starting spot in the A-Feature.
“I didn’t want to see a whole lot of yellows,” said the Ohio native. “We had a 15 (compound) on (the right rear) and I wanted to run a lot of green flag laps and maybe that would get us going a bit. I wouldn’t say the cautions hurt us. We were hanging around there. It was a really good run. We have been knocking on the door the last few weeks when we run with these guys. We feel like we are going pretty good right now.”
The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Monday, July 28 at Paducah International Speedway in Kentucky for an event which was postponed by rain earlier this season.
Kinser Wins at I-96 Speedway
Lake Odessa, MI — Steve Kinser began and ended Friday on top, as he first set a new track record in time trials at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan and wrapped up the night in the Victory Lane, after claiming his fourth Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature win of the season.
The win was the fourth of Kinser’s career at I-96 Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. He took home $10,000 for the triumph, which was the 547th of his career.
“We had a good car all night,” said Kinser. “We’ve always run good here and you can’t complain about that. I do enjoy coming here to race.”
Kinser started on the pole of the 30-lap A-Feature at the half-mile aboard the Q Oil Maxim and quickly shot to the lead at the drop of the green, with Craig Dollansky chasing him. For each of the first five laps, Dollansky would look high exiting the first and second turns, along with the third and fourth turns, as Kinser ran the bottom of the track. Each time, Kinser would maintain his advantage.
The pair entered lapped traffic by just the fifth lap as they were setting a blistering pace. Five laps later they were in heavy lapped traffic, which gave Dollansky a chance to close in on Kinser and make a bid for the lead. On the 13th lap, Dollansky dove under Kinser exiting the third and fourth turns to inch ahead, and won a drag race down the front stretch, to be officially credited with leading the lap.
As the pair charged into the first and second turns on the 14th lap, Chad Blonde got sideways right in front of Dollansky, collecting him, while Kinser was able to take evasive action.
“I stuck on the bottom too long and I knew I was getting loose down there and not carrying enough steam,” Kinser noted. “I probably should have moved up about four, five or six laps earlier or maybe even before that. I waited a little too long and Craig (Dollansky) got by us just before the (No.) 5 car got sideways in front of him. I don’t know if I would have been able to have reeled him back in or not, but I should never have let him get by me anyway.”
Kinser was right on Dollansky battling to take the lead back when Blonde spun, and the 20-time series champion went off the track, but never stopped, and thus by way of World of Outlaws rules he retained his spot on the track, which made him the leader, with Dollansky taking his car to the work area with a flat right rear tire. Dollansky wound up 12th at the finish.
“It was real close, but I had enough room to dive off the end of the track,” Kinser explained of the spin in front of the leaders. “I gathered everything back up.”
Kinser led on the restart, with Joey Saldana getting around Chad Kemenah to move into the runner-up position, with Donny Schatz closing in on Kemenah and taking the third spot from him.
In open race track, Kinser began to pull away though just five laps after the restart, he was back in lapped traffic. With nine laps remaining, Kinser sliced through the middle of two lapped cars that were running on the high and low side of the track exiting the first turn. Just a couple laps later, Donny Schatz got around Saldana to snare the runner-up spots and set his sights on the leader.
The final caution of the night flew with just four laps remaining, setting up a shootout between Kinser and Schatz. A strong restart gave Kinser a healthy advantage. Schatz gained ground in turns three and four and with three laps remaining, he looked low of the fourth turn on Kinser. The next lap he pulled even with the leader on the back straightaway, with Kinser using the high side of turns three and four to retain his lead.
“I didn’t really want to come around the top and have anyone get a run on me in (turn) one, since I wasn’t getting into one very good up high,” shared the native of Bloomington, Indiana. “I ran in there about three-quarters of the way and pretty good up in there.”
Kinser continues a very consistent stretch of races in the month of July that has seen him finish in the Top-Five in nine of the last 11 World of Outlaws events. In that stretch was a $40,000 win at the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania last week.
“We are definitely gaining on everything,” said Kinser. “We have been in the Top-Five every night other than the second night at the Grove (Williams Grove Speedway). We had some trouble there and found out what it was. We have been running good here lately.”
