Kasey Kahne is coming to town

Ollie's Bargain Outlet Store seems to be tied to NASCAR. Elliot Sadler, Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne are all scheduled at these store openings around the country now through the end of the year, according to jayski.com. Store openings are from New York to Pennsylvania to Tennessee and North Carolina.

And West Virginia.

Kasey will be at the Barboursville, WV, Ollie's on June 1 to meet and greet. Actually, jayski.com says it's supposed to be Kevin Harvick, but the KHI website doesn't have this. Kasey's site, however, does.

Now, NASCAR fans know how this works. Show up at the appointed time, in this case, 7:30 a.m., to receive one of 250 available tickets for the autograph session at 10 a.m., at the store's grand opening in the former Circuit City building at the Huntington Mall.

The release from Ollie's says you can have 1 item autographed and have your photo taken with Kasey.

On another Kasey Kahne note, this weekend his and Brian Vickers' cars will have a special paint scheme for the Coke 600. Hundreds of fan submitted photos will be on the two Red Bull cars Sunday, including mine.

On the roof of the #4 Red Bull car will be a photo taken at then-Lowe's Motor Speedway two years ago of me and friends Roberta Hunter, Laura Hepner, both of California, and Terry Hollow of Arizona. Woo-Hoo!

Now, let's hope the car survives and doesn't go sliding along the track on its roof. Ouch.

Time for Summer Camp in the Carolinas

Helping get Victory Junction Gang Camp ready for kids is a great volunteer experience.

It also helps you realize you are only a small cog in the wheel. And that if you are healthy and have healthy children, you are blessed.

Looking at the camp, it doesn’t seem different than any other summer camp for children, yet, it is. VJGC is medically-safe for children with a wide variety of challenges, both physical and mental.

It doesn’t matter if you are in a wheelchair. Or in need of dialysis. Or taking chemotherapy. Those are all accommodated. There are doctors and nurses on-site 24/7, either on staff full time or on a volunteer basis.

The Official NASCAR Members Club is a part of preparing the camp for kids, scheduled to arrive on June 12 this year. Members meeting for their annual national convention have worked on cleaning up the landscaping, preparing backpacks for the children and this year, putting bug resistant bedding on each bed in camp. There are 18 cabins with 18 beds each, and members took care of every one of them. The members come from California, Nevada, Idaho, New Hampshire, West Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and seemingly all points in-between.


They are part of the more than 47,000 hours of volunteerism given to the camp in a year’s time. For their time, the ONMC members received lunch of fried chicken, hush puppies, green beans and sweet tea, plus a tour of the camp from the staff.



The dream of Adam Petty, great-grandson of Lee, grandson of Richard and son of Kyle, was to see this place constructed. A racer like 3 generations before him, Adam visited Camp Boggy Creek in Florida, and that put a burning desire in his heart to see a camp formed in North Carolina, and set about to do so.

In the introductory video about VJGC, Pattie said when they first approached the CEO of Petty Enterprises they were told the camp would bankrupt the company.

Adam replied, no, it wouldn’t. “You don’t understand. I serve a big God.”

After his death in an on-track crash during practice at New Hampshire International Speedway on May 12, 2000, his parents Kyle and Pattie worked tirelessly to see their son’s vision was accomplished.

Since it’s opening on June 20, 2004, more than 14,000 campers from all 50 states and four foreign countries have come though the gates.

The children have conditions including, but not limited to bleeding disorders, burn survivors, cancer, craniofacial anomalies, gastrointestinal disorders, genetic disorders, heart disease, immunologic disorders, kidney, lung, skin and Sickle Cell diseases, neurologic disorders, Spina Bifida and transplant recipients, in addition to blindness, Autism, deafness, Diabetes and Down Syndrome.

You can learn more about the camp at it’s website. You can also apply to volunteer for a day or a week, or apply for your child to attend camp. There is no cost to your family for your child to go to VJGC. The $2,500 to send one child to camp is underwritten by gifts both large and small.

