Auto Xtreme Joins Godfather Motorsports

Godfather Motorsports is thrilled to welcome Auto Xtreme as sponsors of Caleb Moody's #1X Junior Champ Kart at Twin State Speedway! Owned by Rick Garand and Jamie Parker, Auto Xtreme is located at 186 River St. in Montpelier, Vermont. Both men have long histories in motorsports, and are former feature winners in the Flying Tiger division at Vermont's legendary Thunder Road International Speedbowl. Parker also worked as a track official at the speedway.

Garand owned and operated the S.L. Garand Granite Company for 22 years, selling granite monuments and dabbling in the used car business before deciding to make a career change. "Rick came to see me last winter," said Parker, "while I was housebound with a broken leg and couldn't run and hide. He wanted to open a used car dealership in Montpelier and needed a partner. After consulting with our wives and families (nine kids between us), 'Yes' was the answer. And here we are today."

Before joining Garand at Auto Xtreme, Parker worked for many years with the Walker dealerships in Central Vermont, getting his start at the VW store in 1995 and moving to the Ford/Jeep store a year later before eventually venturing out on his own as an auto wholesaler. "I always wanted to open my own dealership, but I needed someone I knew and trusted to go in with me. Rick was the perfect fit. We both have the same strong work ethic, and feel that honesty comes first. We are probably the most laid-back dealership you'll ever experience."

Auto Xtreme offers a wide selection of quality pre-owned cars, trucks and SUVs a prices to suit virtually every budget. Check out their website -- www.AutoXtremeVT.com -- to browse their ever-changing inventory and specials. We also ask all Godfather Motorsports fans to drop by their Facebook page -- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1092202132#!/pages/Auto-Xtreme/144557575561403 -- and tell them "Godfather Motorsports Sent Me!"

Vision Aviation "Restructuring" Truck Team

Sirius NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody has learned that the Vision Aviation Racing NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team has laid off virtually all of its employees, and has no plans to field trucks for at least the next 90 days.

The team has fielded one -- and sometimes two -- trucks this season after forging what was termed a “merger” with Billy Ballew Motorsports in late December, with Ballew retaining an ownership stake in the team. While Vision Aviation took possession of BBM’s truck inventory, transporters and some equipment, sources say Ballew has had little or no hands-on involvement with the team in recent weeks.

Drivers Dusty Davis and Justin Johnson have been the primary drivers for the team this season, but Michael Waltrip won the season opener at Daytona in the team’s #15 Toyota, with Aric Almirola driving the #51 when neither Davis nor Johnson were able to obtain NASCAR approval to race on the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Officially, the #51 is entered at Dover International Speedway this weekend, with Chris Fontaine as driver and Ballew listed as the owner of record. That move is little more than an owner-points formality, however, since the truck is actually a Chevrolet out of the Glenden Racing Enterprises stable. Glenden normally fields the #84 Chevrolet for Fontaine.

VAR management reportedly told employees earlier this week that the team was shutting down temporarily, with hopes to resume operation in about 90 days. Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said the team has released all but four people in what was termed “an across the board reorganization” and that plans are underway to restructure the team financially. VAR has reportedly spent approximately $2.5 million already this season, with a payroll approximately triple that of the former Billy Ballew Motorsports.

Ballew had little to say about the situation when contacted today, other than to stress, “I have been paid 100 percent of what is owed to date. The owners of Vision Aviation Racing have met every obligation they have to me, in full.” He declined to comment on the team’s future plans, saying he has not yet spoken with owners Bill and Steve Acor.

Attempts to contact the Acor brothers were unsuccessful.

Tharp: NASCAR "Needed To Send A Message."

NASCAR’s Senior Director of Communication Kerry Tharp told Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody that the $25,000 fines and four-race probations handed down to drivers Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch are in response to what happened on pit road after Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, and not for anything that transpired in the final laps of the race.

“We look very closely at what happens on the race track,” said Tharp. “But more importantly after the race, (where) the actions of those two competitors led to putting some people in harm’s way on pit road. We’ve got to maintain a safe environment on pit road, and we’re going to maintain a safe environment there. That’s why we reacted with the penalties.

Tharp said NASCAR fined both drivers equally because, “both had skin in the game. Both had opportunities to make other decisions that would not have put them in this situation, so the penalty was assessed to both.” He said the sanctioning body has reached out to both Busch and Harvick to clarify what is expected of them going forward, saying, “Anytime we penalize a driver, we have a conversation with that individual and their team owner. We feel like we owe it to both parties to give them a heads-up on what the penalties will be, so they can notify their respective teams and sponsors. We’ve had conversations with Kevin and Kyle and explained why we were penalizing them.”

Tharp stressed that while NASCAR’s official announcement specifies probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events, Harvick and Busch are also expected to be on their best behavior in the non-point Sprint All- Star Race on May 21 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “(The probation) encompasses the four championship point races in the Sprint Cup Series, but it also covers all NASCAR events that those two competitors may be in, including this weekend at Dover in the Camping World Truck Series,” he said. “It includes any and all events they may choose to compete in between now and June 15. It’s an all-inclusive NASCAR probation.”

Tharp said breaches of on-track protocol during the probationary period – regardless of what division -- could result in Sprint Cup Series penalties. “Once again, the key is that this applies to all NASCAR events. It’s not just how they race one another, either. It applies to how the race the rest of the field, as well. Whether it’s a Camping World Truck Series race, a Nationwide race or certainly a Sprint Cup Series race, we felt like we needed to send a message as it pertains to safety.”

He said the penalties do not signal a change in NASCAR’s “Boys Have At It” policy, adding, “The drivers have done a very good job of that. We’ve seen some terrific, hard racing over the last couple of years, and I think (the policy) is alive and well. We certainly want it to be.

