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Five spectators injured at state fair race

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Five people were hurt, three with with serious injuries, after a car left the race track during a charity auto race at the state fairgrounds in Sedalia, MO. Sunday evening, shortly after 9 p.m.

According to Sgt. Collin Stosberg of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, a car drove through a fence and into the pit area after coming around a curve. Three people were flown to area hospitals with serious injuries. They include a 57 year old man from Columbia, Mo., and two women, aged 27 and 33, from California, Mo. A 67 year old man and 46 year old man from Columbia were treated at the scene.

Fair Director Mark Wolfe called off the race just before 10 p.m., because of the injuries.  Sunday was Law Enforcement day at the fair and the final race, the Battle of the Badges, was held in support of the Missouri Law Enforcement Torch Run and Special Olympics.

Earnhardt, Gordon assured top two spots in Daytona 500

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned in the fastest lap at 48.364 seconds (186.089 mph), to claim the pole for next weekend’s Daytona 500. Jeff Gordon is second and each will lead the pack in the two dual races on Thursday at the restrictor-plate superspeedway as the rest of the qualifying field is set.

2010 Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray did not qualify well and will start 12th in the 2nd Dual. Columbia native Carl Edwards will also race in the second, starting in 7th in the 125 mile race, or 50 laps.

NASCAR’s Edwards breaks foot playing frisbee

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Carl Edwards says he will still be able to race in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races this weekend in Atlanta, despite a broken right foot.  Edwards was in Columbia playing frisbee with his friends when the freak accident took place.

This will obviously go down as one of the goofiest sports injuries.  Edwards said in a statement, "I know this probably sounds ridiculous…I can hardly believe it myself.  I was playing frisbee with a couple of buddies and I put my foot on it, my friend dove for it and the next thing you know…we all heard a pop."

With two races left before the Cup Chase, this is certainly something he didn’t want to have happen, but he’ll wear a protective boot.  The big question will be…any backflips if he wins?

Edwards picks up first road win

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Columbia native Carl Edwards passed Marcos Ambrose on the final lap to win the Nationwide Series NAPA Auto Parts 200, for his first road race win one of NASCAR’s top three divisions.  Edwards picks up his third win of the Nationwide season and trails Kyle Busch by 129 points with ten races remaining.

Ambrose was in the lead when NASCAR called the eighth caution of the afternoon after a shower hit the race track as the cars were on Lap 59. Two laps later, NASCAR ordered the cars to pit road and red-flagged the race while crews mounted rain tires and installed wipers and lights.

They restarted on Lap 64 and Ambrose held off Edwards through three cautions in the remaining laps with Edwards making his move in the final corner. 

Vickers wins at Michigan, Edwards moves up to 4th

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Polesitter Brian Vickers ran out of gas at the end of Sunday’s Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway, but not until after he crossed the finish line.   
Jimmie Johnson wasn’t so lucky.

Despite a concerted effort to save gas, the reigning and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Johnson ran out of fuel with just over two laps left in the race. When Johnson ducked onto pit road, he handed the lead to Vickers, who had been riding in Johnson’s wake.
 
"That’s what I’m talking about!" Vickers exulted after crossing the finish line ahead of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. "Great call, guys. Great job."
 
Vickers’ win was the second of his career, the first for Red Bull Racing and the first for Toyota at Michigan.  Vickers, Johnson and Gordon last came to the pits on Lap 149. Earnhardt, on the other hand, stopped under caution on Lap 159 and rocketed toward the front after a restart on Lap 162.
 
Vickers pressured Johnson over the closing laps, and Johnson, who led 165 of 200 laps, ran out of fuel less than five miles short of the finish for the second time this year at the 2-mile speedway.
 
With Vickers just outside the top 12 in the standings — with the top 12 drivers after 26 races qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup — crew chief Ryan Pemberton’s call to keep Vickers on the track in fuel conservation mode was a risky one.
 
Columbia’s Carl Edwards ran with the pack to finish fourth and move up two spots in the Chase standings to fourth with just three races to go before the Chase.

