Living Legends honored at Daytona

   The Living Legends of Auto Racing will be hosting their 20th Annual Awards Banquet on Wednesday evening, February 22, 2012 in the Grand Ballroom at The Shores Resort and Spa, 2637 S. Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach Shores, Florida.

   This year's award recipients are; Junior Johnson, Richard Childress, Ken Ragan, Buzzie Reutimann, Clare B. Lang (Sirius XM NASCAR Radio), Joe Mihalic, Eddie MacDonald Sr. and Racing's North Turn Beach Bar and Grill.

   The event will begin at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour (cash bar). Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event are $45. Reservations are required. For information or to purchase tickets please call Joan at (386) 255-7428.

 

 

Pocono Raceway founder dies

   Dr. Joseph Mattioli, Pocono Raceway Founder and Chairman of the Board, passed away today at the Lehigh Valley Hospital Center, surrounded by his loving family, following a lengthy illness. He was 86.

   “Doc” as he was known to friends and associates, was one of the most respected and admired men in automobile racing. He founded Pocono Raceway in the early 1960’s and has been at the helm of Pocono ever since. Under his leadership, the track grew in stature and has hosted 68 very successful NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Events. His passion and drive helped Pocono Raceway succeed when other tracks fell by the wayside. Pocono Raceway is the only remaining family owned and run track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. He was always concerned that race fans and race car drivers and their families were treated with the upmost respect and constantly upgraded procedures and Raceway facilities to meet that goal.

   He kept his fingers on the pulse of stock car racing and read everything printed concerning the sport. He was in the office daily, until last fall, and oversaw all aspects of the Pocono Raceway operations. At age 83, Dr. Mattioli spearheaded an ambitious solar energy project. He built a three megawatt photovoltaic solar energy system on 25 acres at Pocono Raceway. It is the world’s largest solar-powered sports facility, making Pocono Raceway a leader in the renewable energy and environmental fields.

    Dr. Mattioli was also well respected in the community. In 2009, he received the Philanthropic Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals for his generous and continuous contributions to local civic organizations, hospitals, schools and charities. He served on the board of directors of numerous organizations and was dedicated to improving the quality of life in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

    He served in the Pacific during World War Two as a Navy medic. Using the G.I. bill, he enrolled in the dentistry program at Temple University (where he met his soon to be wife, Rose.) Upon graduation, he developed his dental practice into a very lucrative business by working 12 to 14 hour days, six and sometimes seven days a week. He then began investing in and developing properties in Philadelphia and Northeastern Pennsylvania where he became involved in the start up of Pocono Raceway.

   Dr. Mattioli is survived by his wife of 63 years, Dr. Rose, daughters Louie and Michele and son Joseph Mattioli III, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

   Service Arrangements for Dr. Joseph Mattioli are incomplete at this time.

Six NASCAR drivers make Power 100

   The 2012 Power 100 ranking of the most powerful professional athletes in the U.S was released Wednesday night by Bloomberg/Businessweek, revealing six NASCAR drivers in the top 100. 

   Bloomberg Businessweek teamed up CSE, a leading integrated marketing agency that created the Power 100 list for the third consecutive year using proprietary methodology; Rick Horrow, host of Bloomberg TV "Sportfolio," and CEO of Horrow Sports Ventures and the Nielsen/E-Poll N-Score.

   The NASCAR drivers who made the poll:

   No. 22 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

   No. 29 Jeff Gordon

   No. 37 Jimmie Johnson

   No. 60 Tony Stewart

   No. 62 Carl Edwards

   No. 92 Kevin Harvick

   CSE’s Analytics team, lead by VP, Analytics, David Newman, evaluated more than 3,000 athletes across a variety of sports, with 50 percent based on"off-field" measurements and 50 percent on "on-field" performance. CSE’s proprietary analytics utilizes a range of industry statistics, including data from E-Poll.

   The New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees (No. 1), Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers (No. 2) and New England Patriots’ Tom Brady (No. 3) topped the poll.

   For more information on the poll, go here.

Brendan Gaughan returns to Cup

   Veteran NASCAR driver Brendan Gaughan will compete in four Sprint Cup Series races for Richard Childress Racing in 2012 in addition to his previously announced 18-race NASCAR Nationwide and Truck series schedule with the organization.

   Gaughan, 36, competed full time in the Cup Series during the 2004 season, finishing 28^th in points with one top-five and four top-10 finishes in 36 starts. He competed full time in the Nationwide Series in 2009 and 2010, earning one pole and 17 top-10 finishes in 71 career starts. He finished ninth in points in  2009 and 11^th in 2010.

   Leading the effort for the No. 33 team will be veteran crew chief Gil Martin, RCR's Nationwide Series program team manager. Martin has been at RCR since 2000 and has served as crew chief for Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Casey Mears, Kerry Earnhardt and Robby Gordon.

