plus 4, NASCAR changes for fans - Florida Today

NASCAR changes for fans - Florida Today
Greipel closes in on another Tour Down Under victory - Summary - Earthtimes
Greipel closes in on another Tour Down Under victory (Roundup) - Monsters and Critics
Property developer starts with Yaletown residential unit and now has ... - Vancouver Sun
Series announces 4 wide racing at Charlotte - Motorsport.com

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 10:13 PM PST

Whew. That was a close one.

NASCAR could have sold its soul completely to the devil at its two biggest tracks -- Daytona and Talladega -- but instead opted for a 50-50 deal.

Saying it wanted to loosen up what it called a contact sport and put racing back in the hands of the drivers, NASCAR on Thursday announced it will allow bump drafting on its two biggest tracks. But thankfully, in a moment of sanity, it decided to keep the double yellow out-of-bounds line in place. There's a reason it was a double yellow line.

The sanctioning body also said it would use a larger restrictor plate -- which will give cars more horsepower and speed -- at 2.5-mile Daytona and 2.66-mile Talladega. That's all fine and well. Improve the racing but keep the drivers' safety paramount.

With live attendance and TV ratings on the decline, NASCAR obviously believed it needed to spice things up right out of the gate with the Daytona 500. And while the bump drafting will quickly become slam drafting and create a degree of chaos, it could have been worse.

Removing the double yellow line would have given the competitors a carte blanche to drive out of their minds, turning Daytona and Talladega into modern versions of the Roman Coliseum. But, in what has become a comforting trend, NASCAR is actually soliciting feedback from its drivers and teams -- Chairman and CEO Brian France met with each driver and team -- and is not only listening to what they have to say, but hearing and respecting it as well.

That was reflected in the decision to keep the out-of-bounds line that most drivers said would be a good idea since they obviously couldn't be trusted to behave without it.

It would have been preferable to see bump/slam drafting maintained on the list of offenses as well, since the drivers immediately will test the limit between slam drafting and over-aggressive driving. But compromise, as an anonymous thinker once said -- "If not the spice of life, is its solidity. It is what makes nations great and marriages happy."

The relationship between NASCAR and its nation of fans, unlike that in any other major sport, is as much a marriage as anything with the fans having a more strident sense of entitlement.

And now with the fans having gotten just about everything they've wanted -- the wing on the race car is going away in March, double-file "shootout-style" restarts are in place, ticket prices have fallen and TV start times have been standardized -- there are no more excuses.

NASCAR has done its part. And while no one can be forced to watch the races in person or on TV, the promise for better things exists and the fans should at least give the changes a chance.

As the saying goes: If you don't vote, don't complain.

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Greipel closes in on another Tour Down Under victory - Summary - Earthtimes

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 10:13 PM PST

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Greipel closes in on another Tour Down Under victory (Roundup) - Monsters and Critics

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 10:06 PM PST

Greipel, the 2008 winner, has now won three of four stages for his US-based HTC-Columbia team. With two stages to go, the 27-year-old is favoured to top the podium Sunday when the riders will have completed 794 kilometres.

\'I just try my best, and the whole team will try the best to stay in the front,\' the Rostock-born giant said. \'But everything will happen like it happens. If I get dropped tomorrow, then it is like that.\'

The fourth stage, raced in 35-degree heat over 149 kilometres of undulating farming country near Adelaide, ended with another blistering sprint from the 80-kilogram Greipel.

The stage win saw him add six seconds to the 14-second advantage he had at the start of the day.

Greipel, 27, came in ahead of Robbie McEwen, from Russia\'s Team Katusha, and another Australian, Graeme Browne, the Rabobank rider and dual Olympic gold medalist. Belgium\'s Gert Steegmans, who rides for Lance Armstrong\'s Team RadioShack, was fourth over the line.

Greipel, who has won an astonishing eight of the 13 Tour Down Under stages he has contested, was headed for victory last year in the 11th edition of the race when he crashed into a badly parked police motorcycle and dislocated his shoulder.

Australia\'s now-retired Patrick Jonker, who won in 2004, said Greipel faced a tough test in Saturday\'s fifth stage, which takes the remaining 130 riders over two circuits of Willunga Hill.

Greipel goes into Stage Five with a 20-second lead over McEwan, who has won the tour twice.

\'Although Willunga is only 4 kilometres, riders like Alejandro Valverde, Cadel Evans and Lance Armstrong will be going up there at 25 kilometres per hour while sprinters like Greipel will only manage 20 kilometres per hour,\' Jonker said. \'I don\'t think he\'ll be in the leader\'s jersey at the end of the day.\'

Another victory for Greipel was a blow for Armstrong, who said at the start of the week he was gunning for a stage win for his brand-new US-based Team RadioShack. The best hope for that was RadioShack\'s Belgian sprinter, Gert Steegmans.

The seven-time Tour de France winner again tried to tow Steegmans to the front for the sprint finish, but the nearly 2-metre Steegmans could only finish fourth.

