Racing aids recovery
Jeff Gordon gnawed at his lips, struggling to contain the tears that were so desperate to escape.
He wants to make some sense of it all, but that will take time.
So Gordon will try to soothe his emotional scars in the seat of a race car. Maybe he’ll find solace at 190 mph. Maybe he’ll be able to honor those friends who died in a plane crash last weekend.
“I’ve never been so inspired and driven in my life,” Gordon said Friday, his somber look transforming to steely determination. “I can’t think of anything that could drive us harder and stronger than this loss.”
Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates went very public with their grieving at Atlanta Motor Speedway, appearing together just five days after a Virginia plane crash that killed all 10 people aboard.
The son, brother and twin nieces of team owner Rick Hendrick were flying to the race in Martinsville when the plane slammed into a mountain not far from the speedway while trying to land.
The team also lost its general manager and chief engine builder. The pilot for another NASCAR star, Tony Stewart, was on board, too.
“Getting through something like this is going to take time,” Gordon said. “Yeah, there is a time when you have to move on. I don’t know when that time is.”
Certainly, it won’t come this weekend. But in a sport that carries the somber threat of death at every turn, Gordon and his teammates – Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers – know it’s time to go back to work.
Gordon and Johnson are still in contention for the Nextel Cup championship with only four races left in the season. Sunday’s Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 will likely have a huge impact on their title hopes.
“Here we are at the racetrack,” said Johnson, who has won the last two races and is fourth in the season standings. “We have to get to work and try to do it. That doesn’t mean the grieving isn’t going to continue, and the pain … we’re all going through a tremendous amount of pain.”
Newman takes another pole
Ryan Newman will start Sunday’s NASCAR race from a familiar spot – the pole.
Newman won his third straight pole and eighth of the year, grabbing the top spot for the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 with a speed of 191.575 mph in a Dodge at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga.
This has become downright routine for Newman, who has won the pole in 26 of his 113 career races. He’s led that category the last two years, and has two more poles than anyone else this season.
“That’s the toughest part. We have no excuse now,” Newman said. “We’ve proved we’re the fastest race car on a given lap. We have to do that for 60 laps in a row here.”
Kurt Busch, who holds a 96-point lead over Gordon in the championship chase, qualified 22nd at 187.722. Gordon, seeking his fifth NASCAR title, will start 10th.
Law firm says staged racial incidents planned
A law firm representing NASCAR has accused Addison, Texas, businessman John Eckerd of helping to plan staged racial incidents at a NASCAR event this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Eckerd, whom NASCAR officials claim is a financial backer of the National Association for Minority Race Fans, disputed the claim.
“This is absolutely absurd and totally baseless,” Eckerd said. “These are very serious accusations, and we will not take this lying down.”
The Atlanta-based law firm of Alston & Bird accused Eckerd in a letter of conspiring with associates at Consolidated Sports Media Group Inc., and the NAMRF to hire a white male actor to play a NASCAR fan inciting a fight with a black actor posing as a NASCAR protester. The letter claims the actors hoped to get arrested so the incident could be videotaped.
The attorneys also claim an actress would falsely claim to have been raped or sexually assaulted at a NASCAR sponsored event. The letter states law enforcement officials have been notified of the plan in order to protect fans.
Eckerd said he isn’t affiliated with Consolidated Sports Media Group, but he is an independent consultant arranging financial backers for a documentary film NAMRF is producing.
NAMRF director Jirard Brown and NAMRF director of communications Rusty Thomas sent an e-mail to media outlets disputing the letter’s claims.