By now, we’ve all seen the incident between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski at Gateway International Raceway at the end of Saturday’s Nationwide Series race.

Member 2putt has posted a poll asking what, if anything, should be Carl’s penalty for wrecking Brad?

25 points

50 points

100-150 points

100 points and a one race suspension

No penalty; he did nothing wrong

Follow the link to cast your vote and post your comments!

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One year ago today, we lost a great friend when Judy Brechbiel passed away.

Judy was a wonderful friend to all who knew her and she was an invaluable asset to this website. She was the first to log in each morning and never failed to put out the breakfast buffet for all who might stop by. She spent pretty much her entire day on the forum, aside from the times when she needed to run to the store for supplies or had to work in the apartment complex’s office for a few hours. (Even when she had to work, she still snuck upstairs now and then to check in on new forum posts.)

I first met Judy on the forums at That’s Racin’. It was a rather innocent interaction because I rarely visited that site at the time, but she saw a post I made and messaged me. As a result, she found out about the site then known as Days of Blunder (which you now know as NASCAR Front Page), she registered on the forum and our friendship grew from there.

Judy soon became an ambassador for this site, inviting people to come visit but always reminding them that they needed to play nice here. When new members registered, she was the first to welcome them and in fact, she eventually became the Official NFP Welcoming Committee.

Judy, Naz, Pat and a few others were posting part of the time on NFP and part of the time at TR, but when TR took away the ability to post pictures and add colored fonts (among other things) they moved permanently to NFP and when that happened, Judy blossomed into the heart and soul of the forum.

She was the mainstay. She could be counted on to post breakfast every morning and she was among the last to say “goodnight” at the end of the day. (Although frequently, her “goodnights” were short lived as she would come back to post for a while because she had forgotten to make her iced tea for the next day.) During a couple difficult times on the forum, Judy almost single handedly kept things moving.

There is no good way to explain what a wonderful person she was. She cared about everyone she met and she wanted to share with them any happiness she felt. She would send out email after email to those she held close, because she’d seen something which she enjoyed and she wanted to give others that same enjoyment.

She was a diehard Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fan and while she was tolerant of people who didn’t like Jr, I think it hurt her feelings a little when people spoke negatively about him. She never let that get in the way of making new friends, however. If you were to ask around, I’m certain you’d find several people who will tell you they signed up on the NFP forum for various reasons, but they were made to feel so welcome by Judy that they quickly caught her fever and became loyal members themselves.

There were a few occasions when NFP members suffered a death of a family member and we decided to collect donations from any member who was able to contribute so we could send a memorial to the family. Judy lived on a fixed income and she didn’t have much money. But she was always the first to send a donation and while it was never the biggest donation, it also was never the smallest. And each time, she’d call me to say, “Did you just get some money from me?” I’d assure her I had and we’d talk and laugh for a moment, but we never talked long and I now regret that.

Time went on. NFP changed from our old vBulletin format to the one you see today and as a result, we saw an explosion in member registrations. Judy was very familiar with the format to which we switched and she was all over the place, helping established members adjust and welcoming the new members.

Every day, she posted that breakfast. Every day. She wanted everyone who stopped by The Annex to feel welcome and they did feel welcome. She saw to it.

On July 9 of last year, Judy posted breakfast as usual and her next post read:

“Going to be gone for a bit. Got to go get my meds.”

That was the last post Judy ever made on the forum.

Shortly after that post, Naz said he’d heard from Judy’s daughter, Darlene, who said Judy had fainted and been taken to the hospital. Details were sketchy, but from the sounds of things, we expected Judy would be back with us soon.

Two days passed, again with sketchy details, but it sounded like things were going well for her. The Cup race at Chicagoland was on TV when Naz posted the most devastating news:

“Everyone, sit down!

