Sunday, June 24, 2001
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Waltrip: All Speedway can do is wait
By Tom Groeschen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Darrell Waltrip sees NASCAR president Mike Helton almost daily. But, no, he still can't tell you when Kentucky Speedway might get a Winston Cup date.
Waltrip does say Kentucky is ready for it. He spoke about the track's Winston Cup hopes before last week's Busch race, which drew a Greater Cincinnati sports-record crowd of 70,338.
“When we sat down and put this track together, we built it for Winston Cup racing,” Waltrip said. “If you go to any of the facilities, this track is in the same league that they are.”
Waltrip is a Kentucky Speedway board member, a three-time Winston Cup champion and star of Fox's weekly race telecasts. He has fame; he has charisma; he has clout.
But only so much.
“I talk to him (Helton) a lot,” Waltrip said. “I don't have to tell him what I want. He pretty much knows. When it's appropriate, I try to be sure Kentucky's name is mentioned.”
Waltrip and speedway chairman Jerry Carroll contend economics will dictate that NASCAR move around some races. Some smaller and/or older tracks could lose one of their two races, or so a common belief goes.
“There's gonna be a time when the schedule has to be redone,” Waltrip said.
Kentucky sits in the middle of a racing hotbed, Waltrip said. The Cincinnati area
consistently rates among the top 10 cities for NASCAR telecasts, despite being only the 32nd-biggest Nielsen market.
There is little else Kentucky can do to promote itself, Waltrip said.
“Can we handle a truck race? Yes, we can,” he said. “Can we handle a Busch race? Yes, we can. Now, can we handle a Winston Cup race? I wish I knew the magic formula to get a Winston Cup date. All I know is, this track is state-of-the-art; it's done right. We've done our part, and that's all we can do.”
UP NEXT: Kentucky Speedway's next racing weekend is July 13-14, headlined by a NASCAR Craftsman Truck race. The season's final race weekend will be Aug.10-12, featuring the Indy Racing Northern Light Series (aka the IRL).
NHRA UPDATE: The NHRA dragsters were relatively close to Cincinnati last weekend, with their annual stop in Kirkersville, Ohio, east of Columbus.
New fathers Larry Dixon and Bob Panella Jr. each won Father's Day titles in Top Fuel and Pro Stock, respectively. Longtime dads John Force and Warren Johnson won in Funny Car and Pro Stock.
The only exception to the male dominance was Angelle Savoie (Pro Stock Bike), the top female NHRA star. Savoie shared her winner's champagne with her husband.
• Shirley Muldowney, the top female NHRA star of yesteryear, is returning to race. Muldowney, a three-time NHRA Winston Top Fuel champion, will return to drag racing's biggest event Labor Day weekend — the 47th annual U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
SHAWNA RETURNS: Shawna Robinson, who recently became the first woman to make a NASCAR Winston Cup race in 12 years, will make her next Cup attempt at Chicagoland Speedway for the July 15 race.
Robinson didn't just materialize overnight at this level. She remains the only woman to have won a pole in the NASCAR Busch series and has raced on several circuits, including ARCA, where she still competes.
Robinson's early career brought her through Cincinnati. As a teen-ager in the mid-1980s, she raced at the old Queen City Speedway in the Great American Truck Racing series. Back then, she promoted herself by marching unannounced into various TV, radio and newspaper offices wherever the GATR circuit raced.
“That's back when I was marketing myself,” Robinson said in 2000, when the ARCA circuit visited Kentucky Speedway. “I had to get my name out there. Most people were pretty nice to me.”
E-mail tgroeschen@enquirer.com.
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