I don't have time to write lots of details, but thought I'd give at least a brief UCAP of my weekend at Richmond, my first with media credentials there, including a reserved seat in the pressbox.

I parked in my reserved PB spot (#24, thought it was a good omen, little did I know) and took the long hike to the credentials trailer. After waiting in a fairly long line, I checked in and received the best freebie of the weekend - a white hat with the RIR tenth anniversary logo, with "Media" on both sides, and the Pontiac logo on the back. I then got all my shopping out of the way - my oldest wanted a Rusty shirt with the gopher - I wanted to wear a disguise to buy that . . . (by late Saturday night, I decided that rather than give it to my son, I should use it as a dart board cover and/or toilet paper) . . . and my other son wanted an Earnhardt shirt. Got my daughter a RIR teddy bear, then got the "required" race purchase for myself - an event pin - and shopping was over. I dropped off my purchases at my car and headed to the Media Center.

Totally by luck, the first person I hooked up with was T. Labonte's rep, John, whom I had called requesting an interview earlier in the week, with no response. After introducing myself, he apologized for not returning my call and said that now would be a great time to do it. He escorted me through the garage and inside the #5 hauler and introduced me to Andy Graves and Terry. Andy and John excused themselves, and I had Terry all to myself for about ten minutes.

Later, I talked a bit with Shawn Akers from NOL (who is a *very* nice guy, and not a bad contact, either) in the Media Center, then hung out in the garage area most of the day. Eventually I went to the pits to watch WC qualifying. After Marlin had broken JG's qualifying record, JG reclaimed it. For someone so "hated" in NASCAR, there is NO ONE in NASCAR who has a bigger crowd around him at all times. The team rolled his car forward as each qualifier went out, and Jeff and Brooke walked behind it. Every step they took was mirrored by a huge crowd of people in the pits. I saw Jeff joking with Jerry Nadeau, who was in the car in line in front of him.

I chatted briefly with the 98 team rep, Karen, whom I'd met at The Rock. I asked her what was up with Greg Sacks. She told me that he had been to the doctor about two weeks ago, and that she hadn't heard from him since. Her feeling was that Sacks wasn't told what he wanted to hear, and he is avoiding the situation. Minutes later, I watched as Rich Bickle's SO screamed gleefully and nearly jumped into Karen's arms as Bickle took the outside pole position.

After WC qualifying, I watched as the Busch cars were pushed out to their positions. Got a great photo of Robert Pressley sitting on a stack of tires with his arm around his son. Talked to Dave Blaney, whom I had seen just last weekend at my local track, Lincoln Speedway, watching his brother, Dale, and the rest of the World of Outlaws run. I was considering staying in the pits to watch the race, when the National Anthem began playing and the skies opened up. So much for the pits . . .

I headed to the press box to wait out the rain. Time to eat :) The dinner menu was pork BBQ, baked beans, cole slaw, pasta salad, and cookies.

It was great fun watching Burton and Earnhardt fight it out. When it was over, they brought Burton to the press box. He said it was the hardest he has ever had to run to win a race, and that DEjr raced him hard and clean. One of the media guys said, "yeah, his dad taught him well." Burton quipped, "No, his Dad didn't teach him at all!" Uproarious laughter ensued, with Burton saying, "now don't print that . . . oh boy, I already said it . . . just be sure to write 'Burton said he was just joking.'"

Saturday I got to the track in time to attend the press conference featuring Richard Petty announcing his participation in a charity ball for a Richmond children's hospital. I had apparently missed the Exide PC announcing the extension of Burton's sponsorship. The freebie was a battery am/fm radio in the shape of an Exide car battery . . . oh, well.

Checked in at the Dupont hauler to confirm my appointment with JG and learned that there were five scheduled for the same time . . . JG was running about a half hour late because he was needed in the garage, so I set out to hook up with Schrader. An earlier call to his rep had resulted in a "drop by the hauler anytime" response, so I told one of his team members who I was and asked if Schrader was available to talk to me. He went inside, and a few minutes later, our came Schrader, drinking some bottled water. We talked for about ten minutes outside the hauler, during which time we were photographed many times by fans who had walked by and saw that he was actually there! ;) When I turned to leave, he was swarmed by people requesting autographs.

Then it was back to the 24 hauler, to wait. Bill Weber and his crew were already waiting there, obviously among the "five at the same time" . . . Jeff came walking over from the garage with Benny Parsons and a throng of about thirty people who were calling his name and sticking things into his hands. Jeff signed many of them, and then Weber said he needed to get the interview done, which he did. When they were finished, Jeff's PR rep motioned to me and two others to follow Jeff into the hauler.

Jeff took a seat and invited us to join him, so the three of us sat at a right angle to him. The woman closest to him started things off, and asked him question after question. The most interesting thing from her interview was about him driving in F1. He told her that he was "too old" to do that, that you need to be 18, 19 years old and driving in Europe, really concentrating on it, to do it well; and that he was concentrating on NASCAR b/c that's what he wants to do.

I think the woman would have kept questioning him for hours if he kept answering her; thankfully, he politely said at the end of one of his answers that "I'm sorry, but we've got to give these other people a chance, b/c I don't have a lot of time." His rep broke in to tell him that the team needed him at the garage "to sit in the car for them" (maybe they were working on weight?).