Joplin native McMurray looking for ride in 2010

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Crown Royal will serve as the primary sponsor for Matt Kenseth and his 17 car next NASCAR season as Kenseth moves over to Roush-Fenway.  With his arrival, that means Jamie McMurray will exit.

With NASCAR require teams to be limited to four drivers, McMurray is the odd man out for owner Jack Roush who will team Kenseth up with Columbia, MO native Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and David Ragan.

McMurry has just two career wins and this season has managed just two, top 10 finishes as he sits in 20th place in the Sprint Cup Standings.  There were some who thought perhaps Ragan, who is currently 30th would be let go, but Roush-Fenway sees Ragan’s age and upcoming potential as a big plus over McMurry who hasn’t progressed as well as perhaps the team had hoped.

Two deaths at St. Louis area races

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There were two deadly accidents at two St. Louis area racing events on Saturday.  The first happened Saturday afternoon at the Creve Coeur Lake Drag Boat Classic.  The second incident happened at an auto race track in Park Hills when a spectator was killed.

Racer Jim Tucker of Texas died Saturday afternoon when his boat launched at 140 mph at the Drag Boat Classic.  Creve Coeur Lake officials said it’s the first death at the event in 30 years. 

At the Francois County Race Track in Park Hills, an unidentified 47 year old man was killed and two were hurt when a at car flipped off the track into the pit area.  The driver of the car,  Tommy Worley Jr. went to the hospital with injuries. 

Edwards slipping in NASCAR Sprint standings

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A string of mediocre-to-poor finishes has Columbia NASCAR driver Carl Edwards on the verge of falling out of the top-12 standings.  He was fourth after the first four races of the season, but his best finishes have been two tenth-places since then.  He finished 32nd after a crash Saturday night at Darlington, and was 24th after the big flip at Talladega. His average finish for the last six races is 19.5.

Edwards is just seven points ahead of Clint Bowyer, only 16 ahead of 14th place Juan Pablo Montoya, and only 329 points ahead of David Reutimann (root-a-mun) in 15th.    He has to stay in the top 12 if he’s going to be qualified to run for the championship in the last ten races of the season.

The NASCAR Showdown and All-star race is this Saturday night.

Talladega frights for Columbia’s Edwards

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4-27 Edwards flip car that is.jpg NASCAR driver and Columbia, Missouri native Carl Edwards is known for his back flips after winning races, and it looked like he was in line for another famous flip and he was…it just wasn’t the type he was expecting.

Leading at Talladega, Edwards in his 99 car tried to hold off Brad Keselowski down low.  Keselowski bumped Edwards from behind and as Edwards spun, he was hit again.  This time his car went spinning in the air and hit the fence along the car’s roof sending fragments of the sheet metal into the crowd.  Edwards’s car came to rest and he got out of the car and walked to the finish line.

As far as the fans, there were no serious injuries.  Seven were treated with one woman being flown to a Birmingham hospital for what was being reported as a broken jaw.   Check out video of the crash from NASCAR.com .

Kenseth wins rain shortened Daytona 500

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With 48 laps remaing, Matt Kenseth was declared the winner of the 2009 Daytona 500 after a lengthy rain delay.  This is the fourth Daytona 500 to end early due to weather.

For the local drivers I was following.  Joplin native Jamie McMurry finished 37th down 13 laps.  Columbia native and Sprint Cup runner-up Carl Edwards finished 18th picking up 109 points behind Kenseth’s 190.

This was Kenseth first Daytona win in 10 races.  The bonehead driver of the race without a doubt is Dale Jr.  Not only did he miss his pit box and need to loop around again, he stopped on his line on another pit stop and was docked a one minute penalty.

However, his wreck when he turned into Vickers knocking out race leader Kyle Busch was unbelievable.  The drivers were saying Jason Leffler in the Nationwide series was penalized five laps for something similar, but not as harsh as what Junior pulled.

Junior is and always has been overrated.   He got a lot of sympathy support after his father’s death and many fans rallied around Junior to continue the legacy.  Those are big shoes to fill and Junior is proving as time goes on, he’s not the same driver his father was.