#martinsville speedway

[dozydawn]

[kindalikevelvet]

THAT'S WHAT WE DOOOOOOOOO

Greatest drive of his career for a shot at the biggest prize again, and an attempt a historic second consecutive title. So damn proud of this team, continuing to grind it out every race.

6 top 5s in a row at Phoenix, maybe next week it's the win he so deserves in his biggest moment.

[constanze-1782]

[nonelikeyouandme]

Have your seen a hermosa today

[sortanonymous]

I don't normally try to go through the trouble of paying attention to the NASCAR owner's championship, but the possibility that Aric Almirola could be racing for at least someone's championship in Phoenix in 2024? Oh, YES! I need to see that!

[vafarmlife]

[yz]

Noah Gragson celebrating his win in the 2017 Camping World Truck Series race in Martinsville Speedway.

[e-devotion]

ministry at the speedway

We get to serve here.

It began 2001 after we moved to Virginia.  There were lots of opportunities I learned about where outreach in our community was happening and I could serve. 

One of those was through Raceway Ministry at the speedway in Martinsville where NASCAR comes to town two times per year.  And as Paul Harvey would say, “that’s the rest of the story”.

Not sure how many races where I have been able to serve, but I can tell you that I have watched very few laps of racing.  But I have met thousands of race fans from all over the world, had countless of conversations,  prayed for people, talked about life, shared snacks and coffee, gave golf cart rides from one place to another and so much more.

But the best part is that we get to talk to people about Jesus.  Not only does our team host worship services at the speedway but the entire time we are on the property assisting with guest services, and we get to talk about the great person who ever lived and the one who changes lives all the timeThis is good stuff.

Please pray for our team serving at Martinsville Speedway this week.  About 75 volunteers from many different churches will serve at several ministry sites.  There will be many golf carts helping fans.  Lots of refreshments will be given out.  Lots of coffee and lemonade will be shared.  And remember that the conversations are the best.

1 Corinthians 9:22  NASB

To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.

1 Peter 3:15  NASB

but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect;

What an honor it is to get to talk to people about Jesus.  We get share, serve, meet needs, hear stories, share stories, meet people and to share about our faith with the people we meet.

There is one reason I go to the NASCAR race.  It is not to see the cars going around the paperclip track or to smell the racing fuel or to see the drivers.  It is to share hope with the people we encounter.  

We get to serve here!  Please pray!

[ishootthelightsout]

The difference in price between the Miami GP and Martinsville Speedway is insane and perfectly shows the class difference between F1 and NASCAR

[duck7]

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 2023 ʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ ¹⁹ Martinsville 🇺🇸

Point leader Ron Silk collected in backstretch crash.

[benjaminftw]

Journeyman Appreciation: Bobby Dotter

Following the theme of my last post in this series, I wanted to spotlight somebody else who found another niche in racing after the end of his driving career: Bobby Dotter. 

Born in Chicago, Bobby Dotter was the son of a midwestern legend, Bob Dotter who despite having just one arm won three ARCA championships in the 1980s. While dominating Illinois short tracks in late models, Bobby spent much of the 1980s making sporadic starts in the ARCA series in which his father had had so much success, with a best finish of 5th at Pocono 1983 and a handful of top 10s but never running more than 4 races in a season. 

In 1988, Bobby began racing in the Busch Grand National Series which would be his home for a number of years going forward, driving a car owned by his father in a limited schedule focused on the short tracks, showing real flashes of promise with a pole at the tricky Louisville and top 10s at the legendary Hickory and IRP tracks. In 1989 Bobby made just one start, but it was a top 10 finish at Martinsville and the first start for the car owner he’d spend a bulk of his career with, Ed Reizen in his number 08 car. 

In 1990 Dotter and Reizen would run their first full season together. Although they DNQ’d at two of the biggest events on the schedule, the Daytona 500 and World 600 support races, Bobby proved very good on the short tracks picking up 8 finishes inside the top 10 over the course of the year and best finish of 4th at Myrtle Beach Speedway, ending the year 14th in points. Still under sponsored, Dotter backslid in terms of average start, average finish, and had half the top 10s in 1991 but tied his career best finish of 4th at South Boston and once again came home 14th in the final standings. 

In 1992 Bobby had his crowning achievement in NASCAR, winning a race at the New River Valley Speedway in Southwest VA (later better known as “Motor Mile Speedway”, and the hometrack of this writer where he has been multiple times to catch local racing) in convincing fashion but putting up identical top 5 and top 10 numbers as the year before and seeing his average finish drop a bit, placing 16th in points. 