You can see videos about the camp, activities, special guests from both NASCAR and the entertainment industry at www.victoryjunction.org

History makers

“I've never not known NASCAR.” It's not grammatically correct, but that's just how Winston Kelley describes his passion for the sport. And yes, it is a sport.

As executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Kelley is surrounded by what he loves. What he has loved since he was a small child. He sees the history of racing everywhere he walks. As a broadcaster for MRN Radio, he is a witness to the future Hall inductees and the evolution of the sport.

Since the 1964 Daytona 500, he's been a fan.

In his jobs within motorsports, Kelley has access to the legends of racing. So who is he most impressed by?

Richard Petty. It's not just his on-track accomplishments, either.

“It's how he treats people,” Kelley said. He's apparently the same to Joe Fan as he would be to the President of the United States.

With the Hall of Fame 2011 class being inducted at 7 p.m. Monday, attendees will see all the living inductees, along with Maurice Petty representing Lee Petty, and Dale Jr. representing his father.

And, did we know just how big a war hero Bud Moore is? He fought with Gen. George Patton, was at D-Day and received 5 Purple Hearts and 2 Silver Stars. After his service, he was back in the speedy sport.

So good with the mechanics of cars, which makes them good on the track, Moore was Ford Motor Company's Go-To Guy for 25-years when it came to engines.

So, why only 5 each year? Kelley explained it like this. In stick and ball sports, there are hundreds, actually thousands of possible Hall of Famers. And baseball, basketball and football have been around for a century.

NASCAR, just over 60 years. With only 43 drivers, crew chiefs and owners at any time in the main series, that makes it pretty limited, especially considering there are at least 22 people on a football multiplied by so many teams over 100 years, plus coaching staff and owners.

This year's inductees are David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Lee Petty, Ned Jarrett and Bud Moore.

Did you know inductee Bobby Allison was in an airplane and a witness to the eruption of Mount St. Helens? He was flying near the volcano on May 18, 1980 and could see the red sky as its result.

A seeminly quiet, reserved man, Ned Jarrett is another inductee with a story from Kelley.

After the announcement of his selection to the Hall, Jarrett told him, "I will make you a good inductee." He wanted to know how he could help the Hall of Fame and be its ambassador.

On another note of history....

The American Pickers episode where Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz were given a budget and told to get what they could for the Hall, is on display on the main floor.

A twisted seat from the Daytona 500 in 1982, came from Tiger Tom Pistone, a well-dented door panel of Richard Petty's #43, and Humpy Wheeler's desk nameplate and a personal humidor are among the items on display in the case.

Two sides of the shop

I'm a Mac. I'm a PC.

A visit to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing just outside Charlotte is an amazing trip.

High above the shop floor are windowed offices, filled with engineers. They are the “Macs.” The gearheads below are the PCs. That's how Brad Zimmerman of EGR describes it. One designs and tests on paper, or computer program. The other is the hands-on builder.

Brad said the engineers have the capability to design a part and test it through computer software, long before the actual construction of the part. The actual builders of each part, each panel, each component of the racecar, are the ones who take a piece of sheet metal and form or weld it into a piece of the car.

On a tour of the shop this week, he provided insight to the workings of a race shop, discussing sponsorship and what it means to the team, and a display of the Jamie MacMurray cars which were winners at The Brickyard and The Daytona 500. The Daytona car was just returned to the company after Jamie Mac's 2010 win. Most interesting is the confetti, melted onto the car.

If you look at the Indy Series and NASCAR, Zimmerman said both cars have specific safety features designed which provide vastly different results. Earnhardt-Ganassi has cars in both series. The Indy Car is designed to essentially disintegrate and take the force of any wreck away from the driver. Stock cars, on the other hand, are made in such a way the shock of a wreck is absorbed and the features are made to protect the driver.

Ganassi is a racer. He is in it for the sport of the sport. And Zimmerman appreciates that. He also recognizes that every person is an important component to the whole, from the engineers to the guys fabricating parts, to the folks who load the cars and tools on the trucks each week. The drivers are the public faces. The team from the top to the bottom, makes the success.

