Chicagoland Speedway – “Notes and Quotes”

Denny Hamlin, winner of the myAFibRisk.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. [Russ Lake Photo]

• Winner Denny Hamlin said that he got a call from former NBA star Michael Jordan who advised Hamlin that going into the playoffs, he never admitted that anyone was better than he was. But he told Hamlin that if he won today, he’d admit that the Toyota driver was a better driver than Jordan. Hamlin remembered that conversation during his post-race press conference and it seemed to be the perfect end to a remarkable day.

• Winning crew chief Dave Rogers had a bit of philosophy to share after his Toyota came back to win: “If you tell yourself you’ll be happy with a top-10 finish, that’s probably what you’ll get.”

• After an early race incident between Jimmie Johnson and 2014 series champion Kevin Harvick put Harvick out of contention, finishing 42nd, the Stewart-Haas driver had strong words for the six-time champion. Johnson’s response: “I assume he would try to find it is my fault.”

• Jim Campbell (Chevy), Dave Pericak (Ford) and Ed Laukes (Toyota), manufacturer’s reps from each of the NASCAR Sprint Cup car brands, held a pre-race news conference to discuss with the press their company’s views on the state of the sport as it relates to the rules package for next year.
Campbell on rules packages for the 2015 Chase: “I think there’s been some really good learning. The teams…once they got a win, a lot of them began really working on and preparing for the last 10 races. I think stability in the rules package for the Chase makes sense given all the investment the teams have made.”
Pericak on including the manufacturers on rules packages for 2016: “It’s been an inclusive process. NASCAR has included us after every test analyzing the results, having good dialogue and discussion around it. I’m confident we’re going to end up in ’16 in the right place.”
Laukes on why understanding the 2016 packages is important: “Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s not our decision; it’s the sanctioning body. The results that have come from the racetrack for all the different packages for us, we’ve had success on all of them. We really want to learn where the drivers are leaning to, where the sanctioning body is, also what the fans want. We want better racing so we’ll adapt to whatever package they come out with.”
And finally, Laukes on the relationship between the three manufacturers: “We compete every week in the showroom and at auto shows; we compete everywhere. But we can have a personal relationship and also work together for something we love which is NASCAR. I don’t think you find that with any other type of brand out there. You hear about different brands that can’t even sit down at the same table together. That’s definitely not the case with us.” Reassuring.

• Tennis legend Billie Jean King and NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West served as co-Grand Marshals for the race and represented the AFib Risk,com race sponsor, spreading the word about AFib heart ailments and their personal experience in combating heart-related issues. During a chat with West, he explained that he’s all about learning these days. And besides working out to prevent any further heart issues, he has become a voracious reader, leaning toward history and especially learning more about our founding fathers and their part in writing our Constitution. The former Laker star also noted that he reads, not just for pleasure but to educate himself, something he wishes he had done more as a child.

• Friday’s Sprint Cup qualifying was rained out forcing the field for Sunday’s Chase race to be set by owners’ points. With 46 entries, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell and Travis Kvapil were sent home.

• Kyle Busch’s winning pole run in the Joe Gibbs/Monster Energy Toyota was his 46th in 305 career Xfinity Series races. Ryan Blaney was quickest in Round 1, while Darrell Wallace Jr. was fastest in Round 2. Veteran competitor Morgan Shepherd was the only entrant to miss the race.

• The Daytona International Speedway, in conjunction with BRP manufacturing and Can-Am, its branded line of motorized recreational vehicles and engines, announced Saturday that it will serve as the title sponsor for the 150-mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500 to be held on Thursday, February 18, 2016. The twin events will now be known as the Can-Am Duel At Daytona.

Paul Gohde

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

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