Can you believe it’s been seven years already since Adam Petty died at a Busch series practice at New Hampshire? I remember it was like yesterday.

I was spending a weekend at an old girlfriend’s house in north central Pennsylvania. We were watching ESPN — college football, I would assume, since it’s Saturday — with the crawl on the bottom.
I’ll never forget it.

Across the bottom, it read: “Adam Petty, 19…”

They don’t refer to ages unless someone has passed.

“Oh, sh—,” I muttered. They were a church-going family, so I didn’t swear much around them. But this was so stunning…

Then came the rest of the news; but it didn’t much matter. A wave of sadness swept over me; I know what the Pettys meant to NASCAR (don’t we all?), I know how classy they’d always been and I grieved for them.

Hinton makes the point that this is all something that Hamlin forgot. He also looks at how, since Adam’s death, Petty Enterprises hasn’t been the same. It wasn’t hard to get that feeling, knowing what kind of plans the Pettys had for him, but it’s still sad to see it come to fruition.

At any rate, I look forward to reading Hinton’s Friday columns, and this is no exception. Do yourself a favor and go read it.

• THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED winds up at the same spot.

Remember ex-F1 driver Scott Speed, the rare American to compete on that series?

It wasn’t that long ago when he arrived in F1 with a bang, not because he was some can’t-miss driver or because he was joining one of the elite teams, but because he was the rare American that bucked stock car racing in favor of open-wheel racing.

I’ve tried to find a copy of the old AP feature on him, but haven’t had any luck. But I’m fairly certain I remember him saying how he had no interest in NASCAR, he wanted to make his life in F1 and open-wheeled series, etc.

Speed lost his ride with Red Bull a few months ago, not that it’ll be any great loss to him personally. ToroRosso has yet to score a point this year; they and Spyker are the only pointless teams on the circuit. (There’s another Red Bull team with Mark Webber and David Coulthard that has been considerably more successful, but hardly at the levels of McLaren.)

Well, whaddya know. Speed’s back in the spotlight (seventh item). He was one of 40 ARCA drivers making test runs at Talladega.

Funny how things change, no?

(Photo by Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)

There’s something special about night races — at least when they’re held in certain places. The night race at Bristol is justifiably legendary; there’s no better build-up than for the fall race at Richmond, when the Chase field is set.

The night race at Daytona is a staple of the week of Independence Day. The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race of the year; though it starts in the late afternoon, most of the race is conducted at night. Lowe’s fall race is at night too, right in the thick of the Chase.

But look at all of the other places that have night races now as well: Phoenix (though I’m certain I’d rather run at night there, knowing how hot it can get); Darlington (though rain made it a day race this year); California.

How many of those three get you excited? Or, put it another way. Which are you most likely to utter: “Sweet, the night race at Bristol!” Or “Sweet, the night race at Fontana!”

And now you add Chicagoland to that mix, a track that’s barely distinguishable from this weekend’s venue, Kansas.

NASCAR’s two primary faults, in my eyes: First, consistency; second, leaving well enough alone. (And yes, it’s a track issue, but Chicagoland is an ISC track, so don’t tell me Mike Helton and those guys have no input.)

How many night races do we need? It seemed like the current number was fine enough. Now we’ve got one more, and soon we’ll have one more, then one more, then another.

As more tracks push for night races, it devalues night racing at a whole. That concept is Rule No. 1 of economics. You flood the market, demand is satisfied, and the value (and, subsequently, the price) of your offering goes down.

Soon, it’s not a night race. It’s just another race that happens to be at night.

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The veteran Davis is enlisted to tutor a brash rising pitcher, Nuke LaLoosh, who has the arm but not the brain. The interplay between Davis, LaLoosh and Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) make it one of the all-time classic sports movies.

But one of the little details about Davis is that he’s chasing the minor-league career home run record. Sure, he’s spent some time in the big leagues — he amazes his teammates with tales of folks who actually carry your luggage for you — but he didn’t stick. He had a cup of coffee in the bigs, as they say.

Keller had a cup of coffee in the Cup series: Two starts in 2003, according to Racing Reference, with a finish of 32nd at Richmond and a 26th at Talladega. But he’s been running Busch series races ever since 1991 with 10 wins and 81 top-fives.

“I guess you could say the moment has finally come for another milestone in my career. It’s been a privilege being a part of the NASCAR Busch Series all these years,” Keller said, according to the CJM Racing Web site. “I’ve had a great career in this series and would love to log 400 more career starts before its all said and done. I’ve found a home in the NBS and as long as I remain competitive I will continue to build on these records.”

It’s easy to overlook records like these — and Davis’s too, if it were real — but it would be a mistake to do so.

Think about it. Sure, Keller’s never gotten much of a chance on the big stage, but you can make a fine living for yourself on the Busch tour.

Moreover, think about all of the weekend racers out there, putting in sweat, blood and tears during the week to race on Saturday nights. A good many of them would trade places with him in a heartbeat, I’d bet.

Same with the fictional Davis. Who wouldn’t want to suit up as a professional baseball player and hit a home run? Your goal, of course, is the major leagues; even if you didn’t stick around, you still did pretty good for yourself.

Davis eventually got pushed out when the organization decided it wanted to make room for a younger catcher. He got released.

“The toughest job a manager’s got,” his skipper said.

But the release gave way to a new opportunity in Visalia, where Davis, presumably, became a grizzled old baseball man and helped countless young players succeed where he fell short.

One can only hope Keller gets the same happy ending. Maybe not in Visalia, but something just as nice.

Because even though he may not be in the spotlight, his record-breaking performance — no matter when it may be — deserves our congratulations.

