Bill Elliott

Race Time 2012 Program Includes $99 Family Track Pack,

Expanded Merchandise, Fan Events at Stores Across U.S.
 

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (Jan. 26, 2012) – Walmart today announced it is expanding its Race Time 2012 program to give fans more accessibility to discounted race tickets, driver appearances and fan events at stores, a greater selection of authentic NASCAR merchandise and a special sponsorship of Bill Elliott at the Coke Zero 400.

Walmart’s Race Time program, launched last year as the largest retail promotion in NASCAR history, gives fans authentic merchandise and fan events at Walmart stores in every NASCAR Sprint Cup series race market. This year, Walmart has more than tripled the number of companies offering displays of authentic merchandise, doubled the number of fan events at stores and increased the race markets where the $99 Walmart Family Track Pack will be offered.

“Our mission is to bring accessibility and affordability to NASCAR fans,” said Rand Waddoups, Senior Director, Entertainment Properties and Brands, Walmart. “We know our customers love NASCAR, so we are going to be a one-stop shop where they can save on discounted family tickets and authentic merchandise, as well as meet some of their favorite drivers.”

The goal for Elliott, who was voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver 16 times and is one of NASCAR’s Top 50 Drivers of all time, is to qualify and compete at the Coke Zero 400. He will also visit Walmart stores  with his show car before select races.

Steve Phelps, chief marketing officer of NASCAR, said, “Our expanded partnership with Walmart allows us to further engage and excite our fans and bring exceptional value. NASCAR fans can now visit a single destination to stock up on all of their favorite NASCAR merchandise, tickets and race-day snacks.”

Walmart’s Race Time 2012 program specifics include:

• Elliott appearances at Walmart stores throughout the racing season leading up to the Daytona race on July 7, giving fans a chance to meet him in person.
• In participating race markets, Walmart will offer a $99 Walmart Family Track Pack that includes four discounted race tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and a race program. The package saves fans more than $100 and will be available online at Walmart.com as well as in Ticketmaster kiosks in selected Walmart stores.
• NASCAR fan events at stores in every race market throughout the season will feature real stock car race displays, special appearances by professional drivers and racing simulator machines.
• Participating stores will offer authentic NASCAR T-shirts, racing flags and other NASCAR branded merchandise, as well as tailgating food and beverages.

The $99 Walmart Family Track Pack will be available for the following races:

• Kobalt Tools 400, Las Vegas – March 11, 2012
• California Auto Club 500, Fontana, Calif. – March 25, 2012
• Dodge Challenger 500, Darlington, S.C. – May 12, 2012
• NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Charlotte, N.C. – May 19, 2012
• Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte, N.C. – May 27, 2012
• Autism Speaks 400, Dover, Del. – June 3, 2012
• Pocono 400, Pocono, Pa. – June 10, 2012
• Michigan 400, Brooklyn, Mich. – June 17, 2012
• Coke Zero 400, Daytona Beach, Fla. – July 7, 2012
• Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Loudon, N.H. – July 15, 2012
• Pennsylvania 400, Pocono, Pa. – Aug. 5, 2012
• Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips, Watkins Glen, N.Y. – Aug. 12, 2012
• Michigan 400, Brooklyn, Mich.– Aug. 19, 2012
• AdvoCare 500, Atlanta, Ga. – Sept. 2, 2012
• Dover 400, Dover, Del. – Sept. 30, 2012
• Good Sam Club 500, Talladega, Ala. – Oct. 7, 2012
• Bank of America 500, Charlotte, N.C. – Oct. 13, 2012

For additional details, visit Walmart.com/NASCAR.

About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at over 10,000 retail units under 69 different banners in 28 countries. With fiscal year 2011 sales of $419 billion, Walmart employs 2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://walmartstores.com, and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart. Online merchandise sales are available at http://www.walmart.com and http://www.samsclub.com.

# # #

CONCORD, N.C. — The final day of the 30th annual NASCAR media tour began Thursday morning with the unveiling of a brand-new race car. Bill Elliott pulled the cover off of the blue No. 50 Wal-Mart machine he will drive in July at the Coke Zero 400, built by Turner Motorsports and powered by Hendrick Motorsports engines.

