As fifty-three cars roll into Lowe's this weekend for practice and qualifying in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, along with 12 Cup drivers, there will be something special on Morgan Shepherd's car. Very special, perhaps.
As Morgan Shepherd anticipates celebrating his 67th birthday on Sunday October 12th and continuing his momentum in the Nationwide series, Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure will be prominently displayed as the main sponsor on Shepherd's car.
"The Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure logos will be displayed on the upper main quarter panels and rear deck lid of Shepherd’s #89 Racing With Jesus Dodge Charger throughout the weekend.
Lagina Plumbing, a Wisconsin-based plumbing contractor, will also join Faith Motorsports as an associate sponsor for Friday night's race. Lagina, a frequent associate sponsor of the team during the 2008 season, will have its logos displayed in front of the rear tires on the race car." (credit: www.racewithfaith.com)
I know most of you are probably tired of reading my posts on this matter. I'm sorry for that, but it is of interest to me. Shepherd is the oldest regular competitor in any of NASCAR's three touring series and since he is currently 26th in driver points in NASCAR's Nationwide Series, the highest ranked full time Dodge driver in the series.
It is extremely heartwarming to see the NASCAR community continuing to contribute to Morgan's efforts this season through his ministry and his racing.
Team Shepherd is sitting 31st in the owners points and needs to move up to the top 30 to guarantee a staring position in the first five races of next year. I hope Mr. Shepherd has a successful weekend and rest of the season.
THANK YOU DALE JARRETT and Happy Birthday Mr. Shepherd. We fans celebrate you!
The next victim to walk through the door is Patrick Carpentier. Carpentier and GEM have now split. Who ever said relationships are easy? The following can be found on jayski.com:
After the Gillett Motorsports #10 Dodge failed to qualify on speed at Talladega Superspeedway, crew chief [or as GEM calls them, Team Director] Mike Shiplett decided to put good judgement aside and lash out at team driver Patrick Carpentier in the Tow Truck in a Box team trailer while the doors were open, allowing anyone in the paddock to witness the skirmish.
This gesture was not appreciated by the canadian driver. "I think it's a complete lack of respect," said Carpentier. "I never was shy to take the blame when I thought it was my fault, but here, everybody knows that it's like driving in a straight line. The driver just has to keep the steering wheel straight. He should have taken a time out and calmed down before he spoke. " Shiplett accused Carpentier of going too low down on the last straight, which he claimed made the front of the car rub against the ground.
"It's bull####," said Carpentier. "I've looked at the timing data and we were already three-tenths below the time we needed to qualify when I went below the line. I went low because I felt we had to try everything. I gave it all I had, but now he blames me? This is totally unacceptable. It's not as if my teammates were on the first row! They both ran slower than me! "
#9-Kasey Kahne (41st) and #19-Elliott Sadler (43rd) posted times that were slower than the Carpentier (39th). It is their positions in the top 35 point standings that allowed them to be in the starting lineup of AMP 500.
Sadler was using the new generation of the Dodge / GEM chassis. Kahne was also using the new chassis until when he damaged his primary car during practice. For Carpentier and the #10 Tow Truck in a Box Dodge, the only option given by GEM was to use an old generation Dodge Charger chassis. What most enraged Carpentier, is that Shiplett decided to scold him at Talladega, a track where the driver can do nothing to improve his fate if his car is not up to speed.
"Even though I know his criticism didn't make any sense, what is worst is that he seems to have forgotten pretty quickly races like Dover or in Atlanta where I've qualified a car that he himself didn't think was fast enough to earn a place on the starting grid. I realize now that some people have a really short memory span in NASCAR," said Carpentier.
Shiplett was not available for comment after the non-qualification of his car. (patcarpentier.ca taken from a french article at canoe.com)
Guess who predicted the winner of this weekend's Talladega race?? That's right ... here's the Dega digits --
Kristen Loves The 20!!
