Exclusive offer for Summer Camps, Churches & Daycares
Ages 6 & Under – FREE! (with paying adult)
Ages 7 to 17 – $6.00
 
International Motorsports Hall of Fame and the Talladega Superspeedway invite you to take advantage of a special offer this summer! This combo includes a tour of the prestigious International Motorsports Hall of Fame and the legendary 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.

For lodging: Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast
 
CALL 256-362-5002 to book your SUMMER TOUR today!
 
This offer is valid for summer of 2010 summer camps, churches and daycares only.

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Labonte possibly could end up in the No. 7 Robby Gordon Motorsports car and run the full race this weekend at New Hampshire.

Labonte drove seven races for the TRG Motorsports at the end of the 2009 season, and with sponsorship from TaxSlayer.com for several races at the start of 2010, signed with the organization last November.

But sponsorship for the remainder of the 2010 races has not been secured, and Labonte has parked early in three of the last five events.

He was 31st in points with no top-20 finishes in his 16 starts this year. The team and crew chief Doug Randolph parted ways a few weeks ago.

The 46-year-old Labonte has not won a Cup race since 2003 and has not finished higher than 18th in the standings since leaving Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2005 season. He drove three years for Petty Enterprises and then drove last year for Hall of Fame Racing/Yates Racing and TRG. His last NASCAR victory came in 2007 when he won a Nationwide Series race while driving for Kevin Harvick Inc. at Talladega.

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A Ford engine hasn’t reached Victory Lane in the Sprint Cup level since the fall race at Talladega, a span of 18 events.

Though Ford drivers Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle are in the top 10 in points heading into Sunday’s race at Michigan, there remains plenty of work to do.

Owner Jack Roush says the new FR9 engine the drivers will use this weekend is “marginally better” than the previous motor Ford drivers used and the onus is on teams to start coming through.

Roush hopes to turn things around this weekend at a track where his cars have won 11 Cup races, tied for the most all-time at the two-mile track.

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Talladega Superspeedway and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame are hosting the inaugural Spring Classic Car Show in the Cup series garage at the 2.66-mile speedway on Saturday.

In addition to seeing a variety of classic cars, attendees will also be able to meet Miss Motorsports Lee Anne Fuller as well as 15-year-old racer Jade Dalton, according to Amanda Thomas with the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Dalton, a Talladega native, started racing junior dragsters when she was 9 years old. She now races Outlaw 330 in the Southeast Junior Racing Association. The young driver will be on hand to answer questions all day. One of her cars will shown at the car show while another will be displayed at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum.

The first 500 participants to register their cars in the show will have the opportunity to drive their vehicle around Talladega Superspeedway. Registration for the show is $50 and includes two admissions to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Registration is $30 for those who do not wish to drive their car around the track.

Gates open at 7 a.m. for participants while the general public can enter at 9 a.m. Admission is $10 for adults. Children 12 and under will be admitted free with a paid adult. Thomas said attendees would be allowed to bring coolers into the event. Part of the proceeds from the event will be donated to a local charity, according to a news release from the speedway.

All participants will receive commemorative dash plaques and will be entered to win door prizes including tickets to the AMP Energy 500.

Gates will be open to the public from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information or to register a car for the event contact Pam Smith in the Talladega Superspeedway ticket office at 256-315-4528

Read more: The Daily Home – Car show to be held at Talladega Superspeedway Saturday

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The plate in February at Daytona was 63/64-inch.

Each restrictor plate contains four openings which restrict air flow to the engine, thus slowing cars. Larger openings mean more air, and more speed.

“We think this will be a needed boost due to the additional drag we’ve picked up since switching from a rear wing to a rear spoiler,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition.

Rule changes announced Jan. 21 mandated switching from a wing mounted on the rear deck lid of NASCAR’s new car, back to a more traditional stock-car spoiler. The March event at Martinsville Speedway marked the first race for the new spoiler.

Carburetor restrictor plates are used only at Daytona and 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Events at those tracks are famous for their close competition.

The 1 1/32-inch size openings will be the largest since the one-inch mandate in 1988, the first year the horsepower-reducing plates were implemented for yearly use in Cup Series competition.