A more fitting exclamation point to this year’s preseason sentence might have been the unveiling of Doc Brown’s DeLorean.

Each edition of the media tour develops its own unique theme. Three years ago it was economic gloom and doom. Two years ago the tour was plastered by what felt like overly positive NASCAR-mandated talking points, clearly aimed at blowing away those dark clouds. Last year brought sweeping change, from shop floors to the points system.

[+] Enlarge

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images 120126Bill Elliott called the 2012 NASCAR media tour “an old-school, new-school kind of week.”

This week it was all about riding into the future on the wave of momentum from 2011, one of the most competitive seasons in NASCAR history, but still keeping one foot planted squarely in the past to push off with. For example, the world’s largest retailer hiring a 56-year-old former Cup champion to help its first ride make the field for its first race.

In other words, back to the future.

“It has been kind of an old-school, new-school kind of week, hasn’t it?” said Elliott, about to embark on his 37th season and the owner of a past champion’s provisional. “Y’all have been talking to old guys like me, young guys like [16-year-old son] Chase, and just, well, just a lot of old and new stuff all at once.”

The past-is-prologue experience started with the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction in Charlotte on Friday, when the Hall’s Crown Ballroom was packed with a beautiful blend of current and past stock car racing stars. The news conferences of this week were dominated by young blood, the largest group of fresh-faced drivers to come along in quite some time, and new blood, putting old faces in new places to try to create a spark.

At the Roush Fenway Racing stop, 21-year-old Trevor Bayne and 24-year-old Ricky Stenhouse Jr. acted as de facto emcees of a trivia contest. Danica Patrick, finally a full-time NASCAR racer, moved with ease between tables at a Nationwide Series dinner. And at Richard Childress Racing’s sushi dinner, Austin Dillon threw down wasabi-eating challenges.

“It seems like it’s been a while since a lot of new young guys all showed up at once,” Dillon said on Tuesday, motioning to the Chevy he will race in the Nationwide Series, the first black No. 3 stock car since the death of Dale Earnhardt. “Among all of us there seems to be a real appreciation for the history of the sport. We know what these numbers mean and we respect them. We want to write the next chapter for them, whether it’s me in this car, Trevor Bayne with the Wood Brothers, [Aric] Almirola with Richard Petty, or Brad Keselowski in the Blue Deuce.”

[+] Enlarge

Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesTrevor Bayne coming out of nowhere to win the 2011 Daytona 500 was a “huge wake-up call” for NASCAR.

On Thursday morning, Keselowski was clearly at ease with his new unofficial role as Penske Racing’s No. 1 driver, practically running the team’s news conference from his center stage chair. That promotion came via team owner Roger Penske’s decision to replace the controversial Kurt Busch. He did that by digging back into his roots, hiring a racer who first made his name as an open-wheel road-racing ace, AJ Allmendinger. If that sounds like Mark Donohue, who came over with Penske from Formula One and Indy Car and earned the pair its first NASCAR win in 1973, The Captain says that’s not an accident, even if he didn’t realize it at first.

“I wouldn’t say that was a conscious decision, but when you say it out loud like that, it sure makes a lot of sense. And there’s no doubt that when you talk to AJ there’s a real Donohue kind of mindset there. I don’t think a race team can have enough of that. Working with guys like that makes an old guy like me feel young again.”

The week peaked Wednesday with the unveiling of the 2013 Ford Fusion, the first of NASCAR’s overhauled fleet of race cars that will contain new technology but look and feel more like, in the words of NASCAR president Mike Helton, “a real, genuine stock car that looks like what they sell in the showroom.”

That reveal also marked the official beginning of the funeral march for the much-maligned Car of Tomorrow.

“There’s things about the current car that will be in the new car,” team owner Richard Petty admitted at the Ford announcement. “But I think you can say this is pretty much the day that the Car of Tomorrow became the Car of Yesterday.”

