Zippy’s Charity Ride Includes Cup Champion Stewart
[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”205″]
[/media-credit]In just a couple weeks time the Zippy’s Crusade for Kids Annual Charity Snowmobile Ride will take place in Inlet N.Y. With over a foot of new snow in the area things are looking up for great riding conditions. Former NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief Greg Zippadelli and his wife Nan are working hard to make this year’s ride one of the best. “This is our sixth year of doing the ride,” Greg said when asked how long the ride has been happening. This year’s event is scheduled for Friday and Saturday January 27 & 28. The Zippadeli’s said in a statement, “The 2011 Zippy’s Crusade For Kids event allowed us to donate much needed funds to some great organizations and families, including the Shriners Hospitals for Children, the National Transplant Assistance fund, Motor Racing Outreach and the Children’s Homes of Iredell County.”
The fun part for participants in the event is the extensive list of celebrities that will be participating and the activities already planned. On Friday there’s a meet and greet, mingling and reception on tap. Saturday there’s breakfast (or brunch), then the actual snowmobile ride itself. The plan is for a snowmobile ride broken into groups for everyone that wants to ride sleds in the scenic Adirondack Mountains. As far as personalities there’s the Zippadelli’s (both Greg and his wife Nan will be there), plus Greg’s younger brother Scott, who was the crew chief for Kenny Wallace in 2011. There’s also Tony Stewart, the 2011 Sprint Cup champion who will be participating as well as his new crew chief Steve Addington and members of the No. 14 Stewart-Hass Sprint Cup car team. Donny Schatz, driver of Tony Stewart Racing’s sprint car team will also be there.
The emcees are also some pretty well known people from the NASCAR world and include, Steve Post from MRN radio, Wendy Venturinni from SPEED TV (and a Better Half Racer) and Matt Yokum. All of these personalities have been involved in the Crusade for some time now.
“Zippy’s Crusade for Kids is first and foremost a great cause because of all the lives they have touched with the money raised,” The Postman, Steve Post said. He also noted just how much fun it was to participate saying, “Beyond that it’s just a great time.”
Post makes no bones about how he feels about this event. He said, “I have made friendships that will last a lifetime at this event, people who have a hobby of snowmobiling are just good people, who love their riding and love having a good time around it. The people in that region absolutely roll out the red carpet and make us feel right at home while there.”
Post said, “One of the things that amazes me is the way the schedule plays out, race fans will get to spend a lot of time with Tony Stewart, Greg Zipadelli, Steve Addington, Donny Schatz, Matt Yocum and the other crew guys that participate in the ride.” Post concluded by saying, “This is the one ‘must do’ event on my calendar each year and I can’t wait to get up there for some more fun.”
How did the Zippadelli’s decide that the event should be held in Old Forge N.Y. area? Greg said, “The reason why I do it there is I used to spend a lot of time up there as a younger guy with Mike McLaughlin.” McLaughlin, the former NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and Zippadelli worked together when McLaughlin drove a modified that Zippadelli was a crew member of. “I met my wife there,” he continued. “It’s a great area. We still have a lot of ties in the area. We made a lot of friends there. They help and support us with everything they got. In fact, without them we couldn’t get it done. We really call on a lot of our friends up there to help us get this done and they work their guts out getting it done.”
About the event Zippadelli said, “It’s a two day event for sponsors and ticket holders. Friday night is a closed deal, you’ll be able to mingle and hang out with everyone. It’s a real up close and personal experience. You’ll be able to interact with everyone there. We do that on purpose and it’s a reason that people have been coming all six years that we’ve been doing this. I wish you could speak to the folks that go.”
Zippadelli was recently named the competition director of Stewart-Haas Racing a position that wasn’t filled during the past season after they released Bobby Hutchens. Zippadelli and Stewart won two Sprint Cup championships when Zippadelli was Stewart’s crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Zippadelli said, “The way I looked at this it’s a great opportunity with a great organization. Tony took a big chance with what he did (leaving Joe Gibbs Racing and starting his own team) and it worked for him by making his move.” Zippadelli looked at the move as a great opportunity, “For me, it was time to make a change. Right now I am getting used to everything as we’re real busy getting ready for the test in Daytona in a few weeks. It’s a great way me for to start working with these guys.”