I just talked to Dee…………..and the news is bad……. Judy’s wishes are if it came to this she wanted the plug to be pulled…….Shit I can’t type my hands are shaking……..They are talking now to pull the plug……….So I am so so sorry to say we are going to lose Our Dear Dear Friend Miss Judy………….Unless there’s a miracle out there for her…….”

And just like that, the race ceased to exist for anyone on the forum. No one was talking about it; we were grieving for our friend. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not ashamed to say I cried when I heard she was gone. I hadn’t cried over anyone or anything since my Dad died in 1991, but the tears flowed freely that night.

We decided to get donations from members who were able to contribute so we could send a memorial to Judy’s family, but we soon learned the family didn’t have the money to give her a funeral, so our plans quickly shifted and we began looking for funds to make sure Judy maintained her dignity. NFP members responded with amazing generosity and we were able to cover most of her funeral expenses – the rest was covered by other private parties.

Imagine that. Many of the people who sent money were people who had known Judy just a couple of months. Some of those people sent money more than once. Some who sent money were people who honestly didn’t have money to send, but they did it anyway. They found a way, much the same as Judy always found a way. What a testament to the person she was that people would give so freely in her honor.

One year has passed since Judy left us and a lot has changed since then. The forum has grown, we’ve added new features and welcomed lots of new members. And while we have a terrific group of people who together make this an awesome site, it’s never been the same without Judy.

She never knew how important she was to this site, but she helped shape it, she helped grow it and she helped it to become what it is. Had it not been for Judy, there would be no NFP today.

I thank you for that, Judy. But more, I thank you for being such a wonderful friend. We miss you, we love you and we will never forget you.

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During a NASCAR broadcast, you’ll hear the announcers use a variety of terms to explain things that are taking place during the race, but the problem, at least for the casual viewer, is that they don’t always explain exactly what those terms mean. Being the helpful person I am, however, I’m going to take a little time out of my otherwise not so busy schedule to help you better understand a few things, and I think we’ll all be better people for it. (Actually, that’s a big fat lie, but it sounded better than saying I was just going to throw a few things against the wall to see if they stick.)

At any rate, here are some of the commonly used terms, and their often incorrectly used meanings:

ADJUSTING WEDGE has NOTHING to do with any activity which involves first getting a firm grip on the waist band of your buddy’s underwear.

TAKING A POUND OUT OF THE RIGHT OR LEFT REAR does NOT involve liposuction.

SPRING RUBBERS are NOT a new seasonal condom from Trojan.

The TRACK BAR is NOT a place to hit on girls.

And on a related note…….

The REAR SWAY BAR is NOT a strip joint located near the track.

LOOSE LUGNUT is NOT a way of describing your drunken uncle at the last family reunion.

Increasing STAGGER does NOT involve downing another beer.

DIRTY AIR is NOT a way of describing your buddy’s beer farts.

And…

The REAR SPOILER is NOT the output area of the aforementioned beer farts.

And…

SKID MARKS are NOT what your buddy will find in his underwear after cutting all those beer farts.

LOOSE does not have anything to do with your neighbor’s 18 year old daughter.

Come to think of it…

TIGHT doesn’t, either.

The WIND TUNNEL is NOT a description of your mother-in-law.

HAPPY HOUR is NOT a great time to head to the TRACK BAR to hit on girls.

Making a SPLASH AND GO STOP does NOT mean the driver had to wizz really badly.

A SPOTTER has NOTHING to do with dribbling pee down the front of your pants.

And last, but certainly not least…

ROOF FLAPS – Just in case you were wondering what they are, remember the immortal words of Larry McReynolds during a race broadcast, “See them flaps on the roof? Them are roof flaps”.

I think that clears everything up, doesn’t it?

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Dale Earnhardt Jr won Friday night’s Nationwide race at Daytona. Jr was driving the #3 car – made famous by his father – and also employed a classic Wrangler paint scheme which once adorned Dale’s cars.