Jeff Gordon talked about celebrating later this fall when he hits the 20th anniversary of his first Cup series start, while potential future teammate Chase Elliott, a Hendrick Motorsports development driver, worked the crowd. Kurt Busch said he was looking forward to “going old-school and rediscovering fun” with underfunded Phoenix Racing.

Tony Stewart looked over his overhauled team, smiled, and said, “This is just a bunch of short-track racers that live and breathe racing 24 hours a day. When we have a meeting it honestly feels like just a bunch of dirty racing guys talking. And by guys I’m including Danica.”

Fostering these new youthful feelings is NASCAR itself. As recently as four years ago the marketing and promotional efforts of the sanctioning body were deliberately designed to disconnect with its so-called redneck past, with mandates such as no country music or mention of the word moonshine. In addition, no drivers were featured unless they were: (A) Sprint Cup competitors; (B) in the top four or five of souvenir sales.

“There’s things about the current car that will be in the new car. But I think you can say this is pretty much the day that the Car of Tomorrow became the Car of Yesterday.

”– Richard Petty

Now all of that has changed, as evidenced by the “Fast Forward” theme splashed all over Thursday’s “state of the union” news conference, complete with a slideshow of young drivers, the introduction of the new Drive for Diversity class, and, yes, country music. All held on the main floor of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, surrounded by the cars of stock car racing’s past.

“I think Trevor Bayne was a huge wake-up call for us,” admitted Steve Phelps, NASCAR chief marketing officer. “He won our biggest race last year and fans knew nothing about him. Neither did sponsors. Candidly, neither did we. Luckily we had a media blitz that week that showcased Trevor, but it made us realize that we need to start planting the seeds and educating people about these young drivers early.”

NASCAR now has a department dedicated to — in Phelps’ words — star-making. According to Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR VP of racing operations, that group has created an extensive list of drivers who represent every tier of the NASCAR ladder, no matter how far down. “If they make a fan early, then they have a fan for life. That’s how the drivers in this Hall of Fame became Hall of Famers. When today’s young racers do start moving up that ladder, we need to give them the kind of stage and fan base they deserve.”

It’s about time. And if this year’s Fountain of Youth edition of the NASCAR media tour is any indication, it’s starting to work.

Ryan McGee, a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, is the author of “ESPN Ultimate NASCAR: 100 Defining Moments in Stock Car Racing History.” He can be reached at mcgeespn@yahoo.com.

Officials from Champion Racing Association (CRA) announced today the move of one of racing’s most anticipated events, “SpeedFest 2012″ from Lanier Speedway to Watermelon Capital Speedway, in Cordele, GA, January 28-29, 2012. The event hosts the top Super Late Models and Pro-Late Models in a traditional, annual pre-season showdown.  After developments earlier today, Monday, CRA officials deemed the move necessary. CRA co-owner R. J. Scott explained the need for the move: “As a company, we have a responsibility to put the racers in the best position possible, and the promoter had a different agenda than we did for the event…an agenda that we felt was not right, where the racers were concerned. CRA just finished its 15th year in business, and we plan to be around for many more years. The current promoter at Lanier had made it known that he was planning to get out of racing after SpeedFest, and we felt like he had an agenda different than ours for the event. There is a limit to what you can and/or should charge a racer for things, and you have to draw the line somewhere. There are some necessary evils that racers have to endure, but there is absolutely a LIMIT to what they have to endure. It would have certainly been easier for us as OFFICIALS to just continue the event Lanier, but in our opinion, it would not have been the right thing for the RACERS.”

All of the original details of the event are currently staying the same, specifically the purse, days and times, with only the location changing. Glenn Luckett, CRA co-owner and Managing Partner went on to note, “Since we will now be able to control the entire event, CRA itself will be able to guarantee the purse and its FULL payment. We have numerous racers that are in full support of the move, securing what’s best for the racers, including NASCAR Cup Competitors Kyle Busch and David Ragan as well as Bill Elliott’s race team, who will ALL be at Marvin Ragan’s 3/8 mile track in Georgia. It may add a couple hours drive for some people, but we make decisions like this for the racers, our community and the long term prosperity of our sport. Sometimes the right thing to do is not the easiest thing to do, but this is definitely the right thing to do and it ensures the best chance for a successful event for the racers.”

