Called Shot in Fontana
The legendary Babe Ruth is said to have “called his shot” during a game. The story of Ruth pointing his bat at the right field bleachers, then producing a homerun blast lives til today. Greg Biffle made good on two “shots” during the Auto Club 500 in Fontana, California. The first was a prediction he would assume the lead from his third row start prior to the 5th lap, he did so one lap early. His second prediction of winning the race, before what some are calling a disappointing fan turnout, also was spot on as he led a parade of Roush Team cars (four of the top seven) across the line.
Race Notes: There was a major difference from last weeks race. Within 10 aps the field was fairly well spread out in mostly single file order. Minus the high banking and restrictor plates the emphasis shifted to horsepower and handling. And after so many blown engines (66% failure rate) the Hendricks engine shop must be doing a little collective head scratching.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson needs to go back and do whatever he does best, and that doesn’t include giving the call for 43 racers to start their engines. The description “LAME” comes to mind.
Who taught ‘ The Governator” to wave a green flag? I assume he has never performed the exercise previously, I haven’t either. But even this run of the mill fan knows a figure eight motion is called for. Not that wimpy circular thing Arnie did.
The bonehead move of the race must go to Jimmy Johnson’s crew chief. During the yellow for the Kasey Kahne accident Johnson took on gas and no tires, and promptly marched to the back of the field Ultimately Johnson recovered to finish second but with so many laps to the checkers you have to ask, “what were you thinking?”
Biggest question in the aftermath? Just how loud will the crying and moaning be from the Jeff Gordon fans. After running on 7 cylinders the last few laps he was given the black flag with about 5 laps left for running to slow. At the time he was still on the lead lap and headed for a top 20, if not top 15 finish. The black flag resulted in Gordon ending the day in 30th. Remember you heard it here first. The name calling by his fans directed at NASCAR will be loud and long. Bet on it!
Busch Series Notes: Busch haulers are on their way today to Laredo, Texas, the shipping transfer point for their run to Mexico City for next weekend’s NASCAR race at the Hermanos Rodriguez course. Teams are sending their Mexico City road-racing machines from North Carolina to Laredo, where they will be put on the Mexico-bound haulers. The California cars will then be put on trucks for the run back to North Carolina.
The haulers will run the 700 miles from Laredo to Mexico City in five convoys of 10 haulers, protected by security guards. Each truck driver will also have a personal security guard in the cab.
2005 Auto Club 500 Results
Pos. Driver Starting Pos. Car No. / Mfg.
1 Greg Biffle 5 #16 Ford
2 Jimmie Johnson 8 #48 Chevrolet
3 Kurt Busch 20 #97 Ford
4 Jamie McMurray 15 #42 Dodge
5 Carl Edwards 19 #99 Ford
6 Kevin Harvick 31 #29 Chevrolet
7 Mark Martin 18 #6 Ford
8 Elliott Sadler 41 #38 Ford
9 Ryan Newman 9 #12 Dodge
10 Rusty Wallace 23 #2 Dodge
11 Dale Jarrett 7 #88 Ford
12 Mike Bliss 10 #0 Chevrolet
13 Bobby Labonte 14 #18 Chevrolet
14 Ken Schrader 38 #49 Dodge
15 Sterling Marlin 13 #40 Dodge
16 Scott Wimmer 27 #22 Dodge
17 Tony Stewart 29 #20 Chevrolet
18 Kyle Petty 36 #45 Dodge
19 Jeff Burton 32 #31 Chevrolet
20 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 26 #32 Chevrolet
21 Brian Vickers 2 #25 Chevrolet
22 Casey Mears 16 #41 Dodge
23 Kyle Busch 1 #5 Chevrolet
24 Travis Kvapil 35 #77 Dodge
25 Mike Wallace 33 #4 Chevrolet
26 Matt Kenseth 6 #17 Ford
27 Jeff Green 37 #43 Dodge
28 Jeremy Mayfield 3 #19 Dodge
29 John Andretti 24 #14 Ford
30 Jeff Gordon 28 #24 Chevrolet
31 Kevin Lepage 43 #37 Dodge
32 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 40 #8 Chevrolet
33 Scott Riggs 12 #10 Chevrolet
34 Dave Blaney 42 #07 Chevrolet
35 Robby Gordon 25 #7 Chevrolet
36 Terry Labonte 11 #44 Chevrolet
37 Jason Leffler 39 #11 Chevrolet
38 Michael Waltrip 30 #15 Chevrolet
39 Joe Nemechek 4 #01 Chevrolet
40 Kasey Kahne 17 #9 Dodge
41 Ricky Rudd 21 #21 Ford
42 Randy LaJoie 34 #34 Chevrolet
43 Bill Elliott 22 #91 Dodge
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