R.I.P. David Poole, NASCAR Media Veteran

DAVID POOLE: 1959-2009

A Gastonia, N.C., native, David Poole became the Charlotte Observer’s

 NASCAR writer in 1997. He became a familiar figure at tracks across

 the country and built a national following through ThatsRacin.com and a daily program he hosted on Sirius NASCAR Radio. The National 

Motorsports Press Association four times recognized Poole as its writer of the year. (Photo Credit: Charlotte Observer)

I was heading back home after my brother dropped off his car at the mechanic's to fix a persistent link in his BMW, when I heard Fox Sports Radio's Chris Meyers, who anchors the FOX Sports pre-race show for their NASCAR Package that my friend and colleague, David Poole, died after the conclusion of his daily radio show, "The Morning Drive," on Sirius XM Satellite Radio on Monday. He was only 50 years old and is survived by his wife and three children and one grandchild.

Already, the word is spreading like wildfire across the blogosphere, as my friends at the Daly Planet have posted a blog for its' readers to comment on his passing today. His death has made the front pages of NASCAR Scene magazine, as well as SPEED TV, where he was a frequent guest on their various NASCAR Shows. The writers at the new website That's Racin' have also paid tribute to him today with this piece on what everyone else is saying about what a man David was.

Even Sports Illustrated ran the AP story about it, no doubt written by our mutual friend and another writer I consider a mentor, Mike Harris, the outstanding Motorsports Writer for the AP who is retiring later this year. David's friend and sometimes traveling companion, Monte Dutton, provided a special rememberance of David for his hometown paper, and previous employer, the Gaston Gazette.  

Most recently, David did a major mitzvah in helping raise money for the "Pennies for Wessa" foundation. The foundation helps in assisting the family of Wessa Miller, a young disabled girl who, in 1998, gave a penny to the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. before he drove in the Daytona 500, which became his most legendary win at the venerable track. He wrote a story for the Observer last year, revisiting the little girl who helped give Big E his only Daytona 500 win, and chronicled the struggles her family was dealing with due to Wessa's continuing battle with spina bifida. Eleven years ago, Earnhardt Sr. presented the family with a new van to help transporting Wessa to her doctor's visits in Lexington, 175 miles from her hometown of Phyllis, Kentucky.

Charlotte Observer writer David Poole talks during a news conference

 in March at Bristol Motor Speedway where he helped create awaremess

 for Pennies for Wessa as Wessa Miller and her father, Booker, look on.

 Wessa gave Dale Earnhardt a penny before the 1998 Daytona 500, 

Earnhardt's one and only win in the Great American Race. 

(Photo Credit: NASCAR Public Relations) 

At this year's spring stop in Bristol, Tennessee, The Millers were once again in the spotlight as the NASCAR Foundation, Motor Racing Outreach, the motorsports ministry, and a number of teams all helped out the family through a large auction and donations to the Pennies for Wessa foundation. 

That was the kind of man David was. When I went through my problems with my heart in 2007, I heard from him. When I saw him after my first hospitalization, he got on me to keep losing the weight I had gained from the heart trouble. Every time he saw me, he always told me to keep up with my health. He never gave up on anyone, and he always would be encouraging towards my continued development as a motor sports writer.

I will miss that hearty laugh and his no-nonesense approach to motor sports. He was a character and he will be missed. I know that he's sitting in a perfect press box with my mentors Mike Hollander and Shav Glick, watching a race at the perfect oval in heaven. 

So long, Pal. I know we'll work together again some day.

UPDATE: I found this today on YouTube, it was created by the Performance Radio Network, one of the radio networks that covers the NASCAR series. A number of NASCAR Media members made recollections of David, especially those that saw him this past weekend in Talladega. 

In Defense of Milka Duno or Why Ashley Judd and Danica Patrick need to shut the Hell up

As usual, it was a full day of racing for me today, with Formula 1 in Bahrain and the Sprint Cup in Talladega, I watched the Indy Racing League's first oval race of the season, the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300, at Kansas Speedway, and with it the season debut of my favorite Open-wheel driver, the lovely and talented Milka Duno.

Of course, to hear the talking heads and the tweeter-holics in the blogosphere, you would think it was Mr. Magoo driving a Maxwell instead of a sophisticated Dallara chassis with a Honda engine. 

Milka Duno sits on the pod of her SAMAAX Racing CITGO race car before her 2007 Indy Racing League debut at Kansas Speedway. 

(Photo Credit: St. Petersburg Times)

For the last couple years, I've heard the same things over and over whenever Milka is mentioned, "Human Chicane," "slow and dangerous," and "she has no business out there." Most of these comments, though, are out of the mouth of Ashley Judd, AKA Mrs. Dario Franchitti, from back in 2007, although bloggerheads like Kurt Van Der Dussen of the Bloomington, IN, Herald Times are proud to be one of the torch carriers when it comes to the Anti-Milka Militia. 

