Auto Racing Capsules: Waltrip headlines NASCAR's third Hall of Fame class
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Darrell Waltrip was nicknamed "Jaws" as a driver for his outrageous trash-talking. His loquaciousness launched his second career, as one of NASCAR's most recognized — and outspoken — television analysts.
But on the eve on his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, 'ol DW has no idea what he's going to say in Friday night's ceremony.
"I've written 10 speeches and after the 10th one, I threw it away, and said 'I can't write a speech,'" Waltrip said. "I'm pretty spontaneous, so I'm just going to get up and say what I think and hope it's the right thing."
Waltrip hasn't always said the right thing in a career that dates back to his 1972 debut in NASCAR's top series. He angered his rivals as a driver, and his strong opinions as an analyst for both Fox Sports and Speed have made him one of the more polarizing commentators in NASCAR.
Some might even think it cost him a shot in last year's voting, when despite three championships and 84 victories, Waltrip was shut out of the second Hall of Fame class. Waltrip had signed on with Speed as an analyst for voting day, and from his perch on the stage at the back of the Great Hall, his face couldn't hide his heartbreak over not making the second class.
He tried not to get his hopes up this time around, but everybody knew how badly Waltrip wanted to be included in the third class. Brian France called his name last June, Waltrip rushed onto the podium and kissed the NASCAR chairman.
Waltrip goes into the Hall of Fame with three-time champion Cale Yarborough, NASCAR modified great Richie Evans, innovative crew chief Dale Inman and Glen Wood, one of NASCAR's original team owners.
The show will belong to Waltrip, though, who knew as a child he wanted to be an entertainer and found a way to incorporate his desire to perform into his NASCAR career. He was brash and bold and loved being in front of the cameras.
His style, his showmanship, was like nothing NASCAR had ever seen before and paved the way for more personality from the drivers.
"I always thought it would be fun to be an actor, or a comedian, but I guess race car driving suited me," he said. "I like to make people laugh, which is better than making them cry, right? Some people take the path of least of resistance, but I take the path I couldn't resist. I looked at everything I did, what if I did everything that everybody else is doing as they go down that path.
I figured there's a lot more room going in this other direction then there is in that direction with all the other guys who chewed Skoal and wore belt buckles and cowboy hats. I'm not making fun of them, I just chose not to go down that route, to be more upscale, in a class by myself. I was a Penske guy living in an Earnhardt world."
He will be again on Friday night when his larger-than-life personality is sure to outshine Yarborough, Inman and Wood. Evans, winner of nine NASCAR national modified championships over a 13-year span, was killed in a 1985 accident at Martinsville Speedway. He was 44.
Yarborough from 1976-78 became the first driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, a record that stood until Jimmie Johnson's run of five-straight titles. He finished second in the standings another three times, and ended his career with 83 victories — sixth on the all-time list.
Yarborough was a four-time Daytona 500 winner, but decided in 1980 to run only partial schedules for the final nine years of his career.
"I realized I had three daughters growing up and I was away from them all the time," he said. "Even though racing was very important in my life, I felt like they were a little more important so I was going to spend some more time with them and be with them in their growing-up years. There's no telling how many wins I left on the table, but I definitely made the right decision."
Inman led his cousin, Hall of Famer Richard Petty, to a record seven championships. The crew chief won an eighth title with Terry Labonte. From 1958 to 1992, he led drivers to 193 wins and 129 poles.
His standout year was 1967 when he guided Petty to a NASCAR-record, 27 races — including 10-straight — in a single car built a year earlier.
"Dale was a racing benchmark," Petty said. "He was the sport's first official crew chief and people modeled themselves after him. He knew what, when and where — and when he made a mistake he wasn't afraid to admit it. Everyone respected him for that. Nobody even comes close to the number of wins that Dale has recorded."
Wood, at 86 the oldest member of this incoming class, formed a race team that still competes today in Stuart, Va., with his four brothers. Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 last year for the Wood Brothers, giving the team its 98th victory spanning seven different decades. Bayne's win was the team's fifth Daytona 500 victory, and the Wood Brothers also won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 with Jim Clark.
Wood's brother, Leonard, choreographer of the modern pit stop, is a NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee.
"It's such a long trip from 1950 to now. It's sort of hard to believe," Wood said. "It's one of the biggest honors you could have. I didn't come here alone; I had a lot of help. There's five of us brothers. All of those helped at one time or another."