For more information about the event, attendees and the schedule go to www. crusadeforkids.com
David Ragan to drive for Front Row Motorsports
[media-credit name=”Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images North America” align=”alignright” width=”230″]
[/media-credit]David Ragan is no longer standing in NASCAR’s unemployment line.
It has been reported by The Charlotte Observer’s Jim Utter that Ragan has signed on to drive for Front Row Motorsports full time in 2012. Front Row Motorsports is owned by restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins (not the ESPN commentator), who took full ownership of the team from Jimmy Means in 2005. The team had just two top-10 finishes by David Gilliland last season. One being a third place finish in the biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500. Also driving full time for the team last season was Travis Kvapil who didn’t fair as well. His highest finish during the 2011 season was a 16th place finish at Martinsville in October.
The Unadilla, GA native moves on from Roush Fenway Racing’s 6 car with one Sprint Cup Series win coming at Daytona last July. Ragan lost his ride with the team due to the cut back of primary sponsor UPS and was released to find another full time ride in the series.
Among the remaining unemployed Sprint Cup drivers are Brian Vickers, Landon Cassill and J.J. Yeley. It is unclear whether or not David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil will keep their rides with Front Row Motorsports this season.
Sources have said to expect an official announcement of the new deal early this week.
NASCAR Notebook – Silly Season is Apparently Over
It looks like the Daytona Pre-Season Thunder event pushed teams to make decisions on 2012. If you remember, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Kurt Busch, and Clint Bowyer were dismissed or left their rides following the 2011 season. One by one, they found employment, but the changes were substantial.
[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”253″]
[/media-credit]1. When sponsorship couldn’t be found for the Roush-Fenway No. 6 after the 2011 season, Roush released David Ragan from his contract. Ragan finally found a ride in one of the Front Row Motorsports Fords this weekend, as I predicted. It was also announced that Nationwide Series Champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will be in the Daytona 500 in this car for seems to be a one-shot effort.
2. After being released from the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 00 car, David Reutimann finally found a ride with Tommy Baldwin Racing for a limited number of races. Reutimann will be replaced by Mark Martin and owner Michael Waltrip in what will become the No.55.
3. The No. 5 ride vacated by Martin will be filled with Kasey Kahne at Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne had driven the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota in 2011 after leaving Richard Petty Motorsports late in 2010.
4. After Kurt Busch and Roger Penske agreed to part ways, and after much speculation on who would drive the No. 22 Dodge, A.J. Allmendinger was hired on what many consider to be a one-year contract.
5. When Allmendinger was given his release from the No, 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford when main sponsor Best Buy left for Roush-Fenway, it was rumored that Kurt Busch would get that ride. Unfortunately, sponsors didn’t feel comfortable with Busch, so Aric Almirola got the ride and got the bonus of Smithfield Foods as a sponsor.
6. When Clint Bowyer and Richard Childress couldn’t come to terms or a sponsor could not be found, Bowyer left the No. 33 Chevy for Michael Waltrip racing with NAPA as sponsor and using the No. 15. The No. 33, much like the No. 6 at Roush-Fenway, was retired.
7. Kurt Busch ended up at Phoenix Racing with the No. 51 Chevrolet, which is considered an arm of Hendrick Motorsports. No sponsor has been announced.
8. Scott Speed found a ride in the No. 95 Bob Leavine Ford for an unannounced number of races, a place Speed raced last year for a few races.
