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
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
For many a racing person, old race tracks are like their grandparents’ farm. Even if the crops and cows are gone, they’re still very special places in the heart. That feeling comes to mind these days as the old Nashville Fairgrounds track appears headed for the wrecking ball like the [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
In the press box and media center at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday, reporters had the opportunity, as is NASCAR’s custom, to interview the race winner as well as the second-and third-place drivers and the top rookie. And since the race was in the Chase, points-leader Jimmie Johnson was also brought [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Talladega, Ala. – After Sunday’s AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, it appears the Creek Indian medicine man who performed a ceremony designed to put and end to the strange occurrences at the speedway needs to try a different potion.
Sunday’s list of strange and unexpected events was a rather long [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Talladega Superspeedway president Rick Humphrey is, in my opinion, an all-around good guy worthy of the support of both fans and the media. But I hope the Creek medicine man he got to restore balance to his race track turns out to be a quack. Even if the strange occurrences [...]
Many NASCAR fans and media members who are searching for a young aggressive driver to inject some needed enthusiasm into the sport are eyeing Brad Keselowski. The Dale Earnhardt Jr. protégé picked up his fourth Nationwide Series win of the season on Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park using the aggressive style of driving that is [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
The last time David Poole sat in a press box was at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this year. There, the assembled group of reporters sat behind laptop computers and wrote about a race finish that saw Carl Edwards’ car fly into the catch fence, with strewn parts injuring seven, including one [...]
If anyone ever had reasons to quit racing, it would be Timothy Peters.
In 2001, his father, his primary backer, died, but Peters pushed ahead anyway. After finding success on the short tracks of Virginia and the Carolinas, he started getting the calls all aspiring racers dream about.
First it was Bobby Hamilton, offering a truck series [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Throughout the long-running debate over why Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t enjoying the same success as his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, one fact gets consistently overlooked: His best days in NASCAR were with Tony Eury Sr. running the show.
“Pops” Eury, with able assistance from his son Tony Jr., guided his nephew Dale [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Some Thursday observations:
Of all the terms being tossed around regarding Jimmie Johnson’s surge toward what’s looking like a record fourth straight Sprint Cup title, “irony” is one of the first words that comes to mind.
In the same autumn that David Pearson was snubbed in the voting for the inaugural class [...]
As Bill Elliott began to approach the later years of his NASCAR career, he started spending some of his time helping aspiring young drivers break into the sport.
His first understudy was his nephew Casey Elliott, who had tons of potential only to be lost to cancer before he could show the NASCAR world just how [...]