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The annual migration of the 3,500-pound NASCAR racecars is underway as the top teams head from Charlotte to New York to collect the bounty for their accomplishments during the racing season. The championship awards, along with some giant checks, will be handed out Friday night to close a flurry of stockcar activity in the Big Apple this week.

Just how those NASCAR high-horse powered racing machines pass the New York emission test is unknown. The top-ten drivers in the point standings rev their engines on Times Square Wednesday morning when they make the last 1.5-mile lap of the 2007 season to celebrate.

The parade of NASCAR superstars begins in front of the Good Morning America studio at 44th Street and Broadway. That makes it easy to get some free network television time during the morning news/entertainment program.
Johnson was already enjoying the high life as champ with special dinners and meetings Monday in the Big Apple and his day started early stopping in to chat with Regis and Kelly on their morning show.

His media blitz kicked off with Regis, followed by appearances on the FOX News Channel’s “Live Desk” and the Sports Net NY “Daily News Live.” Later in the day, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus helped ring the closing bell for the New York Stock Exchange.

There will be plenty of special meetings for Johnson and his entourage to attend during the week. Thursday’s agenda includes dinner with all the NASCAR champions.

New York NASCAR fans will be treated with some special fan zones with driver appearances and giveaways during the champion’s celebration. The Pit Stop Tour is being sponsored by Aflac Insurance.

The highlight for drivers and members of their teams will be the awards ceremony Friday night at the historic Waldrop-Astoria. Well maybe not the awards ceremony itself, but certainly the parties that follow the historically boring television portion of the gathering.

It used to be fun watching the speeches, but that before the teleprompter was invented. Just in case you have not heard of a teleprompter, it is a machine that projects words onto an invisible screen in front of the cameras.

The teleprompter has allowed some public relations folks to script out comments for their drivers picking up the awards. Those prepared remarks we hear these days just don’t hold a candle to the days before teleprompters when something really funny would slip out of a driver’s mouth.

I will watch the awards again, but I won’t promise that I will be awake at the end of the show. I don’t think I have been able to stay awake and make it to the champion’s speech for about three years now. There have even been a couple of times when my Tivo cut off before the champion had made it through his remarks.

The NASCAR folks have attempted to trim some of the bore out of the program over the years, but enough evidence should be in by now to convince them that making drivers stick to a tight script sometimes leads to humdrum television entertainment.

Do you remember a few years back when NASCAR decided to insert a little stage show into the awards? It was some sort of artsy dance performance that fit in with the gathering about like Snoop Dogg would at the Grand Ole Opry.

I hope the show planners learned their lesson with that one. It seemed last year’s show was intent on keeping the entertainment to the sometimes misunderstood jokes of the comedian serving as host of the show. If there were any musical or dance performances I either had fallen asleep or stored the entertainment in the Junk E-mail folder of my brain.

The show coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. (EST), but if you are programming your video equipment to record the show make sure you plan on extra time past the midnight end time just in case things run behind. ESPN Classic will televise the ceremonies live and ESPN 2 will repeat the program at midnight.

Georgia Boys: David Ragan has claimed honors as Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Busch Series for the 2007 season. The Unadilla native registered four top-five and nine top-ten finishes in the 35 Busch races. He was the highest finishing rookie 11 times during the season.

Ragan is the 19th series award winner and the third consecutive rookie of the year for Roush Fenway Racing. The team has produced four rookie honorees, most in the series.

“This was one of our goals that we had this year was to finish in the top 10 in points and win Raybestos Rookie of the Year and we finished fifth in points and won rookie of the year,” said the 21-year-old Georgia driver.

“I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t win a race this year,” Ragan continued. “We were pretty close a few times but it gives us something to look forward to next year. It’s very cool to be the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Jack Roush has got a niche for finding younger guys that are able to come into the sport and do this: Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and my teammate last year Danny O’Quinn. We were all able to do that, so it’s

pretty cool to be able to follow those guys. Hopefully we’ll continue on and win some races and win some championships of other forms.”

David finished second in the Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year competition, being edged out by Juan Pablo Montoya.

Holiday History: The Christmas banquet for the Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association is scheduled for this Sunday, Dec. 2. This is only the second year that the holiday party for the racing history group has been held.

The annual meeting of the group will be held before the holiday celebration. The meeting begins at 2:00 p.m. at the American Legion, 3914 Ewing Road, in Austell.

Attendees are being urged to bring toy donations for the Marine’s Toys For Tots campaign.

More information about the meeting and banquet is available at the group’s website or by telephoning 404-580-7385.

Speedy Saint Nick: The Atlanta Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities will start spreading holiday joy at the annual Grant Distribution and Holiday Celebration at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. in the Tara Ballroom at AMS. The Atlanta Chapter awarded 28 grants totaling nearly $350,000 to local children’s organizations. The funds are distributed to groups providing medical, emotional and social services to children in need.

This year’s event will be hosted by Charlie Filkins and Scott Sargent “The Car Guys” from WEKS 92.5 FM, “The Bear” and “The Car Guys TV Show”. Representatives from each organization receiving a grant will be present to accept their check and participate in a holiday sing-a-long. Santa Claus is taking a break from his busy holiday schedule to make an appearance at this important event.

The money awarded this year was raised by a combination of events including the “Festival of Suites”, several Thursday Thunder Legends 50/50 raffles, the NASCAR Track Walk and the inaugural Reed Sorenson Charity Golf Classic. Speedway Children’s Charities also receives donations from individuals and corporations.

Speedway Children’s Charities (www.speedwaycharities.org) is a non-profit organization headquartered at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

2007 Grant Recipients

100 Black Men of Atlanta
A Friends Place
Bert’s Big Adventure
Brain Tumor Foundation
Camp Kudzu
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Clayton County Challengers
Community Bible Fellowship
Cure Childhood Cancer
Haven House
Flint River Council Boy Scouts
Fragile Kids Foundation
Genesis “A New Life”
Girls On The Run
Girl Scouts of Pine Valley
Henry Arts Alliance, Inc.
Henry County Special Olympics
Inner Strength
Muscular Dystrophy Association
Noah’s Ark
People First of Henry County
Rainbow House
Royal Family Kids Camp of Clayton County
Southwest Christian Center
Stepping Stones Educational Therapy Center
The Sullivan Center, Inc.
UCP of Macon & Middle Georgia

High-Speed TV:
Friday November 30

4:00 p.m. NASCAR Championship Special—Speed
9:00 p.m. NASCAR Championship Awards Show—ESPN Classic

Sunday December 2

12:00 p.m. Charlotte Summer Shootout Races—Speed
7:00 p.m. The Speed Report—Speed

Saturday’s WSB 120 racing program will air from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Newstalk 750 WSB Radio and www.wsbradio.com. For more race information visit our Fastcar Newsdesk at www.captainherb.net.

The annual Toys For Tots Broadcast of the WSB 120 program is set for Saturday, December 8 at The Bar-B-Que House, 571 Thornton Road (Ga. Hwy 6), in Lithia Springs. Dave Baker will kick off the WSB toy collection effort with his The Home Fix-It Show at 10:00 a.m.

The NASCAR show portion of the program will begin at noon. More information concerning the Toys For Tots program is available by telephoning 770-941-1155 or 404-897-6296.