9. Sadly, TRG Racing, the home of rookie of the year Andy Lally, has apparently closed shop to concentrate on other forms of racing
Whew, is that ever a mouthful. In the more than 15 years I have been covering the Sprint Cup Series, I cannot remember any more changes. Most of it is a symptom of a not-yet-recovered economy. Things will get better in time. It will be interesting to see how the move to MWR Toyotas treats Martin and Bowyer, how Stenhouse performs in the No. 6 at Daytona, a race that car has been very competitive in, if Kahne can avoid the slump of the No. 5 at Hendrick, how A.J. does in the Penske organization, whether or not Aric Almirola can lead the Pettys back to victory circle, and finally what Kurt Busch will do in James Buescher’s cars. I can’t wait
********
After all the stuff we’ve heard (and stuff is very appropriate in this context) over the years, we were led to believe that some insurance god somewhere had mandated that under no circumstances could cars run faster than 200 mph at Daytona, and something awful would happen if that were the case. Well in Daytona testing this week, even though single car speeds were well below that, 200 mph was fairly common in drafting. NASCAR went to a bigger plate on Friday, and the result was Kurt Busch topping 206 mph, and went back to the smaller plate on Saturday. The result was still speeds in excess of 200 mph, so I guess we can expect some tweaks before next month if the 200 mph insurance mandated limit is still in effect. Or was it ever? Kurt Busch said this week that was common in the two car drafts. I have no idea, but the last two days saw more pack racing.
*********
I cannot imagine how it feels to be David Ragan and David Reutimann these days. Ragan was in the car that Mark Martin almost won numerous championships in, and was featured in UPS commercials the last few years. Now, he’s been relegated to running in a car that, well, hasn’t been all that competitive. Reutimann is in the same position. Both have won races in better equipment, but their chances, except at Daytona or Talladega, are slim (anyone can win there). It also points to the big gap in the haves and have-nots.
Mikey Kile: Ready For The Challenge with Andy Belmont Racing
In their breakout season last year with driver Chad McCumbee, Andy Belmont Racing set the bar high as they won the Bill France Four Crown Award and finished fifth in driver’s points. With that said, Mikey Kile knows the expectations are high for him this year.
“I can’t wait to get the season going,” Kile said. “They’ve really set the bar high at Andy Belmont Racing, so it’s a tremendous challenge to take it to the next level. I believe our ModSpace team will come out of the blocks fast. This race team will start the year in full stride.”
The Westlake, La. driver has had success before as he finished fifth in points in 2010 with Venturini Motorsports. The season begins for the 28-year-old at Daytona with the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 on February 18th.
“I’m confident we’ll be in the championship hunt all year,” Jennifer Belmont said. “Mikey is the driver I believe can make us a contender in our flagship car. He’s always been fast at Daytona, so we’re confident he will get us off to a good start. Everyone on this race team has spent a lot of hours making sure he will have a good car. Mikey will do the rest.”
Kile got started in racing through go-karts at a young age. Since then, he has moved up the ranks, having success at various levels. Career highlights include four carting championships, eight IMCA modified wins and 2008 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series Rookie of the Year.
In 2009, Kile ran some ARCA and Camping World Truck Series races for Brad Keselowski Racing. In the truck series, he qualified career-high 10th at Las Vegas and finished a career-high 11th at both Milwaukee and Gateway in the Truck Series. In the ARCA Series, he qualified a career-high 10th at Kentucky and finished a career-high fourth at Talladega.
“It was good,” Kile said of that experience back in 2010. “Our first outing we ran at Martinsville and finished 11th. I think we ran six races and finished top-12 in three or four of the six. We were sixth quickest at Vegas and running top-10 there and top-10 at Texas and a pit stop issue there caught us outside of the top 10. It was a learning curve, but definitely running there and running good, I felt like I belonged there.”
In 2010, he ran the full schedule for Venturini Motorsports, which led to him running some ARCA races for Venturini in 2011 and some NASCAR Camping World Truck and Nationwide races for Turner Motorsports.
Last month, Andy Belmont Racing made it official that they had hired Mikey Kile for the entire 2012 season.
Andy Belmont Racing also added a new crew chief to the team as they brought Jeff McClure on board. Though there will be one thing that stays the same for ABR as Modspace has come back on board.
