The Quick Bio
Born: May 28, 1917
Hometown: Pelham, NH
Wife: Patti Fox (deceased)
Children: Ray Jr. (deceased)

The Quick Bio
Born: December 22, 1934
Hometown: Spartanburg, SC
Wife: Helen Pearson
Children: Larry, Ricky, Eddie

The Quick Bio
Born: July 12, 1949
Hometown: Warrenton, NC
Wife: Linda Hendrick
Children: Ricky (deceased), Lynn

The Quick Bio
Born: May 25, 1923
Hometown: Daytona Beach, FL
Died: May 9, 2001
Wife: Margie Yunick
Children: Smokey Jr., Rex Henry (deceased), Betty Ann with first wife. Trish, William Sam (deceased), Steven with second wife. He and Margie had no children.

I was a huge Dale Earnhardt fan when i was growing up-a Wrangler wearing, card carrying member of his fan club. Being from New Jersey, Pocono and Dover were the two tracks my family would frequent.

It was an invasion of sorts, although fields of green corn standing tall and blowing in the wind look about the same in August, whether it's Indiana or North Carolina.

Racing in the Van Wormer family started with son Jeep racing motocross.

The world of professional sports is filled with classic Type A personalities, the control freaks who have to have their hands in everything and can trust no one. Think Bill Parcells in the NFL and Pat Riley in the NBA. Scott Bloomquist isn't like that. Then there are the drivers and athletes who take the other tact. They prefer to concentrate solely on what they do best and allow others, the crew chief and tire specialist, for example, to handle all the other details. There are plenty of successful people who fall into this camp, too, but Bloomquist isn't one of them, either.

Three years ago, Denny Hamlin was a virtually unknown Late Model racer tearing up the short tracks across the Southeast. Now the Chesterfield, Virginia, native is one of the hottest commodities in NASCAR, gunning for NASCAR Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year.

This is a birthday story, a story about a sport and a magazine that in asense grew up together.

As crewchief for Nextel Cup driver Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports, Chad Knaus has become one of the sport's top generals over the past four seasons. His ability to make shrewd calls along pit road and communicate with his driver didn't happen overnight, though. Knaus has spent his entire life in racing, and as a youngster he was calling shots for his dad's race team in the Midwest. He took the time recently to talk with SCR.

Martinsville. I love this place.

By now, everyone knows of the havoc caused by Hurricane Katrina. Never before in our country's history has such an enormous number of Americans suffered so greatly from a single-or even series of-natural disasters. There's nothing we can say about the devastation and tragedy that hasn't been said a million times already. To help the victims as best we can, Year One has started the Hot Rodders' Relief Fund to collect donations for the Red Cross relief efforts. Every penny collected will go to the Red Cross.

Toyota is expected to shift the money it is spending on open wheelracing in America to NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series and its Busch Series asearly as 2007.

Jeff Gordon's win in the 2005 Daytona 500, marking his sixth victory atthe famed 2.5-mile track, moved him into a tie for Third with BobbyAllison and David Pearson in career wins at Daytona InternationalSpeedway. It also gave him another crack at one of the longest-standingDaytona records when the Pepsi 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup race rolls off atthe World Center of Speed on Saturday, July 2.

Michigan International Speedway is rarely mentioned as one of NASCAR'smost important tracks. Those bows are usually reserved for DarlingtonRaceway as the track with the most tradition; Bristol Motor Speedway asthe most exciting; and Daytona International Speedway as the mostrevered.

BioBirthdate:July 16, 1981

Cotton Spry weighs nearly 200 pounds once he's put on his driving shoes, protective suit, gloves, and helmet. The Legends Car he races weighs just under 1,100 pounds without any lead. When you add in his weight, including his personal safety gear, he's already close to the 1,300-pound weight minimum INEX mandates for the cars. So, since Spry has less than 50 pounds of lead ballast to move around and work with, he cannot be doing much more than making laps while others race, right?

The engines are still. The grandstands are emptying. Jeff Gordon's voice is filling the infield with yet another description of how he just won his third Daytona 500. It's all just white noise to Jack Roush.

There isn't much that separates Todd Higdon from racers all over the country. He started out in go-karts and moved up a step at a time until he got to the V-8 cars. He works a full-time job, considers racing a hobby, and has raced all his life out of his own pocket. Sounds familiar, right? It is until you add this fact: Last year, Todd Higdon's racing program paid for itself.

Imagine the reaction Mark Whitley gets when a fellow racer asks the inevitable question-How did you get your start?-and he tells them he began his racing career in Soap Box Derby competition. The reply typically draws a puzzled look and a follow-up question, sometimes even two, before the questioner is satisfied. But what else did you race? Whitley, by now used to the query, answers simply, That's it, just Soap Box Derby cars.

Most short-track weekly racers travel 100, maybe 200 miles for theircompetition. Now, here comes Rich Pratt, who'll take his race cars, crewand family on a 2,200-mile or more journey to race in the heat of July,which he has labeled a vacation.

I love to hear Willie Nelson sing, and when he does "Yesterday's Wine" it touches the heart and puts my mind to rambling-rambling back to the early days of stock car racing.

Like the burning embers of a campfire rising into the evening sky,Phoenix International Raceway will shine brightly when the NASCAR NextelCup Series competes in the first-ever night race at the famed desertoval on Saturday, April 23.

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver Jeff Burton can relate a bit to thedie-hard race fan. You know the type of fan who knows every little thingabout his favorite driver, has followed that team for years with greatanticipation, and won't miss a televised event. This fan can name everymember of the team as well as every sponsor on the car of their favoritedriver.