Motor Racing Outreach has done a tremendous job for NASCAR teams as well as the sport’s fans since it’s inception in 1988.
It conducts regular Bible studies for drivers and team members, on-track prayer with teams and during opening ceremonies, organizes and conducts chapel services at each track before races and has outreachs at the tracks to the fans.
My encounter with MRO came a couple of years ago when I was hospitalized in Charlotte before the All-Star Challenge.
My friends here in Huntington contacted MRO in North Carolina, and one of it’s volunteer chaplains visited me in Northeast Medical Center.
On Sunday, MRO’s founder, Max Helton, 67, died of brain cancer at home in Huntersville, N.C.
Although I never had the privilege on earth to meet him, I know I will someday and tell him how much that chaplain’s visit meant to a girl five hours from home, who only knew two people in town who were involved in a very young, very busy ministry and working a couple of full-time secular jobs each.
Helton is one of those folks who will find out in Heaven exactly how many lives he touched through that ministry.
The story is that in 1988 working at a Glendora, Calif., church, he met Darrell and Stevie Waltrip and told them he believed God had a ministry for him in racing. The rest, as they say, is history.
My thoughts are like the song says, “Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am so glad you gave.”
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The 2008 vote
I’d seen this on Trinity Broadcasting Network in January, but honestly had forgotten.
Painter Thomas Kinkade is creating the officially licensed commemorative portrait of the 50th running of the Daytona 500. He created eight sketches and two paintings at the Speedway during Speedweeks 2008.
You can vote for your favorite until Saturday, March 15 at www.thomaskinkade.com
Everyone who votes is in the running to win a Limited Edition print of the selected portrait.
This kind of painting is not exactly what we know Thomas Kinkade to create. Normally, they are Christian themed, with lights, lighthouses, cottages and pathways, trees and the like.
Some of the offerings for Daytona are good, the others, so-so. I made my selection, so I’ll wait to see if it’s the fan favorite.
Get on that site and vote for your favorite. If you don’t win the print, you can always purchase it through the site or any of the licensed galleries.
Painter Thomas Kinkade is creating the officially licensed commemorative portrait of the 50th running of the Daytona 500. He created eight sketches and two paintings at the Speedway during Speedweeks 2008.
You can vote for your favorite until Saturday, March 15 at www.thomaskinkade.com
Everyone who votes is in the running to win a Limited Edition print of the selected portrait.
This kind of painting is not exactly what we know Thomas Kinkade to create. Normally, they are Christian themed, with lights, lighthouses, cottages and pathways, trees and the like.
Some of the offerings for Daytona are good, the others, so-so. I made my selection, so I’ll wait to see if it’s the fan favorite.
Get on that site and vote for your favorite. If you don’t win the print, you can always purchase it through the site or any of the licensed galleries.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Chihuahuas?
When you get to a certain age, having stared death in the face and come back, and you have major money to boot, you can say pretty much anything you want. Kind of like Kathy Bates said in “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Face it girls, I’m older and have more insurance.”
Jack Roush didn’t mince words when the subject of Toyota Racing Development officials complaining the discrepancies in Carl Edwards’ car post race in Las Vegas created a horsepower and downdraft advantage.
During a press conference at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday, Jack made it pretty plain.
“I was not complicit,” Roush said. “Carl Edwards was not complicit and I’m gonna treat Lee White and Toyota for their accusations in USA Today today like they were an ankle-biting Chihuahua and be done with it.”
And we say Tony Stewart has a big mouth. Wait, he drives a Toyota. Wait, doesn’t he have two Chihuahuas?
Hmmmmm.
We all know there’s no love lost between Jack Roush and Toyota. Or any foreign manufacturer for that matter. He won’t even drive a rental that’s foreign made, I read in “Men and Speed.”
Roush Fenway President Geoff Smith called for NASCAR to investigate TRD, which admitted in the USA Today article to having tested a car with the modification of no oil reservoir lid and achieved considerable addition downdraft and added horsepower.
Who says they only drop the gloves in hockey?
Monday, March 3, 2008
It's not whining this time
Normally, after a Jeff Gordon crash, and listening to his comments, I’d say something like “whiner.”
This time, he has a point. If the COT is supposed to be sturdier and safer, and the soft walls instituted by NASCAR are meant to make the track safer when drivers hit the wall, why did his car come apart the way it did?
Oh, yeah, I forgot. The opening and portion of the inside wall Gordon hit didn’t have the SAFER barriers, or soft wall.
What? The safety innovation didn’t cover the entire wall? Don't anyone dare say "cost factor." Tickets are priced high and these tracks certainly aren't poor. I think they can afford it.
Here’s what Gordon said to NASCAR.com reporters in a story posted today.
“I'm really disappointed right now in this speedway for not having a soft wall back there, and even being able to get to that part of the wall shouldn't happen,” Gordon said after emerging from the track's care center. I'll tell you what, a few years ago, those types hits, you wouldn't be standing here.”
Earlier in the day, Tony Stewart took a hit he said was the hardest he’d had in a while. After 10 or 15 minutes, he was helped from the car and held on to it to stand up and talk to emergency workers. Normally, he probably could have stood up on his own on that banking. Every speck of the wall he came in contact with had the SAFER barriers.
Thankfully everyone is OK, probably sore, but OK.
Safety is paramount in the minds of drivers and their families, owners, crews and fans. When you drive around a track at speeds of 180 miles per hour, it must be.
The sport is safer now than it has ever been, but it still falls short in some areas.
Engineering can only do so much. It’s up to the sport to corral the speeds.
This time, he has a point. If the COT is supposed to be sturdier and safer, and the soft walls instituted by NASCAR are meant to make the track safer when drivers hit the wall, why did his car come apart the way it did?
Oh, yeah, I forgot. The opening and portion of the inside wall Gordon hit didn’t have the SAFER barriers, or soft wall.
What? The safety innovation didn’t cover the entire wall? Don't anyone dare say "cost factor." Tickets are priced high and these tracks certainly aren't poor. I think they can afford it.
Here’s what Gordon said to NASCAR.com reporters in a story posted today.
“I'm really disappointed right now in this speedway for not having a soft wall back there, and even being able to get to that part of the wall shouldn't happen,” Gordon said after emerging from the track's care center. I'll tell you what, a few years ago, those types hits, you wouldn't be standing here.”
Earlier in the day, Tony Stewart took a hit he said was the hardest he’d had in a while. After 10 or 15 minutes, he was helped from the car and held on to it to stand up and talk to emergency workers. Normally, he probably could have stood up on his own on that banking. Every speck of the wall he came in contact with had the SAFER barriers.
Thankfully everyone is OK, probably sore, but OK.
Safety is paramount in the minds of drivers and their families, owners, crews and fans. When you drive around a track at speeds of 180 miles per hour, it must be.
The sport is safer now than it has ever been, but it still falls short in some areas.
Engineering can only do so much. It’s up to the sport to corral the speeds.
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