Well, 2006 is behind us now and we have 2007 to look forward to. ' 07 has a lot of new things in the wind. Toyotas in the Nextel Cup Series, Dale Jarrett in a Toyota (hard to believe, ain't it) Red Bull coming into the Cup series strong with 2 entries. We have Napa in a Toyota, Jeremey Mayfield coming back to Cup this year along with Ricky Rudd. It should be an interesting year.

Now a little bit of history for the fans and drivers.The famous "Brickyard" was not intended as a race track by the Indianapolis busisnessmen that built it. It was to be a "great outdoor laboratory", with it's 2 1/2 mile speedway of red bricks.In 1911, the first race took 6 hrs and 42 minutes to go 500 miles on it. The drivers had to contend with such hazards as wind, dust, and flying pebbles since most of the cars lacked windshields. The winning speed at that race was 74.6 mph. We drive our cars faster than that on the interstates now a days.

Engineers from the Detroit automakers considered 500 miles on the brickyard to be 50,000 miles of highway driving. They tested tires, shocks, suspension, brakes, seatbelts, high compression engines, fuel injection, and even turbo chargers there.

One invention they invented out of need there in 1911 was the rear view mirror. In the first race, an engineer sat in the passenger seat to be a lookout for cars behind the driver. Driver Ray Harroun came up with the idea of a mirror and installed one on his Marmon Wasp. Without the weight of an extra man, his car needed fewer tire changes than others-pushing him past faster competitors to victory.

Then there is the All American Soap Box Derby in Dayton , Ohio. Started in 1933 with 3 kids going down a hill in cars they had built from crates and scrap metal. A news photographer from the Dayton Daily News saw them and convinced his boss to put $200.00 in prize money. When it was held in August that year, over 40,000 people showed up to watch 362 boys race their cars down a hill. With the race becoming so popular a special track was built in nearby Akron, Ohio and awards were presented by such stars as Roy Rogers, Pat Boone and Jimmy Stewart.

Yet the race somehow remained a boys real life adventure story: a test of true ingenuity and grit. There was 14 year old Gib Klecan, for instance, who coated himself and his entire rig with graphite to cut down on wind resistance, and won in 1946. In 1952 little Joey Lunn from Georgia crashed his car in the first heat-but emerged from the first aid tent to ride his "ramblin wreck" downhill to victory.

In 1971 the race was opened to girls. Each year all the racers parade down Akron's Main St with an official Police escort and every racer is addressed to as "Champ". And the Derby is an "Official Youth Initiative of NASCAR"

So lets tell 2007 to "Bring it on" . We are ready for a new season! The Bud Shootout and ARCA 200 are on Feb. 10,2007. The ARCA race should be a great one this year, Frank Kimmell, 8 time Champion, will be starting on his quest for #9, Bobby Gerhart will be chasing Frank again, you can bet Bobby will win the Daytona opener (he always does, he's that good!), 2 Toyota entries so far, a few R & D entries from the Cup side, proably Juan Montoya driving a Ganassi prepared car to get some seat time before trying to race into the 500 thru the Gatorade 150 duels. You have the ARCAville regulars such as Norm Benning, Mike Koch, Billy Venturini and Mike Harmon who should give us an interesting race. These teams come to Daytona with a volunteer crew who want to be there. These are the true grass roots racers. It is great to see the determination in these teams. Good Luck to all.

Steve Herbert
Pres.
Bushwacker Motorsports, inc.