“There has been a time or two where we’ve had to step in and do something, including last weekend at Darlington (with Juan Pable Montoya and Ryan Newman) when we felt there needed to be a reaction on our part. But as far as the racing on the track is concerned, it’s been terrific. But post-race, when you have an incident like we had Saturday, you have to step in and make a ruling. And we did.”

Tharp said he does not expect NASCAR to sanction either Newman or Montoya for a reported physical confrontation during a closed-door meeting at Darlington Raceway last Friday. “You go into some meetings thinking they’re going to go well, and most of the time they hit the mark. Sometimes, they don’t,” he said. “We met with Ryan and Juan Friday and made it clear to them that this was their final warning and we will be watching them very closely. I believe both of them understood where we were coming from. They got the message, loud and clear. They raced hard Saturday night at Darlington, but they raced cleanly. I believe they will continue to do so moving forward.”

Was It A Race, Or A Show?

Saturday night’s post-race skirmish between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch has renewed the age-old debate over whether NASCAR is sport, a show or a combination of the two.

Professional sports are at least part entertainment, and always have been. In order to survive, a particular sport must be exciting enough to draw and hold a crowd, both in person and on television or radio. In the 1970s, the popularity of Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe spawned a new sporting concept; World Team Tennis. The league featured top-notch athleticism and all the big names, but try as it might, the WTT wasn’t much of a show. League officials attempted to cast off tennis' stodgy image by blaring rock music between points and allowing players to wear something other than basic white onto the court. Even with those concessions, though, nobody bought a ticket.

NASCAR has always understood and embraced the importance of showmanship. That does not mean, however, that NASCAR is all “show” and no “go.” There is no question that fans witnessed a race at Darlington Raceway Saturday night; and a darned good one, at that. A green/white/checkered flag finish pitting championship contender Carl Edwards against underdog Regan Smith had the fans on their feet, and would have stood quite well on its own without the subsequent post-race festivities involving Harvick and Busch. The water cooler talk this week is almost equally divided between the finis” and the fight; the latter being a wildly overstated characterization of a conflict that saw neither Harvick nor Busch throw anything resembling a punch. "Race" and "show" are co-existing quite nicely this week, leaving no real reason for anyone to question whether NASCAR is truly a sport.

The answer is a resounding "YES," and it always has been.

NASCAR drivers are passionate about what they do, and that’s a good thing, even when incidents like Saturday night’s Harvick/Busch dustup lend themselves to the wildest forms of exaggeration. Nobody climbed out of their car and instigated a donnybrook that carried across pit road and through the Darlington grandstand, splattering young children with gore and traumatizing innocent bystanders. No one got hurt, no lives were lost and in the end, it’s difficult to say that any damage was done. NASCAR has weighed-in to make sure it doesn't happen again, and as the sanctioning body’s Senior Director for Communications, Kerry Tharp, said today, both Busch and Harvick know precisely what is expected of them going forward. It likely won’t happen again, and NASCAR fans have no reason to complain that their heroes are too bland, too politically correct, too vanilla.

When the Allison brothers threw down with Cale Yarborough after crashing out of the 1979 Daytona 500, the world as we know it did not end. NASCAR was not irreparably harmed. In fact, the sport almost certainly benefitted from the conflict. Saturday night’s Darlington dust-up won’t kill us, either. It might even do us some good.

NASCAR is far from perfect, but it could be much worse. The 2011 season is not being threatened by work stoppages or lock-outs, as millionaire athletes battle billionaire team owners for a larger share of an already obscenely large pie. Our athletes are not being subpoenaed to testify before a congressional subcommittee about their abuse of performance enhancing drugs. No one's been pulled over with a bale of marijuana in the trunk of their car, and nobody's going to jail for shooting themselves with their own unregistered handgun in a seedy strip club on the outskirts of town.

On the list of problems NASCAR could have, we could do much worse than “too much showmanship.”

Midget Racing At Darlington

The Godfather and Angie -- well, part of her, at least -- enjoy the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series "Showtime Southern 500" at Darlington, mere moments before Angie's cute bag was confiscated by the FBI as a possible Al Quaida explosive device. Photo courtesy of TheHotLap.com.

Cinderella Strikes Again At Darlington

Regan Smith struck another blow for NASCAR’s underdogs Saturday night, outrunning Carl Edwards on a green-white-checkered flag restart to claim an upset victory in the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington. Just two years after losing his ride when Dale Earnhardt, Inc. merged with Chip Ganassi Racing, Smith claimed the first win of his Sprint Cup Series career, carrying the Colorado-based Furniture Row Racing team to Victory Lane in the race they call “The Granddaddy of Them All” at the track called “Too Tough To Tame.”

Just 24 months after running a part-time schedule – including a number of start-and-park efforts due to a lack of funding -- Smith admitted there were times he doubted whether he and his team would ever make the cut. The 2009 campaign was especially difficult, with FRR racing only sporadically after team owner Barney Visser –who has funded the team largely out of his own pocket since 2005 – elected to trim the schedule due to lack of sponsorship. “I hated racing part-time,” said Smith. “We all did. But we all agreed to just go to work and make the most of it together.”

In 2010, Smith felt the pressure as Furniture Row underperformed in its return to full-time competition. "There were times I was thinking, 'Heck, maybe they are going to fire me,'” he said. “There were some sleepless nights (when) I’ve laid there thinking, `I did this wrong, I did that wrong.’ I broke my wrist at Sonoma… didn’t have it fixed and raced at Loudon with it broke completely. I got out of the car that day, it hurt really bad, it was a horrible day. We were so far off the pace... probably one of the worst races I ever have driven. As a driver, you never know when your last race is going to be. But everybody stuck behind me and gave me the support I needed… to keep my head on straight.

Saturday night, the stars finally aligned for Smith, Visser and crewchief Pete Rondeau, a Maine native best known for sitting atop Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s pit box for a brief, three-month period in 2005. After starting 23rd and running in the Top-15 for most of the night, Rondeau gambled when Jeff Burton’s blown engine sent the leaders to pit road with 10 laps remaining. He left Smith on the race track, hoping to somehow outlast the pack on older rubber. After an aborted restart when Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer crashed, Smith did just that, fending off point leader Carl Edwards in a green-white-checkered finish, bouncing solidly off the SAFER barrier in Darlington’s treacherous second turn rather than crack the throttle and give Edwards an opportunity to pass.

"Oh, man, this is too cool," said a tearful Smith on his cool-down lap. "I can't believe it. This is too cool. This is the Southern 500!” Gazing at the Johnny Mantz Trophy in a champagne-soaked Victory Lane, Smith commented on the names and faces of former winners emblazoned there, saying, “I’m not sure I belong on this list. My face is going to be right there next to these guys and it’s going to be there forever. You can’t change that.”

Smith’s first victory in 104 career Sprint Cup starts – his first Top-5 finish, as well -- served to erase the bitter aftertaste left by his previous brush with NASCAR greatness; the 2005 race at Talladega that saw him stripped of an apparent win for straying below the yellow line on the final lap. "I didn't know if I was ever going to get that one back," said Smith Saturday. "When I walked to the car (tonight), I thought we could win the race. I think that every week when we walk to the car. The difference was this week, we did. To (win) at Darlington is absolute vindication. Tonight, I finally won’t fall asleep thinking about Talladega.

Just weeks after Trevor Bayne shocked the world by taking the legendary Wood Brothers to Victory Lane in the Daytona 500, Smith’s win Saturday proved once again that there is still a place in NASCAR for underdogs. Located far from the Charlotte, NC, hub of the sport, Furniture Row Racing uses just 64 employees to field its single Sprint Cup Series Chevrolet. That’s a small fraction of the number once employed by DEI, which cut Smith loose at the end of the 2008 season after he clinched Rookie of the Year honors with the team. It’s fewer than the number employed by ECR Engines to provide the team’s power plants, and fewer than the number employed by Stewart-Haas Racing, which furnishes Furniture Row’s leased over-the-wall pit crew each week.

“We obviously haven’t got as many people on our payroll as Hendrick, Roush or Gibbs,” said Rondeau recently. “But our people want to be here. There is some disadvantage to working out of Denver, Colorado. Lots of guys have built their lives and families in the Charlotte area, and they’re not interested in uprooting to come work for us. But once they’re here, once they see the passion Barney Visser and (General Manager) Joe Garone have for this sport and what they have built in a fairly short period of time, we don’t have any trouble keeping them.”

“The more doors get slammed in your face,” said Smith, “the thicker your skin is. Winning here means more to me (because we’re) racing out of Colorado. Everybody said, `You can’t race outside of Charlotte… where all the teams are. You can’t do it.’

“Well, we’ve been doing it every week.”

Saturday night’s victory puts Smith on an elite list of former Southern 500 champions that includes Herb Thomas, Fonty Flock, Curtis Turner, Fireball Roberts, plus Petty, Pearson, Yarborough and Gordon. Better still, it legitimizes him – at long last – as Sprint Cup Series survivor. “We’ve had some great qualifying runs this season,” said Smith as recently as last week. “But Barney doesn’t pay me to qualify, he pays me to race. We haven’t been able to get the kind of finishes we need on race day.”

All that changed Saturday night.

"I don't really know how to put it into words right now," said Smith. "It feels a lot different at the end of the day when you say, 'Hey, I won at Darlington.' "

Bayne Released From Mayo Clinic; Timetable For Return Still Unclear

Trevor Bayne has been released from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. after being admitted last week for testing and evaluation.

The 20-year old Daytona 500 winner will continue to be monitored by the Mayo Clinic team, but is expected to return to the cockpit for Roush Fenway Racing in the Nationwide Series and Wood Brothers Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. He will not drive #16 Roush Fenway Nationwide Series Ford tomorrow night here at Darlington, however, and no specific timeframe has been set for his return.

Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. Brian Crum said Bayne underwent a series of tests and consultations after suffering from nausea, fatigue and vision impairment, saying the symptoms “appear to be the result of an inflammatory condition.” He said Bayne’s condition is not life threatening or career-ending, and that he will continue to be followed closely by his Mayo Clinic team." He said Bayne’s nausea and fatigue have abated, while his vision continues to be treated with medication and is showing significant improvement.

Chris Buescher will fill in for Bayne again this weekend here at Darlington.

Danny Bohn To Drive For Godfather Motorsports at Motor Mile

Denver, NC – Godfather Motorsports returns to the track in the PASS 150 on Saturday, May 28 at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA, with third-generation driver Danny Bohn at the wheel.

Bohn’s family has roots in two different professional sports. His grandfather, the late Parker Bohn, is a New Jersey stock car racing Hall Of Famer who piloted his distinctive #659 Modifieds to five track championships at New Jersey’s Wall Stadium, Long Branch Speedway, Old Bridge Raceway and numerous other tracks across the eastern seaboard. Bohn’s son Eddie – Danny’s father – carried on the family tradition as a top-notch modified pilot, and grandson Parker III – Danny’s cousin -- is enshrined in the Professional Bowler’s Association Hall of Fame.