The big chance for 38-year-old Armstrong, who came out of retirement to contest the season-opening Tour Down Under last year, is for him to break away on Willunga and try for a stage victory himself.

But Tour of Spain winner Valverde and world road racing champion Evans likely share that ambition.

Sunday\'s closing stage is a 90-minute blast around a flat street circuit in the centre of Adelaide, which was likely to end in a bunch sprint. Saturday is the moment of truth for Armstrong, Valverde and the other team leaders.

Last year, 29 riders finished within 49 seconds of the winner, Australia\'s Allan Davis. The slim margin reflected the short, flat stages that make breakaways difficult and favour teams with top-class sprinters like Greipel\'s HTC-Columbia, owned by US millionaire Bob Stapleton.

The only race outside Europe with UCI ProTour status, the Tour Down Under has an unusual format in that teams stay in Adelaide and are bussed out to the start of each stage.

It is popular with riders because it makes a break from training in the Northern Hemisphere winter and popular with team managers because the format makes it a low-cost outing at the start of the season.

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Adelaide, Australia - A bunch sprint decided the longest stage of Australia's Tour Down Under Friday with Andre Greipel again taking the honours and putting a second victory in the six-day Australian classic within reach. Greipel, the 2008 winner, has now won three of four stages for his US-based HTC-Columbia team. With two stages to go, the 27-year-old is favoured to top the podium Sunday when the riders will have completed 794 kilometres. 'I just try my best, and the whole team will try the best to stay in the front,' the Rostock-born giant said. 'But everything will happen like it happens. If I get dropped tomorrow, then it is like that.' The fourth stage, raced in 35-degree heat over 149 kilometres of undulating farming country near Adelaide, ended with another blistering sprint from the 80-kilogram Greipel. The stage win saw him add six seconds to the 14-second advantage he had at the start of the day. Greipel, 27, came in ahead of Robbie McEwen, from Russia's Team Katusha, and another Australian, Graeme Browne, the Rabobank rider and dual Olympic gold medalist. Belgium's Gert Steegmans, who rides for Lance Armstrong's Team RadioShack, was fourth over the line. Greipel, who has won an astonishing eight of the 13 Tour Down Under stages he has contested, was headed for victory last year in the 11th edition of the race when he crashed into a badly parked police motorcycle and dislocated his shoulder. Australia's now-retired Patrick Jonker, who won in 2004, said Greipel faced a tough test in Saturday's fifth stage, which takes the remaining 130 riders over two circuits of Willunga Hill. Greipel goes into Stage Five with a 20-second lead over McEwan, who has won the tour twice. 'Although Willunga is only 4 kilometres, riders like Alejandro Valverde, Cadel Evans and Lance Armstrong will be going up there at 25 kilometres per hour while sprinters like Greipel will only manage 20 kilometres per hour,' Jonker said. 'I don't think he'll be in the leader's jersey at the end of the day.' Another victory for Greipel was a blow for Armstrong, who said at the start of the week he was gunning for a stage win for his brand-new US-based Team RadioShack. The best hope for that was RadioShack's Belgian sprinter, Gert Steegmans. The seven-time Tour de France winner again tried to tow Steegmans to the front for the sprint finish, but the nearly 2-metre Steegmans could only finish fourth. The big chance for 38-year-old Armstrong, who came out of retirement to contest the season-opening Tour Down Under last year, is for him to break away on Willunga and try for a stage victory himself. But Tour of Spain winner Valverde and world road racing champion Evans likely share that ambition. Sunday's closing stage is a 90-minute blast around a flat street circuit in the centre of Adelaide, which was likely to end in a bunch sprint. Saturday is the moment of truth for Armstrong, Valverde and the other team leaders. Last year, 29 riders finished within 49 seconds of the winner, Australia's Allan Davis. The slim margin reflected the short, flat stages that make breakaways difficult and favour teams with top-class sprinters like Greipel's HTC-Columbia, owned by US millionaire Bob Stapleton. The only race outside Europe with UCI ProTour status, the Tour Down Under has an unusual format in that teams stay in Adelaide and are bussed out to the start of each stage. It is popular with riders because it makes a break from training in the Northern Hemisphere winter and popular with team managers because the format makes it a low-cost outing at the start of the season.

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Property developer starts with Yaletown residential unit and now has ... - Vancouver Sun

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 09:01 PM PST

But there was no podium spot for a member of the family that founded the defunct retailing chain in 1891. That was Woodcorp Investments president Kip Woodward, who rose from lettuce bagger to executive VP of Woodward Stores Ltd., and sat as an independent director after the chain closed down and was absorbed by The Bay in 1992.

"It's a wonderful thing -- finally," mezzanine-financing specialist Woodward said of a redevelopment brother John Woodward and Jim Green outlined in 1983. Referring to rancour that accompanied his family firm's demise, he said: "The best thing for those thousands of Woodward's employees and pensioners who built a good name [is that] now it's not synonymous with everything bad."

