DuPont 200th Anniversary Paint Scheme
WILMINGTON, DE. (August 30)- - A DuPont 200th
anniversary paint scheme will be
a "special" scheme for next season. Whether it's for just one event, or multiple
races remains to be seen. It will be unveiled on September 20 during
the annual DuPont Motorsports Golf Classic at The
DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware. So how does it look?
It has a white front, red sides with "Blasberry"
(mostly blue-purple) Prizm Chromalusion "Swoop" type stripes in it.
The DuPont 200th anniversary logo is on the hood and rear decklid.
True Value Recognition
GULF STREAM, FLA. (August 28)- - Jeff Gordon
is the third-quarter nominee for the 2001 NASCAR True Value Man of the Year
Award. The award is designed to honor a driver not only for their accomplishments on the
track but for their community service contributions and charitable efforts.
Jeff and his wife Brooke donate time and money to a number
of charities through the Jeff Gordon Foundation which was
set up to assist the Make-A-Wish Foundation, The Marrow
Foundation, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and
the Riley Hospital for Children in Indiana.
In addition, he
has made monetary donations to "Cassidy's
Place," a therapeutic day nursery which focuses on children five and under
who suffer from severe disabilities caused by prenatal exposure to cocaine and
from serious medical conditions, such as cancer and AIDS.
Mark Martin was the first-quarter nominee and Rick Mast was the second-quarter
nominee. The fourth-quarter nominee will be announced on November 12.
The award will be presented at the Winston Cup banquet in New York City
on November 30. The winner will receive a $100,000 prize to be
divided evenly between the driver and the charity
of his choice. Jeff won the award in 1996 and has been nominated several times since.
Last year he was also the third-quarter nominee for the award
won by Dale Jarrett.
The Safer Race
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (August 22)- - Twelve
months ago, only one Winston Cup driver wore a head and neck restraint
system at Michigan. In last Sunday's Pepsi 400, 41 out of 43 starters
wore either the HANS device or the Hutchens device designed to protect
the driver's head and neck in a front impact crash. The rapid increase
is due in large part to Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash in the season-opening
Daytona 500. Jimmy Spencer
and Tony Stewart are the only two drivers who have elected not to wear one of the two
restraint systems in a Winston Cup race. Until last weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr
was among that group. At Michigan, Earnhardt Jr tried the Hutchens device in practice
and opted to wear it in the race. He said that he
intends to make it a permanent part of his racing safety equipment. His
decision came after discussions with Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, and Jeff Burton.
"I was really surprised by some of the drivers who asked me to wear it, so
I thought maybe I should take a little more serious look at it," Earnhardt
Jr said. "I really hadn't put a lot of thought into doing it until then.
They asked me to do it and I think I'd be a fool not to take their advice on
something like that." While Jarrett is a perennial contender for the Winston Cup
championship, he feels the sport is being led by two drivers.
"I can say there's a couple of us that have suggested it to him because
we care about him," Jarrett said. "There's two guys right
now that drive this sport, and that's Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. And we
want to keep those guys around here."
The Next 30 Years
SPEEDWAY, IN. (August 6)- - Growing
up in Pittsboro, Indiana, Jeff Gordon dreamed of winning
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When his career path led
him to stock cars in 1991, he dream was put on the back burner. However,
when NASCAR came to the famed track in 1994, Gordon won
the inaugural race. He followed that up with another victory at
the track in 1998. His third victory at the track cements
his name as the only three-time stock car winner
at the most prestigious motorsports facility in the world.
After turning 30 years of age on Saturday, Gordon gave himself
the birthday gift he wanted more than any other.
"It's the best way to celebrate my 30th birthday," Gordon said. "It's been
a phenomenal day. To have all these people here
cheering us on, I was choked up in the car. I love Indianapolis and I love
the state of Indiana. It's been so good to me. I didn't think we had the
car to do it, but the crew did a phenomenal day today. I don't
race for statistics, I race to win and that's what we did today.
At the beginning, we were way off.
Lately, we haven't had any pit strategy things go for us and that was the
key. At the end of the race, we took two tires on our last pit stop and that
was the decision. Robbie Loomis makes all the calls in the pits. We were
between two tires and no tires and I thought we needed two."
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