After what seems like an eternity off, the Camping World Truck Series is back in action this weekend for the E-Z Go 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I never quite understood the reasoning behind racing one week to open the season only to follow it up with back-to-back off weekends. For those teams that were …
Hello, race fans. It’s been a long winter, but I’m back for another season of critiques, commentary, TV news and other random musings. But, before we start, there are a couple of things that I need to discuss. First off, some Frontstretch news. I am expanding my areas of critique for 2010. Non-stock car racing …
So we’ve come to the conclusion of another long season, and our time together in this space is quickly reaching the finish line. Yes, this will be the final Fanning the Flames column of the 2009 season, but if I get enough mail over the offseason I’ll file a couple more here and there. I …
For the record – and not that anyone asked – but count me in among the masses that thought Sunday night’s Atlanta race was a winner. Yeah, I know it wasn’t in Darlington as it should be, but those cars under the lights on a big ol’ track with 49 years of tradition, a worn …
The year was 1994; I was only 13, but the whirlwind of the Brickyard 400 remains as vivid in my mind as if it happened yesterday. From the moment the cars first hit the track for practice, drama was in the air for fans and drivers alike, with everyone putting their best effort into becoming …
Jimmie Johnson ran down Denny Hamlin with 15 laps to go. He then moved the No. 11 car aside, with both cars getting sideways and smoking the tires before Johnson pulled ahead to take the lead. There’s nothing so wrong with the new NASCAR racing the sport’s oldest racetrack can’t fix it. Cars and drivers running side by side and nose to tail? Can I get a hallelujah, brothers and sisters?
Rick Hendrick’s team has fielded cars for some of the iconic names in racing’s modern era: Darrell Waltrip, Al Unser Jr., Cup champion Terry Labonte, and the late Tim Richmond. In the process, the man became a pioneer, fielding multi-car teams that seemed to work together much better than others before. This became the foundation upon which Hendrick would build an empire; with his centerpiece, the heir-apparent to the throne who would make his arrival at the final race of 1992 at Atlanta. Teaming him with a young crew chief who cut his teeth in modifieds, Rick Hendrick was about to set the racing world on its ear, as the duo of driver Jeff Gordon and crew chief Ray Evernham had come together for a magical pairing.
When the Craftsman Truck Series takes the green flag Saturday evening at Gateway International Raceway, Kenny Wallace will make his return to the series after an 11-year absence. Wallace, set to run the No. 51 Flanders Provisions Co. Chevrolet for Billy Ballew, is the youngest of the Wallace brothers; one of just four families in series history to have three brothers compete. The Wallaces, the Greens, the Sauters and the Bodines have all left their mark on the series over time.
Geoff Bodine was born April 18th, 1949 in Chemung, N.Y. He began his career racing in a midget class at the Chemung Speedrome, built and operated by his father and grandfather. He is the oldest of the trio of Bodine brothers, with middle brother Brett, now working for NASCAR, and youngest brother Todd, the 2006 Craftsman Truck Series champion.
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