Danny Bohn has continued the family’s hard driving tradition since beginning his racing career in the Bandolero division in 2003 at Wall Stadium. He won the track championship in only his second year of competition, before graduating to the Limited Modified ranks and winning the championship in both 2006 and 2007. He split time between dirt and asphalt racing beginning in 2009, and was a main event and pole winner on the ASA asphalt Modified Tour in addition to being voted that circuit’s “Most Popular Driver.” On dirt, he won the Modified Track championship at North Carolina’s East Lincoln Speedway and carried the checkered flag in the prestigious “WIX Dirt Modified Border Battle” at Champion (NC) Speedway. He defended his “Border Battle” championship a year ago, and racked up multiple feature wins at Carolina, Champion and East Windsor Speedways. He has already visited Victory Lane at three different tracks in 2011, winning at Carolina, East Lincoln and I-77, and is campaigning an asphalt modified in a limited schedule of events at the legendary Bowman Gray Stadium.

Bohn will make his first career Super Late Model start at Motor Mile, and said he is looking forward to racing for Godfather Motorsports. “When Dave Moody and Jim Gallison offered to put me in their car, I jumped at the chance,” he said. “Super Late Models are the next step for me, and I can’t wait to get started. One of GFM’s major sponsors, Bea’s Gift Baskets.com, is also a major supporter of my dirt modified program, and I couldn’t be happier to have them along for the ride.”

“Danny Bohn is an incredibly talented young driver who is building an impressive resume on both dirt and asphalt,” said Godfather Motorsports co-owner Dave Moody. “We tested with him earlier this season, and he adapted almost instantly to a car and a track that he had never seen before. We knew right away that we wanted to give him an opportunity.”

About Godfather Motorsports – Godfather Motorsports is jointly owned by Motor Racing Network and Sirius NASCAR Radio personality Dave Moody and partner Jim Gallison, Jr. The team enjoys major corporate support from Bea’s Gift Baskets.com and a comprehensive list of technological and marketing partners including Eibach Springs, JRI Shock Absorbers, Wilwood Brakes, C&R Racing Inc., Five Star Race Car Bodies, Dynotech Engineering, RaceCom of Virginia, ASM Graphics and X-Flex Crash Tape.

Truex Renews Call For MWR Crew Change

Martin Truex, Jr. laid it on the line Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, unleashing an emotional outburst that could result in some new faces on his NAPA Toyota team Saturday night at Darlington.

Just weeks after a stuck throttle triggered a vicious crash at Martinsville Speedway, Truex exploded at his pit crew after a pair of pit road gaffes cost him the lead in the Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400. “You’re all f---ing fired,” barked the normally soft spoken driver. “Every f---ing one of you!”

“I couldn’t believe it was happening again,” said Truex today. “It seems like when the race is on the line and the pressure is on, we always seem to give it away. Everyone loses their cool from time to time, and Saturday night, I certainly did. It’s frustrating, but hopefully now we can get these issues fixed and move on.”

Truex said Saturday night’s uncharacteristic outburst stemmed from his need to vent after weeks of frustration. “It’s hard to be out there in the race car and say nothing (when things go wrong),” he explained. “You can’t help pushing the button and telling everyone how you feel. I went from screaming, “Hell yeah” when we took the lead to absolute rage when we had a loose wheel, pitted to fix it, then left a lug nut off and had to pit again.

“We put so much into this,” he said. “We put our entire lives into what we do. The Sprint Cup Series is the toughest, most difficult series in the world, and there’s a lot of pressure on everybody to perform. If you’re not doing your job, someone else will come do it for you. I want to win more than anything in the world, and that’s why I got upset. If people don’t like (me) yelling on the radio, they need to turn the radio off.”

Truex stood by his call for changes in his Michael Waltrip Racing over-the-wall crew, saying, “it’s been an ongoing thing with us. Since the midpoint of last year, we’ve had problems with loose wheels. I reached the end of my rope the other night, and it’s time to address it. I’m sure there will be some changes (before) next Saturday night. I don’t know exactly what they have planned, but after 12 or 13 loose wheels in the last 20 races, it’s time to make a change.”

Truex said he was excused from MWR’s weekly competition meeting in order to travel to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for tomorrow’s opening day of a Goodyear tire test, adding, “It’s probably better that I wasn’t around, because it wouldn’t have been pretty.

“The last few years have been tough -- not getting the results we expect or deserve -- and this season has been the same way,” he said. “We’ve had great race cars and run really well, but we have absolutely nothing to show for it. It’s frustrating to continually go through this, week in and week out. Sooner or later you get tired of it and have to do something different.

“I’ll let the higher-ups make the decisions and push the buttons,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll do the right thing so we don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

NASCAR Lets Montoya, Newman Have At It

Everyone’s got an opinion about Saturday night’s on-track clash between Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya. NASCAR, however, is staying out of it.

Montoya and Newman have been on-track rivals since 2006, when they tangled during Montoya’s Sprint Cup Series debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Contact from behind sent Montoya spinning into the outside wall that day, leaving his Ganassi Racing entry ablaze on the track apron and triggering harsh words from the former F1 star. The pair renewed acquaintance again Saturday night, when Newman “hooked” the right-rear corner of Montoya’s Chevrolet on lap 107 after Montoya appeared to drift into his lane at the exit of Turn Two. Montoya damaged his rear spoiler after clipping the wall, and ran in the second half of the field until exacting a measure of revenge some 130 laps later by spinning Newman in Turn Four.

Were the incidents mere racing accidents, intentional takeouts, or a little of each? It depends on who you ask. Both drivers are among the hardest chargers in NASCAR, known for racing on the ragged edge and making their fellow drivers earn every position they get. Eventual second-place finisher Denny Hamlin said afterward that Montoya, in particular, is not a man to trifle with in the heat of battle.

