September 23, 2007
By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

I sat in a hotel room in Streetsboro, Ohio Friday night and pondered what on earth to write about this week. My friend and racing buddy, Shantell, was visiting for the evening, and we bounced ideas off each other for a while.

Junior? No…too many columns about him this week. Heck, any week. Plus, this being Sunday, it has already been over half a week since he announced he was going to the No. 88 Amp/National Guard car. I have nothing to add other than to say I am so glad that has been announced and he can now just focus on the rest of the season.

What about Clint Bowyers win? Nope. That was a week ago. While it was great to see him not only win, but to do it in such dominating fashion, we throw the green flag in a few hours on a new race at a new track. And the only car he is starting in front of this week is the No. 55 of Michael Waltrip. Not very auspicious if he wants to repeat.

As we chatted, I was looking through some stats to see how many drivers had won their first race…and then followed it up by winning the next race. Believe it or not, it has only happened once. Billy Wade won in a car owned by Bud Moore at Old Bridge Stadium in New Jersey on July 10, 1964, for his first career win. Two days later, he won again on a road course at Bridgehampton, N.Y. But Wade didn't stop there. He also won July 15 at Islip (N.Y.) Speedway and July 19 at Watkins Glen. So he not only won his first race and followed it up with a second win, but he won FOUR races in back-to-back-to-back-to-back events across the span of nine days. Since Clint is back in 42nd….I’m not going to hold my breath that he might tie that mark this weekend.

In researching the whole back-to-back wins thing, I came across several other random and interesting facts. I love learning something new about NASCAR, and am a big fan of random and, in some cases, meaningless facts.

We have nine races left in this season. So far, no driver born in North Carolina has won a race this year. Looking at the options, the likelihood that one WILL win this year is looking pretty slim. Or, in my friend's words “Slim to none”.

The drivers born in North Carolina are Dale Junior, Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty, Brian Vickers, Scott Riggs and David Reagan. With the exception of Dale Junior, the options are closer to none than slim since three of the drivers are having a hard time even making the races much less winning them. In two weeks, Dale Junior is going to lose Tony Eury Junior for the rest of the season as he moves to HMS to begin getting the No. 88 team ready for next year. I’d give Junior the slim over the none, but not by much.

If none of those drivers can pull out a victory, it will be the first time in the history of NASCAR that a driver from North Carolina has failed to win a race. That is going to be a hard record for many fans to deal with, but perhaps it shows just how far out of the south the roots of the drivers have moved.

Another interesting fact while we are talking about DEI drivers. No driver in Cup or Busch has ever won a championship driving the No. 1 car. Martin Truex Jr., by getting into the chase, has a chance to break that streak; however the chances of him accomplishing that feat are also….slim to none.

What Truex does have a chance of doing is sweeping the Dover races in 2007. As a matter of fact, he has a better than average chance of winning this weekend, because drivers in the Chase have won the last four races at Dover (Truex, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson). Truex will start from fifth today, a pretty good way to try and make that sweep a reality.

Last weekend was the first time in recent memory (and possibly the modern era of NASCAR) all the cars that started the race finished the race. Mind you, not everyone was on the lead lap, but no one left the track early, and every one of the 43 cars that started the race took the checkered flag.

I hear a lot of fans complain that when cars don’t wreck and who believe that having a race with only a handful of cautions and few lead changes, is a boring race and a waste of their time. However, the last time I checked, we were watching “racing” not “crashing”, and isn’t the point of racing seeing guys go around the track racing each other, not wrecking each other? If you want to see a wreck-fest…go to the demolition derby. If you want to see some rubbin’ and a bunch of cars going fast as they try to get around each other without putting someone else in the wall to accomplish that goal, then watch the race.

Finally, I want to piggy back off of another article that I saw online this week. It talked about the Busch Series, and several teams looking to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. In just over a month, the Busch Series will be returning to Memphis to race, and an idea by a man looking to mesh the worlds of NASCAR and St. Jude has led to 15 teams offering up their cars to be designed by children being treated at the hospital. These children aren’t just sick, they are dying. They have diseases that we adults can’t even pronounce, much less understand. These youngsters have little to smile about, but the idea of creating a piece of art that will be displayed on a race car has brought excitement to their lives.

The goal is to get as many teams as possible involved. Both of Kevin Harvick Racing’s cars are involved, as are the teams from Fitz Motorsports, Wood Brothers JTG, Team Rensi, Braun Racing, Robert Yates, Richard Childress, and Michael Waltrip Racing. Missing are some of the bigger name teams, including Roush Fenway, Gibbs, and DEI.

If you are a fan of racing, a fan of charity, or a fan of both, please do me a favor. Take a few moments and draft up an e-mail. Write a quick note to your favorite Busch team and either thank them for participating in this great effort, or ask them to please become a part of it. ESPN has already promised that they will cover every car that takes part, so the sponsors are assured of airtime, as are the teams. The publicity for the teams that take part will only be positive. Most importantly, think of the children. The smiles on their faces, the pride in their eyes as they see their picture wrapped around a race car that will be going 150 mph with their hard work shining in the sunlight.

It seems like a pretty easy decision to me. So why hasn’t everyone decided to take part? With a few moments of your time and an e-mail, maybe you can do your part to make that happen.

Have a great day everyone, and most of all, enjoy the race!

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.