Or, is that her predicting the Champion this year??
I can't possibly accurately describe how enjoyable it was to meet up with Kristen outside the track and spend some time with her gabbing about NASCAR, and everything else. Besides taking several hours out of her Dega weekend to sit and talk with me she shared some great pictures, got me an autograph, and a lug nut from the winning car. She's a blast, a true fan, a great writer, and now my NASCAR sister. Thank you Kristen for embracing our state, our race, and me personally so openly and warmly. I do hope to share this experience with you again IN PERSON!
I know a lot of you here are debating the GOOD call by NASCAR at the end of the race and I just have to say that for me, it was the best race I've ever been to there being able to FINALLY... finally finally celebrate Smoke winning a Cup race there. Kristen knows she was the good luck charm =)
Thanks for reading and if you ever get the pleasure to meet KLVALUS - seize the opportunity. You won't be disappointed. She might even predict 'your' driver to win~!
Carl Edwards ... "Cale Gale let me play on his a new simulator this week."
Tony Stewart ... "Brian Vickers is a great guy, I took him fishing on Logan Martin Lake this week and he promised he’ll give me a push at the end of the race today."
Kyle Busch ... "I knew I left my candy wrapper somewhere last week, thanks to my crew for finding it."
Clint Bowyer ... "Childress is sending me to flag etiquette school in the off-season."
Michael Waltrip ... "No one suspects I spin on purpose to give NAPA exposure."
Kurt Busch ... "Somebody find me a new job before Rusty comes back!!"
Ken Schrader ... "I’m so glad Joey wasn’t doing good in this car and it made me feel good to finish only 2 laps down today."
Jeff Gordon ... "I plan on running in the back all day, yawning, being bored, and seeing all the Dale Jr. t-shirts in the stands."
Dale Jr. ... "I hope everybody picked up their roll of toilet paper for the end of the race."
Brian Vickers ... "I love Talladega. I really hope Smoke doesn’t think I’m going to help him at the end of the day, because I’ll punt him just like I did to Dale Jr. and Jimmie Johnson here a few races back."
Scott Speed ... "I painted my toenails black and white checkered with a little red bull on my big toe."
Kevin Harvick ... "The drivers meeting was fun today, Mr. Helton reminded us all to not bump draft in the turns. I don’t think anyone heard him though cause they were checking out Kristen Valus."
Ricky Carmichael ... "You mean I can’t drive with just two wheels in the turns? How ‘bout a wheelie down pit road?"
Mike Wallace and Kenny Wallace ... "I just hope Rusty isn’t talking about us during the race saying we are driving our guts out."
Feel free to add your own. I hope everyone has a great race weekend. I know I will!
This is a personal THANK YOU to the guys on SPEED and ESPN for spotlighting Morgan Shepherd this past weekend during the Kansas Nationwide events.
If you missed the practice and qualifying sessions for the Nationwide race, you missed Larry McReynolds talking about Mr. Shepherd and basically mentioned the same information I had posted last week (Sept. 22nd) about how he finished 22nd and had participated in the car of tomorrow testing for the Nationwide series a few weeks ago in Richmond. More importantly, Larry Mc mentioned they were working with the producer on SPEED to get Mr. Shepherd scheduled to appear on Trackside soon. So, to Larry Mc and the rest of the wonderful guys, THANK YOU. I just hope you know there are fans out here that would really appreciate that and I hope Mr. Shepherd accepts.
Secondly, during the actual race, ESPN showed Shepherd racing for position toward the end of the race and, again, Andy Petree gave a shout-out to him, along with Dale Jarrett. So, to you guys, THANK YOU!!
In closing, we are coming upon Talladega weekend and many of you will remember the great run Shepherd had there in the Spring. Tony Stewart was amazed by his performance and got the ball rolling with donating tires for an event. Kevin Harvick shared pit crew members at one race. Additionally, many fan-fueled efforts to raise money for tires for Shepherd has been going on this season.
