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It's a Wheel Thing Blog

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  1. Carroll_Shelby_ap.JPG

    Race driver and sports car designer Carroll Shelby dead at 89

    BY JEFF WILSON AND NOMAAN MERCHANT Associated Press
    Friday, May 11 2012 01:26 PM

    DALLAS -- Carroll Shelby, the legendary car designer and champion auto racer who built the fabled Shelby Cobra sports car and injected testosterone into Ford's Mustang and Chrysler's Viper, has died. He was 89.

    Shelby's company, Carroll Shelby International, said Friday that Shelby died a day earlier at a Dallas hospital.

    "We are all deeply saddened, and feel a tremendous sense of loss for Carroll's family, ourselves and the entire automotive industry," said Joe Conway, president of Carroll Shelby International, Inc. and board member. "There has been no one like Carroll Shelby and never will be. However, we promised Carroll we would carry on, and he put the team, the products and the vision in place to do just that."

    Shelby was one of the nation's longest-living heart transplant recipients, having received a heart on June 7, 1990, from a 34-year-old man who died of an aneurism. Shelby also received a kidney transplant in 1996 from his son, Michael.

    The 1992 inductee into the Automobile Hall of Fame had homes in Los Angeles and his native east Texas.

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  2. Fire forces Daytona 500 to pause with 40 laps left

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- First came the rain. Then came the fire.

  3. Danica Patrick OK after wreck in Daytona qualifier

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick walked away uninjured after taking a hard hit to the wall in her qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday. Her race car didn't fare quite so well.

  4. Ryan Reed.JPG

    Liberty grad Reed to race at Daytona in ARCA Series

    For 18-year old Ryan Reed, the past year has been all about learning. Learning to live 3,000 miles from his parents and friends in Bakersfield. 

  5. Buds on fruit trees mean March Meet is near

    After a December of rain and January of fog, I noticed the tell-tale signs of spring as I strolled though my fruit trees a day ago -- green shoots and buds on a nectarine tree.

  6. image_62069_0.jpg

    Jungle Pam makes Hot Rod Reunion appearance

    When it comes to honoring the past, the 19th edition of the NHRA Californiana Hot Rod Reunion (Friday-Sunday at Auto Club Famoso Raceway) is honoring one of the most famous back-up girls ever to step on to a drag strip in knee-high boots — Jungle Pam.

  7. CSUB gets big boost from Kevin Harvick Foundation

    Kudos to Kevin Harvick for giving back to the community of Bakersfield in a big way by funding a full academic scholarship to one Cal State Bakersfield student-athlete per year for the next 12 years though the Kevin Harvick Foundation.
    The value of the award is $151,200.
    The North High grad and former Late Model champion at the old Mesa Marin Raceway (while he was still attending North), made the announcement this morning from Auto Club Speedway in Fontana where he will be racing in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race as he guns for his first series title.
    Bakersfield’s Lauren Holderman was presented with the first scholarship.
    Holderman is a 2009 graduate of Bakersfield High where she was all-league MVP for two consecutive years and was named Bakersfield's 2008 all-area player of the year. The sophomore is majoring in sociology and maintained a 3.35 GPA during her freshman year. She is also a coach for Bakersfield Club Jamba.
    “I wanted this go to to a local student who has lived there and basically doesn’t have the money to go to school,” Harvick said. “Bakersfield has been a huge part of everything we’ve done and I felt it was important to let people know where the money is going.”
    Harvick and his wife, DeLana, formed the Kevin Harvick Foundation (KHF) earlier this year to support programs that positively enrich the lives of children throughout the United States. Other programs supported by the KHF include a camper cabin at Victory Junction, Baptist Children's Homes of N.C., Boys & Girls Clubs and Kevin's Krew.
    A dinner/auction and a golf tournament was held earlier this year in Bakersfield and Harvick said there will be another golf tournament and dinner here next year.
    For more information about the Kevin Harvick Foundation, please visit kevinharvickfoundation.org
     

  8. Bud Nationals should draw large field of cars

    Top drivers from throughout the West will be rolling into Bakersfield Speedway Friday and Saturday for the 25th annual Budweiser West Coast Dirt Track Nationals.
    Late Models compete in a 30-lap feature on Friday night and a 50-lap feature on Saturday night. American Stocks run a full program, including a 30-lap feature, tonight. Modifieds, Super Streets and Hobby Stocks run heats tonight with features set for Saturday.
    In a nutshell, there are 250 scheduled laps of racing set for Friday night and 330 laps (if there are enough cars for all the scheduled B and C mains) on Saturday night.
    Competition should be intense in all divisions and most likely the Modifieds and Hobby Stocks will lure the most competitors with Late Models coming in third. 
    It’s pure guess work here, but I would not be surprised with a field of 40 or more Modifieds and 35 or more Hobby Stocks. Best guesses for Late Models would be between 25-30. Anything over 30 would be a huge bonus.
    No matter what there will be more than enough cars to give the third-mile clay oval a severe pounding and the pits will be jam-packed and overflowing with cars.
    This race starts a series of big-money races throughout the state and is the penultimate race of the season at Bakersfield Speedway.
    The season ends with the George Steitz Memorial race for Modifieds, Streets, Hobbys and Minis on Oct. 22-23.