Rick Minter, Senior Writer
Rick Minter joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1991, where he covered motorsports as well as serving as a bureau chief. From 2000-2008 he focused on racing exclusively, traveling the NASCAR circuit as the paper’s motorsports writer and winning awards from several organizations including the Georgia20 Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association and the City of Atlanta. Minter and his wife Joanne live on the family farm in Inman, Ga. In his spare time he collects and restores antique tractors and trucks.
Articles by Rick Minter
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The big experiment continued on Friday at Daytona International Speedway as drivers took to the track in a relatively big pack for the first time under the current rules package, which includes a larger restrictor plate as of Friday morning.
Speeds were considerably faster than before, with Kurt Busch setting the early [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When he took his turn answering questions from the media at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, Carl Edwards seemed upbeat about 2012 despite his heart-breaking loss in the 2011 championship battle.
He said neither he nor crew chief Bob Osborne are second-guessing any of the decisions they [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
DAYTONA Beach, Fla. – The two-car tandem appears to be here to stay. Just minutes into the second test session on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, drivers were running in pairs, testing the new rules to see just how, where and how long one driver can push another.
NASCAR’s rules changes [...]
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is probably still a little young to be considering what will eventually be his legacy in NASCAR. But a big part of it undoubtedly will involve his role as a car owner who was passionate about giving young drivers a chance at stardom.
Earnhardt’s latest pick to drive his [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
The phone call on Wednesday from Rocky Platt brought sad news. His father Huston Platt, the pioneering drag racer, had died at his Buford, Ga., home. He was 79 years old.
I’d heard of Huston Platt for years, but never actually talked to him until a few years ago, when Rocky [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
TALLADEGA, Ala. – The numbers said it all. Clint Bowyer, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet with a special 100th anniversary of Chevrolet paint scheme won the Good Sam Club 500, giving his car owner Richard Childress his 100th Sprint Cup win.
And in a race that featured drivers pairing up in [...]
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Sometimes it seems like there’s nothing that gets the memories flowing more than a Sunday morning drive. The early morning trip to Talladega Superspeedway from my home in Georgia was a breeze, with little to no traffic on I-20 or even on Speedway Boulevard. It might be a bad sign for
the crowd [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Concord, N.C. – Three generations of Wood Brothers have combined to spend the past 62 years running a race team, but lately they’ve turned into museum curators.
With team founder Glen Wood being selected for the NASCAR Hall of Fame the second generation of the family – Glen’s children Eddie, Len [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – The two race tracks across from each other on Georgia Highway 53 – Road Atlanta and Lanier National Raceway – have combined to produce some great NASCAR drama and great memories from years ago as well as from hours ago.
Today, Lanier’s grounds are serving as a [...]
HAMPTON, Ga. – If the story of the 2011 Labor Day weekend races at Atlanta Motor Speedway was a fishing tale, it would be about the big one that got away.
Down to just one Sprint Cup race a year for the first time since the track opened in 1960, speedway officials pulled out all the [...]