CRA teams, officials and fans will not be the only ones making the move to Watermelon Capital Speedway, so will the staff and coverage of Speed51.com.  Speed51.com will continue to have exclusive live coverage of the event, promoting the racers and the event in the days leading up to “SpeedFest 2012″. They will continue with the industry leading coverage fans and racers have come to enjoy and expect.

According Speed51.com founder and NASCAR TV on SPEED commentator Bob Dillner, “CRA has delivered professional Late Model racing for more than 15 years now and it is one of the series that Speed51.com enjoys covering.  CRA has also been part of SpeedFest since its inception as an event at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, FL.  This is why we at Speed51.com will fully support the CRA SpeedFest 2012 event at Watermelon Capitol Speedway, the racers that take part in it and the promotion leading up to it.”

ELLIOTT SCORES DRAMATIC, RECORD-BREAKING VICTORY IN 44^th ANNUAL SNOWBALL DERBY

No matter how far he goes in his racing career, a big part of Chase Elliott’s resume will always be that he’s a Snowball Derby winner.

The Snowball Derby is to short track racers what the Masters is to golfers or what the Superbowl is to football players. The Snowball’s list of winners reads like a Who’s Who of auto racing. Former winners include drivers who also have achieved great success in NASCAR, drivers like Pete Hamilton, Donnie Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Jody Ridley, Rick Crawford and Kyle Busch.

The Snowball Derby, held at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., also has attracted its share of famous drivers who were unable to win the coveted trophy. That list includes some of NASCAR’s greatest drivers, among them Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, David Pearson and Elliott’s own father, Bill Elliott, who ran the Snowball twice, in 1981 and 1982, but failed to finish either time.

Elliott not only won the Derby, he became the youngest winner in the 44-year-history of the race as he won after turning 16 the Monday before. And he did it in dramatic fashion, outrunning D.J. VanderLey in a five-lap, door-to-door duel to seal the victory.

“It’s what I’ve been looking forward to all year”, Elliott said as he held a tight grip on the coveted trophy from Victory Lane. “I don’t think I’m ever going to let it go.

“I thank Aaron’s and Mom and Dad and the grace of God, and I have to thank my team. They made this happen. They stayed calm fixed the car, and we never gave up.

“I just can’t believe it.”

Like any great triumph, Elliott’s Snowball win didn’t come without its share of challenges.

Elliott and the crew of his No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine were among 54 of America’s best short trackers vying for one of the 35 starting spots.

Elliott and his team qualified a respectable ninth for the Snowball Derby, while also competing in the preliminary Snowflake 100, where he was the defending winner. Elliott started 27^th in the Snowflake and had worked his way to 16^th before being collected in a crash. His Aaron’s team replaced the radiator, and he stormed back to finish fifth and more importantly show that he and his team would do whatever it took to overcome a potential setback.

On Sunday, Elliott was on the move from the start of the 300-lap run. He passed Landon Cassill, Hunter Robbins, Augie Grill, Jeremy Pate and Grant Enfinger to take over the fourth position before caution was displayed on Lap 98, when the Aaron’s team pitted for tires and fuel.

Elliott returned to the track in sixth position. The green flag waved again on Lap 114, and Elliott passed Cassill and Enfinger to take the fifth position before another caution flew for a crash in Turn Four. When the green flag flew at Lap 141, the leaders began spinning off Turn Four and Augie Grill, with nowhere to go, rammed Elliott from behind.

As they did the night before, the Aaron’s crew rose to the occasion and made the necessary repairs under the leadership of crew chief and former Derby winner Ricky Turner.

“It broke the back bumper brace bar, and we had to bearbond it back together because there was no time to weld it,” Turner said. “We came back into the pits three times during the caution, staying ahead of the pace car to maintain our lead lap position.

“The guys did a good job getting everything fixed back, and it all stayed intact to the end of the race.”

