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
There’s been news aplenty in the NASCAR world the past few days. Most of it has tended to be on the negative side, although the sport’s spin doctors have tried to make it appear otherwise.
One of the most fun weekends of the year, the truck and Nationwide races at Lucas Oil Raceway, is being shut [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Now that the majority of the NASCAR teams are headquartered around Concord, N.C., and the new, official NASCAR Hall of Fame is in Charlotte, there’s a perception that NASCAR has its roots in the Carolinas.
But there are plenty of Georgians who beg to differ.
As writer and historian Brandon Reed pointed [...]
The ongoing debate over who should be enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame is healthy because it causes people to think about who their heroes – racing and otherwise – really are.
For many, their racing heroes aren’t the Pettys and Pearsons of NASCAR. They’re the short track racers they watched every Saturday night at [...]
Sprint Cup races at Michigan International Speedway, where the circuit is racing this weekend, have a way of turning into gas mileage/strategy races, as have several recent races in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.
The reasons races play out that way are numerous. For starters, the caution periods in the latter part of the [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Concord, N.C. – A driver should know the situation is serious when their car owner accompanies them to a press conference, as was the case with both Trevor Bayne and Kyle Busch at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday.
In Bayne’s case, it was a serious medical issue that was being dealt [...]
By Rick Minter| Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Concord, N.C. – An upbeat Trevor Bayne said his doctors, even those at the Mayo Clinic, never diagnosed exactly what caused him to have double vision and inflammation, but he was sure that he was thankful for the “eye-opener” that came with having to sit out of
racing for several weeks.
He said [...]
Commerce, Ga. – After two days of rain, the third day of the 31st Summit Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway was picture perfect. The opening rounds in the Full Throttle professional classes produced some upsets in the early rounds and some high-profile match-ups in the finals.
But, as always, any trip to the races is more [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Commerce, Ga. – Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher has won just about everything there is to win in his drag racing career. He has 67 race wins and seven championships and has won at about every track he’s ever competed on – except one.
He’s still winless at Atlanta Dragway.
“I’ve been [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Commerce, Ga. – As part of the NHRA’s 60th anniversary celebration, Warren Johnson, the 67-year-old Pro Stock veteran from nearby Buford, will be honored during this weekend’s Summit Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.
But even before the festivities kicked off, Johnson received a great tribute from one of his fellow racers [...]
It’s hard to get your mind on racing while the Southeast is trying to recover from killer tornados and the rest of the world is looking for every detail about the death of Osama Bin Laden, but here goes.
One of NASCAR’s better races of the season, a short track run at Richmond International Raceway, sets [...]