Schatz, the two-time defending series champion lined up seventh aboard the Armor All J&J for the A-Feature on Friday night and he gained a spot on the opening lap getting around Jac Haudenschild, before working his way past Shane Stewart just two laps later. He then got around Chad Kemenah before passing Saldana late in the race to finish second.
“We had a decent car,” said Schatz. “That last yellow gave us a shot at Steve (Kinser). I had every bit as good of a car, and I just pushed myself a little bit too far. I needed to slow down to go faster and I pushed myself to go faster. That’s the way it goes. You win some and you lose some. This is a very tough place to race and we overcame some of the problems we have had here in the past. At least we were up there racing for a win anyway.”
Jason Meyers started 10th and finished third at I-96 Speedway, to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars of any driver in the A-Feature. It took him just 13 laps to work his way into the Top-Five, piloting the GLR Investments KPC. He began the night by turning the second quickest lap in time trials.
“We had a great race in the feature,” said Meyers. “I kind of made a mistake, because I didn’t think that work they did (on the track) after the dash would make a difference. I was way too tight in the dash and we came in and changed the car around and had a great race car. There guys did a great job with an engine change and everything that goes along with it. To come from 10th to third at this place is tough, so we are happy with that. If we would have had a little bit longer of a race and one more yellow, I think we would have had something for the leaders.”
Late in the race, Schatz tried the bottom of the track as he made a bid for the lead on Kinser. The runner-up finish was his 28 Top-Five finish of the season, and he remains the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in every event this season as he chases his third consecutive title.
“That’s where my car was better, but we just wore it out down there,” said Schatz of the low side of the track. “I kept making mistakes and running in too hard. I couldn’t keep my left side tires down on the bottom. It kept sliding out and when it did that, I had just let it drive across. I just wanted to keep some speed. I wish we would have had a few more laps, but it ended when it did and we did the best we could.”
Meyers moved into the Top-Five just before the halfway point of the race, before taking fourth from Chad Kemenah with seven laps to go. With just two laps remaining, he was able to take the third spot from Joey Saldana, who would finish fourth aboard the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI.
“We were about running the same line (as Donny Schatz) and he had a pretty good car,” noted Meyers. “I was able to get around Joey (Saldana) late. He was rolling pretty well around here and is always really good at this track. We are pleased with the night.”
Chad Kemenah finished fifth driving the Kantor Oil Company Maxim, with Jac Haudenschild in sixth, piloting the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim. Daryn Pittman was seventh in the Titan Garages Maxim. Shane Stewart was eighth in the Roth Motorsports KPC, with Kraig Kinser just behind him in ninth in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim. Kerry Madsen rounded out the Top-10 in the TK Concrete Maxim.
Last Lap Accident Costs Richards A Top Ten Finish
By Kevin Kovac, WoO LMS P.R. Director
Hartford, OH — Donnie Moran caught the breaks he needed to win Saturday night’s 50-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main at Sharon Speedway.
On an evening that saw two rounds of rain delay the racing action for over four hours, Moran benefited from Billy Moyer’s misfortune and survived heavy track conditions that exacted a toll on his equipment en route to capturing the third leg of Alltel Ohio Speedweek.
Moran, 45, of Dresden, Ohio, inherited the lead on a lap-44 restart when Batesville, Ark.’s Moyer slowed with mechanical trouble. The driver known as the ‘Million Dollar Man’ went on to triumph by 0.814 of a second over Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del., whose runner-up placing matched his career-best WoO LMS finish.
It was the first WoO LMS win of the 2008 season for Moran, who pumped his career victory total on the tour to four. He also continued his longtime penchant for success at Sharon, a Buckeye State track where Moran has shined on both its former half-mile configuration and current three-eighths-mile layout.
“This is like a second home to me,” said Moran, who earlier this year also topped an Independent Racing Series (IRS) event at Sharon. “Even before Dave (Blaney) was involved here (as a co-owner) and the track was real big, I always liked coming to Sharon. But since they changed it to a smaller oval, for some reason the configuration really fits my driving style.”
Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., settled for a second consecutive third-place finish on the tour after bidding for the lead midway through the race in the RSD Enterprises Rocket. Defending WoO LMS champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., finished tight to Clanton’s rear bumper in fourth after starting 11th in Dale Beiter’s Rocket, and polesitter Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., was fifth in a J.P. Drilling GRT car that ended the race with its suspension at less than 100 perfect functionality.
Moran acknowledged afterward that the sudden departure of Moyer, whose Victory Circle car tossed its fan belts after he had led laps 17-44, was ultimately the key to his win. The 50-year-old Moyer had advanced from the fourth starting spot to grab the lead from Moran on lap 17 and appeared primed to register his series-leading fifth victory of the season.
“On a couple late restarts (laps 36 and 44), Billy couldn’t open (distance) up on me like he could earlier,” said Moran, who drove his Donnie Moran Racing MasterSbilt car. “But if he didn’t have a problem (on the second of three lap-44 restarts), I’d say he probably would’ve won. We won, though, and that’s the story.”
Moran still had a major worry following the rough-and-tumble race’s ninth and final caution flag, on lap 44. His car’s left-rear suspension was left out of whack, likely as a result of the blazing-fast track conditions.
“The top four-link bolt came out there on the birdcage,” said Moran, who started third. “It never come out completely, though. It just ripped the threads out of the nut, which was real fortunate for us.
“It’s not surprising that something like this happened the way the track was tonight. There’s such severe loads on the cars anymore from trying to get as much traction as possible, and then when you get a racetrack with Mother Nature coming into play, it just creates that much more stress and fatigue on everything on the cars.
“When I first started racing these cars sat real flat and you had to baby the gas,” he added. “Now this is my 30th year of racing and I call these things ‘Traction Monsters.’ You just get in there, hike up, and go. You better be elbows up or you’re gonna get beat, and you better hope your stuff survives the conditions.”
Moran seized the lead for the first time on lap six from 2006 WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who paced laps 1-5 off the outside pole before fading and eventually retiring his overheating Sweeteners Plus machine on lap 17. Moran lost the top spot to Moyer in lapped traffic on lap 17 and watched Clanton overtake him for second on a lap-22 restart, but Clanton’s miscue on lap 31 allowed Moran to slip back into the runner-up slot and position himself for later glory.
Clanton, 32, appeared capable of threatening Moyer until his slap of the turn-two wall cost him two positions and left his car with too much damage to seriously challenge for the win.
“I just got above that cushion into the fluff and got sucked right into the wall,” said Clanton, who started sixth. “I hit it pretty hard. We’re just lucky it stayed together the rest of the race.”
Making his first appearance in New Yorker Joe Beyea’s Rocket No. 121 since last month’s WoO LMS Great Northern Tour, the 42-year-old Elliott also slipped by Clanton on lap 31. But he couldn’t summon enough speed to pass Moran for a first-ever tour win.
“He had on a little bit softer tires than us and just fired better (on the final restart),” said Elliott, who used American Racer rubber as opposed to Moran’s Hoosier tires. “The longer we went, the better we were, but Moran was good and deserved to win.
“I’m real happy with a second. I think it shows that this (Beyea) deal we have here is working out pretty well. This was only the fourth Late Model race for Randy (Kisacky, a noted DIRTcar big-block Modified crew chief who is wrenching the Beyea car), and you can see how well he’s working together with my regular (Late Model) crew chief Wayne Benson to get this car going right.”
WoO LMS points leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., padded his advantage with a sixth-place finish – an outing that had “championship material” written all over it. He fell behind at the start of the night when a flat left-rear tire during his time-trial run forced him to start scratch in his heat, but he rallied to qualify and then quietly marched forward from the 15th starting spot in the A-Main.
Finishing in positions 7-10 were Matt Miller of Waterville, Ohio; Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who came from the rear of the field after pitting on lap three to change a flat left-rear tire; Rick Eckert of York, Pa.; and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who pitted for servicing on lap 17.
Eckert’s ninth-place run came after he played musical cars during the night. He time-trialed his Rayburn; fell in at the back of the pack for his heat after switching to his GRT mount; won a B-Main with the GRT but developed engine woes; and went back to the Rayburn for the A-Main.
Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who sits second in the WoO LMS points standings, took a bit hit in his pursuit of Lanigan for the title. He was racing for sixth place on the final lap with Lanigan, Matt Miller and Babb when a scrape with Miller sent the 20-year-old sensation spinning in turn two.
The last-lap incident, which also collected Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., left Richards with a 16th-place finish.
Francis Breaks Out Of Victory Drought In Alltel Ohio Speedweek Opener At Muskingum County Speedway
By Kevin Kovac, WoO LMS P.R. Director
Zanesville, OH - Steve Francis let out a giant sigh of relief after capturing the Alltel Ohio Speedweek opener on Thursday night at Muskingum County Speedway.
The ‘Pepsi 40’ victory, after all, snapped a 19-race winless streak for the defending World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion.
“We needed this like nobody knows,” said Francis, whose only previous WoO LMS triumph this season came on April 19 in the Circle K Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. “We’ve just been off for awhile – making dumb decisions, missing stupid things. We finally were able to put it all together tonight.”
Francis, 40, of Ashland, Ky., was the class of the field in the first-ever WoO LMS event at Ronnie Moran’s three-eighths-mile oval. He steered his Dale Beitler-owned Reliable Painting/Valvoline Rocket car forward from the fifth starting spot to take the lead from Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., on lap 14 and was never threatened thereafter.
“Tires could’ve been an advantage for us tonight – they definitely performed flawless, there’s no doubt about that,” he added, singling out his American Racer rubber. “But more than anything, we really got our car good again. It was kind of a combination of the two – when the two come together, it’s a good night.”
Pearson settled for a third-place finish after leading laps 12-13 in NASCAR Sprint Cup star Bobby Labonte’s LifeLong Locks MasterSbilt car. He went with a “safer” Hoosier Tire choice than Francis and Fuller and couldn’t quite match their speed.
WoO LMS points leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., advanced from the seventh starting spot to take fourth in the GottaRace.com Rocket – his 17th top-five finish in the last 18 tour events – and polesitter Steve Shaver of Vienna, W.Va., placed fifth in the Cosgrove Racing Rocket. Lanigan overtook Shaver for fourth with just four laps remaining and extended his points lead to 120 points over 13th-place finisher Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who started fourth but faded dramatically as a result of an incorrect tire-compound choice.
Tony Stewart on The Big Show
Tony Stewart on the The Big Show with Dave and Joe at Race for Riley on July 23rd. Tony discusses a variety of subjects including his World of Outlaws and USAC race teams.
Tony Stewart Press Conference Video
No not the Number/Sponsor announcement press conference. In this video from WIBC Tony Stewart discusses Riley Children’s Hospital and meets Cameron, a Riley patient with terminal brain cancer.
Office Depot and Old Spice to Grace the 14 Car
INDIANAPOLIS – Office Depot and Old Spice will serve as co-primary sponsors of Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet Impala SS NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry beginning in 2009. Officials from the two companies, as well as from Stewart-Haas Racing, made the announcement today near Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), a leading global provider of office products and services, along with Old Spice, the No. 1 antiperspirant/deodorant stick and body wash choice for guys in the United States, have entered into multi-year agreements with Stewart-Haas Racing to sponsor the new entry driven by Stewart. In addition, both Office Depot and Old Spice are official NASCAR® partners, successfully leveraging their relationships with NASCAR and their race team sponsorships as powerful marketing platforms for their brands.
“To have Office Depot and Old Spice throw their support behind me and this race team makes me extremely proud,” said Stewart, who announced on July 10 that he had acquired a 50 percent stake in what is now known as Stewart-Haas Racing. “These are two partnerships that make a lot of sense.
“Office Depot focuses on small business owners, and with my role as a driver and owner next year, I’m both their spokesman and their customer – and I have been for years, because with two USAC teams, two World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series teams and three race tracks, you need a smooth-running office if you expect your business to run right.
“Old Spice has been with me for nine years, but our 10th year together is obviously going to be pretty big. This is a major commitment for the Old Spice brand, and we’re going to make sure the success we’ve enjoyed over the years continues.”