Teams used openings of 15/16-inch for this season’s spring race at Talladega. That size was determined following a March 16 test at Talladega that helped answer several mechanical questions, among them, spoiler height and the restrictor-plate openings.

David Reutimann likes the change.

“I think a bigger plate is a good change. I know that NASCAR has put a lot of thought into that stuff. We are talking about very, very small changes. We’re not talking about going from one inch to two inch. Anytime the plate gets bigger the horsepower goes up — and I’m a fan of that. With the new configuration of the spoiler on the back I think it’s a good fit for what we’re trying to do.”

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Merritt’s name was accidentally left off the city’s Vietnam Memorial at Talladega’s Veterans Park, when the memorial was dedicated in 1989. It was recently added to the granite marker and today, the newly edited marker was unveiled for friends of Merritt.

His name may have been forgotten 21 years ago, but longtime friends didn’t forget him Monday.

Troy Pennington was a classmate of Merritt’s, in the Talladega High class of 1966. Merritt was the class treasurer.

Pennington recalls the sad 10 year reunion, in which Merritt was missed.

“I know he would’ve loved being with us, we would’ve loved being with him, sharing his wit, his memories and sharing his big hug,” Pennington recalled.

The memorial is located in the very park where Merritt and friends played so often as they were growing up. Friends like John Tinney recalled Merritt riding his blue motor scooter, playing football and even using the old Wham-O water toy “Super Slide,” all in what’s now known as Veterans’ Park.

“Terry Merritt has always meant something to me, and this place that we’re in today, helped shape so many of our lives over the years,” Tinney recalled.

The day’s activities included a video of Merritt’s life, played at the Ritz Theatre in Talladega’s main square, and even noted a song had been written about his life.

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After all, it was only a few weeks ago when Johnson was involved in a controversy of his own with teammate Jeff Gordon after some rough racing between the two at Texas at Talladega. But, as expected, Gordon and Johnson settled their business — apparently — behind closed doors and moved on.

Hamlin and Busch, on the other hand, acted out very publicly Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Having recently been in a teammate feud, Johnson was enjoying Busch vs. Hamlin, especially since they are two of his stiffest contenders for a fifth championship.

“With the teammate situation, it’s so much fun to watch it take place, and to hear what goes on, but when you’re living it, it sucks,” said Johnson. “Everybody wants to know what’s going on. But to walk into microphones and think for a few days how you need to handle what you want to say and you say your statements and you don’t know how they’re going to be received or what people are going to think or what your teammate is going to say or how it’s going to be received. There is distraction that takes place. So I’m glad it’s not me.”

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t having a good time watching the rival Joe Gibbs Racing melting down in front of him.

“It’s certainly fun to watch and I know we entertained a lot of people a few races back when Jeff and I were going through our thing, but it’s a tough environment as teammates and racing for wins and I guess it shows that it doesn’t matter what organization you drive for or who the teammates are, you’re seeing what we want week in and week out,” said Johnson. “We want to win races. You do have things that pop up. I think those instances make a team stronger. A month from now, Denny and Kyle will probably say that they’re stronger or smarter or have a better relationship because of it. I know that’s the way it’s been with Jeff and I.”

And if it were up to Johnson, the fussin’ and fightin’ between Busch and Hamlin would continue on indefinitely.

“From a competitive standpoint, I hope they keep fighting,” Johnson said. “I hope they keep entertaining us because it’s a distraction. From a friendship standpoint, obviously the sooner they get it behind them, the better. I want to see it continue on because they’re both fast drivers and have a chance at winning this weekend, so I hope it carries on.”

Then again, another championship hopeful, Jeff Burton, thought the rancor might have some unintended consequences. “My concern was that it would just make them (Busch and Hamlin) both want it more, and that may not be in our best interest,” said Burton. “They’re both very good race-car drivers; obviously, their equipment is very good and it might piss them off and put them in a position where they’re trying even harder. I’m not sure that that would be a good thing for us.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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It’s been almost a year since NASCAR opened its ears in two town-hall style meeting between top executives and the competitors. The sport was in trouble <emdash /> the economy had wreaked havoc on everyone’s bottom line, and nobody was all that thrilled with the competition <emdash /> and NASCAR was willing to listen to ideas.