Busch signs brother Kurt for Nationwide team
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The Busch Brothers will be teamed together for the first time in more than a decade this season as co-drivers for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Kyle Busch tabbed his older brother, Kurt, to share the No. 54 Toyota this year in the Nationwide Series. The brothers on Thursday introduced Monster Energy as their sponsor for the new team.
KBM has fielded a Truck Series team since 2010, but this will be its first year in stock-cars and in NASCAR's second-tier series. The brothers wasted no time boasting what they can accomplish this year: Kurt Busch said it's possible for them to sweep the entire 33-race schedule, while Kyle said his team will run for the Nationwide owner's championship.
"We've had a lot of talks about how this whole deal is going to work out, what we're both looking to get out of this and what a great opportunity this is to race in the Nationwide Series," Kyle Busch said. "Kurt's never done a full Nationwide deal, he's always had the itch but never really cared about it.
"Now this is something for him to get out there and win some races, help bring some banners over here."
The pairing of the Busch brothers brings together the two most polarizing drivers in NASCAR, and it's the first time they'll be teamed together since they drove for their father more than a decade ago.
It also marks a turning point in both of their careers.
Kyle Busch had to fight hard in November to keep his job when he was suspended by NASCAR for intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. in a Truck race at Texas. His primary sponsors had been pushed to the edge by Busch, but with the help of Sprint Cup Series owner Joe Gibbs, he kept his program intact.
Kurt Busch then lost his job in December when he split with Penske Racing after yet another public meltdown. He's since put together a Cup deal with fledgling Phoenix Racing and now has this Nationwide package with his brother.
Although Richard Petty indicated last week that Kurt Busch is currently untouchable because sponsors are hesitant to associate with him, Kyle Busch said he had no problems selling his brother to Monster.
"When his opportunity came about, we collaborated on what we could do together and took it to Monster and they were like 'Hell, yeah, let's do this. Sign him on,'" Kyle Busch said. "For us now to be able to come together with Monster, everybody seemed like a perfect fit. Both of us seem to have that personable, edgy attitude, we just want to win, and that's what Monster is all about."
Kurt Busch didn't view the job from his brother as charity, though, and saw his participation as a way to help Kyle launch his Nationwide team.
"I think we are teaming up together, to do this as brothers," Kurt said. .
There are still details to be worked out, though.
Kyle Busch, the all-time winningest driver in the Nationwide Series with 51 victories, plans to drive between 15 and 18 races. He'll drive the first four of the season then turn the wheel over to Kurt at Texas Motor Speedway. Kurt has just 12 career Nationwide starts, with three wins — his last as a fill-in for Brad Keselowski last year at Watkins Glen.
Kurt is already committed to driving the Nationwide races at Daytona and Talladega for Phoenix Racing, so the rest of his schedule still has to be hashed out with his new boss, Kyle.
"He'll probably want some of the easier portion of the schedule because he's the owner, and I'll give him that respect," joked Kurt. "But between the two of us, we're racing all 33 Nationwide races on the schedule."
KBM is the only team Kyle will drive for in the Nationwide Series as he scales back his non-Cup participation. He won't drive at all for Joe Gibbs Racing in Nationwide, and won't drive for KBM's Truck team.
Jason Leffler is tabbed to drive KBM's No. 51 in the Truck Series, and Kyle Busch said he's talking to a handful of Cup stars about filling out that schedule for him.
The brothers also dismissed any notion that their relationship is too volatile to work together. They had a very public falling out when they wrecked each other racing for the $1 million prize in the 2007 All-Star race and did not speak for months. It took their grandmother brokering a peace agreement that Thanksgiving to mend the relationship.
Kurt Busch said that's the only hiccup the two have had, and all other speculation about their relationship "is just a myth."
''The only thing that we had run in our way was dollar signs at the All-Star race that year," he said. "Anytime somebody is going for a million bucks, you forget who your brother is ... I think we've always gotten along really well on track, to draft with each other, to yield to each other, it just hasn't been well documented."
-- Jenna Fryer
Rally Car
Loeb extends lead on second day of Monte Carlo rally
MONACO (AP) — Eight-time world champion Sebastien Loeb has extended his lead on the second day of the season-opening Monte Carlo rally on Thursday, with Daniel Sordo and Petter Solberg still vying for second place.
Loeb had powered his Citroen to the fastest time in three of Wednesday's four stages, and the Frenchman won five of six stages on the second day. Sordo won the other in his Mini.
Loeb leads Sordo by 1 minute, 37.2 seconds. The Spaniard is three seconds ahead of Solberg's Ford. Mikko Hirvonen, who is Loeb's Citroen teammate, moved from sixth overnight to fourth place.