Delray Beach, Fla.-based Office Depot is the official office products partner of NASCAR, and its new sponsorship of Stewart, a two-time Sprint Cup Series champion, gives the multi-channel retailer continued star power in what will be its fifth year as a NASCAR sponsor.
“Tony is a successful entrepreneur who has an impressive record as a small business owner. This is one of the reasons why he is such a perfect fit for Office Depot,” said Chuck Rubin, President of North American Retail for Office Depot. “We believe that Tony’s passion to win and relentless pursuit of excellence truly embody the essence of the Office Depot brand and represent the commitments we make every single day to help our customers be successful.”
Old Spice, a brand of Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble (P&G), is the official antiperspirant/deodorant of NASCAR, and its longstanding partnership with Stewart has helped Old Spice become the leader in its category, as well as the male body wash category.
“We’ve really valued our relationship with Tony and have been growing our partnership for over nine years now,” said Alex Keith, P&G Beauty, General Manager, North America Deodorants. “It’s been a great program for Old Spice, and when he came to us with the opportunity to make it even bigger, we knew it was the right move. We’re absolutely thrilled to be on board.”
Also supporting Stewart’s Office Depot/Old Spice effort in 2009 will be Chevrolet. The winner of 31 manufacturer’s championships since coming to Sprint Cup in 1955, Chevrolet adds another powerful team to its already potent lineup with the addition of Stewart-Haas Racing.
Putting an exclamation point on Stewart’s new ride for 2009 is that his red and black Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet will carry the No. 14, made famous by the legendary A.J. Foyt.
“Tony and I have been friends for a long time,” said Foyt, a winner of four Indianapolis 500s, the 1972 Daytona 500 and the 1967 24 Hours of LeMans. “I think I first met him when he was running Midgets. It was quite a while ago so I don’t actually remember where and when. A few times he drove the Silver Crown car I had with George Snider back in the mid-90s and I gave him his first test in an Indy car in Phoenix (in 1995) and he ran pretty quick as I recall.
“In addition to being quick, he’s always told it how it is. I don’t think there’s anyone better to carry the No. 14.”
Stewart has always admired what Foyt, currently an IRL IndyCar Series owner, accomplished in a driving career that began in 1957 and spanned such racing divisions as Indy car, NASCAR, USAC and sports car racing.
“A.J. has always been my hero and will always be No. 1 on my hero list, with the best part being that we are really good friends,” Stewart said. “We obviously have a tremendous amount of respect for one another. I remember him calling me after I won my first Cup championship in 2002 and I remember how much it meant to have him call that night and congratulate me. We really do have similar pasts and carry a lot of characteristics that are the same. He is one of the greatest icons in racing worldwide and to be compared to him in any way is always a huge honor.
“We came up through the same types of cars, from Sprint Cars to Midgets, and then I went to the IRL and moved into NASCAR. A.J. ran Indy cars for a long time and still came into stock car racing and was successful. There aren’t a lot of guys that can go from car to car and still win races. It was something that A.J. was really good at and something that we have been very fortunate to replicate.
“He has given a lot back to racing and has been one of its biggest supporters. Without guys like him, guys like me wouldn’t have had a chance to succeed.”
Tony Stewart Still Has A Temper When He’s Wronged
Indianapolis - Tony Stewart still has a temper and it was showing at O’Reilly Raceway Park Thursday night. During the Midget portion of the double header, Tracy Hines brushed the wall during a restart on lap 8. His crew quickly changed the tire in order to get him back out before the restart. However, there was no push truck available to push him back out and as the crew pushed him onto the straightaway a USAC official stopped them and indicated it was to late.
That brought Tony down pit lane to “discuss” the situation with the official. Reports vary on what happened next. One report says that Tony “heatedly confronted” the official, while another claims that Tony knocked the headset off the officials head then shoved him.
At this time it’s not known whether USAC will issue any penalty to Tony.
Tracy, who has 10 wins at ORP, had held the midget points lead before the race but finishing 22nd dropped him back into 2nd. Teammate Levi Jones finished 4th.
In the Silver Crown portion of the double header, Hines finished 15th and Jones finished 7th.