Amazingly, Elliott’s tires survived the incident without damage.

As Elliott tightened his belts to take the green flag after his team finished taping the car back together. Always the optimist, he radioed to the crew:“ Good job, guys. I’m not giving up.”

He lined up as the last car on the lead lap in his Impala “Jerry-Lee” in its debut run and began making his way back through the field.

One by one he picked them off smooth and steady, and by Lap 218 he had moved into second place. When the caution was displayed on Lap 220, Turner called Elliott to the pits for tires and fuel for what would be their last stop of the day.

Elliott came out of the pits as the leader for the first time in the race.  Many more cautions played into strategies for teams as the laps wound down, but it was the call from Turner atop the pit box when caution was displayed on Lap 272 that put Elliott in position to win.

Turner left Elliott on the track, telling him: “Stay out. Game on,” even as Enfinger, in second place, stopped for four fresh tires.

“They have to pit to have any chance of catching you,” Turner said. “We have to run our race.”

Over the final laps, Elliott and D.J. VanderLey pulled away to settle the race among themselves, just as Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart had done at Homestead-Miami Speedway  to decide the Sprint Cup championship.

Elliott’s final hurdle arose when a late-race wreck brought out the red flag and set up a five-lap dash for the win.

Elliott admitted that he didn’t have the best restart of his life, but he hung in there with VanderLey and the two jockeyed for the lead before Elliott pulled ahead on the final lap to win by 0.229 seconds.

Elliott said he wasn’t particularly nervous over the final five laps. He was just trying to be smooth and race responsibly.

“I was just trying to hit my marks,” he said. “I knew I had a good car, and I was trying to be smart and race [VanderLey] clean and not wreck him.”

It was a birthday wish come true in a big way, as Elliott told his mother Cindy in Victory Lane.

“I wished for this, Mom,” he said. “I wished to win the Snowball Derby. This is my wish come true.”

ELLIOTT 2011 RACE-BY-RACE RESULTS

About Aaron’s:  Aaron’s Sales & Lease Ownership stores offer customers access to high-quality furniture, appliances, electronics and computers for sale or as a lease-ownership arrangement.  Customers have the option of buying their merchandise for an attractive cash price or opting to lease their merchandise for even greater flexibility.  With a lease option, customers make modest monthly payments and have the immediate use of the items they need without waiting for credit checks or other delays.  Plus, Aaron’s will take care of delivery, setup, repairs, and more for the duration of a customer’s lease. For more information, please visit shopaarons.com.

Simplified Points System Instituted For 2012

Touring Series Will Intergrate National Series Structure

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR announced today that the points system all NASCAR national series began using this year will be instituted in the regional touring level for 2012.

The points system was simplified to make it easier for fans, competitors and the industry to understand.

Beginning in 2012, the system will be integrated into the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and NASCAR Mexico Series.

The new structure awards points in one-point increments. As an example, race winners earn 43 points, plus three bonus points for the win. Drivers also can earn an extra point for leading a lap and leading the most laps, bringing the race-winning total to a possible maximum of 48 points.

All other drivers in a finishing order are separated by one-point increments. A second-place finisher earns 42 points, a third-place driver 41 points, and so on.

“Implementing the simplified points system at the regional touring level will make the points structure consistent with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president, regional and touring series. “The change at the national level was welcomed in the industry this year and has provided a points system that is much easier for everyone to understand.”

This year’s NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup ™ demonstrated that use of the new points structure is viable with a shorter schedule, such as with each touring series.

“Considering the tight competition in NASCAR’s touring series, we anticipate that with the new points system in place we will see close championship battles similar to the ones this year in all NASCAR national series,” Silbermann said.

The move to bring the simplified points system from NASCAR’s national series to the regional touring level is part of an effort to integrate uniform race formats and procedures throughout the NASCAR ranks. Earlier this year, two race procedures were changed to bring the touring series in line with the national series. One of those procedures stipulated that if a green-white-checkered finish is necessary, a maximum of three attempts will be made. The other change directed that on all restarts, passing will not be permitted until the car reached the start-finish line.