“Every time Montoya has damage, (the person) who did it usually ends up getting wrecked,” said Hamlin. “I like him, I think he's a hell of a driver. But you can't wreck everyone every time you get in an accident. Accidents happen. Guys make mistakes.”

Montoya and Newman drivers did not speak following the race, despite the fact that their transporters were parked just a few feet apart in the Sprint Cup garage. Montoya cold-shouldered interviewers from both NASCAR On FOX and MRN Radio before beating a hasty retreat from the speedway, while Newman walked directly to the NASCAR transporter “to see how this situation is going to be handled.

“He ran up on me off of (Turn) Two and I clipped him,” said Newman afterward. “I'm not going to dump myself into the wall. But to retaliate the way he did just didn't show much class."

NASCAR declined to sanction either man, in keeping with the “Boys Have At It” edict that has governed the sport since the beginning of last season. And while some believe that more stringent penalties should have been levied, NASCAR seems committed to the hands-off policy that has served it well for the last 115 months. The sanctioning body did what was necessary to defuse the situation Saturday night, warning both drivers that a third clash would result in punitive action. Now, they’ll leave it to Newman and Montoya to settle their differences like the grown men they are.

In the early weeks of the “Boys Have At It” era, there was concern that NASCAR’s new policy might reduce the sport to a 190-mile per hour Demolition Derby. After Carl Edwards’ brutal payback of Brad Keselowski at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March of 2010, fans feared that Sprint Cup drivers would suddenly feel empowered to begin enacting vigilante justice for every perceived slight; both real and imagined.

There has been no real evidence to justify those fears, however. Drivers have generally settled their personal grievances with a minimum of bent sheet metal, allowing NASCAR to remain above the fray. Saturday’s Montoya/Newman flap – while good for a few spicy headlines and sound bites – was noteworthy only as an example of the kind of thing that happens in a NASCAR short track race.

Grooming The Next Generation!

The OTHER half of the Godfather Motorsports racing stable; Caleb Moody's Junior Champ kart that competes weekly at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, NH. Another awesome graphics job by ASM Graphics!

How To Help The Tornado Relief Effort

Through the newly launched NASCAR Unites charitable platform, the NASCAR community can support disaster relief efforts made necessary by this week’s tornado outbreak in the Southeastern part of the United States.

Fans can log-on to NASCAR.com/Unites to support the ongoing relief efforts by volunteering or making a donation. NASCAR has also filmed a call-to-action television spot earlier today featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip and NASCAR President Mike Helton that will air during tonight’s Bubba Burger 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race on SPEED and tomorrow’s Crown Royal Presents The Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on FOX.

In addition to the NASCAR Unites effort, MRN pit road reporter Danielle Frye has organized a relief effort centered on her home county, St. Clair County, Alabama, where 11 people lost their lives this week. Transporters donated by Red Bull Racing and Hendrick Motorsports will deliver relief supplies to Pell City, Alabama for distribution to those in need.

Bottled water, non-perishable food items, coolers, personal hygiene products, baby wipes and plastic tarps are high on the high of needed items, and listeners in the Charlotte, North Carolina area are encouraged to help by dropping off donated items to MRN Radio's Concord studios at 555 MRN (formerly Akins) Dr. In addition to Red Bull and Hendrick, Joe Gibbs Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Stewart Haas Racing have all pledged their support to the effort. The Jeff Gordon Foundation's Promise Circle will also provide information on its website detailing how fans can help.

Benson Returns To His Michigan Roots

Former NASCAR champion Johnny Benson will drive the #21 Racing Awareness Chevrolet owned by MRN Radio announcer Jeff Striegle in the May 7 Boyne Machine Super Late Model series event at Michigan's Berlin Raceway. Benson was previously announced as Racing Awareness’ primary driver for 2011, but was not scheduled to drive his first race until June. A schedule change made him available to be behind the wheel for the opening event, and also make a run at the series championship.

“The schedule opportunities worked in our favor,” said Benson. “We still have a race conflict later this summer, though, so we will just have to see how it plays out."

Track officials have said that each driver's worst finish will be dropped when tallying points toward the championship. Benson will now be able to compete in all but one series race, giving him a shot at the title. “Knowing that we already have to drop the race I can’t attend puts us behind, but we’ll at least have a shot at (the championship),” said, who won his last track championship at Berlin Raceway in 1989.

The new #21 Late Model will carry the same paint scheme as Benson’s 1993 ASA championship-winning car, along with the logos of Racing Awareness’ charity beneficiary, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. Check out www.racingawareness.com/events for the team's complete schedule.

Benson, who currently resides in Cornelius, North Carolina, grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and followed in his father's racing footsteps, eventually winning the 1995 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title in 2008. He also has a win in 274 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts.

The "Best Damn Garage" Is No More

The building that housed part of Smokey Yunick's legendary "Best Damn Garage In Town" was destroyed by fire Monday in Daytona Beach, Florida. The North Beach Street fire was reported at approximately 7 pm, but the age of the dwelling and its decades of use as an auto repair shop prevented firefighters from aggressively fighting the blaze. Within 90 minutes, little remained of the storied building but the blackened remains of two outer walls.

While some are mourning the loss, Yunick's daughter said her legendary father would have shunned such attention. "It was Smokey's expressed wish that we liquidate the contents of the building and sell the property," said Trish Yunick a day after the blaze. "He said, `Don't make it no damn shrine.'”

The elder Yunick opened his "Best Damn Garage in Town" on Beach Street in Daytona Beach in 1947, repairing trucks on one side of the building and building race cars in the other. The race shop featured blacked-out windows and locked doors, keeping curiosity seekers and spies alike at arm’s length. Day and night, Yunick and his band of helpers labored with torches and stick welders to create some of the fastest -- and often most controversial -- racers in the history of motorsports.