Thank you again for the announcers in this sport who appreciate what Mr. Shepherd is doing ... I appreciate you!
It's that time again. Time for me to shine The Light on Morgan Shepherd.
The Nationwide race was the only racing action I was able to catch this weekend due to my son's birthday yesterday, and other than Rowdy dominating, it was a good race. Beyond that, it was a GREAT race for Shepherd in his #89 Faith Motorsports Dodge. Shepherd had a new associate sponsor on the car this weekend at Dover -- Hot Oil Fuel Systems.
Hot Oil Fuel Systems of Poughquag, NY designs and supplies customized waste vegetable oil systems which use electric power from the vehicle’s alternator to help convert the used oil to a fuel source.
If you happened to catch the race yourself, you probably heard Andy Petree give a shout-out to Shepherd, and the fact that he took on one tire during a pit stop late in the race. Yes, you read that right, ONE tire. Amazingly, through Shepherd's determination and staying away from the crashes, he finished a respectable 22nd.
Here's some information from his website about the performance:
Morgan Shepherd and his Faith Motorsports team left Delaware Saturday night knowing what needs work before the team can become a weekly Top 20 contender.
"We had a good solid run and we were competitive most of the day," Shepherd said after finishing 22nd at the Monster Mile. "We know what our weaknesses are and it takes money to fix them so we are pretty happy with what we are able to do."
Shepherd said the team's next step toward running better would involve a professional pit crew and more shop and track personnel.
"Our people do a great job, but we don't have a dedicated pit crew like most teams do," he said. "Our guys and girls work all week on the car or in the office, and then work all weekend at the track on the car and finally pit the car, so they are exhausted before the race ever starts."
Shepherd said he is hopeful for another competitive run this weekend at Kansas before the teams come home for a backyard duel at Charlotte's Lowe's Motor Speedway the following weekend.
"We made some points gains and we know what we need to do to get better each week. We feel pretty happy about where we are. We are just a sponsor away from being a consistent finisher every week."
On that note, a returning sponsor will be on the rear quarter panels this weekend at Kansas. Lagina Plumbing will return after being a sponsor earlier this year at Milwaukee.
Additionally, Shepherd was nabbed by Davis Motorsports to spend the day on September 8th, along with a handful of other drivers, testing the first prototype car of tomorrow for the Nationwide series in Richmond, Virginia.
I respect Mr. Shepherd for what he is doing, what he stands for, and what his team stands for as he races with his heart and soul. Besides, can anyone out run him on roller skates?
Good luck Mr. Shepherd, and may you get that top 20 finish this weekend!
To check out Morgan Shepherd's Victory In Jesus Racing ministry, please visit www.racewithfaith.com.
If you want to witness grass roots racing, head to East Alabama down Interstate 20 until you get to Eastaboga, Alabama. There you will find one of the most prestigious short track clay oval gems in all of the South, located off of Speedway Boulevard just a mile east of the ‘big super speedway track.’ Welcome to the infamous TALLADEGA SHORT TRACK. ("TST")
In 1989, the National newspaper USA Today named TST among the best dirt tracks in the United States. The 1/3 mile oval opened on April 29th, 1977 and every Saturday night it hosts some of the best stock car dirt track racing you will see with approximately 140 cars total in all the divisions. The picture below was taken by me last month, showing the cars going three wide through turn 4 going for the checkers. This night, there were 142 cars total.
You will find super late models, late models, sportsman, crates, modifieds, hot shots, street stocks, and so forth, at TST. This past Friday night the track held a go-kart race, and TST has also held several wing car events (sprint cars). California’s Randy Hanagan set the single lap all time record with the WoO Sprint Cars with a 10.998- second lap on April 20th, 2001.
As they go three-wide through the high banked 18 degree turns, the notorious Alabama red clay spits dust high as you can see all night long. TST has a national reputation for intense, heart pounding, three wide racing and if you ever get a chance to visit, you will not be disappointed!
