MOTORSPORTS ROUNDUP News and notes

Stewart remembers: Tony Stewart has great memories of Scott Lathram, the helicopter pilot who was among the 10 persons killed in the crash of a plane belonging to Hendrick Motorsports. Lathram had been Stewart's helicopter pilot since he retired last October from the Kentucky State Police, but the 38-year-old Paducah, Ky., native was preparing to return to Iraq, where his Army Reserve unit is currently serving. He had already left his job with Stewart to go to Iraq, but was called home on bereavement leave following the death of his father on Sept. 24. "I'll never forget him telling me that he had to go to Iraq," Stewart said. "He was only about six months into his job here with me, and he was worried about making sure that I was all set before he had to go. I told him not to worry about me, that the most important thing for him was to look out for his wife and kids. But it just showed me how much Scott cared about everyone around him, especially when his immediate future meant participating in something that most of us will only see on television." Stewart said his best memories of Lathram are of his sense of humor. "No matter how bad a day you were having, a quick one-liner from Scott and the next thing you knew, you were laughing," Stewart said. "He turned bad days into good days and good days into great days."
It don't mean bleep: NASCAR knew Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans would be upset by the 25-point penalty levied against him for cursing, and one has even started his own protest. Steve Robyor of Boca Raton, Fla., has made T-shirts displaying the same phrase Earnhardt used when he cursed in his Victory Lane interview at Talladega last month. "It upset me when they took his points away," Robyor said. "I was watching the Talladega race and I heard him say it and it didn't bother me. It actually didn't bother anyone I know. You hear worse things on prime time TV." Robyor is encouraging all Earnhardt fans to wear his T-shirts as a sign of support for their driver over the final four races of the season. He's also hopeful that the shirts might send a message to NASCAR to stop taking points for non-racing related infractions. "Maybe we can let NASCAR know we don't mind accidental use of profanity," he said. "Maybe the shirts can get an amendment that if it is judged or deemed accidental, then a fine would be appropriate. Don't take the points." Robyor's shirts can be found at www.itdontmeanbleep.com
IROC finale: The International Race of Champions will end its four-event season Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with $1 million of the $1.9 million in prize money going to the champion. The 100-mile race will match 12 drivers from different disciplines of racing driving identically prepared cars. Ryan Newman goes into the finale with a four-point lead over fellow Nextel Cup stars Matt Kenseth -- coming off his first IROC victory last month in Richmond -- and Jimmie Johnson. Two more NASCAR drivers, Kevin Harvick and current Cup points leader Kurt Busch, are fourth and fifth, with an outside shot at the title.
Kenseth's victory in Richmond was the seventh in the last eight IROC races for NASCAR drivers. The only driver to break up the string is sprint car driver Danny Lasoski, who won earlier this year at Texas Motor Speedway. To get the cars as close to identical as possible, test drivers Dave Marcis and Jim and Jay Sauter work with all 17 available cars to find the ideal chassis setup. The series competitors drive four practice cars in testing, never their assigned race cars. "Each car has a logbook and is assigned a crew member that will note all the lap times and driver comments, if any, and will log all of the work done to the car," said IROC president Jay Signore. "The log is a detailed diary. By Tuesday, we'll have matched up all 12 race cars, with the 13th being designated the spare car." The cars are assigned for the race by random draw.
Elite company: Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which owns and operates six tracks that hold NASCAR races, is listed among the 200 Best Small Companies in America according to an annual ranking by Forbes magazine. "Every year we're more particular about membership in this elite list," Forbes writers Cecily Fluke and Lesley Kump said of the selections. "To qualify, candidates have to show a consistent pattern of positive growth during a five-year period, as well as over the last 12 months." The feature, which appears in the Nov. 1 issue of the magazine, includes companies with revenues from $5 million to $750 million, net profits greater than 5 percent and share prices above $5 as of Oct. 1. In 1995, Speedway Motorsports, headed by Bruton Smith, became the first company in motorsports to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. SMI owns and operates Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. The Company also provides souvenir merchandising services through its SMI Properties subsidiary; manufacturers and distributes smaller-scale, modified racing cars through its 600 Racing subsidiary, and owns Performance Racing Network, which broadcasts syndicated motorsports programming to over 725 radio stations nationwide.
Associated Press