Yunick was a self-taught engineer, learning to create and refine mechanical devices after dropping out of school at age 16 to take over the family farm following the death of his father. Lured into motorsports by team owner Marshall Teague, Yunick welded up the Hudson Hornet that carried driver Herb Thomas to victory in the second running of the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. In the two decades that followed, he was twice honored as NASCAR’s Mechanic of the Year, winning 57 races and two Grand National championships with some of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport.

Often operating on the fringes of legality, Yunick frequently confounded NASCAR officials. In 1967, he constructed a 15/16-scale Grand National Chevelle for driver Curtis Turner; dropping its roofline and raising the floor to lower the overall stance of the car, while still maintaining a stock appearance. Smokey called it the best car he ever built, but it was far from the only “gray area” creation to roll out of the Beach Street shop. Yunick once put a basketball in the fuel tank of his car, inflating it to decrease fuel capacity during pre-race inspection, then deflating it for the race. He once sidestepped NASCAR regulations limiting fuel tank capacity by utilizing more than eleven feet of two-inch diameter fuel line. Officials pulled the gas tank from his car, then handed him a list of 10 items to fix before being allowed to compete. "Better make it 11,” he barked, leaving the tank behind as he drove back to the garage.

In the early 1960s, Yunick designed a precursor to today’s SAFER barriers using tires mounted between sheets of plywood. NASCAR ignored the concept. He developed a revolutionary air-jack system for stock cars, but was again rebuffed by the sanctioning body. He introduced offset chassis, extended-tip spark plugs, roof spoilers, variable-ratio power steering and nitrous oxide to NASCAR competition, and while his cars carried Marvin Panch and Fireball Roberts to victory in the 1961 and 1963 Daytona 500s, he eventually tired of NASCAR’s white-glove scrutiny and walked away from stock cars for good. "All those other guys were cheatin' 10 times worse than us," wrote Yunick in his autobiography. "It was just self-defense."

Yunick shut down the “Best Damn Garage” in 1987, complaining bitterly that there were no good mechanics left for him to hire. And after padlocking the doors for the final time, the legendary mechanic made it clear that he would tolerate no undue sentimentality.
“When Smokey sold the building, the sales contract specified that nothing could be sold as being from the garage,” said Trish Yunick. “And there could not be a Smokey Yunick (or) racing-themed eatery established there.”

Smokey passed away in 2001 at the age of 77. And while his battered cowboy hat is currently on display in the NASCAR Hall Of Fame, many viewed the humble, cinderblock building on North Beach Street as an enduring monument to one of NASCAR’s greatest creative minds.

“The bulk of the buildings -- the truck shop and the race shop where all his magic happened -- were razed in 2005,” recalled Trish Yunick. “But when the developer left that solitary building standing, it made me wary. I went down last night and watched them finish putting the fire out, and now I don't have to worry about his wishes not being honored.

“I have heard from many fans over the years, saying it was sad the `Best Damn Garage in Town’ wasn't being preserved,” she said. “And in some ways, I agree. But I am pleased that we have honored his wishes. I also know that the mark he left on the performance industry won't be erased just because the building is gone.”

Early Crash Sidelines Rowe At Hickory

Mike Rowe and the #30 Sirius Speedway/Bea’s Gift Baskets.com Chevrolet suffered a disappointing night in Saturday’s season-opening “Easter Bunny 150” at the legendary Hickory Motor Speedway. The Godfather Motorsports team was forced to play catch up after a much-needed practice day fell victim to rain Friday. An undiagnosed brake bias issue caused handling problems that plagued the team throughout practice and qualifying, and with 44 of the nation's top Super Late Model teams in attendance, Rowe failed to crack the Top-20 in qualifying and was relegated to the second of two Last Chance qualifying races. He started in the 30th and final starting position in the Main Event after claiming a Promoter’s Option, but was swept-up in an early multi-car crash and relegated to a 30th-place finish.

“We spent most the day chasing an issue that didn’t exist,” explained Godfather Motorsports co-owner and crew chief, Jim Gallison, Jr. “We had a problem with our brake bias adjuster that left us with about 90% front brake and created a huge `push’ in the corners. We made adjustment after adjustment, but never really saw the changes we should have seen. By the time we discovered the real issue, we had 15 minutes to totally reset the chassis before the heat race. The guys busted their tails, but we were still a little off.”

“I think we would have been fine in the 150,” said Rowe. “The car was a lot better, and we planned to pit under the first caution flag to make a chassis adjustment. Unfortunately, we were the first caution flag.” A multi-car crash in turn two left Rowe with nowhere to go, and the #30 Sirius Speedway/Bea’s Gift Baskets.com Chevrolet suffered damage to the left-front suspension that ended the team’s evening.

“We really needed that Friday practice day,” said Rowe. “When it rained out, it put us behind the eight ball. A new car always needs sorting out, and we just didn’t have the time we needed Saturday. This is a good race car and a good race team. These guys work as hard as any team I have ever worked with, and I’ll be happy to work with them again if they invite me back.”

Next up for Godfather Motorsports is the PASS 150 at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA on Saturday, May 28 with third-generation driver Danny Bohn at the wheel.

About Godfather Motorsports – Godfather Motorsports is jointly owned by Motor Racing Network and Sirius NASCAR Radio personality Dave Moody and partner Jim Gallison, Jr. The team enjoys major corporate support from Bea’s Gift Baskets.com and a comprehensive list of technological and marketing partners including Eibach Springs, JRI Shock Absorbers, Wilwood Brakes, C&R Racing Inc., Five Star Race Car Bodies, Dynotech Engineering, RaceCom of Virginia, ASM Graphics and X-Flex Racers Tape.