Anyway, the woman stood up, and the other reporter and I slid down towards Jeff. The reporter was from a radio station, and he turned on his recorder and his "radio voice" . . . Jeff's voice in answering was more animated as well, and I smiled to myself about his media savvy. The interview was very brief, and then it was my turn to slide over next to

Jeff.

He looked me straight in the eyes as he answered my questions, and he gave me lengthy responses, seeming to anticipate my follow-up questions. I knew he wanted to get out to the garage, but he never made me feel rushed. I ended the interview, thanked him, and then followed as he exited the hauler. There was a throng waiting, and they followed as he made a beeline to the garage. Mission accomplished - I'd gotten all three interviews I needed to finish my story.

End of Part 1; Part 2 to follow.

Part 2

After Happy Hour, the MRO service was held in the garage area. I stood in the back and listened . . . the most memorable part for me was when the female song leader broke into one called "An Awesome God" . . . The only drivers who attended were JG (who sat with his arm around a blonde Brooke) and DJ . . . kinda ironic considering how their nights ended up. A latecomer was Joe Gibbs, who stood next to me. When the service was over, the fans who had staked it out to get autographs mobbed Gordon, who was making his way over to a group of people in wheelchairs. Another group was surrounding DJ, who signed as he walked (but he didn't look too cheerful).

I returned to the Media Center for awhile, then to the press box, and then headed to the RASN Reunion - no problem at all to find, don't know how I missed it last September ;) Met John and Mary, Neil, Will, Cheryl and Lou, and Wayne; signed the banner; then it was up to the press box for something to eat - fried chicken, potato salad, green beans, and a brownie. Freebies included a program and little bottles of Tabasco with the RIR tenth anniversary logo.

I stood outside in the spotters' area to take in the crowd and watch pre-race activities. My press box seat was on the far left, right next to the door, and I was directly across from the 24 pit. I could see the whole track except for the low side between turns three and four. There were only three tvs in the box, and the volume was off on all of them, but one was directly over my head and I was able to easily see all the replays of the track incidents, as well as the "discussions" that followed the incidents. I used my radio headphones to listen to MRN, as the one speaker in the box was at the opposite end from me and I couldn't hear it very well.

I was totally furious at Rusty's obviously desperate punt of Gordon, and I even joked with one of the security men outside that if Rusty ended up winning the race, there was going to be a fight b/c I was going to punch him when they brought him to the press box. If he was "loose," then why was the word never mentioned in his post-punt interviews? His comments, straight off of the Ford Motorsport Notes and Quotes: When asked about the controversy: "I didn't see any controversy going on. I drove down in the corner, he drove down in the corner, we touched, a little racing accident. That was about it. No controversy in this race that I know of." When asked directly about the contact with Gordon: "My version of it is that we were just racing for the win. We went down in the corner, both of us wide open. We got together, he spun and I went on and that was it. The big thing happened at the end when the 5 and the 88 got together."

Gordon's comments, from the Chevrolet Notes and Quote: "It's pretty obvious. Somebody can't stand to get passed I guess. I came off turn two and I had the spot on him and he pinched me up into the wall. We rubbed down the back straightaway. Then I finally get in front of him and he just drives into the side of me and spins me out. That's about it. I think it's pretty simple. I had the position on him and he just drove into the left rear. I race with guys like that every week. You race him clean and hard. I don't know why it happened. Rusty knows how to drive. I guess he just drove in too deep or something. I don't know. We had about a fourth or fifth place car, but we came in and put new tires on that thing and we had a shot to win. You've got to finish to win."

I also thought the cheering from the assholes (no, they aren't "fans" IMO) was pitiful, especially in light of the boos Rusty drew during driver intros. Even when a driver I don't like gets a bad break, I don't jump up and down and wave my arms in the air and yell and scream with joy. It was immature and sick.

>From there, the race was almost a comedy of errors, with all the cautions, the red flag, and Labonte's pass of Jarrett. Once Gordon was out, I was hoping that Schrader would win, but unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. When it was over, there was mass confusion among the drivers, scorers, and media. To make things worse for the media, the phone lines in the press box went out and still weren't up when I left at around 1 a.m. As part of the media covering the race, I received a ballot for the Goody's Headache Award . . . unfortunately, it wasn't a tough decision as to who to vote for.

Terry, his wife, Andy Graves, and Terry's rep came to the press box after their victory lane celebration to answer questions. One of the questions was whether or not Terry had seen what happened between Gordon and Wallace. "Yeah, I did," he said, with a frown. "Let's just leave it at that." Later he said "They got together. I'm not sure what happened." Meanwhile, he was answering questions about his incident with Jarrett, and the red flag coming out. When he was finished with questions that went over the media system, he said to a reporter, "Well, you know, shit happens."

Jarrett said some pretty strong things, quoted from the Ford press release: "It came down to short runs and that wasn't what we needed. We were still going to be okay. If we get that two or three laps, Terry's going to have a hard time getting by Schrader and then he knocks me out of the way, so that's the way it is. We'll remember that. That's alright." AND "He was trying to pass me on the inside, but all he was trying to do was outdrive me down into the corner and he didn't have any portion of the race track there, and he decided to run into me. That's alright, we'll remember that and another day will come around."

Despite the outcome of the race, it was certainly a weekend I'll never forget. But I had "technical difficulties" with my VCR . . . and I missed Sunday morning's rebroadcast b/c I was on the road. Anyone want to send me a tape? I'd appreciate it.

Ellen Siska

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