What do you think of this win? Some say that the collaborators behind putting Jr into the car worked tirelessly to make sure the car would be strong enough to win. Others say the fix was in and that Jr’s win was rigged.

Larry: Fix?? . . BULLHOCKEY!!! . . the only collaborators were HMS, RCR, & JRM . . THAT combination on RP tracks alone proved unbeatable . . along with Junior’s RP skills . . he hasn’t lost it . . proof he just needs the right equipment under him.

Willy: the kid drove his ass off. and along with having the right equipment under him having a eury on the box again didnt hurt. anybody that thinks it was rigged needs to go buy a national enquirer… i hear someone spotted elvis werkin at a taco bell in arizona.

X: The only “fix” was that JRM with help from the others spent months working on this one car for this one race. I’ll bet if we had the resources and 6 months to prepare for one race we could put Willy in victory lane at Daytona.

He’d probably get arrested for trespassing, but still…….  

SG: another thing, in reading some of jrs interviews, there seemed to be a LOT of intensity in wanting this win. maybe its my imagination, but he came across as actively reaching out and taking this one.

who knows, maybe im reading more into what he said than what he meant, but he sure came across as taking the bull by the horns rather than hanging on for the ride.

Larry:  quote: RACERX He’d probably get arrested for trespassing, but still….
I don’t think willy’s “Protection-From-Abuse” court order expires until 12/21/12.

X: Isn’t that when the whole world expires?

Larry: Maybe . . I do know that’s when my tube of Boudreaux’s Butt-Paste expires . . I buy NASCAR sponsor’s stuff if’n I can.

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Racing legend Junior Johnson, who won fifty races as a driver and six Championships as an owner, gets this kind of thing fairly regularly. In 2008, a reporter for ESPN asked him to choose between Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards. Johnson had three championships, Carl had a great season and the cover of Men’s Fitness, and Kyle had 8 Cup wins that season, and an attitude.

And the winner was… drumroll please… Kyle Busch. (Insert record-scratch sound effect here.) “I like his hell-bent driving style,” Johnson was quoted as saying. “He’s going to do what he needs to do. You’ve just got to polish him a little.” (A little?)

Asked a similar question just a few days ago, Junior Johnson would choose … Tony Stewart. Not four-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

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It was announcement that caught some by surprise earlier this week, although given the recent history of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Matt Kenseth and his Roush-Fenway Racing team, it wasn’t a big surprise at all when veteran crew chief Todd Parrott was booted from atop the pit box and sent to the teams R&D department.

Parrott was replaced by Jimmy Fennig giving Kenseth his third crew chief of the season; his fourth since long time crew chief Robbie Reiser moved into a management role for the organization at the end of 2008. Certainly Kenseth’s performance this season hasn’t been up to par, but is the constant shuffling of crew chiefs the answer? According to owner Jack Roush it’s all about finding the right relationship between driver and crew chief.

“We’re continually working for and looking for the best chemistry between driver and crew chief, and the best relationship between a crew chief and his team,” Roush said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “The same as a crew chief needs to reach and get all the energy that’s in the driver and give the driver everything that he recognizes that he needs and sometimes the things he doesn’t recognize he needs. That’s a crew chief’s job to be perceptive on that and to reconcile it.”

Roush pulled no punches however saying that what precipitated the move was an incident that happened prior to qualifying last week at Sonoma.

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LOUDON, N.H. – Martin Truex Jr. isn’t backing down from his vow to race Jeff Gordon more aggressively, but whether he will wreck Gordon soon in retaliation for getting spun last week at Infineon Raceway remains to be seen.

At Sonoma, Gordon accidentally spun Truex, who then fell to the back of the pack and got caught up in a chain-reaction crash that knocked him out of the race.

Truex, who fell to 19th in the Sprint cup standings after the 42nd-place finish at Infineon, said Friday that he got a voice-mail apology from Gordon, who also told Truex he figured he had a shove coming at some point.