“ModSpace is always excited to start the season at Daytona,” said William Mann, vice president of ModSpace Motorsports. “The history and energy that comes with this historic track always creates an exciting race! We are looking forward to seeing Mikey get behind the wheel the No. 1 ModSpace Ford and deliver a top-notch finish.”
“The entire team had a successful test at Daytona and they came back with a lot of notes to make the car even better,” Kile added. “This is an exciting time for everyone involved with this ModSpace race team. We’re all eager to get it started at Daytona. We will also be testing a new car at Talladega Superspeedway at the end of this month.”
Kevin Swindell Takes Chili Bowl Hat Trick
The Chili Bowl went off without a hitch. Although its spirit was dampened by the loss of one of its young stars, Donnie Ray Crawford, in a domestic violence situation. More so than other series I have covered the young man’s loss was felt strongly by not only competitors but fans and officials a like. So much so that in his memory they increased the main event by 5 laps to make it 55 his car number and used his car as the pace vehicle to start the race. The only other showing of grief that even comes close to what I saw today was the grief seen in Rockingham in 2001 after the loss of Dale Earnhardt.
The last day of the event saw 19 races starting with the K mains and progressed up to the A main. 4 cars transferred from each race until the D mains when 6 cars transferred and finally the 12 from the 2 B main features filled the last 12 spots of the 24 car field of the Chili Bowl.
The biggest surprise of the day was the Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year winning his B Main in commanding fashion. Richard Vanderweerd won his feature event by a straight away over 2nd place RJ Johnson. Though he didn’t make it into the top ten in the A main when the dust cleared, he showed himself to be a very talented and gifted young man.
The fore gone conclusion of the day, that a Swindell would win the Chili Bowl. And one did. Kevin Swindell pulled off the Chili Bowl hat trick in a race that was interrupted by on only one caution flag for Levi Jones tumble in turns one and two. Jones who was uninjured in the crash never returned to the fray. From that point on the pole sitter dominated the race. From the green flag to the checkered flags Kevin Swindell lead every single lap.
Kevin’s only challenge for the race came from his father Sammy. The elder Swindell made several hard charges at his son until he got tangled up with a lap car and broke the left rear shock and damaged the front axle. For most competitors that would have been the end of their day. Sammy Swindell however is not most competitors and he finished the final 6 laps in a car that was not capable of making any further challenge for the lead.
Third place went to the young lion, Kyle Larson. This young man is going places. Even though he never mounted a serious challenge to the Swindells, he held off all comers otherwise and finished third in a dominant 5 car advantage over Danny Stratton, who came in 4th. This youngster can slice and dice and bicycle a midget as well as the much more experienced drivers he was competing against. His personable and likeable personality fills the picture with a great deal of fan presence.
The remainder of the top 10 were not surprises either. With the exception of Kyle Larson they were all very experienced Midget drivers and Chili Bowl Competitors. 5th place went to Bryan Clauson. 6th to Brad Sweet, 7th to Cory Kruzeman, 8th to Jerry Coons Jr, 9th to Ricky Stenhouse Jr and 10th to Tony Stewart.
The day was a long one. The main event was almost anti climatic. But the real story of the Chili Bowl wasn’t who won or who lost instead it was about the strength and determination of the human spirit when faced with grief and pain. The character and emotional strength it took for every one of those competitors today to get in those cars and carry on was a testament to the affection and respect they had for their fallen friend. Somewhere in the back of their minds each and every one of them realized that though they might not want to carry on with this it would be the ultimate show of disrespect to Donnie Ray Crawford to pack up and go home without trying. It’s not how he would have wanted it. He was there with them every single lap. Cheering them on to victory and consoling them in their loss. No doubt the young man marveled at the respect he was given by heroes like Kevin Swindell, Sammy Swindell, Bryan Clauson and Tony Stewart. But it is the way of the sport. It is the way that we say good bye. But even then not really good bye just see you at the next track.
Last note of interest Joey Moughan was released from the hospital this morning after remaining for observation over night with no serious injuries.