He also is also cognitive of the fact that those builders, those hands-on folks, the ones in the trenches are a dying breed. They are not choosing the math and science. They are not choosing the jobs on the floor, bringing life to the designs of the engineers behind the windows.

And that's what it will take to continue the sport and advance the technology.

And the winner is....

Denny Hamlin's #11 FedEx pit crew. Darn. I was pulling for Kurt Busch's crew.

Now, before you say, "We thought you were a Tony Stewart fan," let me explain.

As a Sprint customer and since Sprint sponsors the Cup series, you can randomly receive certain perks. Last year, I went to Victory Lane after the All-Star Race, with Kurt Busch.

This year, it was being an honorary pit crew member for, yep, Kurt Busch!

The Pit Crew Challenge is a great part of the All-Star Week in Charlotte. The men you only see on race day get the chance to shine, while their driver, crew chief and sponsors cheer them on, along with several thousand fans.

As honorary crew member, you get to wear a team shirt, stand on the platform at the finish line and cheer your lungs out.

Joining me on the stand were James Beery of Charlotte and Kurt's Crew Chief, Steve Addington.

There were lots of drivers and crew chiefs there. Tony was there, as was teammate Ryan Newman. Chad Knaus was there. Five-time wasn't. AJ Almendinger was there, Matt Kenseth, too. Oh, and Junior. Junior was there and the fans went wild.



First up was the crew of #21 Trevor Bayne. History. Next, brother Kyle. Smoked him. Then came defending Pit Crew Challenge winners, #11 Denny Hamlin. Oh, well. At least he took out Kyle.

Back to the honorary thing. Sprint allows customers to take on the challenge of cheering. They actually pick them at random when you visit their table. My friends had already been tapped to shout for AJ Almeninger. I walked up late and was disappointed I wasn't getting to do that, too. "And I've been a Sprint customer for six years. Darn." Here's where James comes in.

He was already tagged for Kurt, but didn't have a partner. Waiting beside my friends to go to their assigned seats on the floor of the arena, he asked if I wanted to be on his team. Absolutely!

Now, this was a real honor. I'd never met him before. During the course of the evening, I discovered his wife passed away earlier in the year, and the Pit Crew Challenge was her favorite activity of All-Star Week. It was his first time there without her.

He didn't have to ask if I'd be on the team. He could have ignored what I said and gone on. No one would have blamed him.

This is what's so great about NASCAR fans. They are kind, generous and friendly.

That's one of the things I like about the sport.

So, Thanks, James. It was an honor.

Teamwork off the track

What can 40 people accomplish in 3 minutes?

Put the bug repellent sheets on 20 of the 256 beds at Victory Junction Gang Camp, that's what!

Yep, members of the Offical NASCAR Members Club (ONMC) who arrived at their national convention on Wednesday did just that! Working in teams of 2, the members discovered their own method of accomplishing the task and zipped through the cabins, readying them for the first campers, set to arrive on June 12.

The camp, nestled in the woods of Randleman, NC, hosts about 100 campers each of nine weeks in the summer time, giving them a medically-safe environment to be a kid.

There, campers can not only do arts and crafts, but play in a waterpark, bowl, fly though the air on a zipline, shoot miniature golf, climb and adventure tower, pet and/or feed animals like llamas or ride horses.


They also build self-esteem, gain confidence in their abilities and make friends.

And it doesn't cost them a dime. The approximately $2,500 it takes to have a camper attend a week is footed by sponsors and contributions.

Victory Junction was the dream of Adam Petty, son of Kyle, grandson of Richard and great-grandson of Lee. At 19, an on-track wreck took his life.

But he lives on through the camp and the thousands of young people who have passed through its gates to the adventure of a lifetime.

News from KBM

The news out of Kyle Busch Motorsports happening today involves Shinnston, WV native, Josh Richards.

The 23-year-old will be joining KBM in the Camping World Truck Series, and is sponsored by Joy Mining Machinery. General Manager Rick Ren announced it with a cryptic comment while I visited Kyle Busch Motorsports Tuesday afternoon.