There was initial concern that those May 26 meetings were nothing more lip service. Looking back, they were actually a major turning point for the industry because actual changes have followed.

NASCAR switched to the popular double-file restart format two weeks after the town-hall meeting, and plans to eliminate the wing that so offended race fans began taking shape. When NASCAR received considerable backlash over the watered-down October race at Talladega, the “boys, have at it” policy was born.

Fans displeasure with never knowing what time a race was going to begin was fixed by the consistent start times policy that went into effect this season, and the decision was made to put the entire Chase for the Sprint Cup championship on ESPN to streamline yet another aspect.

Struggling at this time last year with the fallout from Jeremy Mayfield’s failed drug test and the confusion many drivers claimed they had over NASCAR’s toughened new policy, a list of banned substances was created and made available to teams at the start of this season.

NASCAR chairman Brian France and his top management team spent the offseason individually meeting with every race team to discuss the tract they were taking in a bid to stop the bleeding. For a series that had forever been run like a dictatorship, this open attitude was a refreshing change.

And if there was any doubt that NASCAR was willing to do whatever was needed to save the show, it responded to the many customers left dissatisfied when the first race of the year, the exhibition Budweiser Shootout, ended under caution. Entered into competition just four days before the season-opening Daytona 500, the new policy of three attempts at a green-white-checkered flag ending has radically improved the racing this year.

So here they are, a year later, coming off one of the most celebratory weeks in NASCAR history.

The glitzy $195 million Hall of Fame opened this month amid a tremendous amount of anticipation. NASCAR celebrated all of last week with numerous Hall of Fame events, then moved to the race track for Saturday night’s annual All-Star race.

The racing, like it has been for most of the year, was much improved. Granted, the field had to first figure out how to catch four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, but ever since the wing was replaced by the traditional spoiler in March, ol’ Double J hasn’t seemed so invincible anymore.

The “have at it” policy, designed to allow drivers to self-police on the track while also encouraging more emotion, again gave NASCAR a juicy storyline when teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch raced each other hard for a shot at the win. When that aggressiveness led to a race-ending crash for Busch, he threatened to kill Hamlin over his team radio (lovely to see you again, “old” Kyle!).

By the time team owner Joe Gibbs had diffused the situation with a closed-door meeting, it was already Sunday and attention had shifted into the inaugural Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Nobody knew what to expect out of the ceremony that honored founder Bill France Sr., his son, Bill Jr., seven-time champions Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, and pioneer Junior Johnson.

What those in attendance were treated to was a walk down memory lane that reminded everyone just how special NASCAR really is. It was a celebration of both the past and the present, and a rare opportunity for the entire industry to step back and look at everything that’s going well right now.

“It made me proud to be part of the, proud to be a driver,” said three-time champion Darrell Waltrip. “It makes me even prouder just to be part of the community, the NASCAR community. We have come so far, and done so much.”

Now, if only NASCAR could figure out how to get Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win again!

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 “There has been a growing demand from our fans for alcohol and smoke-free sections,” said Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch.  “As with most facility improvements we make at Talladega Superspeedway, we have listened to our fans and are moving to accommodate them.  We believe this will be a popular section for families that want a more controlled atmosphere during race weekends.  The rest of our grandstands will continue to allow alcohol and tobacco consumption.”

Ticket prices in the Gadsden and Lincoln Towers have been reduced from $120 to $88 for the Oct. 31 AMP Energy 500, commemorating the NASCAR record-breaking 88 lead changes in the Aaron’s 499.

Race fans that purchase or renew their tickets in these areas will also be entered into a drawing for 88 autographed Dale Earnhardt Jr. hero cards.

Will more NASCAR history be made when NASCAR returns to Talladega Superspeedway for the HALLOW-DEGA? Presented by Captain Morgan weekend? Race fans will have to be here to find out.   NASCAR action returns with the Mountain Dew 250 fueled by Fred’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and Race Number Seven in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the AMP Energy 500, Oct. 29 – 31.  To experience it all, call 1-877-Go2-DEGA or visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com

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