Look, I'm going to put this as easy as possible, since most of the Anti-Milka Militia are probably also tea-baggers as well (I mean the morons who Faux News whipped into an anti-Obama frenzy on Tax Day, not the Other kind). Most drivers start when they're young as 9 or 10. Even the Driving Gidget started off young in the karting ranks before coming up to becoming Mrs. 100 lbs. of Trouble. 

Milka, on the other hand, didn't get her start until she was 24, about a decade or so ago. So while the majority of her racing peers were getting their time in the seat, Milka was working on her Master's degrees in Naval Architecture, Maritime Business and Marine Biology. She also has a Master's in Organizational Development, so that's a hell of an accomplishment for ANYONE, let alone a woman like Milka, good looks and brains are always a rare combination. Hell, Personally, I'd kill to get my Master's in anything, or even just finish my Bachelor's in History. But that's a long story for another time.

I would, of course, like to state in the interest of full disclosure, that I know Milka personally. I met her in 2003, when she was participating in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, which is a tradition at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Over the next few years, we crossed paths as she drove in the Rolex Grand-Am Series, and eventually made it to the IRL. I've always found her not only engaging and a great subject to interview, but she knows her racing. She's competed with the best of the best at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and reached the podium as part of the second place team in the 2007 race.  I personally love interviewing her when I get the chance and she likes seeing another "amigo" as part of the media horde.  

Milka gets a hug from her crew chief before the start of the 

2007 Indy 500. (Photo credit: Matt Detrich, Indianapolis Star)

In the last two runnings of the Indy 500, Milka ran respectively, although she finshed only 65 laps in her 2007 debut, she was the only one amongst herself, Sarah and Mini-D to finish that race,  even though all three of them were involved in accidents, but Milka was the only one to get back out onto the track. This season, she'll run in all the oval races except for the short tracks at Milwaukee, Iowa and Richmond, which frankly is pretty smart. Short track ovals are not her best facet of her racing acumen. However, I want to see her at Long Beach. She knows the circuit, she can do really good there. 

Bottom line, Milka has the ability and the experience to do good in the IRL. I have to really question the real reason behind the vitriol and anger towards her. Would these same people be as angry towards Sarah Fisher if it was her in this position, which she has before? Didn't we hear this exact same argument about the driving Gidget when she started? Of course we did, so why does this bug me so much? Is it because unlike Sarah and Angry-ca, Milka isn't "like everyone else?" Is it because she wasn't born in the US, because she's from Venezuela, which means she gets painted with the same brush as Hugo Chavez?

I think it is a combination of jealousy, at least as far as Ashley is concerned, ignorance, with regard to Van Duh Dussen, and maybe a little bit of good ol' fashioned American Bigotry, for the rest of the AMM out there. So get over her, already. She's going to keep racing, and she'll get better the more laps she has. In fact, I've got a bet to put out there, assuming both Ashley and Duh-nica have the "stones" to put up or shut up. 

Right now there's a bet going on between Tony Kanaan and Ashley's man, that if Tony wins a race before Dario, he takes a hair clipper to Dario's locks, while Tony has to grow out his hair until at least after Indy, since Dario won at Long Beach earlier this month. So along those lines, I propose the following. If Milka finishes ahead of Dario, Ashley gets the "G.I. Jane." The same goes for Danica if she finishes ahead of her. Why not make this something worthy, like the hair gets donated to "Locks of Love" so that they can be made into wigs for little kids going through cancer treatment. 

Any takers?

Milka at Indy before the 2007 race. (Photo credit: Hardmob Forum)

Formula Drift: Round 1 - Winner's Post-race Interviews

Okay here are the videos of the top three finishers in the Formula Drift series opener in Long Beach.

First up, third place finisher and current reigning Formula Drift series Champ Tanner Foust.



Next up is Runner up Sam Hubinette, the two time Formula Drift Champion.



Finally is Round one winner Ryan Tuerck, who is starting his first season in the series.



As a bonus, here's a small video of Tuerck celebrating his victory with a member of his crew.

Formula Drift Recap: ROUND 1, STREETS OF LONG BEACH

PHOTOS BY: Tony Solorzano, Solo Sports Communications.

So Saturday, I headed to Long Beach for the traditional start to the Drifting season as the Formula Drift series opened their sixth season with what is now the traditional opening round at the Long Beach Grand Prix circuit. This year, the opening round saw 47 drivers come out Friday to compete for the 32 slots that compromised the new "bracket" format for the series.