Sweet Home, Alabama. I remember the first race I went to at this track about 9 years ago. I took two showers after I got home and was cleaning dirt out of my ears for two days. Loved it!!
Racing at TST (and most short tracks around the country) has similarities to NASCAR in that you can spot the lower tiered teams against the higher tiered (sponsored) teams. We always pull for the ‘little guys.’
Every January during the off-season, TST hosts the annual Ice Bowl and people come from all parts of the country to try to race their way in. The Ice Bowl boasts approximately 400 entries every year. It’s been coined the "Woodstock Of Dirt Track Racing" by the track operator. I guess that is the South’s version of the Chili Bowl. If you’ve ever been around racing, you’ve heard the name Red Farmer. More importantly, it is hard to talk about Talladega Short Track without mentioning Red Farmer. Ole Red, the (approx.) 80 year old who resides here in Alabama, is still racing and you can usually find him at the Ice Bowl every year, in addition to some Saturday nights. His car sustained heavy damage during a qualifying run this past January, however. TST recently announced their plans for the Ice Bowl event for 2009, and it is scheduled for January 1 - 4, 2009. The track is planning a spectacular New Year’s Eve party that Wednesday night, so if you’re looking for something to do, check it out.
If you go down the road a bit to the super speedway, ARCA testing has been going on since yesterday, and even Joey Logano is here testing for the race on October 3rd. I know 3fan will try to deviate from our GGW race to go over to the big track to get his autograph, so everyone be sure to SHOW YOUR MOON while he’s gone.
Besides some great racing in the country, there are many beautiful and breathtaking natural wonders to visit while here in Bama. The tracks are in close proximity to Cheaha Mountain, which has the highest point in all of the State with gorgeous sunsets and glowing fall foliage. Also close are DeSoto Caverns, Noccalula Falls, Sand Mountain right along the lively Tennessee River, and many other historical places.
Unfortunately, there is a serious situation here in the Southeast as gas prices have gone through the roof and TST has canceled ALL racing activity at the track this weekend. No rescheduled date has been announced and it does not bode well with me that we have a gas crisis affecting our nation, much less some of the best racing you can see for the money. I hope you all enjoy the GGW race, as this will be the only event for the track this weekend!
As we at GGW Racing finish our heat laps, it looks like we are about to go green. At TST, we still sing the National Anthem and have a prayer for our racers. Good luck to all you go*rill*as and may the best driver win!
For those of you who are just spectators, there will be hot wings, BBQ, greens, grits, funnel cakes, and sweet tea served at the concessions. Enjoy.
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN!
Dedicated to Charles Lawrence "Red" Farmer, one of the greats. The picture below is of Red Farmer, crew chief for Davey Allison’s Busch team.
If you could have seen me at work today, you'd seen this gal having a good laugh provided by someone I'm proud to call my friend. Frevr3fan.
Kristen Valus graciously posted a picture of 3fan wearing a Joey Logano t-shirt when they met after the Fontana Cup race last weekend. Funny stuff, considering.
My friend, 3fan, said he wanted to send the shirt to me in time to wear to the Talladega race coming up in a few weeks. I thought it was a very kind gesture and was looking quite forward to my package!!
To my dismay, what arrived today was not only a T-shirt, but also included was some . . .
SLICED BREAD!
You will notice the two pieces of bread sitting on top of the t-shirt. 3fan says the untoasted piece is the "before" and the burnt piece is the "after" of Logano once he starts racing in the Cup series. Yeah, ok, ha ha!
We shall see my friend, we shall see.
In the meantime, I will continue my quest to help shed the light of Logano to the world :)
Thanks to ALL my friends for the wonderful laughs we can share across the miles and especially to 3fan for his humor, kindness and blogs.
