A lucky penny and a beautiful story

If you aren't familiar of Wessa Miller, please get out your tissues. Wessa Miller is a 16 year old girl who lives in Phyllis, KY. In 1998, Wessa, then 6 diagnosed with spina bifida gave Dale Earnhardt Sr a lucky penny when she met him thanks to the Make a Wish Foundation. Affixing the penny to the dashboard himself, Dale Earnhardt won the race that day, his 20th attempt at the Daytona 500.

Through the efforts of the NASCAR Angels television program and working with The NASCAR Foundation, Motor Racing Outreach (MRO), and the Pennies For Wessa Fund, the Miller family will return to Bristol next week. The NASCAR Angels television program has arranged to bring Wessa Miller and her family to Bristol Motor Speedway on March 21 to film her as part of a ‘Heart of NASCAR’ segment to be featured in an upcoming episode.

David Poole covers NASCAR for the Charlotte Observer and hosts "The Morning Drive" weekdays from 7 to 11 a.m. weekdays on Sirius NASCAR Radio. The Pennies For Wessa Fund was started by David in an effort to assist the needs of the Miller family. From Paddock Talk interview: "In working on an anniversary story from Dale Earnhardt's Daytona 500 victory in 1998, something made me wonder how the little girl who gave him his lucky penny before that race was doing 10 years later," said Poole. "What I found was the Wessa Miller and her parents, Booker and Juanita, deal with day-to-day challenges that most of us can't even dream of. The Millers meet those challenges by being a wonderful, loving family with deep faith in God and in each other. As soon as my story was published, people started asking if there was anything they could do to help the Millers, so we set up Pennies for Wessa to provide that opportunity."

If you go to the Pennies for Wessa website, there is an online auction that you can bid on NASCAR signed memorabilia. To read David's touching story about Wessa and her family and the story of that lucky penny click here and here.

In Audrey Hepburns words, “I'm just crazy about Tiffany's!"

I love Tiffany & Co jewelry. I almost love giving it as much as receiving it. There is nothing like the feeling of getting that little blue box.

I learned something today, The Sprint Cup is created by Tiffany & Co. The trophy is 24" and weighs 27 pounds. That is a lot of silver! Imagine all the jewelry you could make from this!!!

There are three trophies handed out; one each to the championship driver, team, and primary sponsor. There is a permanent Sprint Cup trophy at the Daytona 500 Experience next to Daytona International Speedway featuring all of the past champions into perpetuity.

VERSUS to provide extensive programming for IndyCar

VERSUS (formally known as the Outdoor Network) announced that they will provide extensive race programming for the IndyCar® Series in 2009. They will air 12 live IndyCar Series events, beginning at the season opener in St. Petersburg FL on April 5th.

They are kicking off the racing season a month early by running 4 hour-long specials this month, featuring Danica: The Early Years, The top 10 Closest Finishes, Crashes & Conflicts and The 2009 IndyCar Series World Tour.

You can read the press release here and check out their on-air talent here.

This is exciting news for IndyCar fans. While we don’t watch the series that closely, we are fans of Danica Patrick and follow her career. Do you follow IndyCar? If so, who is your favorite driver?

Mike Skinner Round Up is tonight!!

With no race this week, we found ourselves a little saddened and not sure of what to do with ourselves. Fortunately for us, we live in Daytona Beach and the Toyota Skinner Round Up is tonight in the FanZone at Daytona International Speedway.

We will be surrounded by many celebrities, including jazz & blues superstar Stacy Mitchhart, NFL star Randy Moss, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, award-winning singer/songwriter Edwin McCain, daredevil Robby Knievel, Betty Jane France, and NASCAR drivers A. J. Allmendinger, Boris Said, Rick Crawford, Ron Hornaday and Steve Park.

Amazingly enough, admission is only $10, children 12 and under are free. It includes “A Taste of Daytona,” a food extravaganza presented by area restaurants and there is a auction.

We will blog about our experience and post pictures tomorrow so come back and visit us!

If you find yourself in the Daytona area tonight, here is the schedule & tickets are available at Gate 40.
6:00-7:30 PM - Gatorade Victory Lane Photos With Mike and the #5 Exide Toyota Tundra
7:00-9:00 PM - Silent Auction
9:00 PM - Celebrity Introductions and Live Auction!
7:30 – 11:00 PM - Live Concert With Jazz/Blues Entertainer Stacy Mitchhart

All proceeds benefit the Council on Aging, Greyhound Pets of America, Halifax Health Foundation, Second Harvest Food Bank and Concerned Citizens for Animal Welfare.)

A Fast Lap with Regan Smith

Today's Fast Lap features NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Regan Smith.

Q. What music have you recently put on your iPod?
A. Anything by Avenged Sevenfold

Q. What was the last movie you saw in a movie theatre?
A. Haven’t been to a theater in forever, watched Batman the Dark Knight in my house the other
night though....it kicks A!