   "The opportunity to run four races for Richard Childress in the Sprint Cup Series is truly amazing,' said Gaughan. "RCR has top-notch equipment and teamed me with a winning crew chief in Gil Martin. Everyone deserves a second chance and I am ecstatic that my second chance in the Sprint Cup Series is in the No. 33 Chevrolet with RCR."

    Gaughan's four-race Cup Series schedule will kick-off at Phoenix in March, followed by a doubleheader weekend where Gaughan will pilot the No. 33 South Point Chevrolet in both the Nationwide and Cup events at Las Vegas. Completing his 2012 schedule is Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.) in March.

Kyle Busch talks NASCAR Trucks

   While Kyle Busch will run from 13 to 15 Nationwide Series races this season, he will no longer complete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - the first time he hasn't made a series start since the 2003 season.

   During Monday's first day of the Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway, Busch talked more in-depth about the decision not to compete in the series and how it may affect his quest to win 200 races in NASCAR's three national series.

   Q: Do you see any situations where you may start competing in the NCWTS again in the future?

   Busch: “To me, I think we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Truthfully, I don’t have to run Truck races. My fans love it and I love racing Truck races for them, but, like I said, I would love to see Kyle Busch Motorsports be able to sustain itself on its own and not have to have me in the seat every single week in a Truck race or Nationwide Series race.”

   Q: Does this make your 200 wins goal more difficult and eliminate something you find fun?

   Busch: “We’ll see. There’s no telling. Certainly, I wish that we could win eight races a year in Cup and eight races a year in Nationwide and right there you’re at 16 wins a year, so that’s not that bad. Granted, you run Truck races you can probably win five or six, so that puts you at 21 or 22 races a year. The focal point now is -- and has been -- although I want the 200 wins someday, the focal point needs to be on the Cup deal and trying to win a championship there, of course, and put my primary focus into that.”

   Q: Is the goal of cutting the NCWTS races to be stronger in the Chase?
   Busch: “Certainly, it all relates to one another. It’s all circumstantial upon something else. I think running less races is also a conditioning tool. I’ve been working really hard in the off-season in doing some things and running less races will also help that, but just being more focused and just trying to operate more on a level field with Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and how much he works and how hard he works and I’ve got to do the same.”

   Q: Do you think cutting back on your Nationwide and Truck schedule will be beneficial?
   Busch: “It’s certainly a possibility, but you know in 2008 and 2009 I ran the most races that I’ve ever run in a season and didn’t have any issues. Things went pretty well those couple of years. I think it’s been most frustrating for me because I’m getting more and more into my Cup Series career and I have yet to win a championship. For me, you get down to the end of the season and the first 26 races go well and then you start the Chase and you kind of fumble a little bit and you’re chasing a ball sometimes. We still had a shot -- we were running fourth or fifth in points at Talladega and then got crashed out there. Then we’re fifth in points or something like that in Martinsville and we get crashed out there. Your whole season’s shot. It’s not like one week’s gone -- like you didn’t win that race or something. You’ve got to wait all the way until next February to start a whole new year in order to get down to November. Think about it -- when you throw a whole year of your life away, it’s like, ‘Damn, this sucks.”

Ryan Newman adds a sponsor

   Stewart-Haas Racing has added another primary sponsor for its No. 39 Chevrolet team in the Sprint Cup Series driven by Ryan Newman.
 
   Aspen Dental, one of the largest and fastest-growing networks of dental care providers in the United States, has reached a multi-year agreement to serve as primary sponsor on Newman's car for two races and as associate sponsor for all remaining races, sources confirmed on Sunday.

   The addition of Aspen Dental is the third new sponsor SHR has landed for its No. 39 car for 2012. Only six races remain to be sold on the car. The Nos. 14 and 10 teams of 2011 Cup champion Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick, respectively, are sold out.
   
   Since Stewart joined the organization as co-owner and driver beginning with the 2009 season, this is the best position SHR has been in with primary sponsorship entering a season.

2012 Miss Sprint Cup lineup unveiled

   The 2012 Miss Sprint Cup lineup was unveiled during Saturday's NASCAR Preview. Sprint announced returning members Kim Coon (Orlando, Fla.) and Jaclyn Roney (Ann Arbor, Mich.) have been joined by newcomer Kristen Beat of El Cajon, Calif.
  

    “The Miss Sprint Cup platform has evolved to become an integral part of our NASCAR Sprint Cup Series sponsorship,” said Tim Considine, director of sports marketing at Sprint. “We’ve found three incredibly intelligent, talented young women who love the sport, technology and directly interacting with NASCAR fans. With more than 1 million followers on Facebook and Twitter and crowds of fans lining up each weekend for pictures and autographs, the platform’s celebrity has exceeded our wildest expectations.”

   Miss Sprint Cup represents the Sprint brand around the track and in Victory Lane wherever the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competes. The three representatives also serve as the fans’ “friend on the inside,” delivering via Facebook and Twitter behind-the-scenes updates, pictures and video, while highlighting Sprint products and offers.

   To follow Miss Sprint Cup, visit:

   Facebook.com/MissSprintCup
   Twitter.com/MissSprintCup