I am so glad the wait is over!

NASCAR.COM - Earnhardt to be in No. 88 with Pepsi, National Guard - Sep 19, 2007

Earnhardt to be in No. 88 with Pepsi, National

Guard

By The Associated Press
September 19, 2007
03:40 PM EDT

DALLAS — Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have two 8s on his new car.

NASCAR’s
most popular driver will be in the No. 88 Chevrolet when he moves to
Hendrick Motorsports next season, the team announced Wednesday.
Earnhardt’s car will be sponsored by Pepsi, with the company’s Mountain
Dew soft drink and Amp Energy drink featured on the car. The National
Guard will also be involved in the sponsorship.

The new number
and sponsor are another step in the rebranding of Earnhardt from party
boy to serious corporate pitchman, one that now can be heavily marketed
to the under-21 crowd.

“I never thought a car number would create this much excitement,” said car owner Rick Hendrick,
who has won seven Nextel Cup titles. “Trying to do it and keep it quiet
from the rest of the world until you have it all together, it was
probably the toughest thing I’ve ever done in motorsports.”

Earnhardt
has driven the No. 8 Chevrolet for DEI since 2000 with Budweiser’s
sponsorship. He tried to take the No. 8 with him to Hendrick, but
stepmother Teresa Earnhardt refused to give up her rights to it. Mark Martin and Aric Almirola will co-drive that car next year and it will be sponsored by the U.S. Army.

Budweiser will become the primary sponsor next season for the No. 9 Dodge driven by Kasey Kahne.

“It’s
important that we work hard and make a good statement as we close this
out and start a new chapter next year,” Earnhardt said. “The
anticipation is at a boiling point. I’m ready to get over to Rick’s and
start racing.”

The No. 88 was retired by Robert Yates Racing, which asked NASCAR to transfer the number to Hendrick for Earnhardt.

“Ralph
Earnhardt drove the No. 88 Oldsmobile in 1957 and because of this
number’s history with the Earnhardt family, I felt car No. 88 should
continue with Dale Earnhardt Jr.,” Robert Yates said in a statement.
“Younger fans don’t realize I built cars and raced against Ralph. I
also had a very close relationship with Dale Earnhardt Sr. I’m proud to
transfer this number to Dale Jr.”

The driver unveiled his line of candy bars, “Dale Jr.’s Big Mo’,” at a candy expo in Chicago on Tuesday.

Earnhardt
had already signed personal services contracts with Adidas and Sony. He
became the fourth athlete to receive a clothing line from Adidas,
joining soccer’s David Beckham, football’s Reggie Bush and basketball’s
Tracy McGrady.

The car sponsorship was announced in Dallas, where
1,500 Pepsi bottlers were holding their annual meeting. Earnhardt
appeared before that group before publicly announcing the deal.

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It’s about time!!

FOX Sports on MSN - NASCAR - FOXSports.com, SPEED to broadcast event

Hendrick Motorsports officials have scheduled a press conference
for Wednesday, Sept. 19, to officially announce Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s
car number and primary sponsorship package for the 2008 season.

The press conference, which is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET, will take
place in the Dallas Convention Center. Coincidentally, PepsiCo Inc.
officials are in town next week as they are having their annual
meetings in Dallas.

It
is expected that Amp energy drink, an offshoot of PepsiCo product
Mountain Dew, and National Guard will combine to sponsor NASCAR’s most
popular driver next season.

SPEED will broadcast the event live from Dallas, while FOXSports.com will stream the event in its entirety.

Even
though the sponsor combination appears to be known, there is still
speculation surrounding what number Earnhardt Jr. will drive next
season since he will be unable to take his No. 8 with him to his new
team after his current organization, Dale Earnhardt Inc., prevented
such a move. Both Earnhardt Jr. and team owner Rick Hendrick have said
that they expect the number 8 to be involved in some fashion, and the
team has applied for trademarks on the Nos. 38, 81, 82, 28 and 51.

However, the latest speculation points towards the No. 88, which is currently used by Robert Yates Racing.

“I’ve
done about as good as I can do about narrowing it down,” Earnhardt Jr.
said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun to really see the reaction of the
fans and I hope that they really enjoy what we’re going to do. We’ve
been having a lot of fun with design and with the approach and sort of
forming what our identity is going to be on the race track and off the
race track.”

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Considering that the Wife and I are Dale Jr. fans, and most of the rest of the family are Jeff Gordon fans, this is going to make things interesting…

If Busch ends up driving for DEI, I am going to throw up!!

NASCAR.COM - Earnhardt Jr. announces he will drive for Hendrick - Jun 13, 2007

As expected, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced on Wednesday that he will drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2008 (watch video).

Earnhardt will replace Kyle Busch at Hendrick. No announcement was made in regards to sponsorship or what car number Earnhardt will drive. It was not announced where Busch will end up.

