Motorsports journalist David Poole died Tuesday of a heart attack at age 50. He spent the past 13 years as the NASCAR writer for the Charlotte Observer. He also hosted a daily show on Sirius NASCAR Radio and was highly respected throughout the industry.
Here are some of the reactions on Poole's contributions to the sport:
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to David's family. He was a friend of everybody in the garage area. He could be controversial from time to time but he always wrote and spoke what he believed. He didn't pull any punches with anybody and that's what people respected about him. He was good for the sport and will be missed." -- Richard Childress, President and CEO Richard Childress Racing
"David worked his ass off for our sport, whether it was in his writing or on his radio show. His life revolved around the sport and we're obviously very saddened by the loss. He will be missed." -- Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
"David had the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of legendary motorsports journalist Tom Higgins. His success came from bringing his own style, direction, unique vision and perspective to his coverage of motorsports. David always spoke his mind and wasn't afraid to hold people accountable. He was always fair and made us better at what we did. We will miss David's spirit, generosity, principles, and friendship. We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife, Karen, and his entire family." -- Jerry Gappens, Executive Vice President and General Manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway
"The NASCAR community is stunned and saddened by the loss of David Poole. David was as passionate about NASCAR as anyone and had very definitive opinions about the sport. He served the industry, and most importantly the fans, through his reporting and commentary in the Charlotte Observer and Sirius Satellite Radio. Our thoughts and prayers go out to David's family and friends. He will be missed." -- Brian France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO
"David was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, and he was exceptionally passionate about this sport that we all care so deeply for. His voice was unique, his opinions were his own, and his abilities as a writer and journalist were unsurpassed. He had the courage to say what others would not, and he was deeply respected for it. Without driving a car or turning a wrench, David Poole was a racer, and he will be sincerely missed." -- Rick Hendrick, owner Hendrick Motorsports
"I've gotten to know (David) Poole really well over the years. He spent a lot of time with the No. 31 team every weekend and would sit and have conversations with us on just about everything. He was fun to agree and debate with. I admired his professionalism and work ethic and he did a great job of reporting our sport to the fans. He's someone I have a lot of respect for and he will definitely be missed." -- Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet
Congratulations to Brad Keselowski for his first Sprint Cup Series victory. It was a wild, wild finish. Keselowski was drafting behind Carl Edwards. Junior was drafting behind Ryan Newman. There was some distance between the first two cars and the second two cars that were drafting.
Edwards was trying to block high and Keselowski went low. When Edwards' went low to try to block, Keselowski hit Carl sending him into Newman which sent him literally flying through the air and up into the catch fence. Because of the contact with Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took over second place. Just a crazy, crazy finish.
When Edwards' car came to a stop on the infield, he couldn't get the car going so he got out of his car and ran across the finish line. He finished 25th, one lap down. Had Edwards crash happened earlier in the race, there surely would have been a red flag for repairs to the fence.
Here's a caution breakdown:
Only seven laps into the race and the big one happened. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon got together and a chain reaction followed. Involved in the first caution were: Casey Mears, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Max Papis, Elliott Sadler, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Scott Riggs, A.J. Allmendinger, David Gilliland and Bobby Labonte.
Debris brought out the second caution of the day.
Michael Waltrip tried to squeeze in front of Marcos Ambrose. The only problem was, he wasn't at all even close to being clear. He got loose and went spinning through the infield but didn't hit anything bringing out the third caution. I couldn't tell if he slightly hit Ambrose or not.
Kurt Busch got up on the track a little too high and into the marbles which sent him also spinning down through the infield. He, too, didn't hit anything. It brought out the fourth caution.
The fifth, sixth and seventh caution flags were for debris.
Jeff Burton got into the back of Kyle Busch sending him spinning which brought out the eighth caution. During that same time, Martin Truex Jr. also spun. Neither Truex or Busch hit anything but Busch couldn't get his car restarted. He needed a push to get going and went a lap down.
A big shake down in the Richard Childress Racing stables. Childress is swapping crews and crew chiefs between Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears following this weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway. I say, why not. They haven't been performing up to par at all so far.
Childress did a complete overhaul with Clint Bowyer this year and he's been the strongest RCR car this season. He has four top-five finishes in the eight races run thus far and is the highest RCR car in the point standings, sitting in sixth place. I think this crew/crew chief swap is a good gamble.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is going green. Between now and April 30, if you purchase a ticket, NHMS will plant a tree on their 1,200 acre facility. Tickets for the LENOX Tools 301 weekend are on sale now. You can purchase tickets by calling the Ticket Hotline at 603-783-4931 or go online at www.nhms.com.
