Ken's NASCAR Notebook  May 15, 1996

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Harry Hyde dies at age 71
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Harry Hyde, 71-year-old retired NASCAR crew chief, died at his home on 
 Monday, May 13th, of an apparent heart attack.  He had been 
 complaining of chest pains and was taken to the University Hospital 
 not far from Charlotte Motor Speedway.  While there, doctors had found 
 a blood clot, and were making arrangements to transfer him to 
 Carolinas Medical Center.  Hyde is survived by two sons. 

Harry had been involved in NASCAR Winston Cup racing since 1966, with 
 the most notable portion of his career as crew chief for the late Tim 
 Richmond, during the 1980s, where Richmond drove to eight victories 
 under the watchful eye of Hyde.

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Online Chat with Kenny Schrader
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Budweiser will help NASCAR racing fans get into the spirit of the 
 summer racing season on Friday, May 17, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time with 
 a 30 minute live Internet chat session featuring Budweiser driver 
 Kenny Schrader.

Racing fans will be able to deliver their questions or comments to 
 Schrader, who drives for the Hendrick Motorsports team in his 
 signature No. 25 Bud-red Monte Carlo, simply by going to the popular 
 new Budweiser Internet site -- http://budweiser.com -- and going to 
 Budspeak by clicking on  The Pad  or the Schrader chat session notice, 
 both located on the home page.

The Budweiser King of Sites on the Internet, now in its sixth month of 
 operation, is a favorite of motorsports fans with its Competition 
 feature that highlights the latest news and inside information on 
 Budweiser Racing.

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Kranefuss/Haas Tests a Lincoln
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Its no secret that many of the Ford teams are trying everything 
 possible to overcome the aerodynamically dominate Chevrolet Monte 
 Carlo, which won 21 of 31 races in 1995 and  7 of 10 events in 1996, 
 because Ford has no immediate plans to redesign the aging 9-year-old 
 Thunderbird bodstyle.

Michael Kranefuss, part owner of the #37 Kmart/Little Cesears Ford 
 Thunderbirds driven by John Andretti and former head of the Ford 
 Motosports SVO division, showed up with a Lincoln Mark VIII at 
 Charlotte Motor Speedway for Winston Select testing.  Testing results 
 show the car is very competitive, posting the 3rd fastest laps times 
 during a three hours open test session.

``I think there is some potential,'' Kranefuss told The Associated 
 Press. ``It appears to be a very balanced car. It's already on the 
 same wavelength as the T-bird.'' 

Kranefuss went on to say that his understanding is that NASCAR is going 
 to approve the Lincoln for competition at some point, otherwise he 
 would have never built the car in the first place.  However, NASCAR 
 has yet to committ to any time frame for approving the car for competition.

The real interesting question is if NASCAR will approve this car for 
 competition, what form will they approve it in?  The Lincoln has a 
 bubble on the trunk, and  the tail end of the Lincoln is not the 
 required width for the rear spoiler.  So, NASCAR will likely have to 
 allow the Ford teams to widen the rear quarters to meet the spoiler width.

Check out this URL for a shot of the Lincoln at the Charlotte Motor Speedway:
http://www2.nando.net/newsroom/ap/oth/1995/oth/car/arts/050896/7009car.html

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NASCAR Craftman Truck Series
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NASCAR reports that all 24 Truck races scheduled for this year will be 
 televised, with ESPN airing 8 races, TNN also airing 8 events, CBS 
 with a total of 5 races and TBS with the 3 remaining races.  In 
 addition, NASCAR will reportedly create a new radio network to cover 
 the truck series, based on its present Motor Racing Network (MRN).

Kevin Schwantz, former world motorcycle champion, will reportedly run a 
 number of NASCAR Craftsman Truck races this year.  In a truck owned by 
 fellow Texans John Mecom and Kurt Roehrig, is scheduled to debut at 
 the June 9th race in Topeka, KS, and is also confirmed to race at 
 Watkins Glen, NY on August 24th.

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Win on Sunday, sell on Monday?
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Ford's all-new for 1997 F150 pickup would be a likely candidate for 
 this category.  Frod apparently can't build enough '97 F150s to 
 satisfy demand.  With two assembly plants running full time, buyers 
 are still reportedly waiting more than two months for their trucks.  
 Ford has more than 264,000 orders on hand, and the production is sold 
 out through July.

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Chevy Camaro to Pace Brickyard 400
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For the third year in a row, a Chevrolet will be the pace car of choice 
 for the Brickyard 400.  This year's choice is a commemorative 30th 
 Anniversary edition of the Camaro Z-28, with a 285-hp, 5.7 liter (350 
 ci) LT1 V8 engine.  The 1994 pace car was a Monte Carlo and last 
 year's pace car (truck) was a Chevy C/K pickup truck.

The 30th Anniversary Camaro will feature a white exterior with two bold 
 orange racing stripes down the center, similar to the 1968 Camaro Indy 
 Pace Car.  The car will also feature the teal and gold Brickyard 400 
 insignia on both doors.

Due out later this summer as a 1997 model, about Carmaro 50 pace cars 
 will be produced for the race.  No mention of how many will be 
 available to the general public.

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Kellogg & Labonte till 2000
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Kellogg USA has reportedly extended their sponsorship of Terry 
 Labonte's #5 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Monte Carlo through the year 2000.

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NASCAR & Baywatch?
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As reported earlier this year after Daytona, producers from the Fox TV 
 series Baywatch have been working on a pilot for a series called 
 Daytona Beach.  With the pilot reported as complete, the Touchstone 
 Television series is scheduled for broadcast later this fall.  The 
 series will feature Lee Majors as a retired stock car driver whose two 
 sons have followed in his racing foot steps.  The producers are hoping 
 to take advantage of NASCAR's recent rise in popularity and the same 
 formula of "beach, babes, and speed" that has made the Baywatch series 
 the most popular television show in the world.

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More changes for Charlotte
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In addition to the new Ford roof height rule change, the Pontiac will 
 be running with a new nose piece starting at Charlotte.  The front air 
 damn is being moved forward about an inch.  This will reportedly 
 increase the front down force. 

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Bruton vs. Bahre continues
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Rumors have it that Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre are close to an 
 agreement regarding Wilkesboro Speedway.  The agreement is likely to 
 be either; each takes a date or Bruton buys out Bahre.

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Happy Motoring :-)
=Ken=

Email: 	Ken_Corpus@wb.xerox.com or 76734.1003@compuserve.com
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