In some cases, race procedures developed at the touring level have been adopted at the national level. In 2009, the double-file restarts that had come about in the regional series, became a part of the national series race procedures.

ThatsRacin.com contributor Tom Higgins was a longtime motorsports beat writer for the Observer

BY TOM HIGGINS - THATSRACIN.COM CONTRIBUTOR

It wasn’t the closest chase in a NASCAR season finale for a Cup Series championship.

Neither was it the most exciting match-up.

But the outcome at the time ranked among the most popular in stock car racing history.

This is because the title winner was Bill Elliott, the Huck Finn-type character from little Dawsonville in the Georgia mountains.

Elliott drove to his only championship on Nov. 20, 1988, at his home track, then known as Atlanta International Raceway. He essentially coasted to the triumph, nursing a 79-point lead starting the race to finish 24 ahead of Rusty Wallace for bonuses estimated to be worth $1 million.

This year’s run for the championship also will be decided on Nov. 20 – Sunday – at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. Carl Edwards leads Tony Stewart by three points entering the season finale under a new points system and a “playoff” format.

Elliott had contended strongly for the championship in 1985, winning 11 races and once building a lead of more than 200 points. However, he and his family oriented Ford team, led by his brothers Ernie and Dan, slumped down the stretch and saw Darrell Waltrip win his third and final title by 101 points.

There was no slump in ’88. Elliott took the points lead in August at Bristol, Tenn., with 10 of the season’s 29 races remaining. He built the advantage to 127, and held on comfortably as Dale Earnhardt and Wallace attempted to catch him.

Elliott’s legion of loyal fans turned out in force for the Atlanta Journal 500 at the 1.5-mile track near Hampton, Ga. A crowd estimated at 70,000 showed up despite chilly, gray, threatening weather.

They wanted to be present for the crowning of “Awesome Bill From Dawsonville.”

Elliott needed only to finish 18th or better and the lucrative title was his, no matter how the Pontiac-driving Wallace fared. He openly conceded that his strategy at the track now known as Atlanta Motor Speedway would be conservative.

Wallace, understandably, tried to prod Elliott psychologically, as Waltrip had done during his rally in ’85. Elliott and his team owner, the late Harry Melling, weren’t taking the bait.

As Wallace charged, Elliott stroked and lost a lap. He at times ran just hard enough to maintain position in the top 18.

Wallace led 166 of the race’s 328 laps and flashed to the finish line a winner, 3.3 seconds ahead of runner-up Davey Allison’s Ford. Elliott came in 11th and topped Wallace, 4,488 points to 4,464.

The 24-point margin was the third closest in NASCAR history at the time. Richard Petty beat Waltrip by 11 points in 1979 and Earnhardt topped Cale Yarborough by 20 in 1980.

“I did everything in my power,” said Wallace. “To come so close, yet be so far away, I’m pretty dejected.

“Bill is a good friend of mine, and I congratulate him. But the way he drove got to me. It’s maddening.”

Elliott never led a lap and, according to NASCAR scorers, never was higher than seventh place.

It was a less-than-awesome performance for a driver who shared the season lead in victories with Wallace at six triumphs.

Bill was unapologetic.

“We did just what we had to do,” said Elliott. “We kept the car running all day and here we are. My cap says it all.”

Elliott wore a cap with “1988 Winston Cup Champion” embroidered on it.

“Rusty will be in my position some day and have to do the same thing. Just wait and see. It’ll come back to him.”

It turned out much that way. Wallace won the 1989 title by 12 points at Atlanta over an onrushing Earnhardt.

To the fans of Elliott – the sport’s most popular driver a whopping 16 times – it didn’t matter how their hero took the title. They cheered long and lustily.

However, some motorsports journalists were offended. One wrote that Elliott “owed it” to his followers to charge for the championship in that ’88 season finale.

Of course, it was’t HIS $1 million at stake.

More racing news, blogs, photos and more at www.ThatsRacin.com.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/16/1649114/finish-wasnt-awesome-but-1988.html#ixzz1dyRvHN8I