Jeff Gordon will be sporting a new paint scheme this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
According to the press release, the last time this yellow paint scheme was on the track was over 25 years ago. Darrell Waltrip drove the No. 11 car and took the Pepsi Challenger car to victory lane six times during the 1983 Winston Cup season.
"Driving the Pepsi Challenger paint scheme that Darrell Waltrip drove back in 1983 is a great honor for me," said Gordon. "Darrell is a legend of NASCAR and visited Victory Lane several times with that car -- and I hope we can duplicate that success at Talladega. I was really excited when Pepsi brought this opportunity to us. Although the cars are very different, we wanted to make sure our paint scheme closely matched the one that was out front so often in 1983."
All for now. I'll be back tomorrow with my pick and preview for Dega.
During an ALMS race on Saturday in Long Beach, Calif., Boris Said's Corvette burst into flames. He got out, but not before sustaining several second degree burns to his arms and eyes.
I first learned about the wreck from The NASCAR Files while I was checking out updates on Twitter yesterday. TNF reported this statement from car owner, Lou Gigliotti: "Boris is OK but he will have a few weeks of sleepless nights with the burns on his arms and eyes. His face is swollen today and he is not happy."
I'm not at all surprised that Mark Martin took the high road and didn't do a burnout after the race. He is such a class act. I found it incredibly touching that so many drivers and owners came to victory lane to congratulate him. He has the respect of so many. Congratulations Martin, it's really good to see you back in victory lane!
Here's a race recap from yours truly, Jenniepoo:
Sterling Marlin brought out the first caution. He had a right front tire go down and went up and hit the wall.
It wouldn't be a Sprint Cup race without a debris caution, which is what brought out the second caution of the race.
The third caution was from a spinning David Stremme.
A.J. Allmendinger spun and hit the wall for the fourth caution.
Michael Waltrip got into Robby Gordon causing him to crash into the wall bringing out the fifth caution. Waltrip got loose in the corner, over-corrected, and ran right into Gordon.
While Dale Earnhardt Jr. only had one mishap in the pits for a missing lug nut during the first caution of the race, he had a much bigger mishap on the track much later in the race. He got a tap from Casey Mears which sent him spinning up into the wall bringing out the sixth and final caution of the race.
It didn't look like much of a tap but Junior had such an ill handling car that it wouldn't have taken much to send him spinning. After the completion of the race Junior went up to Mears on the track and hit him, sending him spinning. Temper, temper. I would be surprised if there are no penalities for it but it does seem that NASCAR adjusts the rules according to which driver is breaking them. Junior finished the race in 31st position and fell three positions in the point standings and now is in 19th.
It's going to happen sooner or later. Tony Stewart is going to win a race this year. He finished in second-place.
Way to go, Sam Hornish Jr. for your ninth-place finish. Good to see you not wrecking this week!
Junior wasn't the only Hendrick car to have issues in the pits. Jeff Gordon also left the pits with a missing lug nut. Gordon had to go back into the pits to retrieve it during green-flag conditions, ruining any chances for a win for him. Gordon finished 25th.
Rookie watch: Joey Logano finished the race in 21st position while Scott Speed finished 34th. Logano has finished in front of my pick for the Rookie of the Year, Scott Speed, in every race. Logano moved up two spots in the point standings to 33rd. Speed is 38th. It's still early in the season though.
There's nothing like a good night race. It typically leads to getting together with friends and having a few pops -- although we didn't need a race last weekend to get together. I wish I could tell you all about the redneck ways of your trusty blogger from last weekend but it would give you a visual that you just don't need. I'm not even really sure if some sort of law was broken or not with what we did. Here's a couple hints: a school bus, drinking, dancing ... did I mention the school bus? Fun times.
It doesn't appear that the weather will be an issue at all. Qualifying is scheduled for tonight at 7 pm on SPEED.
Texas thoughts/Caution recap/Does Junior need an eye exam?
After 17 tries at Texas, Jeff Gordon finally wins, breaking his 47-race winless streak. Congratulations to Jeff Gordon. It must have been a bummer that wife, Ingrid, and daughter, Ella, couldn't be there to celebrate with him in victory lane.
I was disappointed that rookie Scott Speed didn't make the race which really could have given Joey Logano a nice point advantage over him but Logano didn't have a good day. He finished in 30th position, 4 laps down.
97 laps of green flag racing and finally the first yellow flag waved. A debris caution. I was relieved to see it come out. It was painfully boring.
Kyle Busch had a tire go down from contact he had with John Andretti. He had to make an unscheduled pit stop to change the tire and went a lap down. Later in the race he got penalized for entering the pits too fast. He was already two laps down and would have had to go back in for a stop and go (I think) but luckily for him, a caution came out before he had to serve his penalty during green flag conditions and it spared him from going a third lap down.
