Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Atlanta Motor Speedway - Sunday March 18, 2007

Real Racing. Real Fast.

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Built in 1960 at a cost of just $1.8 Million Dollars the Atlanta Motor Speedway is 25 miles south of the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The original track was built on 870 acres but was rebuilt in 1997 as a quad-oval racetrack, much like Texas Motor Speedway. Track banking in turns is 24 degrees with 5 degree banking on the straightways.

Seating in this fan friendly track is 124,000 and track officials say there is not a bad seat in the house. Free parking is available on all speedway controlled property. Reserved camping inside the track starts at $100 to $150 and unreserved camping outside the track begins at $60.

Atlanta Motor Speedway is the fastest track on the Nascar Nextel Cup Circuit. With a typical qualifying lap speed of about 193 mph and a record lap speed of over 197 mph, the track has been able to avoid restrictor plates which Nascar has applied to the longer Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway. This is why the slogan for Atlanta Motor Speedway is Real Racing. Real Fast.

Current track records include NASCAR Nextel Cup Qualifying by Geoffrey Bodine at 28.074 seconds and 197.478 mph in 1997. Dale Earnhardt holds the NASCAR Nextel Cup Race record of 500 miles in 3 h 3 min 3 s at an average speed of 163.633 mph on November 12, 1995.

Sundays forecast is Sunny with a high of 61 degrees. So bring a jacket and watch the race live or sit back at home and watch Nascar Nextel Cup racing at its fastest.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

The Man With Three Championships in Racing and the NFL

Three Championships in Racing and the NFL

Beginning in 1991, Joe Gibbs has ran a Championship Nascar Nextel Cup Series Team as well as a Nascar Busch Series Team. With 3 Nascar Nextel Cup Championships he is still involved in finding and developing young drivers and helping them to become winners both on and off the racetrack.

This year is Gibbs' sixteenth year as a team owner in the Nascar Series and his 10th year as an owner in the Nascar Busch Series. In 1997 he bought Bobby Labonte’s Busch Team and in 1999 he acquired Diamond Ridge Motorsports. Tony Stewart set the stage for his joining JGR in 1998 by running a five-race Busch schedule with Labonte’s team in 1997.

Football coaching started for Joe Gibbs after he graduated from San Diego State University in 1964. He worked as an assistant coach at the collegiate level and in the NFL for 17 years before being named as Head Coach of the Redskins in 1981. By 1983 he won his first SuperBowl and 2 more in 1988 and 1992. He retired after the 1992 SuperBowl Season only to return 11 years later in January 2004.

With all that footballpigskin success, Joe was still thrilled with the challenge from racing. He formed his first team in the 1992 Daytona 500. By 1999 he fielded his second team after seeing that the sport was heading to multi-car teams. A third race car was added for 2005.

In 2000, the No. 18 teamrace team of Bobby Labonte won the Nascar Cup. In only 9 years he had built a team and taken it to the top. He did it again with the Home Depot/Tony Stewart/Greg Zipadelli team in 2002 and 2005.

“The thing that has always amazed me about championship runs in pro sports, at least in the three I’ve been involved with here and the three I had in the NFL, is how hard they are and how different they are, and that one year doesn’t buy you the next,” said Gibbs. “I love that about pro sports. It’s why I’m here.”

Joe Gibbs has three Nextel Cup Series titles as a Nascar team owner, three Super Bowl titles as coach of the NFL’s Redskins and The Associated Press Coach of the Year in 1982, 1983 and 1991 and was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

With all of this success he has also found rewards in his love for family. His oldest son, J.D. Gibbs is the President of Joe Gibbs Racing. Coy Gibbs is on the Redskins coaching staff. He is married to his supportive wife Pat and they have 6 grandchildren.

Scott Motorsports (Doug's Organization) is a recommended resource for anyone wishing to make money while becoming involved in Nascar Auto Racing. To find out more: http://Scottmotorsports.blogspot.com