Motor Sports Weekly News

By: Drew Hierwarter

The 2009 racing season is nearly upon us. This coming weekend will give us race fans two great events to watch. The NHRA kicks off their season with the traditional Winternationals in Pomona. California. This has been the first race of the drag racing season since 1961 and has always been held at same location, the L.A. County Fairgrounds (Now known as “The Fairplex”).

 

All the way across the country from Pomona, on the eastern shore of Florida, the tires of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup cars will meet the race track surface for the first time this year in the annual Bud Shootout on Saturday night. This is a relatively short, non-points race for the top six drivers in each manufacturer’s stable that is always exciting, especially since it is run under the lights.

 

 When the green flag drops on the Daytona 500 this year, rookie driver Joey Logano will make history as the youngest driver to ever start in the “Great American Race”. Logano is only 18. He’ll run the entire 2009 season in the Joe Gibbs Racing number 20.

 

NHRA Pro Stock driver Alan Johnson won the annual Pro Stock Showdown at “The Strip at Las Vegas” last weekend. The non-points Showdown is held every year the week before the Winternationals to give the pro stock teams a chance to get back in the swing of things before the season starts.

 

Once again journeyman road racer Boris Said will attempt to make the field for the Daytona 500. This year he has teamed up with veteran James Hylton in the two car effort fielded by Carter/Simo Racing. Both drivers will have to qualify into the race on speed or by racing in through one of the two 150 mile heat races.

 

Two time Daytona 500 winner, Sterlin Marlin will not be in the 500 this year. The 51 year old driver has been unable to find a ride and adequate sponsorship. Marlin is not prepared to hang up his helmet for good however as he will be sharing the James Finch #09 with Ken Schrader for the rest of the season.

 

In 1965 NHRA officials were forced to condense the normal three day schedule of the Winternationals down to just one due to inclement weather that completely washed out Friday and Saturday. Beginning at 7:00 am Sunday, 612 entrants began making the 3,167 passes down the drag strip to determine class and overall eliminator winners. They got it all done by 5:00 pm with a half hour of daylight left. The winner in Top Fuel that day was none other than Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. It was the first win of his long career. Other notable class winners that day were Dave Strickler, Judy Lilly, K.S. Pittman, and Kay Sissell.

 

Fifty five cars have filed an entry for the 2009 Daytona 500. Most of them are fully funded teams that plan to compete for the entire Sprint Cup season. But a few of them are shoe string operations that hope to make the race any way they can and make a little money. Finishing in last place in the 500 pays a little over $200,000.   

 

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 9:31 am and is filed under Funny Car, Pro Stock, Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, Top Fuel, Las Vegas, Nextel Cup, Earnhardt, NHRA, Toyota, NASCAR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.