ON PIT ROAD: Regan, Ragan and Rescue Me

Ashley Force's win over her father in the NHRA Funny Car final at Atlanta Dragway last weekend made for a great story -- the 2nd-generation racer and daughter of larger than life fixture John Force finally earning her 1st win in a professional category.

But even Ashley Force had trouble putting the win into perspective, coming just 8 days after Danica Patrick broke through with an Indy car win. Seems the media wanted to put the "women finally winning" spin on the Force story.

"It's an exciting time, you know, with Danica winning," Ashley Force said this week.

"There are a lot of women in a lot of different motorsports and we're getting our practice, we're getting our experience and we're making our way toward those wins.

"It's a good week for women and it's exciting for the fans to finally have a woman winner in Funny Car, but I know that it's the 10 guys on my team who got me to this point."

See, unlike NASCAR's laughable "Drive for Diversity" program that had produced virtually nothing at its top 3 levels in years of "implementation," diversity is everywhere in NHRA drag racing. Angelle Sampey has 41 career Pro Stock Motorcycle wins, and Shirley Muldowney had 18 career Top Fuel wins beginning 30 years ago.

In addition to the women, there's Antron Brown, an African-American driver now a 2-time Top Fuel winner this season after moving on from success on the bikes.

One has to wonder why drag racing caters so successfully -- and seemingly effortlessly -- to women and minorities, putting them in positions to succeed, while NASCAR, despite lip service to the contrary, is still lost in a lilly-white world.

NHRA's ability to be all-inclusive is certainly not a new revelation; it's certainly been talked about before. But Ashley Force's win, and her relatively laid-back attitude regarding it, speaks loud and clear.

NASCAR is way behind the times, no matter how many ways they try and spit-shine the product for Sunday afternoon television cameras.

* WHO'S DAVID "REGAN?" I don't know either. I just read a twisted report somewhere that said some guy named David "Regan" ran the Cup, Nationwide and PASS South races last weekend.

I know all the NASCAR drivers today blend together like a vanilla shake, but aren't David Ragan and Regan Smith 2 different people? Yeah, I thought so...

* SPEAKING OF THAT, there's no truth to the rumor that Speed 51 execs "have learned exclusively" that Ricky Rolfe won the American-Canadian Tour race at Oxford Plains Speedway, despite reporting the story days after it actually happened.

* FROM THE TIME Tyler Tibbetts started tearing up the now defunct Teen class at Wiscasset Raceway, everybody knew he was on the path to bigger things at the track.

Uncles Bryan and Craig Robbins talked about maybe getting him a ride in a Strictly or Super Street at Wiscasset, but that never materialized. This year, Craig Robbins is stepping aside to help Tibbetts make the jump -- into the No. 34 Late Model for 2008.

* THERE WERE 10 Super Late Models at Wiscasset for open practice last Saturday, including Travis Benjamin, who is entered in the PASS North Series Community Pharmacies 150 at Speedway 95 on Saturday.

* HE CALLS HIMSELF "The Showstoppa," and now we know why. Seems he has troubles even getting a show started.

All-Star Speedway's opening night last weekend was delayed for more than an hour for no apparent reason. Track director Bobby MacArthur allowed practice to continue until almost exactly 5 p.m. -- the advertised starting time -- and then made what few fans had gathered wait more than an hour to start heat racing.

I'm hearing the grandstands were already a desolate place long before roughly half the fans decided to head out before feature racing got underway.

* DAMARISCOTTA NATIVE AND former NASCAR Drive for Diversity participant Katie Hagar is running a Late Model for team owner Bill McAnally at the NASCAR-sanctioned All-American Speedway in Roseville, Calif. She finished 6th in the feature at week ago and is slated to run a 100-lapper there this week.

* I GOTTA SAY, I never thought Corey had it in him. Way to go big guy, pink shirt and all.

* NOW THEY'RE SAYING no "Rescue Me" on FX until next March.... It's a sad day for the Boston Globe's Michael Vega, to be certain.

Seems like just yesterday he, The Godfather and I were whiling away the nights in Daytona Beach with endless marathons of "Rescue Me" on the DVD player. You know, when we could actually get the key to work at the front door of the condo...

* NO TRUTH TO the rumor that the ACT Merchant's Bank 150 at Thunder Road this weekend will be run on snow tires.

* GOOD NEWS FROM Wiscasset Raceway: There will be no Teen or Ladies divisions at the facility in 2008.

Bad news from Wiscasset Raceway: There's a Truck division instead.

* ZEN QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Now that I'm an Internet reporter, does this mean I have to loathe myself, too?

* LEAVE IT TO the youth sect to realize the shortcomings of a paint scheme on a race car.

Oxford Plains Speedway Late Model competitor Conrad Childs' ride is bound to be popular with the fans, as it's an exact replica of the character Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars." Well, it's almost an exact replica.

"Where's the lucky sticker?" my 4-year-old son asked.

Yep, he's right. Conrad, buddy, you need to slap a little lightning bolt sticker on the front of that car, just ahead of the front tires on either side.

Comments

[Penny Picard]

Travis...you always brighten up my day....personally, I'd rather watch teens race than the mini-trucks....I loathe mini-truck racing...but I love mini-stocks...go figure...so, I guess you'll be at Speedway this weekend?

[Mike Lange]

Personally, I liked the Mini-Trucks when they ran as a separate division at Unity Raceway. For awhile, they had 15-18 trucks every week with some decent, three-wide racing. I think George Fernald built five or six of them. So Wiscasset was smart to pick up the class, IMHO.

As far as NASCAR Sprint Cup atttendance goes, some fans tell me that they don't like the Cars of Tomorrow (Today) because they all look alike, and they don't like "foreign" drivers in rides that would have gone to talented Nationwide/Busch drivers in past years.
I don't necessarily agree - but that's what I'm told.

And yes, I also know people who have given up their NHIS-NHMS tickets. I remember when the track had 15,000 people on their waiting list.