Source: NASCAR.COM - Earnhardt Jr. announces he will drive for Hendrick - Jun 13, 2007

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 I don’t care who Jr. drives for, I will still be a big fan.

NASCAR.COM - Earnhardt Jr. to leave DEI after 2007 season - May 10, 2007

Earnhardt Jr. to leave DEI after 2007 season

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Damn, this just sucks.  He will be missed. 

Read the rest of the article at the link below.

Parsons,
65, dies after battle with lung cancer

Benny
Parsons, who charmed television audiences with his folksy demeanor as much
as he impressed fans with his ability as a driver, died Tuesday at Carolinas
Medical Center in Charlotte following complications from lung disease. He was
65.

NASCAR.COM
- Parsons, 65, dies after battle with lung cancer - Jan 16, 2007.

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This is just embarrassing…

ARCHIE’S BETTY JOINS NASCAR - NEWSARAMA

ARCHIE’S BETTY JOINS NASCAR

---

Press Release

Betty Joins NASCAR (Illustrated)

Race Car diver Betty Cooper is featured in this months NASCAR Illustrated! It’s the first time in Archie history that one of the Riverdale Kids have been featured in a NASCAR related publication.  Motorsports are a natural for Archie Comics. Both NASCAR and Archie Comics are entertainment suitable for the entire family. The real life success of female drivers Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James, Sarah Fisher & Danica Patrick encouraged Hiram Lodge to sponsor Betty as a his motorsports driver. When reached for comment Mr. Lodge said “We are
pleased that Betty has been featured in such a fine publication as NASCAR Illustrated. Of course I knew all along that Betty was an excellent choice to represent Team Lodge.” Her daring new motorsport adventure ships next week in Archie Comics #572. Read about her in the January issue of NASCAR Illustrated, in stores now, then head to you
local comic shop or newsstand next week.

ARCHIE #572

lures away his top driver and pit crew! Not to worry though – Betty “The Fast Track to Success”: Move over, Danica Patrick – you’ve got nothing on Betty Cooper and Indianapolis has nothing on the Riverdale 500! Mr. Lodge is the proud sponsor of one of the swiftest motor sports teams around, but his pride runs out of gas when one of his rivals Cooper has offered to get behind the wheel, with Archie and the gang as her makeshift pit crew! Does Betty have what it takes to out-race the overconfident male drivers? Rev up your engines for action and excitement in this fast-paced tale!

SCRIPT: Mike Pellowski. ART: Stan
Goldberg.
Shipping January 3, 2007
On sale DCD January 17, 2007
On sale Newsstand January 23, 2007
32-page, full color comic
$2.25 US

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Hang in there BP!!

NASCAR.COM - ‘73 champ Parsons hospitalized in ICU - Jan 6, 2007

NASCAR.COM Reports
January 6, 2007
12:01 PM EST (17:01 GMT)

CONCORD, N.C. — Former NASCAR champion and current broadcast analyst Benny Parsons has been hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte since the day after Christmas.

Parsons,
who has been a member of the NBC/TNT broadcast crew since 2001 and
previously worked for ESPN, also hosts a weekly radio program on PRN.

The
1973 champion and 1975 Daytona 500 winner revealed in July that he had
been diagnosed with lung cancer. Parsons admitted he had been a smoker
but had kicked the habit nearly 30 years ago.

“The first thing
everyone asks me is, ‘Are you a smoker?’,” Parsons said. “The answer is
that I smoked my last cigarette way back in 1978 and since then I’ve
hated being around smoking. I don’t even allow anyone in my foursome to
smoke on the golf course.”

After treatment, the 65-year-old announced in October that his cancer was in full remission.

“Three months ago my family doctor called me into his office and told me I had lung cancer,” Parsons said at the time. “So Rick Hendrick
told me if I was going to fight cancer, you have to get [oncologist
Steven A.] Limentani. He helped Rick through his leukemia 10 years ago.
So we did.

“The last three months we have been battling the
disease. Then Wednesday, I had a scan and [Limentani] called me
Wednesday afternoon with the best news: ‘The cancer is gone … see
ya.’ “

However, Parsons was unable to attend the Nextel Cup
Awards Ceremony in New York as the cancer treatment reportedly left his
left lung too damaged to function properly, according to a report in
the Charlotte Observer.

Parsons, chosen as one of
NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers in 1998, made 526 starts from 1964 until
his 1988 retirement. He won 21 races and 20 poles.

He also had
283 top 10 finishes, led at least one lap in 192 races and finished no
lower than fifth in the points from 1972 to 1980 while earning more
than $4 million.

Parsons was born in Ellerbe, N.C., but spent
time in Detroit where he worked at a gas station and a cab company
owned by his father. When he first started racing, he often listed
“taxicab driver” as his occupation on entry forms.

He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Parsons’
family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from fans and
the NASCAR community and they encourage everyone to keep Benny in their
thoughts and prayers.

Parsons is not allowed visitors at this time, but fans and associates can continue to send him messages at bp@goprn.com.

 

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