plus 3, Pothole plagues NASCAR's marquee event - Florida Today

Pothole plagues NASCAR's marquee event - Florida Today
Llewellyn has racing in the heart - Brazoria Facts
Buell returns to his racing roots - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Birmingham filmmaker John Lauri captures daredevil’s thrilling ride - The Oakland Press

Pothole plagues NASCAR's marquee event - Florida Today

Posted: 14 Feb 2010 10:06 PM PST

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DAYTONA BEACH — NASCAR surely didn't plan to have a pothole develop in the second turn at Daytona on Sunday and for its marquee race to come to a halt -- not once, but twice -- to allow the road crews to patch them.

But the delays came, initially giving fans quiet time in the sun to extend the stupor they obviously fell into over the first 121 laps of the Daytona 500, and the second time leaving them shivering in the setting sun and eventually darkness.

Even though the statistics will say there were a record number of leaders and lead changes preceding the first stoppage, the race's pedestrian nature could have lulled an infant to sleep.

Even a handful of cautions for several mishaps -- this was the sloppiest Speedweeks in some time after all -- couldn't stir things up in front of a sellout crowd. At least the paying customers -- and the pit crews -- got to bask in the warmth of the sun that finally asserted itself after days of miserable weather. The second delay wasn't nearly as fun.

Meanwhile, track crews swarmed like ants over the broken pavement, trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

During the first stoppage, the clock kept ticking to the point where drivers climbed out of their cars and patronized the port-a-potties adjacent to Victory Lane, where eventually one of them -- in the end (Jamie McMurray, of all people) -- would celebrate winning NASCAR's premier race.

As the minutes dragged on, that time and place seemed to be as distant as the dark side of the moon and the faithful initially stayed put in their seats, investing their best hopes that things would eventually turn out for the best.

As for their plans to get back on the road home after the much-heralded 21/2-hour earlier start? Well, think of Murphy's Law.

As the first interminable delay stretched on, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian Z. France was surprised by reporters while standing outside race control.

"(We have) a set of circumstances that has taken a lot longer than we would have anticipated to fix," he said. "It's in the midst of obviously 30-something lead changes already and we're having a great Daytona 500 and we're going to have a great Daytona 500. We had three different solutions that we had in place and it wasn't until the third one that it appears to now get it remedied for us. That's disappointing for our fans and for ourselves. That's where we are."

A great 500? What race was he watching?

More than a hour into the delay, the ranks began to thin as empty spots began to appear in the bleachers, after all patience is a virtue for only so long and the beer was still on tap.

Nearly 90 minutes in, drivers headed back to their cars, about four hours after they initially climbed in, eight minutes later engines fired and 16 minutes later, the Daytona 185 took the green flag to suddenly full grandstands.

And whaddya know, almost as though on script, things got serious. Halftime breaks in NASCAR anyone?

But with 40 laps to go, whaddya know (hey that rhymes), the pavement gave way again, and the red flag came out, again, this time for 44 minutes and 35 seconds.

Anyone for repaving the speedway?

Contact DeCotis at 242-3786 or mdecotis@floridatoday.com.

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Llewellyn has racing in the heart - Brazoria Facts

Posted: 14 Feb 2010 09:59 PM PST

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Peggy Llewellyn's drive for motorcycle racing is one that many should admire.

Born into a motorcycle family with her dad owning a motorcycle shop (Southeast Cycles in San Antonio) and her older brother getting into the racing circuit, the 37-year-old knew one day the sport would take hold of her — and it finally did in 1996.

"That year, three women qualified for an NHRA event and Stephanie Reeves was the first to receive that honor," Llewellyn said from her hometown of San Antonio. "I then realized that women were starting to make a profession out of it and take it to another level."

Since that time, Llewellyn has joined a slew of females into the sport of racing.

As Danica Patrick makes her next move in her racing career by moving into NASCAR, women have really shown how far they've come in a sport that was once dominated by the male gender.

Llewellyn's career didn't exactly get off to a sterling start when she got going in 2001. She participated in six events that year and then took some time off until returning in 2007.

On Sept. 23, 2007, Llewellyn became the first black woman to win a professional motorsports event when she dominated the NHRA Powerade Series O'Reilly Fall Nationals in Dallas.

In that event, Llewellyn beat Andrew Hines in the finals by running an elapsed time of 7.020 seconds at 190 mph. That win also catapulted her to an appearance in the inaugural Countdown to 4 and Countdown to 1 where she knocked out Craig Treble, the No. 4 seed at the time. She was the only female to make it to the countdown and eventually wound up in fourth place for the year.

"Since 2001, I've been racing for a total of about five years," Llewellyn said. "When I was 7, my dad bought me my first motorcycle. It was a Dandy Pocket Rocket and it came in a box. The top speed was 30 mph, but my dad, of course, made it faster. Whereas most girls my age collected Barbie dolls, I collected motorcycles."