“I’m in the same position I was in then so why would I feel different?” Truex said after practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I accept his apology, yes, but things are going to change between me and him. That’s just the bottom line.

“The nice guys seems to always get pushed around. I’m tired of being the nice guy. I’m tired of getting pushed around. I’m not going to stand here and say, ‘I’m going to go out and wreck Jeff.’ That’s not me. That’s not how I do things. But things are going to change. I’m not going to take it anymore.”

While Gordon said he understands Truex’s feelings, Truex said his frustration goes deeper than just the race Sunday.

“I’ve always been very, very respectful, and I have just never gotten that back,” Truex said. “You race a guy like Mark Martin and you run him down from a straightaway, he’ll let you go. He doesn’t want to hold himself up, but at the same time, he is doing you a favor.

“If I run Jeff down from a straightaway, he races me like we’re going for a win. … There’s been times when Jeff’s caught me and never even given me a chance to get out of the way and started running into me. And then he’s the first guy to hang his middle finger out the window when he goes by you. Things are going to change, that’s all I’m saying.”

Gordon again was apologetic Friday at New Hampshire.

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AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – At the Dodge headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., six people work full-time on motorsports and another 30 or more have a hand in the motorsports programs.

One of the 129 engine dynamometers is dedicated to racing and there’s a $38 million wind tunnel built in 2002 that Penske Racing can use to test its cars.

That, and an undisclosed amount of cash, is enough to keep Roger Penske happy with Dodge’s contribution to his race team.

And Penske has two Sprint Cup wins and an all-star race victory this year by Kurt Busch, three Nationwide Series wins by Brad Keselowski and one by Justin Allgaier, which is enough to keep Dodge interested in NASCAR.

The reliance on manufacturer involvement is heavy in NASCAR, and Dodge executives and Penske invited media last week to Dodge’s technical center to show the investment they have in each other.

Ralph Gilles, who took over as Dodge chief executive officer eight months ago, was more a sports-car aficionado when he took the job. He records races and watches them regularly. He has gone to the infields of Daytona and Talladega to learn more about the NASCAR fan. He also has spearheaded the development of a Dodge Motorsports website to generate interest in Dodge vehicles from race fans.

Is he sold on NASCAR?

“I know we’re spending the least we’ve ever spent and we’re getting the most we’ve ever gotten,” Gilles said Thursday during the media visit. “We’re paying attention differently. We’re using social media more than ever before, we’re activating the events in a different away. We’re doing things to leverage what we’re already investing instead of just going racing.

“It’s a multiyear deal [with Penske]. I have a couple of years to figure that out. I’m not going to say right here in the media [about the future]. I’m sold on 2010. We’re very pleased with 2010.”

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WEST FARGO, N.D. — It was another state and another dirt-track race for Tony Stewart. But not another victory.

The two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, known for racing just about anything with four wheels, finished third in the 25-lap late-model feature Wednesday at the Red River Valley Speedway. He won his heat earlier in the night.

Stewart told the crowd that it was a “tricky track” that he didn’t figure out until it was too late.

“I think I’ll be a little bit better when I come back,” he said, drawing a roar from the crowd that stayed until nearly midnight for the final result.

Stewart came to North Dakota to promote the three-eighths-mile dirt track, which is being run this summer by the father of four-time World Of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz. Schatz races for Stewart.

“It’s cool to come here to Fargo and get a chance to run here,” Stewart told the crowd during a break in the program.

Stewart led early in the 24-car feature but fell back before the midway point. Cody Skytland of Fargo won the event.

Stewart said before the event that spending three days in North Dakota reminded him of his early days in racing, when he used to sleep in his car because he couldn’t afford a hotel. He said he has raced in about 40 states.

“I love what I do with NASCAR, but I’m still passionate about short track,” he said. “The good thing is that I get the luxury of having the best of both worlds.”

Stewart said he believes NASCAR should run a dirt-track race.

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