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
Among the many empty seats in the infield media center at Daytona International Speedway last week was the one usually occupied by David Poole.
Poole wasn’t there because he died on April 28, just two days after covering the race at Talladega Superspeedway in which Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards wrecked [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Daytona Beach, Fla. – The temporarily reinstated Jeremy Mayfield isn’t among the entries for Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, but he dominated the discussions between drivers and the media.
Most drivers said they wouldn’t be hesitant to race against him whenever he returns to competition, but there were [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Daytona Beach, Fla. – Some old NASCAR rules and a new one will be put to the test this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
This weekend’s race are the first to be run on a restrictor-plate track using the new double-file restart format. From what most drivers say, the difference between [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Daytona Beach, Fla. – The last time Joey Logano was in the garage at Daytona International Speedway on a race weekend, he likely was looking for a place to hide after crashing the famous No. 20 Toyota early in the race and finishing dead last in the Daytona 500.
But on [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
As sports go, NASCAR is still relatively young. The first championship-winning car owner, Raymond Parks, is still making the rounds today. Richard Petty, whose race team won two weeks ago at Infineon Raceway, was on hand in 1949, when the first race of the series now known as Sprint Cup [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
As the NASCAR circuit heads back to Daytona International Speedway for the traditional start of the second half of the season, it’s a good time to look at some of the events that have – or haven’t – transpired in the first half.
For starters, there’s a Who’s Who list of [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Whitesburg, Ga. – Anyone who gets a warm feeling from watching Mark Martin win Sprint Cup races at the age of 50 ought to get a real charge out of seeing Pappy Powell race his dirt track car at the ripe old age of 85.
Roston “Pappy” Powell isn’t some old [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
In recent years, Richard Childress Racing could be counted on to put most or all of its drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Last year, all three RCR drivers made the cut and grabbed the fourth, fifth and sixth positions with Kevin Harvick leading the way. The year [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Every sport has its icons. Most all of them are on the field or on the track. In the case of the NHRA, one of the sport’s most popular personalities for decades has done his work, not on a car, but with a microphone.
Bob Frey, 62, has been announcing races [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
When it comes to life lessons learned from auto racing, few can compare to the example of Richard Petty’s perseverance.
Yes, he has been and remains the sport’s King when it comes to race wins, championships, career starts, poles, popularity and a lot of other categories.
But since his winning days as [...]