The journey of the t-shirt will continue as I hope to get a picture with Klvalus when she decends on our great state of Alabama. Stay tuned.
With so much going on from NASCAR to College Football, to actually doing a little W-O-R-K, I’m s.p.i.c.i.n.g things up this week’s post as I get ready to put the goodies out on the BBQ for Labor Day weekend. You all have a safe, wonderful, long holiday weekend!
Jmayer gives this race a consecutive 5 Star Rating.
Hanahan flips over Carl Edwards’ lackadaisical 20th place finish, while Rowdy does his celebration burnouts.
Photogr doesn’t fall asleep.
JokersWild (Mr. I’ve got the best avatar, blah blah blah) picks Paul Menard to win! Nice jinx JW.
SpeedBeagle20 finds some greenies by the TV and doesn’t pay attention to the race. So much for keeping us in the loop this week with her "news" we will now miss.
Moseby writes on his blog again, about how Juan-derful Mr. Montoya is performing this year.
Frevr3fan heads to the track with his Joey Logano gear on.
Forensic2 brings us the frame by frame of photogr sleeping, but with one eye open watching the race. Ah hah! I knew it.
IowaGrill, I mean IowaGirl, (sorry still thinking about my BBQ) uncovers a secret meeting between Jack Roush and Kyle Busch. Did her transcript really say Roush told Rowdy to watch his back?
Volfan69 tells her hubby to go build the house by himself and she actually watches the race. Take that Mr. Man!
Kristen Valus misses her Miller Lite insider weekend to hang out in Jr.’s pits instead. You go girl! Is that Kurt Busch wandering around the garage looking for her??
Jon464 meets up with Kristen and 3fan at the track using his infamous GPS system and I think you’ll see them on the 5 o’clock news. Something about GGW Racing reminiscing and blowing things up.
TylerHead and I agree about Jeff Gordon’s and Tony Stewart’s incident this time, for the third consecutive week. It was Jeffy-poo’s fault!
Texascudaguy finds time to write another GGW Racing post.
Ok, that’s all the time I have for now. Have a great race weekend!
The Media Conference. As par for the course this year, this was one of the most non-secret secrets in NASCAR for 2008.
Joe Gibbs Racing officially presented driver Joey Logano as the replacement for Tony Stewart in their #20 car. Home Depot will continue to be the sponsor on this car for 2009 and beyond.
Both JD Gibbs and Joe Gibbs said this is a "multi-year" deal for Logano (Coach did jest that it would be 20 years) and Joey personally signed his life away to JGR since he is now 18. JD Gibbs also announced that Logano WILL have his Cup debut at Richmond in the #02 car with Home Depot sponsorship and will drive the same Cup car at Atlanta. There are other races in the works, but no further dates were given. JD Gibbs also said that Logano will be running in the ARCA series at Talladega this year.
The question was asked if Logano will continue driving in the Nationwide series next year, and of course the answer was "Yes."
Just some of my thoughts as follow-up. Number one, I wonder what Smoke will be thinking next year when he sees that old, familiar #20 car passing him. Number two, I wonder if, in fact, NASCAR decided not to raise the minimum age to 21 because of Logano.
No matter what the answer is to those two questions, I just want to say good luck to Joey Logano in his NASCAR career. I suspect we will all witness greatness. We might even see him give Kyle Busch a run for his money.
To start off this week's edition in the truest form of what blogging is all about, I have a very important 'insider' announcement to make:
Joe Gibbs Racing has officially teamed up with a great new sponsor for the rest of the year ... MAGNETIX! It was a mutual attraction.
Jimmie Johnson wins in his first ever truck race, and at Bristol no less!
Ken Schrader would rather be racing on a dirt track somewhere than in his HOF # 96 ride at Bristol. (Good luck, Kenny!)
In a very unexpected move, Richard Childress announces that instead of Casey Mears, Dave Blaney will be driving his 4th car in 2009 with the CAT sponsorship. Blaney has strange "meow" noises coming over his radio transmissions during the race.