In 1993 Reizen and Dotter finally picked up substantial sponsorship from DeWalt tools which led to a dramatic turnaround for that team, matching career highs in top 10s (8) and a best ever top 5 count (3) and placing solidly in the 7th place in points, a feat that would be replicated with one less top 5 in 1994, in both years managing to outpoint numerous better known drivers with wins to their credit. In 1995 DeWalt was replaced by Hyde Tools, and while the team still managed 6 top 10s they had a dramatic increase in DNFs including a number of engine failures and a DNQ at Richmond and slid back to 14th in points. Reizen’s team shut down at the end of the year.

Thus began the true journeyman portion of his career, having consistently driven for the same owner for most of his time. While Bobby started 1996 with Dennis Shoemaker’s number 64 Dura Lube car, he failed to qualify for two out of the first three races and they soon parted ways. Bobby then hooked up with Ray DeWitt whom you might remember from the Tim Fedewa entry, replacing Johnny Chapman in the 55 car for 15 events in ‘96 with a best finish coming in his first race with the team at Nashville where he placed 10th. Bobby also made a start at Hickory driving a 08 car he owned himself to a 13th place finish and made two starts for Cup legend Kenny Schrader with a best finish of 12th at Dover. 

The rest of the 90s were pretty lean for Bobby. Through 1999 he made just 3 Busch Series starts, all coming in an 08 car he owned himself with a best finish of 15th, one lap down, at Milwaukee in 1998. He made 9 Truck Series starts, 8 of which coming for Carl Wegner, with his best finish being a pair of 16ths. He also scored a couple of top 10 finishes in the ARCA series in 4 starts and ran a partial schedule in the NASCAR Winston West series in 1999 with 3 top 10s in 6 starts. Presumably it was this last stint that led to what would be the third stage of his career. 

In the 2000 season Bobby Dotter finally returned to full-time racing with a second car fielded by owner-driver Gene Christensen in the Winston West Series, sponsored by Christensen’s People Against Drugs organization. The combo proved potent, with Dotter winning four times: at the legendary Laguna Seca road course, twice at Irwindale and one at the Rocky Mountain Raceway in Utah. He also finished in the top 10 in 9 out of 12 events on the schedule, and finished runner up in points to the young off-road hotshot Brendan Gaughan. Dotter and Christensen also ran a couple of Truck series races together with a best finish of 17th at Bobby’s “home track” (Chicagoland Speedway and Chicago Motor Speedway weren’t built until the early 00s) of Milwaukee. 

This led to the entire organization moving into the Truck series full-time with Bobby’s iconic 08, once again primarily sponsored by People Against Drugs, in 2001. The team had a number of mechanical failures and just one top 10 finish, a 10th at IRP, but still likely exceeded expectations by proving a regular fixture within the top 20 and coming home 15th in points, with Bobby also scoring a 27th for Fred Bickford in his first Busch Series start in several years at Phoenix. In 2002, the team scored more consistent outside sponsorship and generally improved their pace in most areas, scoring Bobby and the team’s first top 5 finish at Martinsville and collecting 3 more top 10s en route to 14th place points finish and much higher average finish. 

In 2003, Bobby stepped back from full-time driving while in his early 40s to focus on his role as the General Manager of Christensen’s Green Light Racing. Between ‘03 and ‘04, he ran 13 races for the team, primarily when they lacked sponsorship on one of their two entries. In 2004 Bobby also made his final Busch Grand National start, coming home 26th, 6 laps down for Rick Ware at his beloved Milwaukee Mile. Bobby’s final Truck starts would primarily be field filler start-and-park entries for the team in ‘07-08. 

Sometime around the 2008 season, Gene Christensen sold his interest in Green Light Racing which had merged with SS Racing to Bobby Dotter, who dedicated himself full-time to being a truck and car owner. In 2014 the team moved into Xfinity series racing where they would later get their first win at any level in 2002 with Cole Custer driving for the team in a partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing, and having provided a home for many young and veteran drivers both in the midpack of the series for nearly a decade. 

[kindalikevelvet]

starting p14 at the 'ville

Gaining 13 spots at the end of the day gives us win #13 and a chance at title #2.

Go have a day tomorrow gang.

[constanze-1782]

Good god, it's high speed bumper cars out there

[sportscarolinamonthly]

Bubba Wallace giving back to Xfinity Rewards members amid push for playoffs

Published by On3 Even though Bubba Wallace is in the midst of an uphill battle to make the NASCAR Playoffs, he’s giving back to fans. Another year 23XI Racing and Xfinity are giving fans a chance to be featured on the No. 23 Toyota Camry. Bubba Wallace had 65 fans on his car for the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway last year. It was a fun way to give back to fans and let them be part of the…