Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
I’ve been around Richard Childress for most of his racing career. I covered him as a struggling driver and I covered him as a successful team owner.
I’ve been to supper with him, shared beverages with him, swapped stories with him.
In all of those 40-something years I’ve never seen him lose his […]

Last Sunday’s Indy 500 and Coke 600 shared dramatic finishes but they didn’t share a single driver. Good. Perhaps the NASCAR guys who used to “do the double” have finally come to their senses.
I suppose we had to admire their grit but I always questioned their gumption.
I also questioned their dedication to their NASCAR teams, […]

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
When I covered the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 the place was packed to the seams. Scalpers lined the streets. Newspapers in several states were crammed with ads for tickets, invariably as part of some sort of gold-plated travel package.
One estimate put the crowd at 350,000 and I figure that was […]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
I don’t know if it was a typo, a misunderstanding by the transcriber or an intentionally-clever play on words by Kevin Harvick.
This is what he was quoted as saying about being called in and chewed out by NASCAR following his Darlington dust-up with Kyle Busch, according to the printed transcript:
“That […]

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are two of the most talented drivers in NASCAR.
They also are two of the most temperamental.
What happens when the two opposing forces collide? Sheet metal and fists fly.
That’s what occurred last Saturday night at Darlington when Busch and Harvick tangled while scrambling for the same slab […]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
NASCAR’s official position is that it doesn’t play favorites with its drivers, and that may be true in terms of enforcing the rules.
But you can bet your bippy – as they used say on Laugh-In – that NASCAR is rooting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to have a successful season. Successful, […]

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Over the weekend I watched the TV biographies of three of this month’s NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees – Bud Moore, Lee Petty and Ned Jarrett – and it make me realize what’s missing from the sport today:
Them, and men like them.
Lots of older fans complain about today’s lackluster racing, micro-managed […]

I’ve known Chad Chaffin and Bobby Hamilton Jr. since they were kids. I covered their dads’ racing careers and, later on, chronicled their own NASCAR adventures.
They’re both great guys and that’s why awhile back when I heard they were awarded a two-year lease to operate Nashville’s 54-year-old Fairgrounds Speedway I wasn’t sure whether congratulations or […]

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Nashville, Tenn. – It was a micro-second that would define Ricky Craven’s 25-year racing career.
In a 2003 race at Darlington, Craven nipped Kurt Busch by 0.002 seconds, the closest finish ever recorded in a NASCAR race since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993.
A couple of weeks ago at Talladega, that […]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Which of the 25 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2012 should be inducted?
Every one of ‘em.
But since Oz, or whoever’s behind the curtain, is adamant about restricting each class to five, here’s my choices for the third round:
Darrell Waltrip
Cale Yarborough
Fireball Roberts
Curtis Turner
Tim Flock
How there can be […]