(Photo by Matthew Putney/Associated Press)

“We have the misfortune of violating a rule which makes no sense. It was promulgated to address restrictor plate races, not downforce races,” Smith said.

“I say misfortune because we are being penalized for a violation that actually impaired the car’s performance,” he added, echoing Edwards on Sunday.

If this is accurate, it does seem a little heavy-handed by NASCAR. Their job should be to draw that proverbial line in the sand; you, as a team, violate it at your own risk.

At the same time, you should be able to stay as far away from that line as you want. If you, as a team, want to make changes at your disadvantage, why should NASCAR stop you? I realize this is highly counterintuitive and no one would actually do this, but why must it be a rule?

In Smith’s statement, he also complained about the 25-point penalty and how it’s disproportionate to the Chase field.

“What is unfair is that Carl is receiving a penalty that is 250 percent greater in its effect than a similarly assessed penalty against a non-‘Chase’ driver,” Smith said. “‘Chase’ drivers are compet-ing for a total of 1,950 points. All drivers competed for 5,070 points in the first 26 races. Do the math. The net effect is that a 25-point penalty falls unfairly hard on a ‘Chase’ contender. That’s simply not right.”
Perhaps not, but the rules are the rules. Roush Fenway and Smith know that NASCAR is going to come down hard on Car of Tomorrow violations.

Plus, by Smith’s logic, the Chase drivers are different, running a different race. They’re not; they’re just as susceptible to engine trouble or wrecks or flat tires or post-race inspection as any other team that runs on Sunday.

Moreover, that’s asking NASCAR to go down a slippery slope that, frankly, it probably wants no part of going down. One of the best aspects to the COT program has been that NASCAR has been consistent; you violate the rules, you get a standard fine. Ask Hendrick.

Please don’t confuse the two arguments; the former questions how necessary they are, the latter argues for an even application of those rules, no matter how unnecessary they may be.

• OVER IN DRAG RACING, I watched SportsCenter intently — something I haven’t done in years — when they teased John Force’s wreck with Kenny Bernstein in Dallas.

Bernstein walked away, while Force — pictured at right with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Daytona in February — was flown to the hospital, though his injuries turned out to be not life-threatening.

That’s great, great news. Ask any sportswriter who’s dealt with him, me included, and they’ll tell you there’s no better interview anywhere in sports. Someone on sportsjournalists.com put it aptly: If he were in NASCAR, he’d be the biggest personality in motorsports.

I set up plans to interview him when they came to Petersburg last year; those plans ultimately fell through and I had to drive back to the office that night to do some other work. Force called me back — twice — until I’d reached the office and could sit and chat with him. For someone in our job, that’s enough to make one eternally grateful; and I am.

I also can’t help but think of how he was portrayed in his show on A&E. The show showed him as hard-charging and not afraid to say what’s on his mind — no matter what was on his mind and no matter who he was talking to.

That’s part of his charm for people in my profession. But that’s probably also part of the reason his daughters rolled his eyes at him so many times.

There’s a nine-minute interview on the Web site for the CBS affiliate in Dallas, and it’s classic John Force: insightful, reflective. (An interview with his daughter, Ashley, follows.)

In all, it’s been a very sad year for Force and his company. In the interview, he mentioned Eric Medlen, who died in a crash in May. That led Force to invest a lot of money in safety improvements in drag racing.

And no matter what you may think of him, that’s a wonderful thing.

Get well soon, John.

• SPEAKING OF THE NHRA, it’s good to see Occoquan resident Jim Yates making some strides in the past several weeks.

It seems every time I turn on ESPN, he’s qualifying in the top half of the field. Even earlier in the year, Yates was struggling, qualifying near the bottom of the field.

He seems to be doing much better now, and here’s hoping that continues through the final race of this season and into 2008.

(Photos by Matthew S. Gunby/Associated Press [Edwards] and courtesy of the NHRA [Force])

Petty, as you may have heard, made some newer news over the weekend. He got punted by Denny Hamlin and didn’t take too kindly to it, confronting Hamlin in the garage.

The in-car camera had the best vantage point: Petty standing outside of Hamlin’s car, gesturing rather animatedly, then whacking him on the helmet, which set Hamlin off.

“I did not say one word to him,” Hamlin said afterwards. “I asked him to come over and talk to me. He chose to slap my helmet. I have a short fuse. Don’t do that.”

It’s hard to say who was right and who was wrong. Hamlin made a pretty serious misstep when he insinuated Petty should “heed” because he’s in the Chase. That’s garbage, and Hamlin should know that.

If Petty made an unexpected move with a considerably faster car on his bumper, as Hamlin claimed, then Petty got what he deserved. But it’s hard to imagine Petty wouldn’t know that.

But it’s like anything: There’s version A and version B with the truth probably somewhere in the middle.

That said, it was cool to see Petty get fired up. It’s easy to forget about him now that the TNT stint is over and Petty Enterprises continues to struggle.

But Petty’s like many other drivers, fighting to make a living on the Cup circuit. It’s easy to focus on the Chase teams and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a handful of other notable teams. But teams like the No. 45 have a story, good or bad, every week.

Our mission here is to survey the landscape and see what’s going on; we have a lot to choose from, even on a slow news day. I’m wondering how different the view is from the inside, when you’re living with the ups and downs of one driver, one car, one team each week.

Like, for instance, Petty. His name has been in the headlines sporadically this year, for the strong finish in May at Lowe’s and then the regrettable in-car expletive at Sonoma.

Maybe, for him and his team, it’s just another weekend with some personal fireworks thrown in.

(Photo by Chuck Burton/Associated Press)