Courtney Force and Graham Rahal are auto racing’s newest, fastest couple on eight wheels. They have overtaken NASCAR’s Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse, at least based on career victories.
Ron Kantowski
Ron Kantowski is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering a variety of topics and the Las Vegas sports scene.
rkantowski@reviewjournal.com … @ronkantowski on Twitter. 702-383-0352
He has won 41 races in drag racing’s Nitro classes, and no driver has won as many events in Las Vegas as Ron Capps. He has won five times here: once in spring, four times in fall.
A few weeks ago, when he nearly won the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a risky fuel strategy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. pretty much said it was new NASCAR rules rewarding race winners that was responsible for an exciting finish. Today at Martinsville, Va., he pretty much backtracked on that.
Kyle Busch won another race at Auto Club Speedway in California Sunday. He suggested that Harry Hogg from “Days of Thunder” should get an assist.
Off-road racing veteran Andy McMillin (and co-driver Steve Sourapas) were the overall winners in Saturday’s General Tire Mint 400 off-road race held south of Las Vegas near Jean. They averaged 59.9 mph over four 100-mile loops with an elapsed time of 6:14.29.
The name on his birth document says Rufus Parnell Jones. The name in all those auto racing Halls of Fame just says “Parnelli.” Well, it probably says “Jones,” too. But it wouldn’t have to.
Jonathan Goldsmith, the debonair actor from the TV beer commercials, was the guest of Richard Petty’s NASCAR team at the Kobalt 400. He said he drives his father’s 1994 AMC Jeep, and that he would would be driving the No. 6 car in the race.
NASCAR almost fell over while taking a deep bow over Brad Keselowski’s exciting victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. But at least one commentator suggested the rule changes weren’t responsible for Dale Earnhardt Jr. running out of fuel on the last lap.
It was about halfway through the Kobalt 400 on Sunday afternoon when the Performance Racing Network announcer’s voice crackled over the speakers in the media center. He reported that he was back at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, that the race was being dominated by Kevin Harvick, that only 16 cars were on the lead lap.
The idea behind talking to Brian Vickers was to point out that not long ago he was one of NASCAR’s brightest young stars, and then he nearly died — twice — from blood clots in his lungs and legs.
Derrike Cope’s life might have changed forever when he inherited that victory at Daytona in 1990. But now he’s driving in the Nationwide Series, and he has only a three-race deal, and his sponsor is Charlie’s Soap of Mayodan, N.C.
There are four Las Vegans currently running in NASCAR’s top two touring series, which not only is remarkable but only one fewer than from North Carolina.
These NASCAR rules changes about ride heights and whatnot might drive the drivers and their teams crazy, but race fans love ‘em. The changes meant extra practice sessions on Thursday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and race fans got in free.
Joey Saldana, aka the Brownsburg Bullet, collects World of Outlaws sprint car victories — he has 94 — and helmets of other racing drivers. He has about 125 of those. Until recently, though, he didn’t have a Steve Kinser helmet.
When NASCAR announced it was changing the rules again, to create a winner-take-all, one-race showdown for the Sprint Cup championship, there was an uproar. A very loud uproar. It sounded like the flyover before the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before the government shutdown, when there still were flyovers.
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