"Be sure to watch Race Hub on SPEED tonight for a big announcement," he told me. "We just finished filming it in the shop."


It's a fitting sponsor for a young man who's family has been involved in coal mining for generations, Rick said. And a young man who has been racing since he was in single digits.

Josh Richards was the 2005 Rookie of the Year in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

Josh told Race Hub he was excited to be with Kyle Busch Motorsports. "It's incredible what he's accomplished in a short time," he said.

I would expect better than this

Oh, let's be real. No I don't. Not from Kyle Busch and not from Kevin Harvick.

The sad thing about the situation between them at Darlington this past weekend is they stole the spotlight from a really good story - Regan Smith’s first Sprint Cup win.

We didn’t get to see his victory burnout. We didn’t see him get the checkered flag in his hand for the first time in the Cup Series. Wait, he said he forgot to get it when the race was over. His mom missed the win, but she was rescuing animals in the southern states' flooding.

However, we did get to see the classy move of Carl Edwards as he bounded over to Regan Smith’s car, stuck his head in the window and congratulated Regan. We also got to hear Carl post race praise Smith.



That’s all we got to see of the winner because of two childish, immature acts.

And that's unfair to everyone, especially Regan Smith.



It looked like a game of cat and mouse between to rather hot-headed drivers, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. And, probably, it’s been on the way for a while. Shoot, anyone and either of those drivers at any given race.

The SceneDaily story today said Kyle had no reverse after backing up when he missed the entrance to pit road, and NASCAR’s inspection found that yes, indeed, Busch had no reverse.

Kyle told SceneDaily:
"[Before he got out], I knew if I tried to turn left or right, he was going to run into me or block me or something," Busch said. "I just stayed behind him. I was just going to sit there, not worry about it and let him cool his head for a second and let him figure out that we just need to go back to the garage area.

"Instead of him doing that, he wanted to get out of his car. I guess and wanted to fight. When I saw him getting out of his car, I knew it wasn't going to be a good situation. My choices were limited. I was either going to get punched in the face and then wait for Harvick to get back in his car for me to go or just drive through his car and push it out of the way so I could get out of there and try not to get hit or anything like that."

Tuesday will tell what, if anything, will happen to which driver.

Who can de-throne 5-Time?

Here’s an idea. Put a bounty on the Hendrick House to stop the streak of championship trophies in the cases at the 48-88 shop on their Concord campus.

GRAND-AM is doing that with the Ganassi Gang in their series. Ganassi drivers have a six-race winning streak, and GRAND-AM Director of Competition Mark Raffauf said they’ve put a $25,000 bounty on the head of Chip Ganassi.

OK, not on his head, but on his cars. The first team to score an overall victory in the Rolex series gets the $25-Grand. Next opportunity to take the cash will be May 14 at Virginia International Raceway.

I have a long-standing offer of $25 to the driver’s charity who will take Jimmie Johnson out of a race. It doesn’t happen very often, like 5 times in 2 years. And not all were crashes. Believe it or not, Hendrick equipment CAN fail.

I think it’s a pretty good idea. I’ll do my part! If 5-time loses the championship this season, $25 to the driver’s foundation who knocks him off the trophy.

It would make me happy to see The Biff, Greg Biffle, manage that feat. Or Happy Harvick. Heck, even Montoya if it means it's not Jimmie Johnson.

Kurt Busch put it best once last season. He said he didn't care where he finished a race as long at it was ahead of Johnson. Yeah, a bunch of drivers feel that way, Kurt.

And Kurt, watch the potty mouth and making disparaging remarks about your owner. I wouldn't cross Roger Penske. When is your contract up for review? Aren't you the guy who once said, Jack if you're listening I want to see you in my hauler after the race? And after a brief radio silence, the reply was something like, let's get one thing straight. It's MY hauler. Kurt, you are just the hireling.

But we digress.

Please, somebody, anybody, take the trophy this year.

There's $25 to your charity in it for you.