Subway releases their new sub sandwich in anticipation of sponsoring Carl Edwards for three races next year. It is called ... the Flip Dip. It only costs 99 cents. Get is while it lasts. I know I won't.
NASCAR has finally faced the realization that it can no longer be a dictatorship and thrive economically. Therefore, when you head to the election polls this November, you will now also be voting for the new President of NASCAR.
Talladega Superspeedway is salivating over the change in schedule for next year and they are already sending out invitations to their Halloween Horror House to be set up in the infield. Wait, there's more, if you pay admission to go through the horror house you get in to the race for free. What a deal!
Juan Pablo Montoya is seen smoozing it up with the Chevron/Texaco/Havoline executives at the hospitality tent all weekend. Wait, maybe "begging" is a better word.
Bill Davis Racing submits press release saying they are not for sale. DEI deja vu?
Jeff Byrd, BMS President, makes announcement during the drivers meeting that anyone who beats Kyle Busch this weekend gets a free track suite, for their personal use, for life.
The fans throw magnets onto the track at Kyle Busch while he's doing his burnout celebration. Guess they ran out of beer?
J.D. Gibbs makes a suggestive comment to the media that IndyCar is behind the espionage of his organization. Jealousy, oh jealousy ...
Everyone have a great Bristol race weekend, blenders turned on high!
Fellow Alabamian Cale Gale put his KHI #33 machine in P2 during qualifying and was the highest starting Rookie of the Year candidate. This was Cale's best starting position to date and he pulled out a 19th place finish in the CARFAX 250 at Michigan International Speedway. Although, that doesn't truly mirror his performace as Cale was running in the top 10 most of the time.
Cale's previous race at ORP saw him starting 3rd and finished 6th (his highest finish to date) on July 26 in the Kroger 200. Prior to starting the race at Michigan, Cale had spent the past two weekends spotting for fellow teammates and KHI drivers at road courses, Ron Hornaday Jr. in the NNS race at Montreal and for Kevin Harvick in the Cup race at Watkins Glen.
Cale has now raced a total of 11 NNS races this year and he is sitting 36th in the points. Cale will be racing only two more times this year in the Nationwide Series. This coming weekend at Bristol on August 22nd, and then the last time at Memphis Motorsports Park on October 25th. Just like last year, the Memphis NNS race will be the last Stand Alone event for this series while the Cup guys are in Hot-lanta. Let's hope it is not a wreck-fest like last year.
Cale is a dedicated team member to KHI and is always at the shop working, working on the car himself, and drives with his heart AND his head.
Good luck, Cale!
In other news ...
TheHotLap.com is reporting that the #89 Dodge Charger of Morgan Shepherd now has an associate sponsor!
"1in3Trinity, a faith-inspired company of lifestyle products including clothing, accessories and their newly launched energy drink, is proud to announce today that it has signed an associate sponsorship agreement with Faith Motorsports. As part of the sponsorship agreement, the company’s 1in3Trinity energy drink will become the official energy drink of NASCAR driver Morgan Shepherd and his Faith Motorsports crew, and the company will promote 1in3Trinity’s products through the team’s website and other promotional programs.“1in3Trinity is a unique and innovative lifestyle brand,” says company co-founder and president Paula Masters. “In our hearts, our hope and vision for our company is to offer people relevant lifestyle products that impact their lives in a positive way. Since there is such a large Christian subculture in NASCAR, we felt there was a way to minister to this culture first hand and let them know that you can love and live for Christ and still be cool,” Masters said. “Morgan has demonstrated his commitment to his faith, as well as been able to excel at his sport which makes him a great choice for 1in3Trinity.”(FM) (08-17-08) Text and photo credit: www.thehotlap.com
Please check out TheHotLap for full information and other news concerning efforts to raise money for more tires for Morgan Shepherd and Faith Motorsports.
