Showing posts with label nascar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nascar. Show all posts
OSU doesn't have to pay Tressel anything
0 comments Monday, 30 May 2011COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The resignation of coach Jim Tressel on Monday means Ohio State does not have to pay him another penny of his estimated $3.5 million annual salary.
According to the contract, which runs through the 2014 season, Tressel "shall not be entitled to receive any further compensation or benefits under this agreement" if he resigns.
Ohio State spokesman Jim Lynch said Monday that he was unaware of whether a buyout or severance package was part of Tressel's resignation.
An addendum to the contract does permit Tressel, if he resigns for any reason, to become an associate athletic director at a salary of $150,000 per year. Section 5.3f does stipulate that Ohio State can void that portion of the agreement.
De Silvestro Poised to Fill, Expand Void Left By Danica Patrick
0 comments Thursday, 26 May 2011
May 25, 2011 - The biggest cheers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway did not occur when Danica Patrick made her qualifying run late in the day on Sunday. No, the driver most often labeled the most popular in the IZOD IndyCar Series trailed in cheers to those for Simona De Silvestro, who qualified her backup car on Saturday just over 48 hours after a frightening wreck on the north end of IMS.
As Patrick continues to eye NASCAR in the future, it is De Silvestro who appears on the verge of filling that gap left by Patrick, even being able to exceed it in the coming years.
Patrick's slide in the eyes of some IndyCar fans started at IMS last year, when her car was surprisingly slow in qualifying. After completing her four-lap run, Patrick aired her complaints in a live interview broadcast throughout the track, saying:
I wasn't flat out the last two laps and I was scared to death flat on the first two. I've never been bad here before. I've never been outside the top 10 on a finish or qualifying, so, it's not my fault. The car is not good.To Patrick's credit, her comments this year when dealt a slow car in qualifying were much more measured. However, the damage was done in 2010, when the perception that Patrick would not push her car to its limits bothered some, but to put the blame on others irritated even the casual race fan. To complicate matters, Patrick had already begun to show signs of her interest in NASCAR, running a selected number of races in ARCA and Nationwide Series events.
The growing separation anxiety, combined with Patrick's apparent petulance following the 2010 qualification effort, greased the wheels for fans to start looking for a replacement for the highest-finishing woman in the Indianapolis 500.
Tia Norfleet: First Black Female NASCAR Driver?
0 comments Tuesday, 24 May 2011The Huffington Post's Jordan Schultz has profiled the woman who just might become the first African-American female NASCAR driver. Tia Norfleet, the 24-year-old daughter of a professional racer (Bobby Norfleet), has her sights set on breaking barriers in the predominantly white, male sort.
Female drivers are rare on the NASCAR circuit, and black women are unheard of.
Norfleet has made it her goal to change that. While she hasn't yet qualified for the longer-distance tacks such as Dayton and Talladega, she has been successful at drag racing and on the shorter tracks circuit known as the NASCAR late models, where she recorded two top-15 finishes.
"Around the age of 14 is when I really, really knew that this was what I wanted to do for a living; this was my passion," she told Schultz.
"My finest memory of my racing experience would be when I was about 5. I had a little Corvette car, and my dad put two car batteries in it. I literally drove that car until the wheels fell off. Ever since then, I've just been so enthused about racing, [or] any kind of motor sport."
Tia's father, Bobby, was a fairly prominent driver throughout the '90s and is credited with helping the sport gain popularity in the black community. She seems to be picking up where he left off.
Because of the demographics of NASCAR drivers and fans, references to the sport have long been used as shorthand for "white, male, working-class Americans." Something tells us that stereotype just might turn around soon, and if it does, Norfleet could be the one behind the wheel.
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