Q. What are your favorite TV shows, or something you must have in your DVR/Tivo recorder to watch when you return home from the track?
A. 24, Fringe, and Carolina Hurricanes games

Q. What other sporting teams/events do you follow?
A. Carolina Hurricanes Hockey!

Q. What is one personal item you can not live without?
A. iPhone, I sent these answers on it

Q. What are your favorite places to visit?
A. Colorado Mountains to snowboard

Q. What is your favorite clothing brand?
A. I love True Religion Jeans

Q. What is your favorite book or publication?
A. Playboy...for the articles of course ;)

Q. What is your favorite activity to do in your off time?
A. Snowboard, watch hockey and be at home

Q. What is your favorite cuisine?
A. Can't beat a great steak.

Next week we will feature Crew Cheif Richard Slugger Labbe

The Busch Series and I don't mean Anheuser

AP Photo / Isacc Brekken

We may as well call it The Busch Series. The Busch Brothers have been on fire for the 2009 season. Every track that NASCAR has visited has resulted with one or both of the Busch brothers being in Victory Lane. In Daytona, Kyle won the 2nd Gatorade Dual - In Fontana, Kyle won the Nationwide race - In Las Vegas, Kyle won the Sprint Cup race & the Truck race - In Atlanta, Kurt won the Sprint Cup race and Kyle won the Truck Race. That's right...Kyle has won at every track that they have visited this year.

• Kurt Busch is currently 2nd in points, with 1 win, 1 top 5 and 1 top 10.
• Kyle Busch is currently 5th in points with 1 win and 1 top 5 (his Dual win doesn't count). Kyle is also 3rd in the Nationwide Series with 1 win and 1st in the Truck Series with 2 wins.

The Busch brothers aren't exactly fan favorites. I personally like Kurt and Kyle's talent is starting to grow on me. No matter what way you look at it, both of these brothers are extremely talented. How long do you think it will take for sibling rivalry to get in the way? That will make for an interesting season!

Here's your chance to be a Grand Marshall!

Photo rights of The Jimmie Johnson Foundation

What is that one thing that you have always dreamed of doing? The first thing that comes to my mind is to do the coin toss at the start of a Florida Gators game. As long as I have known Darlynn, to deliver the most famous words in racing is on her bucket list. She is certain that one day she will get to be the Grand Marshall at a NASCAR race.

For a pretty penny, she can have that opportunity. We were checking out The Jimmie Johnson Foundation and came across an auction on eBay which ends in 2 days.

If you win this auction, you have the opportunity to deliver the most famous words in racing, “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!” at The Jimmie Johnson Foundation 150 on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at Phoenix International Raceway. Wait, that's not all. Once you deliver the command, you will get into the Pace Car, driven by Jimmie Johnson and lead the field to the start of the race. This auction is quite the package and worth bidding on, click here for all of the details.

The Jimmie Johnson Foundation is dedicated to assisting children, families and communities throughout the United States. By donating to needy and worthy causes, the foundation will strive to help everyone, particularly children, to pursue their dreams.

What you thought about Digger

We promise this will be the last thing you will see us post about Digger. I am equally as annoyed hearing people complain about him as I am looking at him dig across my TV screen. As much as I do not prefer the little rodent, I must admit when I saw him dancing yesterday (doing the moon walk and the robot amongst other dance moves) I laughed.

Here are the results of our Digger poll, which 139 people voted on.

Diggers gotta die!	81 (58%)
Awww he's cute!	32 (23%)
I could care less!	26 (18%)

For those of you that didn't get a chance to vote, tell us what you think of Digger? Darlynn loves him.

Runway Monday

What we are drooling over (Megan has a pair & LOVES them)

True Religion Brand 'Candice' Dark Drifter

Being Cost Concious

Gap Wide Leg Trousers (and they are on sale!)

In honor of Bike Week, heres your chance to win a Kasey Kahne Orange County Chopper

Here is your chance to win a custom built Orange County Chopper (built for Kasey Kahne) for only $9! The Kasey Kahne Foundation and the Sonoma chapter of Speedway Children's Charities will hold a "Kasey Kahne Custom Chopper Raffle" at this years Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 21. One lucky fan will win the custom built red & white OCC bike.

Tickets can be purchased for only $9 each, by calling 800-870-RACE and proceeds from the raffle will be distributed to qualified youth groups in Sonoma County.

Something almost as good as Will Ferrell happening in Talladega...

Even Talladega is sensitive to this economy. Talladega Superspeedway announced it is rolling out a monthly payment plan for customers, when tickets to the November AMP Energy 500 race went on sale to the general public on Saturday. The payment plan can be used for race tickets, including specially priced $40 AMP Energy 500 tickets, hospitality packages and overnight parking spaces.

The monthly payment plan allows race fans to make automatic payments for their ticket purchases with a debit or credit card, until August 1, 2009. The earlier race fans make their purchases, the more time they have to spread their payments out at lower monthly installments. After the first initial payment, each monthly installment will be automatically charged to the customer’s debit or credit card on the first of the month until August 1.

To begin a payment plan, guests should call 1-877-Go2-DEGA. As a reminder, this race is three weeks later than normal, for race number seven in the chase. Tickets to the AMP Energy 500 and the upcoming Aaron’s Dream Weekend, April 24 -26, are available at www.talladegasuperspeedway.com or by calling 1-877-Go2-DEGA.(TSS PR)(3-7-2009)

There is room for great jokes here, but seriously congrats to the Speedway for paying attention to the needs of its fans. If you missed our experiences at the Talladega race in October please take a visit down memory lane with us here or here.

Bass Pro Shops founder supports Childress Institute

Johnny Morris, founder and CEO of Bass Pro Shops, is supporting the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma. Wake Forrest Baptist Medical Center announced a $1 million commitment from Morris.

The Childress Institute’s mission is to significantly improve survival rates of children nationwide who suffer serious injuries and reduce the lifelong impact of traumatic injuries in children. Richard Childress and his family have provided $5 million to the Medical Center to initiate the project. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the Childress family are working with corporations and individuals to raise awareness and an additional $20 million to establish the Institute’s endowment fund.

Bass Pro is the main sponsor for the #1 Chevrolet driven by Martin Truex, Jr in the Sprint Cup Series.