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
A few random observations on a sunny morning in Georgia after a night of scary storms, one of which hit awfully close to Atlanta Motor Speedway, a track that was devastated by a tornado back in 2005.
The new rules that prevents drivers from competing for points in more than one division has put some new [...]
With the announcement of the latest five nominees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte comes the renewal of the debate over the wisdom of inducting just five people each year.
Much of the focus the past couple of years has been on who gets left out, focus that instead should be on the ones [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Talladega, Ala. – Two of the big debates in racing today involve how the competition today compares to what went on in the so-called good-old days and whether a great
finish is enough to make up for the rest of a race failing to live up to expectations.
Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at [...]
Talladega, Ala. – Friday’s media sessions at Talladega Superspeedway had the feel of one of those situations where you meet someone and can’t think of anything better to start the conversation with than to say: “What do you think about the weather?”
The weather was an issue as weather radar showed potentially dangerous storms approaching from [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Talladega, Ala. – On a morning with ominous clouds hanging over the speedway and weather bulletins and storm precautions being distributed in the media center at Talladega Superspeedway, there are still warm memories from last night’s induction ceremonies for the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, located on the main drive [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
As the NASCAR circuit gets to work today at Texas Motor Speedway it’ll be interesting to see whether the pit-road-speeding issue dies down or gains steam and produces a positive result for drivers, fans and the media.
In the closing laps at Martinsville last week, the five-time and defending Sprint Cup [...]
Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
There were several positive signs for the future of NASCAR last weekend, and two of them came even before Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed at Martinsville that he might have some winning left in him.
Over at Stuart, Va., on Friday night, the Wood Brothers scheduled an event at their old shop to [...]
Bristol, Tenn. – It had been about a year since I’d had a one-on-one interview with Jeff Gordon, so back at Daytona I asked his publicist Jon Edwards if he’d put me on Jeff’s calendar for Bristol.
In a Sprint Cup world where publicists don’t exactly jump when an interview request comes in, this transaction was [...]
By Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
I read on the Internet yesterday that National Speed Sport News was ceasing publication. I guess I’m just like most everybody else these days. I get my racing news online for free, but I also wonder when the point will come where those who gather the racing news just can’t [...]
People in and around NASCAR have spent a good bit of the past few days pondering the stunning number of empty seats at Bristol Motor Speedway.
My first hint about the situation came on the trip into Bristol. In the past, the road was full of campers of all sizes and conditions. Pickup trucks loaded for [...]