Llewellyn found herself at a crossroads again at the end of a successful 2007 when she was let go by her racing team.

The 2008 season was a short because she participated in only three NHRA events.

"I had a lot of fun getting back on the bike in 2008 because of what happened after getting released," Llewellyn said. "I went to a semifinals on my first race that year and it just showed me a lot about my abilities in this profession."

In one of those three events had a career-best run at 193.24 mph.

"It is like everything stands still when you are going that fast," Llewellyn said. "What I try to do is pick a target in front of me and just focus on it because when you are going that fast you cannot look to the sides."

Llewellyn could not find any sponsorships for the 2009 campaign and held out for another year. But she now is back and is making a full commitment to the profession she once saw herself getting into at a young age.

"I had to stop leaving destiny in other people's hands," Llewellyn said. "Though it hasn't been formally announced, I am starting my own team. I was reluctant because I didn't know how to go talk to those big companies. It was me holding me back because I didn't have that confidence but once they saw what I have to offer, things changed.

"I really didn't think I got any sponsorships in 2009 because I was a female, but more because of the economy and how it threw everyone for a loop," she said. "I know what my track performance is but I do a lot with the community by lending my name to different associations — plus I work with the youth and the women and I want these companies to see that."

Llewellyn's return to racing will be on the weekend of March 11-14 at the Gator Nationals in Gainesville, Florida.

"This is like starting over again and I know I am going to have butterflies," Llewellyn said. "But after a couple of test passes, I will be all right. I'd like to win a couple of championships and continue to build this team. Once I retire, I'd like to bring up a pup, whether it is a woman or man. And I'd like to start my own foundation.

"Racing is imbedded deep in my heart and I know I can do this."

Joel Luna is the sports editor for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0160 or at joel.luna(at)thefacts.com.

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Buell returns to his racing roots - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Posted: 14 Feb 2010 09:09 PM PST

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Posted: Feb. 14, 2010 11:05 p.m. |(0) Comments

Although the liquidation sale of the old Buell Motorcycle Co. hasn't even finished, the company's founder is deep into a new venture: Erik Buell Racing.

Working out of a small shop in East Troy, where his factory was located, Buell is building racing motorcycles one at a time.

Last fall, Harley-Davidson Inc. announced it was shutting down the sport bike manufacturer it had owned for more than a decade.

Harley executives said Buell Motorcycle Co. was not profitable and had simply run out of time.

Now, 59-year-old Erik Buell is on his own.

Gone is the Harley corporate staff that had supported his company's marketing and manufacturing.

Gone is the factory, along with the company headquarters, resulting in the loss of nearly 200 jobs.

"I really can't describe how awful that was," Buell said. "With every piece of equipment that was sold, I knew the guy who ran it, and I knew he was out of a job. That, to me, was extraordinarily painful."

Erik Buell Racing, on the other hand, has a staff of eight people. Buell quips that there are three main investors: "Me, myself and I."

He answers his own telephone calls now and does his own marketing.

He helps build the race bikes that bear his name, and he would not hesitate to sweep the shop floor or do any other job in the fledgling company.

Harley had offered Buell a job as an adviser in its engineering department. But it probably wouldn't have been a good fit, since Buell's passion is for racing-style bikes rather than Harley cruisers and touring motorcycles.

In the motorcycle industry, Buell has always been an underdog working on a tight budget. Although Harley supported the company financially, Buell's operating budget was minuscule compared with its foreign competitors Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki.

The Harley and Buell corporate cultures sometimes clashed, since Harley was so much bigger than Buell.

Harley shipped 187,085 motorcycles in 2009, compared with 8,753 for Buell and a sister company, Italy-based MV Agusta.

"It was like dancing with an elephant, and the elephant was doing a different dance," Buell said. "That part was always very difficult and was absolutely exhausting."

Now, Buell can make his own decisions.

Lean, fast machines

Harley-Davidson has granted him a license to continue building Buell motorcycles, but for racing use only rather than street riding.

The timing is good, given that a Buell 1125R bike won the coveted American Motorcycle Association sport bike championship last fall. It was the first pro championship for an American motorcycle manufacturer since 1986.

Racing fuels the sport-bike community, where the lean, fast machines are something like Porsche and Ferrari sports cars.

A win at the racetrack can result in millions of dollars in sales for motorcycle manufacturers that use racing as a marketing tool for their street-legal bikes.

"In my mind, we had finally brought Buell Motorcycle Co. to a high level of racing," Buell said.

With limited resources, Buell hopes to build about 25 race bikes this year. He will sell them to race teams and individuals wanting to be successful at the track with something other than Japanese-made motorcycles.

"I still believe that an American-made sport bike has a lot of potential," Buell said.

There will be Buell motorcycles in the Daytona 200 race in March and other races in 2010.

While Erik Buell Racing won't have the resources to sponsor a team this year, it will support other riders on Buell motorcycles.