Nationwide Changes Working As Planned

Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano swept the top four finishing positions in Saturday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series “Nashville 300” at Nashville Superspeedway, apparently renewing the popular debate over the presence of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers in the Nationwide Series.

During the offseason, NASCAR made a major change in the way it selects its Nationwide Series champion, requiring drivers to declare which national series in which they will earn 2011 championship points. That move forced Brad Keselowski to forego a defense of his 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series title. It also eliminated Edwards, Busch and Logano from title contention, after they understandably opted to earn Sprint Cup championship points instead of competing for the Nationwide title. They are, however, still allowed to race and win in the Nationwide Series, and they are doing just that.

Sprint Cup regulars have won all eight Nationwide Series events this season, led by Busch with four victories. Edwards has visited Victory Lane twice, with Tony Stewart and Mark Martin claiming single wins. Some observers seem surprised by their continued dominance, apparently believing that a change in the way NASCAR tabulates its championship points would somehow affect the actual on-track competition.
For the record, Edwards, Busch, Keselowski and company are still the dominant drivers in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, just as every realistic observer of the sport knew they would be. They have superior experience behind the wheel, along with the best equipment, sponsorship, personnel and manufacturer support. They should be winning races, and they are.

But while those Sprint Cup drivers continue to dominate on the race track, there is a group of younger, Nationwide-only drivers waging war at the top of the point standings. Jason Leffler, Justin Allgaier, Reed Sorenson and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. have each taken a turn at the top of the championship leader board this season, receiving a good deal of media attention for doing so. Elliott Sadler, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne and Brian Scott are in hot pursuit, and are also earning considerably more time in the spotlight than they did a year ago.

Some members of the NASCAR media have already labeled the new point system a flop, complaining that Nationwide Series regulars have not been miraculously transformed into consistent race winners. They complain bitterly that the playing field has not been leveled, allowing Turner Motorsports to begin trouncing the likes of Jack Roush, Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske while ignoring the fact that nobody -- especially NASCAR – ever promised such a change.

Study up on NASCAR history and you’ll see the playing field has never been level. Raymond Parks and Red Byron dominated their era, Smokey Yunick won in his and Petty Enterprises and the Wood Brothers dominated in theirs for the same exact reasons that Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush and Joe Gibbs dominate today; because they have more money, more factory support, smarter people and better drivers. There have always been good teams, mediocre team and bad teams, and the ongoing effort to legislate competitive equality goes against everything that professional sports stand for. It’s like giving the Chicago Cubs a fourth out every inning to make up for their comparative lack of talent.

There’s nothing wrong with rooting for the underdog. Unfortunately, we have taken that affinity for the little guy and turned it into an outright hatred of those who achieve at a high level. Win too often and NASCAR Nation will inevitably try and run you out of town. Never mind that Jimmie Johnson is a nice guy, a tremendous spokesman for the sport and one of the best drivers of this (or any) era. He wins too often, prompting fans and media members alike to call for more parity in the Sprint Cup Series. “Parity,” if you’re wondering, is code-speak for “slow Jimmie down.”

People say they’re tired of seeing big teams beat little teams, but that’s not true. What they’re really sick of seeing is Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch win races. Kyle is not dominating the Camping World Truck Series in Joe Gibbs Racing equipment. He is fielding his own team and winning with it; something most fans claim to support. And yet, he is seen as part of a problem that needs to be fixed, and fixed now.

Those who criticize the Nationwide and Truck Series for not allowing “shade tree mechanics” to run up front are simply out of touch with reality. A race team I am involved with competed in a Super Late Model race last Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway. Even at that level of the sport – far below even the Camping World Truck Series -- nearly half the teams showed up in tractor-trailer transporters as expensive as anything seen in the Nationwide or Truck garages. There were 44 Super Late Model teams at Hickory this weekend, and not one of them built their car in a dirt-floored, single-bay garage with a lonely light bulb flickering from the ceiling.

It’s time for NASCAR’s fans and media to ditch the romanticism and accept the fact that modern-day NASCAR National Series teams have budgets that far eclipse the budget of a 1980 Winston Cup operation. This is not 1963, when a race team could be built by a few friends working in that dirt-floored, one-bay garage. This is 2011, and successful National Series race teams now run on $7-10 million per year, not $25,000. If you’ve got $25,000 to spend on a race car this season, build a Late Model and run it at your local short track. Don’t expect to compete and win on the second-largest series in America.

And stop crying for NASCAR to bring the competition back down to your level.

The only way to stop Busch, Edwards and their fellow Sprint Cup drivers from winning Nationwide and Truck Series races is to ban them from the circuit entirely. As we have discussed in the past, doing so would also eliminate Stewart, Martin, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., from the starting lineup, stripping those series of much of its marquee value and depriving track owners of their top ticket sellers. That is not a move that NASCAR, its promoters or television and radio partners are willing to make.

So here it is, one more time for those who somehow are still incapable of understanding what happened during the off-season. NASCAR’s new Nationwide point system was not designed to change what happens on the race track on Saturday night. It was designed to alter the look of the championship standings on Monday morning; augmenting an already strong on-track product by allowing talented Nationwide-only youngsters to battle for the series championship.

On both counts, the new system is working as planned.

First Look! The Sirius Speedway/Bea's Gift Baskets.com Super Late Model

Race day is just 24 hours away, and the Sirius Speedway/Bea's Gift Baskets.com #30 Chevrolet is ready to roll. Warren Hamilton of ASM Graphics installed the awesome vinyl graphics last night, putting the finishing touches on a build that was completed -- from bare chassis to race-ready -- in just 12 days.