During the same pit sequence as Busch, Kevin Harvick, who was already one lap down, got penalized for exiting the pits too fast.
Caution number two came out for a spinning Elliott Sadler on the frontstretch.
Marcos Ambrose's car blew up bringing out the third caution.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. only has himself to blame for being in the spotlight with the media. Just when I didn't think things couldn't get any worse... Junior was missing a lugnut when he left the pit stall during the Ambrose caution. He had to go back in to retrieve it. When he went back into the pits, he didn't see his pit stall and drove right by it. Does any of this sound at all familiar?
How many other seasoned drivers do you hear about this happening to? Exactly. Seriously, should Junior have his eyes checked? Come on. It is so damn disappointing and discouraging. We expect more, Junior.
Sam Hornish Jr. spun and brought out the fourth caution. He was racing Clint Bowyer and just got loose. I'm glad he didn't take out Bowyer.
The fifth caution came out when Robby Gordon's car blew up.
David Stremme spun and brought out the sixth caution. He had a right rear tire blow and he traveled sideways down on to the apron of the racetrack.
A bad stop during the sixth caution knocked Carl Edwards from the win to a tenth-place finish. I felt bad for him. I think they said it was the front tire carrier that was slow on the stop.
This week felt like it dragged on and on. I'm so glad that we're finally heading into the weekend.
I don't think the weather should be an issue for qualifying today, which is scheduled for 4:30 pm on SPEED. Click here for the complete broadcast schedule for the weekend.
$99 MegaTicket offered at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
A $99 ticket will get you three days of racing at NHMS for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 and Sylvania 300 weekends, a savings of $50.
The schedule for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 weekend: FRIDAY, June 26
Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Pole Day
Camping World Series East Heluva Good! 125
SATURDAY, June 27
Whelen Modified Tour New England 100
Nationwide Series Camping World RV Sales 200
SUNDAY, June 28
Sprint Cup Series LENOX Industrial Tools 301
The schedule for the SYLVANIA 300 weekend: FRIDAY, September 18
Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Pole Day
Camping World Series East Heluva Good! 125
SATURDAY, September 19
Whelen Modified Tour New Hampshire 100
Camping World Truck Series Heluva Good! 200
American-Canadian Tour Invitational
SUNDAY, September 20
Sprint Cup Series SYLVANIA 300
According to the press release, The MegaTicket includes reserved seating for the Sprint Cup event in the MegaZones, and general admission seating for the Friday and Saturday races in the Concord and Laconia grandstands.
The MegaZones seating was originally used for corporate block tickets and that seating was freed up for this special fan package.
"We are continuing to develop our FansFirst initiative with our new MegaTicket," said Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "This is a package designed for race fans to enjoy three days of non-stop racing and entertainment at an incredible price. Combined with our policy of free parking and allowing fans to bring in their own food and beverage, New Hampshire Motor Speedway continues to be the most affordable sports and entertainment venue in New England."
For more information or to purchase a MegaTicket, call the Ticket Hotline at (603) 783-4931 or visit New Hampshire Motor Speedway online at www.nhms.com.
If you have read or heard that Obama was ordering GM and Chrysler out of NASCAR, it's a hoax, folks. It was a stupid April Fools' joke.
I cannot imagine how anyone could be so distasteful to write such an article given the economy being what it is -- the auto industry is on edge as it is. But alas, someone was.
Car and Driver posted a story, "Obama Orders Chevrolet and Dodge Out Of NASCAR - Car News." They have since removed the story from their Web site and left a note that read:
Sorry! - Car News
April 2009
Car and Driver has a proud tradition of April Fools' Day jokes stretching back 30 years. We regret if this year's went too far.
Racing PR representative Denny Darnell of Darnell Communications had this to say:
"I've been in this business more than 30 years and I have never seen a story so irresponsible. It cannot be passed off as a joke. Lighten up? There's a time for jokes. Not with the issues our country faces today. Serious damage was done here. The auto industry. NASCAR. Our profession. I urge you to voice your opinion to the publication, pro or con."
Let me know what you think. Do you think it was distasteful or just a funny April Fools' Day joke?
Jennifer is the newsroom
administrative assistant and
executive
assistant to the editor for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. She is married, lives in Pownal with her husband and son, and has been following NASCAR for many years.
About this blog:
I am hopeful that this will be a place where people can air their two cents' worth about a race, catch up on the gossip and share their opinions on the rules and regulations of NASCAR. I have always felt that there has been a need for such a place in Maine and that this blog helps to fill the void.
It must have been a bummer that wife, Ingrid, and daughter, Ella, couldn't be there to celebrate with him in victory lane. 
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