Raceway Rant
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Daytona 500 Recap
Lynne Tibbet
Well, it's been a few days since the 50th running of the Daytona 500, and what a race weekend it was as Ryan Newman took the checkers thanks to a push from teammate Kurt Busch on the last lap.
Very cool to see Ryan hugging his father in victory lane. Ryan's father basically devoted his life to his son's career when Ryan was 8 years old. I guess dreams still do come true.
An interesting note on Newman that many people do not know: he graduated from Purdue University with an engineering degree. Also, he and his wife, Krissie, run the Ryan Newman Foundation, which is a great organization that benefits animals. Check out http://www.ryannewmanfoundation.org/.
On another historical note, I came across a pretty neat story while roaming the garage in Daytona. Dorsey Patrick has been a photographer shooting NASCAR Cup races since 1975. The interesting thing about Dorsey is that she was the first woman to shoot NASCAR races when she first went to the track in 1975. She's still going strong 33 years later and said she'd be coming out to Sonoma for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 June 20-22.
By the way, if you haven't heard already, both Danica Patrick and Ingrid Vandebosch (Jeff Gordon's wife) are in the SI Swimsuit Issue this year.
See ya soon!