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KITSILANO POINTED: Don't say: "Vancouver Museum." That's the old way, which may not be the best way in modern museology. The Kitsilano Point attraction is now called the Museum of Vancouver ( www.museumofvancouver.ca).But there's more to the renaming than jumping aboard the "branding" fad. So said four-year CEO Nancy Noble, who oversaw Manitoba Museum's 60-employee curatorial department before joining our 115-year-old museum's 13 full-time and six part-time staff.

As for why, "I wanted to run a museum," Noble said. "Sometimes, when you move up, it's easier to go for a smaller organization."

Not that she expects it to stay that way. Yearly visitors have reportedly risen from 40,000 to 75,000 since 2006. Her five-year target is 150,000 visitors and an annual budget doubled to $4 million, with governments contributing less than today's 70 per cent of it. That will entail increasing sponsorship, donations, memberships and on-and off-site sales.

Announcement of a $5-to-$10-million founding endowment should come later this year, with a related foundation charged to eventually generate $500,000 to $1 million yearly.

There's also the 200-stall parking lot adjoining the museum, H.R. Mac-Millan Space Centre and Vancouver Academy of Music. That'll switch from free to paid operation Feb. 1, thereby matching the nearby Maritime Museum.

A big shift has entailed exhibitions. Although the museum has extensive collections, including Asian and native artifacts, "People wanted to know about Vancouver today," Noble said.

That resulted in transitionary exhibitions like Movers and Shapers, which featured city-based designers, and Velo-City, which enlarged on the cycling phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the Ravishing Beasts show's taxidermy theme has clicked with younger adults.

"They would come as children, and return when they had children" said Noble, who is determined to draw them before that.

That aim should be helped by April's Fox and Fluevog show -- based on celebrity-shoe designer John Fluevog -- and another that will address locally produced food. Meanwhile, Noble, who owns 30 pairs of shoes, wants to hike, with her staff and collections, to occupy the Vancouver Art Gallery's premises. The former courthouse's magnetic effect on protesters "is not a negative thing for us if we do provocative exhibitions," she said.

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SETTING IT STRAIGHT: Kathy Pettigrew conducted research for and founded the Vivvos Fashion underwear-manufacturing firm, not Leah Allinger as one paragraph of mine related recently.

malcolmparry@shaw.ca, 604-929-8456

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Series announces 4 wide racing at Charlotte - Motorsport.com

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 06:52 PM PST

FOUR-LANE RACING TO BE SHOWCASED IN FULL THROTTLE SERIES DURING INAUGURAL NHRA FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS AT ZMAX DRAGWAY

CONCORD, N.C. (Jan. 21, 2010) -- For the first time in NHRA national event history, qualifying and eliminations for Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle at an NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event will be conducted four-wide instead of two, NHRA officials announced today.

The inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals is scheduled for March 25-28 at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, N.C. NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competition will be conducted in the traditional two-lane format, running some classes in the left two lanes and others in the right two lanes to assist with lane preparation and consistency.

The announcement comes just four months after NHRA conducted its first-ever four-lane exhibition at a national event, where nearly 30,000 horsepower blasted off at zMAX Dragway during the September running of the NHRA Carolinas Nationals. In separate runs, four Top Fuel dragsters and four Funny Cars competed in the four-wide event with everyone standing on their feet to witness the most spectacular five-seconds in motorsports.

"We had so much positive feedback from our fans and drivers after the four-lane exhibition last September that we were comfortable adding this unique twist to an official NHRA national event," said Tom Compton, president, NHRA. "Once again, NHRA will be making history at zMAX Dragway. With all four of our Full Throttle Series categories competing in four-wide racing it will certainly be a spectacular event to see."

"Watching these nitro cars thunder four-wide down the world's only four-lane concrete strip is exactly what we had in mind when we built zMAX Dragway," said Bruton Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports and creator of zMAX Dragway. "We're making history with horsepower at the Bellagio of drag strips and race fans will be treated to a competition unlike any thing that's ever been seen before. This will blow them away."

The rules for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway will be as follows:

* Qualifying will be conducted using four lanes

* Each category winner will be determined in three rounds of eliminations

* The two drivers to cross the finish line first in each of the four first rounds of eliminations will advance to the second round

* The two drivers to cross the finish line first in each of the two second rounds of eliminations will advance to the final round

* Each final round will feature four drivers in each category, and the single driver to cross the finish line first in the final will be declared the winner of the race, the second runner-up and so on.

The NHRA Carolinas Nationals, Sept. 16-19, the second of six races in NHRA's Countdown to 1 playoffs, will continue to be conducted using only two lanes at zMAX Dragway.

Tickets for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals are available by calling (800) 455-3267 or by visiting www.charlottemotorspeedway.com on the Web. The inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals is the fourth of 17 races in the NHRA Countdown to 10, NHRA's regular season. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

-source: nhra

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