BROWNSBURG, Indiana As I promised in my last minute, I would have tales of wine touring and racing from the beautiful Napa Valley (Calif.) and its surrounding areas.
My co-worker and friend, Bari, and I arrived to Napa on Monday afternoon from Seattle. We booked a couple nights at the Silverado Resort & Spa to relax and take in some of the sights Napa has to offer before we headed to Infineon Raceway on Wednesday for setup. Bari and I weren’t the only NHRA folk at the spa. Some members of the Matco Tools top fuel dragster team actually turned us onto the resort and make an annual stop there every year. Team owner David Powers along with his wife R.J. and daughter Hillary were among registered guests, as were Joanne, the David Powers Motorsports (DPM) hospitality manager; Diana, DPM Sponsor Relations; Michelle, PRO representative and Tiffany, girlfriend of Tupper from the Bud King Racing crew.
We all declared Monday afternoon our “Pool Day,” and soaked up a couple hours of sunshine after our arrival. Tuesday was our “Wine Day.” Our driver from Platypus Tours picked us up for our day of wining in the morning and whisked us away to our first winery tour at Rubicon Estates, one of Francis Ford Coppola’s wineries. Joanne’s friend, Ron of the Alpha Omega Winery, was kind enough to setup four different private winery tours for us. When we arrived at Rubicon Estates, we were greeted by Mr. Coppola’s personal secretary Chris and were given a “behind-the-scenes” look and background of the estate and history of it. After that, we were escorted to the wine cellars and private tasting room for our very own private tasting. This year was only my second time visiting wineries on my trip to Sonoma and it was first-class/VIP treatment all the way at every winery. After Rubicon, we stopped by Alpha Omega for lunch, and then headed onto the Fleury Estate Winery, a small, family-owned vineyard in Rutherford. After our tasting there, we headed to the Keever Vineyards. The Keever family actually lives right above their winery on a hill in Yountville. At this particular winery, we actually got to taste the grapes directly off the vine. I thought that was pretty cool because not many people probably get to do that. The winemakers don’t recommend you do because the grapes aren’t to their full flavor yet for picking and wine-making.
Wednesday before we headed to the track, Bari and I took in some of the fancies the spa had to offer. We arrived at the track in the early afternoon and much to our surprise, our awning had been set up! We owe much thanks to Greg at the Jim Russell Driving School for lending some of his students to help Skip do all the dirty work and let us enjoy a day at the spa.
Thursday night, Joanne from the Matco Tools team organized a dinner and private tasting at Peju Province Winery in Rutherford. What was cool about this the winery owner, Tony Peju, greeted each guest as we arrived through the door. This winery was a little different than the other ones. You walk in the front door and there is this beautiful stained glass wall and the winery itself is very modern with lovely green marble floors in one of the tasting rooms. Another thing that sets this winery aside from the other ones is the wine server, Alan Arnopole, aka: the Yodelmeister. Before each wine we tasted, we got the background of the wine, like usual, but in song or rap format. It was amusing because this guy was probably 60 to 70 years-old rapping to us.
In addition to all the fun we had during the week, Sunday brought some great racing for the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals come finals. Two Ringers supporting teams wound up in the POWERade Winner’s Circle, with one collecting his 50th career win.
It was an all KB Racing Pro Stock final, with reigning champion Jason Line and former champion Greg Anderson. Anderson had teammate Line from the jump and didn’t once look back, collecting his 50th Pro Stock victory, 6.657/207.72 mph to Line’s 6.688/204.08n mph. Sunday’s win gave Anderson a little bit more breathing room atop the POWERade point standings. He now sits 170 points over second place Jeg Coughlin.
Pro Stock Motorcycle point leader Matt Smith headed into Sunday’s final as somewhat of a non-threat. Almost every motorcycle race, I usually present Matt with the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle No. 1 Qualifier Award, but during Sonoma’s pre-race, he wasn’t the last one introduced. Smith qualified ninth and met first-time motorcycle finalist Eddie Kraweic at the Tree. What Kraweic was hoping to be his first Pro Stock Motorcycle victory, Smith put a damper on that right off the line, leaving before him and staying out front picking up his third Wally of the season with a 6.992/189.10m mph run to Kraweic’s 7.090/190.16 mph run.
Two Ringers supporting racers also landed in the Winner’s Circle in Stock and Super Comp in the Lucas Oil Sportsmen Division. Peter Biondo collected his 30th national event win in the Stock class and Justin Lamb collected his Wally in the Super Comp division. Congratulations to all winners!
While I was in wine country, NASCAR’s three elite series were in Indianapolis for the respective races at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis (Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series) and at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard for the Nextel Cup Series.
On Friday night, the Craftsman Truck Series took to the just over one half mile track in cozy Clermont (Ind.) for the Power Stroke Diesel 200. The start of the race was delayed a little by showers that lingered in the area prior to the start of the race.
With the rain in the area, qualifying was cancelled and the starting lineup was set by current owner points, starting Ringers supporting team drivers Brendan Gaughan, Chad McCumbee and Tim Sauter in 19th, 20th and 24th, respectively.
Luckily, the rain held off and the 200 laps were able to be completed. Gaughan brought his No. 77 South Point Chevrolet home in the 10th position, while Sauter finished 18th. Sauter’s teammate McCumbee didn’t fare as well. McCumbee was involved in an accident on lap 33, ending his night and relinquishing him to a 34th-place finish.
While both Penske Racing drivers had superb qualifying positions for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday, one of their days ended only 20 laps into the race.
Third-place starter Ryan Newman was involved in an incident with David Stremme on lap 20. Stremme tagged Newman in the left-rear quarter panel ending his hopes of picking up his first Brickyard win.
Newman’s Penske Racing teammate, however, had a productive day. Kurt Busch and his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge started in the sixth position and brought home an 11th-place finish. While it wasn’t a win, the top-15 finish put him only 13 points out of the 12th position in the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship. Only six races remain until the Chase commences.
The Nextel Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway this weekend, while the Busch Series heads north of the border to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal for the inaugural race. The Truck Series enjoys a weekend off, as does the NHRA before heading to the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn.
Ringers Gloves would like to congratulate Busch Series racer Jason Leffler on his victory in the Kroger 200 at ORP on Saturday night. Leffler, a Ringers friend for many years, gave Toyota their first Busch win in the series. A great job to “Lefturn” and the entire No. 38 team!
About Ringers Gloves
Ringers Gloves, Official Gloves of NHRA and title sponsor for the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, is a full-line manufacturer of high-end, task specific gloves, SFI 3.3/1, 3.3/10, 3.3/20 racing gloves, UnderX protective undergarments and rdigs pit boots.
Keep up with your favorite Ringers racers in ‘07 by logging onto www.ringersgloves.com for photos and highlights!
