Final dance of upside-down season
It's time to put a period on the 2007 racing season and it's been a wacky one.
From Clint Bowyer's upside-down and on fire finish at the Daytona 500, to the spy scandal in Formula One to Dario Franchitti's sensational flips in the IndyCar Series, to the first race-day rainout of the Peoria TT, it's hard to imagine a year more eventful than this one.
Fortunately, for most series, it was a safe season. That was not the case in the NHRA, which lost popular driver Eric Medlen in March and saw one of its greatest drivers, John Force, gravely injured in September.
Medlen's accident prompted safety innovations which saved Force's life. Force's crash will bring more. 2008 will be safer because of them.
Juan Pablo Montoya's success in NASCAR opened the floodgates for open-wheel champions, bringing former World Driving Champion Jacques Villeneuve, former IndyCar champion Sam Hornish, defending Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti and former CART star Patrick Carpentier along for the ride.
At least one IndyCar star remains in the open-wheel series and he's become a household name. Who would ever have believed Helio Castroneves would become America's darling on Dancing with the Stars?
Now it's time to take a breather, but we all know the time off will be short.
SPEED is already running television ads for the 2008 Daytona 500.
Only three more months.
Remembering Stan:
Condolences to the family and many dear friends of Stan Shoff, who died Monday at the age of 78.
His obituary mentioned he was a national champion ??sprint car owner, but that was a major understatement.
In his 23-year career as a car owner, Shoff and his drivers won many national championships, including four with his last driver, Frankie Kerr. That relationship spanned Shoff's final 11 years as a car owner and produced 54 feature wins.
Seven years ago, when they ended their partnership and closed down the team, Shoff called his years with Kerr some of the best times of his life.
Shoff got into sprint-car racing by sponsoring a car driven by Jerry Blundy in 1977. He took over ownership of Blundy's car the next year.
In 1987, his driver was a 16-year-old from Indiana who Shoff later fired. His name? Jeff Gordon.
Shoff decided to close the race team in the summer of 2000 to spend more time with his family and do some traveling. Fittingly, he and Kerr won their last race together in June of that year at Fremont, Ohio. There's nothing like going out on top.
Stan Shoff was widely respected in the racing and business worlds and will be greatly missed.
NOT TO BE:
The wheels came off, literally, Friday night in Mike Skinner's quest to give Bill Davis his first championship as a NASCAR owner.
Skinner lost his left rear tire on lap 74 and when he returned to the track after repairs, he was 11 laps down.
With Skinner's bad luck, the championship went to Ron Hornaday. It's his third in the series - the others were in 1996 and 1998 - but the first national championship of any kind for his team's owners, Kevin and DeLana Harvick.
MOVING ON:
This is the final race as crew chief for Robbie Reiser, longtime crew chief for Matt Kenseth.
Reiser and Kenseth have been a pair since 1997 in the Busch Series and moved up to Cup in two years later.
Reiser will now become general manager of Roush Fenway Racing's Nextel Cup division.
Chip Bolin takes over as crew chief for Kenseth's car.
NUMBERS GAME:
Dave Blaney's goal today is to finish 34th or better. If he does, the Caterpillar-sponsored driver will be locked in the top 35 in owner points and guaranteed a starting spot in the first five races next season.
Jane Miller is the Journal Star motorsports columnist. Write her at 1 News Plaza, Peoria, IL 61643, call (309) 686-3207 or e-mail jmiller@pjstar.com.?