Christmas Break Notebook

NASCAR Christmas Break Notebook

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 23, 1998) Selected notes and quotes from around the world of NASCAR racing leading into the Christmas holiday: Mike (Mickey) Korzybski has been named general manager of NASCAR Cafe Myrtle Beach. Korzybski started with NASCAR Cafe as assistant general manager when the restaurant opened in January 1997. NASCAR Cafe Myrtle Beach is the first in the NASCAR Cafe chain to be built in the United States and was designed as a prototype facility for all future locations. Since opening in Myrtle Beach, a NASCAR Cafe has debuted in Nashville, and other NASCAR Cafes are planned for Orlando, Las Vegas and Sevierville, Tenn. Burnham Corporation will be the title sponsor of the race at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway for the Busch North Series, a part of the NASCAR Touring Division, on July 18, officials from both organizations announced Wednesday. The Burnham Boilers 100 will be part of the race weekend that includes the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' NAPA AutoCare 200. Jim Mattei, owner of the No. 7 Philips Ford Taurus team in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, celebrates his 50th birthday on Dec. 28. His son Scott will also be celebrating his 28th birthday on that day. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday will spend this Christmas season at home in Mooresville, N.C., with both his and wife Lindy's parents for the first time since he moved to the East Coast from California in 1994. Fellow NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor Jay Sauter will once again travel to his father Jim's home in Wisconsin, as will his seven brothers and four sisters. Jim Sauter, a Midwest short track contemporary of the legendary Dick Trickle who used to compete in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, currently test drives for the True Value IROC series, and his six oldest sons all race in one series or another. Also from the NCTS ranks, crew chief Roland Wlodyka, who moves next season from the Circle Bar Racing team (and driver Rick Crawford) to the Liberty Racing team (currently without a driver), is relocating to his new team=s base in Loraine, Ohio, near Cleveland, over the holidays. Wlodyka was Dale Earnhardt's crew chief when he won NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year and the championship in successive seasons in 1979-80. Wlodyka will participate in one thing the Liberty Racing crew members have turned into a tradition: Helping out the local racers and teams in the "Hangover Classic at Sandusky (Ohio) Speedway on Jan. 1. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series official Kip Childress and wife Jenny have welcomed their first child into the world. Sarah Katelyn was born Dec. 21 in Winston-Salem, N.C. Both mother and daughter are doing fine and are ready for Santa Claus. During the 1998 racing season, plumbing and heating contractors representing Burnham Boilers, the company based in Lancaster, Pa., that is heavily involved in NASCAR racing and which sponsored two-time defending Featherlite Modified Series, NASCAR Touring and Busch North Series, NASCAR Touring, champion Mike Stefanik, pitched in to help raise $6,207 for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. To raise the contribution, Burnham raffled off various damaged parts from Stefanik's No. 51 Burnham Boilers car through the company's five racing hospitality events during the summer. Nearly 5,800 plumbing and heating contractors attended Burnham's hospitality events, including a track record 2,100 contractors in one tent at New Hampshire International Speedway last summer. "I cannot explain how grateful I am to the contractors at all the Burnham hospitality events this year for helping our year-long campaign to battle against missing and exploited children," said Lynn Leighton, president of the Busch North Series Women's Auxiliary, who coordinated the fund-raising effort. "On behalf of the national center, I appreciate their generosity tremendously."

Source: NASCAR Online