Jeremiah 29:11

Interesting comment about using the Challenger name at NASCAR.



Racing Notebook: Hamilton is told that his lymph nodes are cancer-free
COMPILED BY MIKE MULHERN
Sunday, September 3, 2006


• There's more good news for Bobby Hamilton - he came of Thursday's biopsy operation in Nashville with a clean bill of health - no trace of cancer in his lymph nodes.

Hamilton has been fighting cancer with a rigorous regime of chemotherapy and radiation since the disease was diagnosed in February.

• Chevy's Robby Gordon said yesterday he came close to buying into Robert Yates' Ford team: "I was going to buy Yates. We had funding and sponsorship in place for Robert's 88 car, and we have sponsorship for our own car.

"I wasn't going to do it unless I could own half of Robert's two-car team.

"But the morning we were going to do the deal, Robert's lawyer called up and said they'd decided not to do it. So the deal is dead. But that doesn't mean it will stay dead."

But Gordon on Friday said General Motors' Hummer division will again sponsor him in the internationally known Dakar Rally, the death-defying off-road race, 16 days from Lisbon to Dakar, Senegal.

But Gordon said his NASCAR deal could be different: "I have had a great relationship with Chevrolet," Gordon said. "Chevrolet has the best teams in the sport. You're up against Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, Joe Gibbs and DEI.

"But with a little bit of luck in 2007 I could become the 'second' Ford operation very easily... where it would be difficult to become the 'second' Chevrolet team.

"The key to my decision will be who is willing to give us the most resources. Money is not where it is. We have enough money. We need more technical support; we need more engineering support, more wind tunnel time."

In the meantime Gordon said he's got a sponsorship package put together for a competitive Indy 500 ride next May, if NASCAR will sign off on the deal: "We're waiting for an answer from NASCAR on whether it's owner points or driver points that get me into the championship chase. If it's driver points, then if I'm late getting from Indy to Charlotte for the start of the 600, then I wouldn't get credit for any driver points.... although I would still get owner points.

"That issue is really not that clear."

• While much is being made over Toyota's Nextel Cup entry next season, questions are being raised about Dodge - which opened the season under close scrutiny after a bad 2005, which then ran hot the opening weeks, and which now has turned cold again.

Over the summer, John Fernandez resigned as Dodge's racing boss and moved to Chip Ganassi's NASCAR team. Now there are two new men at the Dodge helm, Mike Accavitti, director of Dodge's SRT and Motorsports Marketing, and Mike Delahanty, Dodge's senior manager of racing.

The Dodge Charger has been a disappointment on the track, although that is probably more a reflection of problems within the various Dodge teams and the company's racing hierarchy than any significant technical issues. Several teams balked at running the Charger earlier this year, preferring to run the older Intrepid, even though Dodge wasn't selling that brand any more.

Now it appears likely that in 2007 Dodge's NASCAR teams could be marketed under the Challenger logo, rather than the Charger brand. NASCAR has approved a new Dodge nose for next season.

But the Challenger isn't expected in dealer showrooms until 2008, so Dodge would have to speed up its introduction.

• There are reports that Toyota might like to promote not only its Camry but also its Avalon through NASCAR racing.

• NASCAR executives said on Friday that it would make sense for carmakers to use the proposed car of tomorrow in a different marketing campaign from the stock-car tour's traditional cars. The car of tomorrow is scheduled to run in 16 of next year's 3

RLSH700

The later post you had debunked this. I'm glad since it will be no different than the NASCAR Charger, or NASCAR Intrepid.