UNLIKELY SOURCE FOR MICHELS' HOPES.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 Before the 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. Elite Division, Southwest Series, season started, Rip Michels and his team were building a new race car. Then they discovered NASCAR was eliminating the Elite Division from its developmental program. The Southwest Series is one of four regional divisions NASCAR uses to develop drivers and prepare them for higher ranks of compeition. Now Michels is on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of winning the Southwest Series championship. The car the team was building at the beginning of the season, the car that has little use after Saturday night's race at Altamont Motorsports Park Altamont Motorsports Park is a motorsports race track located in Alameda County in Northern California between the towns of Tracy and Livermore. It first opened on July 22, 1966, and has variously operated under the names Altamont Speedway, Altamont Raceway, in Tracy, might hold the key to the title. The car that should have never been built is the only car that has won a race for Michels. That came at Irwindale Speedway Irwindale Speedway is a motorsports facility located in Irwindale, California. It features banked, paved 1/2 and 1/3 mile oval tracks. It is mainly used for USAC sprint car and regional NASCAR races. in August. It was his only win in nearly three years of racing on the Southwest Series and it came at the track where Michels has won more races than any other driver. With one race to go, Michels can make history. Not only can he become the first area driver since Lance Hooper Lance Hooper (born June 1, 1967 in Palmdale, California) is a racecar driver in NASCAR as well as several touring divisions. Hooper attended his first race when he was just two weeks old, and also came from a long line of racing champions, including his uncle, father, and brother. in 1995 to win a Southwest Series championship, he also could become the last Southwest Series champion. He could join the likes of Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a NASCAR driver. He drives the #2 Miller Lite Dodge in Nextel Cup Series and part time in Busch Series driving the #12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge. , Ron Hornaday Ron Hornaday, Jr. (born in Palmdale, California on June 20, 1958) is a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver. He is the father of former NASCAR driver Ronnie Hornaday, and the son of Ron Hornaday, Sr., a two time Winston West Champion. Jr., Dan Press and Rick Carelli Rick Carelli is a race car driver from Arvada, Colorado. Nicknamed, "The High Plains Drifter, he won multiple times in the Craftsman Truck Series, before he suffered near-fatal injuries when his truck hit the wall during a race at Memphis Motorsports Park in 1999. as series champions. ``I'm looking at it like every other race over the last 15 years,'' said Michels, a driver from SanFernando who has won three track championships at Irwindale Speedway racing Super Late Models and Grand American Modifieds. ``I'm not going to do anything different. You can't try to do anything different.'' This will be the second visit of the year to Altamont Motorsports Park for the Southwest Series drivers. M.K. Kanke of Frazier Park won the race in July, while Michels was second. His second-place car will be the back-up this time. The car he used to win the Irwindale race will be the same car he enters at Altamont. ``It's our best bullet,'' Michels said. ``We feel we got our best car. We feel we're going to be every bit as good.'' And that might be enough to win the championship. A second-place finish, coupled with a third-place-or-worse finish from Eric Holmes of Escalon, will give Michels the Southwest Series championship. Michels has an 11-point lead over Holmes heading into the season finale. Michels is 45 points ahead of Eddy McKean, the third-place driver in the standings who has an outside shot to win the championship. Michels is not counting anyone out. ``I've lost championships and I've won championships on the last night or two,'' Michels said. ``One flat tire and it's done.'' But Michels said he hasn't thought about winning the last Southwest Series championship. He refuses to think about it even as he heads into the final race of the year with the lead. ``It's going to be tough for everybody,'' Michels said. ``Even after the Irwindale race, we didn't give it a whole lot of thought. We're still not thinking championship.'' Michels has yet to finish a race worse than sixth. He was sixth at Shasta Raceway Park in May, the second race of the season. He has five straight top-five finishes, including the win at Irwindale and three second-places. One of those second-place finishes came at Colorado National Speedway, a race won by Holmes and a race that bunched the top-three drivers atop the standings. ``It's never been this close,'' Michels said. ``It's kinda cool. That's the way you want to do it.'' Johnson taking pointers on Chase status Jimmie Johnson has done the math. He's ninth in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series' Chase for the Championship. He's 139 points behind Chase leader Kevin Harvick after a 39th-place finish at New Hampshire International Speedway New Hampshire International Speedway is a 1.058 mile (1703 m) oval track which has hosted NASCAR racing since the 1990s. It is commonly referred to by its location, Loudon. . ``If you look at the situation we're in, we're 139 points down,'' said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Monte Carlo The Chevrolet Monte Carlo was an American mid-size car. Originally introduced by Chevrolet for the 1970 model year (as competition with the Ford Thunderbird), it has gone through six generations as of 2007. for Hendrick Motorsports. ``We were 247 down in '04, six races remaining, only lost by eight points. My guys have done the math. We need to outscore Verb 1. outscore - score more points than one's opponents outpoint beat, beat out, vanquish, trounce, crush, shell - come out better in a competition, race, or conflict; "Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship"; "We beat the competition"; "Harvard the 29 by 15.4 points from this point on to end up in the points lead.'' The 29 would be Harvick, who won the New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). race and now leads the Chase standings by 35 points over rookie Denny Hamlin. Johnson, who led the Cup standings for most of the season, took the biggest hit after the first race of the Chase. He went from second to ninth. ``The way I look at it, yeah, it's been a bad race. Something out of our control got us,'' Johnson said. ``This team is capable of so much. If we show up, give a hundred percent, do our job, I truly, in my heart, feel like we'll be back in the middle of this thing.'' The next race in the Chase is Sunday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Johnson has three wins at Dover, the most recent coming in 2005. He finished sixth in the June race at Dover. ``I can't forecast the future,'' Johnson said. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what's going to happen. All I can do is control my team and what we do in the next nine races. I still think we're in a position to score points and get ourselves back in this points battle.'' Double take Harvick can become the first NASCAR driver to win the Cup Series and Busch Series championships in the same season. He leads the Busch Series by a whopping 619 points over Carl Edwards. Harvick's lead in the Cup standings is less secure at 35. Meanwhile, Eric Holmes is looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a rare double championhip of his own. Holmes leads the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series, standings by 27 points over Mike David with two races to go. He is second in the NASCAR Elite Division, Southwest Series, standings, trailing Rip Michels by 11 points. The season finale of the Southwest Series is Saturday night at Altamont Motorsports Park in Tracy. CAPTION(S): photo, 2 boxes Photo: JOHNSON Box: (1) THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE (2) Etc. |
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