The company has sold two racing bikes to an Italian race team. It also will sell bike parts to racers.

Competitive urge alive

Buell has a loyal, intense following in the sport-bike world, including riders from other countries.

"In my opinion, Buell was really starting to hit its stride" when Harley-Davidson dropped it, said Graham Mansill, a Buell rider from Brisbane, Australia.

"Harley seemed to be hellbent on crushing Buell just as they were achieving the road racing success that Harley never could," he said. "It's a step in the right direction that Erik Buell has been able to start Erik Buell Racing. What I would really like to see, however, is for Harley-Davidson to do the right thing and release or sell the design and manufacturing rights so that Erik Buell and his elves can develop and manufacture both race and street motorcycles."

Buell, however, says he understands that Harley had to make the choice it made. "We understood that they needed to focus on their core business in these tough times, and it wasn't us."

His new company could be a bridge to something else, or it could remain a small, niche business.

A few key suppliers chose not to make parts for the new, smaller company. That was a temporary setback.

"I don't expect to show a profit this year," Buell said. "If we are a little sluggish coming into the racing season, that's OK considering what we have been through."

In the 1970s, Erik Buell recorded the fastest qualifying time for a rookie in the history of the Daytona 200. It was quite an accomplishment for a guy who traveled from race to race in a van with two motorcycles in the back, sleeping with the bikes while an occasional hitchhiker shared the driving.

Buell scrounged for motorcycle parts and cash to keep his dream of being a professional racer alive.

That dream is still viable, although redirected a bit.

"I think I had better keep my competitive urge for the business," Buell said.

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Birmingham filmmaker John Lauri captures daredevil’s thrilling ride - The Oakland Press

Posted: 14 Feb 2010 07:43 PM PST

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By MIKE SCOTT
Special to The Oakland Press

Click to enlarge

Birmingham documentarian John Lauri's (above) film "Adrenaline is Life" chronicles a motorcycle flight landing achieved by Bernie Williams and profiles other local daredevils. Lauri is expecting to finish his documentary film later this year. (Photo special to The Oakland Press/Andre Laroche, Stage 3 Studios)

As a photographer and filmmaker, Birmingham resident John Lauri thought he had seen it all.

And then he was approached by a 65-year-old Michigan resident who wanted a film made of his successful flight and landing of a motorcycle from 5,000 feet above ground.

Lauri is expecting to finish his documentary film "Adrenaline is Life" later this year. The film chronicles the exploits, including a motorcycle flight landing, achieved by Bernie Williams, who is Lauri's partner on the film. It will also profile other daredevils around the area in a finished product that could be as long as 90 minutes.

"It's not the type of film I am used to shooting," said Lauri, owner of J. Lauri Filmworks in Warren, a business adjacent to Stage 3 Studios. "I haven't done much life-filming before, but this was a great chance to expand my skill set. Plus the content was so fascinating, I couldn't pass it up."

Lauri first heard about Williams from individuals he has worked with at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. It took some time before Lauri could be convinced that landing a motorcycle safely in such a manner was even possible, much less by an individual who could be considered a senior citizen. But once he met Williams, everything fell into place.

Williams spent most of his adult life as an experienced base jumper. So last late fall, the two headed to Chesaning with a film crew to tape the feat. They finished filming Nov. 28. That was a test flight in preparation for Williams' flight over the Snake River in Idaho this spring.

Williams was seated on a Yamaha YZ-125 motorcycle that ascended to a height of more than 5,000 feet suspended beneath a hot air balloon piloted by Eric Horton. The trip took about 30 minutes, resulting in a successful release from the balloon with Williams flying and then landing the motorcycle on the ground while riding it.

Williams claims that the motorcycle he flew has more air miles than ground miles. They plan to auction it sometime this year for the benefit of a charitable organization. Williams and Lauri are also considering sponsorships and promotions for their future flights, including Snake River.

"We already have received some interest from (film) distributors," Lauri said.

It wasn't a small feat to get the act completed. Lauri and Williams had to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and other local entities to complete the successful landing.

"It's hard to describe how complicated it is to shoot from a hot air balloon," Lauri said, referring to where part of his film crew was for the shoot. "But it was a tremendous experience and these daredevils like (Williams) have such amazing stories."

Williams was born in Cardiff, Wales, where he lived until 1970 when he immigrated to the United States. While working as a boilermaker, he pursued his interest in professional motorcycle racing, skydiving, base jumping and wing-suit flight.

Lauri's professional career is perhaps less dangerous but just as exciting. He has handled production on a number of films.

Lauri has been trained and certified by Sony and The Sundance Media Group in high definition production. In addition, he is a certified Steadicam Operator/Owner, and a member of the Digital Cinema Society, the Steadicam Operators Association, the American Film Institute, the Detroit Film Center and the International Documentary Association.

"I like to say that I work creatively at 186,000 miles per second," Lauri said. "Being a filmmaker is a fun and challenging job."