If Mother Nature is willing, the Godfather Motorsports team will practice at Hickory Motor Speedway today from 4-7 PM ET, then be back at the track when the pit gates open at 11 AM Saturday to begin preparations for the Pro All Stars Series "Easter Bunny 150." Time trial qualifying begins at 5 PM, with racing beginning at 6:30.

"It's been an amazing two weeks," said Godfather Motorsports co-owner Jim Gallison, Jr. "The boys have worked their tails off to get this car finished, and I couldn't be happier with the finished product. First races are always an adventure, but with a little luck, I think we'll have something for them Saturday night!"

"We could not have done this without the amazing support of our technical and marketing partners," said GFM co-owner Dave Moody. "Bea’s Gift Baskets.com came on board this week, and David and Bea Alexander are as excited about this team as we are! Our friends and supporters at Eibach Springs, JRI Shock Absorbers, Wilwood Brakes, C&R Racing Inc., Five Star Race Car Bodies, Dynotech Engineering, RaceCom of Virginia, ASM Graphics and X-Flex Racers Tape have just been awesome, and we could not have pulled this off without them."

Join us Saturday night for the debut of the #30 Super Late Model and help root driver Mike Rowe to the front of the field!

Beas Gift Baskets.com Joins Godfather Motorsports

Godfather Motorsports announced today the addition of Bea’s Gift Baskets.com as a 2011 marketing partner. Godfather Motorsports will field a Chevrolet Impala Super Late Model in selected events on the PASS and CRA Super Series circuits in 2011, with an all-star lineup of drivers. The team will make its competitive debut in the PASS-sanctioned “Easter Bunny 150” at Hickory (NC) Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 23, with former PASS National Champion and three-time Oxford 250 winner Mike Rowe at the wheel.

Bea's Gift Baskets.com was born six years ago when founder Bea Alexander’s penchant for designing gift baskets for friends grew from hobby to full-scale business. Since then, the company has expanded to provide specialty gift baskets for virtually every occasion. Bea’s Gift Baskets.com is one-stop gift shopping at its best. Simply select your gift and Bea’s will assemble and ship it anywhere in the Continental United States.

Earlier this year, Bea's Gift Baskets.com was selected to provide gift bags for celebrities and VIPs at the 31st Annual Emmy Awards, and Alexander was selected 2011 “Professional Woman of the Year” by the National Association of Professional Women.

“Bea’s Gift Baskets.com is a great American success story,” said Godfather Motorsports co-owner Dave Moody. “They are a family based company founded on quality, integrity and personal service, and we look forward to helping spread the word about their amazing line of products.”

“We couldn't be more thrilled to partner with Godfather Motorsports,” said Alexander. “Dave Moody’s reputation in the world of motorsports stands for itself, and my husband is a huge fan of his show of Sirius NASCAR Radio. We look forward to a long relationship and many wins, beginning this weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway!”

Check out their full line of gift baskets and specialty products for every occasion at www.beasgiftbaskets.com

About Godfather Motorsports – Godfather Motorsports is jointly owned by Motor Racing Network and Sirius NASCAR Radio personality Dave Moody and partner Jim Gallison, Jr. The team enjoys major corporate support from Bea’s Gift Baskets.com and a comprehensive list of technological and marketing partners including Eibach Springs, JRI Shock Absorbers, Wilwood Brakes, C&R Racing Inc., Five Star Race Car Bodies, Dynotech Engineering, RaceCom of Virginia, ASM Graphics and X-Flex Racers Tape.

Rusty Wallace Rolling Out Third Car

Rusty Wallace Racing has announced that the team will field a third Toyota Camry in a partial 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule. In addition to the team's #62 Pilot/Flying J Toyota driven by Michael Annett and the #66 5-Hour Energy Toyota piloted by Steve Wallace, RWR's familiar #64 Toyota will return to the track with David Reutimann, David Stremme and 2011 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown winner Jason Bowles sharing seat time.

Syracuse, NY-based Aspen Dental, a network of nearly 300 dental practices across 22 states will provide primary sponsorship for four events at Michigan International Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway. Stremme will drive the car in several of those events. Reutimann will lead off the season this weekend in Nashville, with sponsorship to be announced later this week. Bowles will pilot the #64 Toyota in all three Nationwide Series road course events this season at Watkins Glen, Road America and Montreal.

RWR General Manager and former Sprint Cup crew chief Larry Carter will return to the pit box to lead the team in its limited schedule, after guiding Steve Wallace to a top-20 finish in this year's Daytona 500; Wallace's first career Sprint Cup start.

"We're very excited about this new addition to our racing program," said Rusty Wallace today. "Not only are we able to continue our partnership with Aspen Dental --a solid and growing network of dental practices -- but we're also able to evaluate our race cars even further.

"It's no secret that we haven't run as well as we would have hoped in 2011 and having a veteran like David Reutimann giving additional feedback should help speed up our learning curve. David Stremme did a great job for us in 2008 and I really feel like Jason Bowles has the potential to be fast at the Nationwide level."

Your Help Is Desperately Needed

This past weekend was a rough one for people in parts of Alabama and North Carolina, where a series of devastating tornados inflicted widespread damage and caused multiple deaths. Our MRN Radio colleague Alex Hayden returned from Talladega Superspeedway today to find his hometown of Goldsboro, NC, severely damaged, and many of his townspeople in dire straights.

Alex is doing his part to help rebuild the community, and has asked us to lend a hand by spreading the word. We are happy to do so. If any of our Sirius Speedway listeners would like to assist in the rebuilding efforts, donations of any sort can be sent to Eastern Wayne High School, Att: Tony Parrish, 1135 New Hope Road, Goldsboro, NC 27534. For more information on the relief effort and what specific items are needed, phone 1-919-751-7120.

Some of the storm victims are left with only the clothes on their backs, and desperately need our help.