CREAR, OLYMPIANS READY TO GO FAST.Byline: TIM TIM Timothy TIM Technical Interchange Meeting TIM Transient Intermodulation Distortion TIM Time Is Money TIM The Invisible Man (movie) TIM Telecom Italia Mobile (Italian cellular provider) HADDOCK Motor Sports The images of six Olympic and Paralympic athletes will be featured on Tony Stewart's No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (also known as JGR) is a group of NASCAR racing teams owned by Joe Gibbs, who first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. Headquartered in Huntersville, North Carolina, more notably near Charlotte, the team amassed three NEXTEL Cup Championships Chevrolet for Sunday's NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Nextel Cup The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series is NASCAR's top racing series. It was formerly known as the Strictly Stock Series (1949), Grand National Series (1950-1971), and the Winston Cup Series (1972-2003). Series race at Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile (3.22 km), moderate-banked, D shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than 1,400 acres [1] near Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. . One of the six athletes is Olympic hurdler Mark Crear Mark Crear (born November 2, 1968 in San Francisco, California) is a double Olympic medalist in the 110 m hurdles from the United States. In 1996 he was second behind Allen Johnson. Four years later he came in third, behind Anier Garcia and silver medalist Terrence Trammell. , who lives, works and trains in Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, . ``It's an honor to have these athletes on our Home Depot Chevrolet this weekend at Michigan,'' Stewart said. ``They are the embodiment of hard work and perseverance. They've made a ton of sacrifices to get to the Olympics, and this entire race team is behind them 100 percent. While they're going for the gold in Athens, we'll be going for another checkered flag in Michigan.'' Except that Crear isn't in Athens, Greece, competing in the Olympics. He won a silver medal in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games and a bronze medal in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. But he didn't qualify for the 2004 team competing in Athens. Still, he will be featured on Stewart's car, on the left rear quarterpanel. All of the athletes are part of Home Depot's Olympic Job Opportunities Program, which provides Olympic athletes the opportunity to work and train for the Games. Weightlifter Tara Cunningham, javelin thrower Erica Wheeler, Paralympic swimmer Kirby Cote, volleyball player Jeff Nygaard and runner Melissa Morrison are the other five athletes whose images will be on Stewart's car. Crear works in the human resource department at The Home Depot in Santa Clarita and was awarded two keys to the city during his Olympic career. More than 430 athletes have been employed by The Home Depot through the Olympic Job Opportunities Program. Of those, 205 athletes have competed in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, earning 116 medals, 48 gold, 43 silver and 25 bronze. --Indy Racing League: Adrian Fernandez's first Indy Racing League The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the sanctioning body of a predominantly American based open-wheel racing series. The League consists of two series, the premiere IndyCar Series win was a clincher clinch·er n. 1. One that clinches, as: a. A nail, screw, or bolt for clinching. b. A tool for clinching nails, screws, or bolts. 2. for Honda. Fernandez, one of two drivers for Fernandez Racing, won the Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway on Sunday, and claimed the IRL 1. (jargon, chat) IRL - In real life. Generally synonymous with f2f. 2. (language, robotics) IRL - Industrial Robot Language. manufacturer's title for Honda, winners of the last 10 IRL races. Honda Performance Development is based in Santa Clarita. It was Fernandez's first win since 2003 when he won the Champ Car Series race in Portland, Ore. ``It was a great weekend,'' said Fernandez, the only driver/owner on the series. ``We qualified well, and I felt we had a strong car and that we had something for a win.'' Valencia's Bryan Herta battled for a ninth-place finish driving a Honda entry for Andretti Green Racing Andretti Green Racing is an auto racing team that competes in the IRL IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series. Early years in CART Founded in 1993 by Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe as Forsythe Green Racing . His team had to replace his car's engine, knocking Herta to the back of the field to start the race. But he worked his way up to fourth place as the field headed for the final pit stops with about 50 laps to go. A lengthy pit stop, in which he stalled the car, cost him on the race track. He rallied through the field, but only managed a ninth-place finish. ``I did it right the first time, then stalled in the pits and gave it all back,'' said Herta, a Hart High of Newhall graduate. ``I just didn't have enough time to get back to them at the end.'' The IRL visits Pikes Peak International Raceway Pikes Peak International Raceway was a one mile oval Auto Racing track located in Fountain, Colorado, south of Colorado Springs and north of Pueblo. Capacity: 42,000 Grandstand seats, 20,000 Infield capacity. in Colorado this Sunday for the Honda Indy 225. It will be Herta's first visit to the Colorado track. ``I've never raced at Pikes Peak, but I did test there last year and I really like the track,'' Herta said. ``To me, it's a one-mile version of Michigan. I just really like short oval racing, so I'm really looking forward to these next two events in the XM Satellite Radio car.'' --Irwindale Speedway: Greg Pursley of Canyon Country will be going for his 11th of the season in the NASCAR Super Late Model class at Irwindale Speedway tonight. The class points leader has won four races in a row and leads the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series' Sunbelt Region. John Watkinson of Canyon Country and Travis Thirkettle of Newhall will continue their pursuit of Andrew Phipps of Simi Valley in the NASCAR Grand American Modified division. The NASCAR Late Models and the Super Trucks are also racing tonight. Races start at 6 p.m. --NASCAR Elite Division, Southwest Series: M.K. Kanke of Frazier Park looks to become the first three-time Southwest Series winner at Colorado National Speedway today. Kanke has been putting together a new race car for the Colorado race, and brings a Victory Circle-made chassis to the United Power/Touchstone Energy 150. Craig Raudman of Bakersfield leads the Southwest Series standings over Jim Pettit II of Prundale. Bob Lyon of Agua Dulce is also entered in the race. CAPTION(S): box Box: RACE WEEKEND |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion