NASCAR Daily News Headlines * March 11, 2008

Petty Donates Two Cars

The Petty's decision was prompted by the Nextel Cup's retirement of the cars in preparation for the move to the "Car of Tomorrow" in 2008.

Petty Enterprises General Manager Robbie Loomis noted in an ESPN.com article that the first donation would be to Virginia Tech for use at VIPER, primarily due to the research already underway there with a well-known motor sports team. "In this sport we need an area where we can groom and shape engineers to really fit the racing model. There always seems to be a disconnect between the book engineer and the actual applications engineer at the racetrack. So we hope we can bring that together for the future," said Loomis.(registerbee.com)

Addington: Crew Chief of Race

The Addington-led crew consistently gave Busch great pit stops throughout the race, as he fell outside of the top-five only once. The biggest scare of the day came on lap 148 when Busch came in contact with the wall as he entered turn one and yielded the top spot to Clint Bowyer. Addington called his driver to the service lane shortly after the incident, which gave the crew a chance to remedy the situation and propel Busch back to the front.

Addington and the No. 18 SNICKERS® team have led the most laps of any team in 2008. “It seems to me that he gives 125% in practice,” said Addington of Busch after the race. “He can judge what he needs to do to beat 'em and does an awesome job at doing that and I think that helps us out as a race team.” Addington and Busch have found the chemistry that it takes to win races. “It’s an honor to win this award on behalf of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team.”

The 2008 WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief Challenge is a season-long contest that will determine the best crew chiefs in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage. Following each Cup race, a panel will vote to determine which crew chief demonstrated the most outstanding strategy and leadership during the race. It isn’t necessarily the crew chief that goes to victory lane, but the crew chief that made the biggest difference to his team.

Representatives from WYPALL Wipers, together with FOX/Speed television analyst Jeff Hammond, and three of NASCAR’s top crew chiefs who represent WYPALL, including Todd Berrier of the Richard Childress Racing No.29 Shell Pennzoil Chevy team, Bob Osborne of the Roush Fenway Racing No.99 Office Depot Ford team, and Kenny Francis of the Gillett Evernham Motorsports No.9 Budweiser Dodge team, make up the panel of judges.

In addition to the $1,000 check, the winning crew chief will receive signage to announce the win on their pit box the following week. The crew chief with the most weekly top wins will be honored as the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief of the Year and will be presented a $20,000 check at the season finale in Homestead, FL.

“The WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief Challenge spotlights the crew chief’s efforts to get his team in Victory Lane,” said Tom Merrill, Category Manager for WYPALL Wipers. “WYPALL Wipers and crew chiefs are a natural fit. Crew chiefs only want to use reliable products on their cars and engines. That’s why they choose WYPALL Wipers. Our products are used to wipe up the toughest, most stubborn messes, and we want to focus on the men who put WYPALL Wipers to use each week. That’s why we continue to show our appreciation to the crew chiefs.”

Arneson To Write Mickey Thompson Story

“After being approached for many years by many writers regarding telling the Mickey Thompson story, my sister and I went with Erik Arneson because of his straightforward storytelling style,” said Danny, who is leading an effort to complete one of his father’s designs and re-capture the wheel-driven World Land-Speed Record by 2010. “Lyndy and I both took the time to read Erik’s book ‘At Full Throttle’ and we were moved by the story of Darrell’s life and the way Erik told it. We decided he was the right person to tell my dad’s story.”

Thompson was the consummate Southern California hot-rodder in the 1950s, before going on to become the American personification of speed, driving everything from his famous Challenger I Land Speed Record streamliner to off-road trucks across Baja.

Known for his creative mind, quick temper and eagerness to gamble, Thompson influenced everything from run-what-you-brung drag racing to the Indianapolis 500, creating performance parts, successful businesses and entire race series along the way.

It all came to a tragic end, however, when Thompson and his wife, Trudy, were gunned down in the driveway of their hillside home 20 years ago on March 16, 1988. The gruesome crime gained national attention, and the legal battles dragged on for nearly two decades, before former Thompson business partner, Mike Goodwin, was found guilty by a Pasadena Superior Court jury in 2006 of two counts of first-degree murder. The actual gunmen still have never been identified or apprehended.

“This is a story I’ve waited a long time to work on,” said Arneson, who also serves as Vice President of Media Relations for SPEED. “Darrell (Gwynn) introduced me to the idea when we were working on his book nearly 10 years ago, and over that time, Mickey’s amazing life has been reduced to a paragraph or two in stories about his tragic death. Mickey touched so much of the American motor sports landscape when it was really taking shape … and he didn’t touch it gently. When Mickey was around, people knew he was there, so I expect that telling his story will be an interesting adventure.”

The book will include never-before-seen photographs from the family collection. Motorbooks Inc. -- (www.motorbooks.com)

David Bull Publishing -- (www.bullpublishing.com)