Round of 32: Friday’s qualifying for the opening round of the 2009 Formula Drift season set up the top 32 bracket for Saturday Morning’s action. In what can only be described as a morning of upsets, reigning Red Bull Drifting World Champion Rhys Millen was knocked out of contention in the first round by his own driver, Stephan Verdier, who moved on in a shocking upset. This was the first time Millen had been bested by a member of his racing team, in last November’s inaugural Red Bull World Championship, Millen overcame a spirited challenge by his former driver Daijiro Yoshihara, who moved on this year to the Falken Tire Team.

Aside from Verider’s upset, a number of so-called “young guns” made their presence known as they advanced to the Sweet 16. Tony Brakohiapa, Ryan Tuerck, Japanese Drift veteran Yasu Kondo, former DI series veteran Katsuhiro Ueo and Jeff Jones were amongst the names that advanced to the round of 16 alongside the veterans of the series, two-time champions Samuel Hubinette and Tanner Foust, Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Irish Drifting champion Darren McNamara.

VIDEO COURTESY KNBC LA

Round of 16: In the Sweet 16, Verdier again knocked off another veteran, this time top qualifier Chris Forsberg, needing two succeeding runs after keeping pace with Forsberg’s NOS Energy Drink Nissan 350Z Roadster. Veteran Robbie Nishida easily took care of Quoc Ly after Ly’s Drift Speed Nissan S14 coupe lost part of his front bumper. Both Gittin and Hubinette advanced to the next round, setting another showdown between the long-time rival drivers. Gitten advanced over Kondo when Kondo’s engine blew on the start of their second run. Hubinette needed a second series against Justin Pawlak to advance, earning his 31^st career win in the round of 16 .

Brakohiapa advanced over McNamara while Tuerck, in a major upset, advanced past Conrad Grunewald in a tight contest that needed to go to a third series of runs to decide the winner. Foust and Taka Aono rounded out the final eight, Foust knocking off Ueo and Taka taking down the rookie driver Jones.

Sam Hubinette waves to the Crowd during the Round of 16. Photo by Tony Solorzano

Round of 8: In the Quarterfinals, Verdier’s Cinderella run finally ended at the hands of Robbie Nishida, who advanced to the final four to meet Hubinette. Hubinette’s match-up with Gittin proved to be as exciting as expected from the two American muscle car pilots. Hubinette advanced after a "One More Time" run settled the tie after the first series. Hubinette would face off against Nishida in the final four for a shot at the Championship finals.

On the other side of the bracket, a battle of rookie drivers set up one of the biggest runs of the day as Tuerck continued his stellar run with a knockout of Brakohiapa to advance to the next round. His opponent would be Foust, who advanced after one run when Taka Aono's engine flamed out and caused him to crash.

Cars lined up for the next round of battles along turn 10.

Final 4: The semi-final rounds produced one surprise after another. In the first semi-final, Sam Hubinette and Robbie Nishida faced off in a battle of wily veterans. Nishida kept his Nissan S14 tight on the first run but on the second run, he lost control and spun out on the hairpin turn of the circuit, giving Hubinette and his Dodge Viper the victory and the first slot in the championship final. Nishida would end up battling for third place against Tanner Foust.

In the second semi, Ryan Tuerck continued his Cinderella run by knocking off the reigning champion Foust. Already Foust and his Scion tC had endured 12 tandem runs throughout the day starting in the round of 32, but the two would have to go through three more as the rookie nicknamed "Hampshaa" kept the pressure up before finally besting the 2008 champion, sending Foust to the third place final against Robbie Nishida while facing off against the other two-time champion, Hubinette.

Third Place Final: Robbie Nishida and Tanner Foust squared off for the last spot on the podium and neither driver left anything behind at the end of their match. Like the previous round, Tanner Foust and his Scion pushed their limits in needing two extra tandem runs to finally claim the podium. Nishida kept the pressure up on Foust and in fact, at one point, Faust nearly crashed his Scionin the last run, losing the front bumper off his car at the end of the run.However, the judges awarded him the win for making the bold move inside that they were looking for.

Tanner Foust Celebrates his third place finish on the podium.

Championship Final: It was the veteran against the rookie, Master vs. padawan, whatever cliche you want to choose. Sam Hubinette and his now-legendary Dodge Viper, which was supposed to have been retired for the new Dodge Challenger this season. However, he used his ol' reliable Viper to run through the field and reach the finals. His opponent, Ryan Tuerck, was the greenest of rookies, spending the last year getting his Pontiac Solstice GXP ready for this season. And the wins under his belt showed his potential.

In their face off, Tuerck matched everything Hubinette threw at him, bringing the standing-room-only crowd to its feet on every pass and turn. Despite Hubinette's every effort, the day belonged to the rookie as Tuerck earned his first career victory in the series, and taking the first lead of the seven-round season. The series heads for Braselton, Georgia for round 2, Proving Ground, to be held at Road Atlanta next month, May 8 and 9.

Here's the video for the podium ceremony. I'll post the post-Race Interviews in the next post.