OCTOBER 2005 NEWS

Get Well Soon

The JBFC would like to send Eric "IROC" Bergeon get well wishes. He is the truck chief for the #22 Bill Lester Team and was recently injured in a motorcycle accident.
The Bill Davis Racing Toyota Tundra's had a get well sticker on their trucks for IROC at Martinsville.

A Day for a Bike Ride:  By Barb Benson
The weather in Charlotte is a benefit to those who own a motorcycle.  Johnny owns a Honda Gold wing which came in handy for the Charlotte Busch race.  He did not have to worry about parking as the rest of us did.  He just drove it into the garage area.  During another sunny day, Johnny gave his daughters a ride as seen below. 

Mikayla gets ready to ride to her soccer game	It's Katelyn's turn for a ride

Charlotte Photos:  By Barb Benson

There were a number of Busch  cars trying to qualify for the Charlotte race.  There were not enough garages for every team.  Johnny joined Robby Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr and others on  pit road as it served as their garage area.	Practice did not go as well as Johnny and crew chief Eddie Sharp had hoped.  This was the car that Johnny drove at MIS and was still under repair during the open Charlotte test sessions.
Bill Byrne, family friend of the  Benson's , stopped by the Busch garage to see how Johnny was doing.	The #67 team made it through  the tech line and put the car on the grid for qualifying.
It was a waiting game for Johnny  and Eddie Sharp as they wait  their turn to qualify	Johnny watches the action.  The car still did not handle well in qualifying and Johnny did not make the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. used the champions provisional and Michael Waltrip  went home too.

Lowe's Busch Race
Johnny is scheduled to run the Dollar General 300 at Lowes Motor Speedway on Friday, October 14th.  The race will be shown on TNT at 8:00 p.m.  Johnny will be driving the #67 Panasonic Dodge under the direction of crew chief, Eddie Sharp.   (10-09-05)

Las Vegas Photos - Part II:  By Barb Benson

The NASCAR official stopped by the #23 to make sure everything was in line for the team to qualify.	Johnny debriefs with his team as they wait their turn to qualify.
Rick Ren, crew chief for the #23 Toyota Tundra shares some information before  Johnny qualifies.	Joey Miller, ARCA Rookie of the Year, drove the #12 Toyota Tundra for Darrell Waltrip Racing.  Joey won  the ARCA event at Berlin Raceway earlier this year.
Here's a photo of the gas team for the #23 Toyota Tundra.  Richie Snyder, Dan Mrak and Gary McKinnish.	It's not always easy to lift a full fuel can over the  wall during pit stops.  Dan shows us how  they hold the can.

Racing Swap Meet at Berlin Raceway
Saturday, Oct. 15, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Berlin Raceway grounds. Admission - $5 for General Public; Single Vehicle $10, Vehicle with trailer $20. Driver included in vehicle fees. 12 and under free. For vendor registration call (616) 813-5868.  (10-09-05)

Las Vegas Photos:  By Barb Benson

Since there is a three hour  time difference between North Carolina and Nevada, the NASCAR  teams went to Las Vegas early to  get used to the time change.  The Benson's spent their day off on top of the Stratosphere hotel.	The first person I saw when I headed towards the #23 Transporter  was Ray Patten.  Ray is a strong supporter of Johnny and the JBFC.  He does the best job of giving us visuals of Johnny's performance with his graphs.  Ray  - it was close - I thought we would be heading to victory lane for our birthday celebration.
There was a lot of room in the garage area at Las Vegas. The transporters had space between them too.  I actually got to see the side of the truck with Johnny's signature!	After practice, there is always a lot of debriefing going on between the teams.  Here's a picture of Johnny,  Rick (#23 crew chief) and Doug (#22 crew chief).
There was a limited amount of time  between the practice sessions and  qualifying.  Here's  a picture of Joel, Johnny and Rick talking about the changes they need to be quick for qualifying and competitive during the race.	As you can see, the room in the garage area is so nice. The teams can actually jack up the trucks without worrying about hitting a truck that is parked next to them.  I'd say that Las Vegas is the Taj Mahal of garage areas.

A Fan’s Perspective - Las Vegas:  By Ray Patten
Thank you, Ray for your race report and for sharing your photos! 
We appreciate all the work you do for the JBFC!

The day started out good for Johnny but got very dramatic during the second practice.

Practice 1:  Speed was middle of the pack .....  Johnny’s scanner talk:  “Good in turns 1 and 2 but there is oil in 3 and 4 and I am in a four wheel slide.”  ..... “The grip goes away fast, I about spun out”  .....   “Balance feels good but I am slipping and sliding”  .....  “First tight for a few laps then it starts sliding” ..... Johnny came back to the garage area and the team made spring changes.

Going out to practice	Returning from practice

Practice 2:   Johnny’s scanner talk:   “The tires still give away fast but I can race this set up” .....  They decided to stop at the tire check station.  Johnny stopped for a tire sheet but could not get the truck started. He thought it might be a dead battery but thought it also might be an engine problem.

The crew pushed him to the garage, they check things out and made minor changes and sent him back out.  The truck died before he got on the track and he couldn’t get it started.  Johnny said that the charging system was reading properly. Johnny also said that it acted like it had a “ton of timing” the crew pushed him back to the garage.

30 minutes to go in final practice:  Changed battery, checked for loose wires and 3 or 4 Toyota engineers were all around the engine compartment, one engineer completely climbed, both legs, into the engine compartment and proceeded to change the distributor.

13 minutes to go in final practice:  It appears that Johnny diagnosed the problem when he said it acted like it had a “ton of timing” because after changing the distributor they were able to start the engine.  One of the engineers took the original distributor to another hauler to inspect it.

Johnny's Garage	Crew pushing the truck	Crew busy at work

5 minutes to go in final practice:  Looked like the problem was solved Johnny went back out and ran 4 laps with no problems.

Qualifying:  Johnny mentioned the temperature was hotter than usual for qualifying.

The Race:   Johnny had a large number of cheers when he was introduced.

The race was very exciting and the fans were pointing and cheering on almost every lap because he was passing trucks so fast. When he wasn’t passing you could see on every lap that he was moving closer to the truck in front of him. It was really exciting to hear and see the crowd cheering for our guy. I was so proud that I was wearing my #23 hat and shirt that I bought at Berlin Raceway in August.  There wasn’t much scanner chatter, I think because Johnny really liked his set up.  On lap 43 he said I am a little loose so give me a little bite, half of a turn no more.

Johnny lead lap 56 when Todd Bodine came in the pits and Johnny just passed the finish line before Todd did in the pits. I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture of the scoring tower, (Bad Mad Sad).  On lap 96 he said that he felt a vibration and asked if all the wheels were tight, still moving up in the standings.  Lap 107; turn 2 Johnny said “I think we are blowing” turn 3 “we just blew up”.  I don’t know who it was Johnny or Rick but they thanked the team for a great run today.   

It was a very exciting race and Johnny had no problem moving up and passing trucks.  Surprisingly he passed most of the trucks going low out of turn 4 and passing before the start finish line. In practice he said he was good in turn 1 and 2 and slipping and sliding in turn 4 but the spring changes they made must have fixed the problem.  (10-01-05)

Free Shipping
The JBFC is offering free shipping to fan club members for the month of October. This is a good way to start your Christmas shopping!  (10-01-05)

Congratulations
The JBFC would like to congratulate the following drivers for winning the 2005 Championship in their division at Berlin Raceway.  Tim DeVos won the Coors Light Late model Championship; Brian Wiersma won the Engine Pro Super Stock Championship; Casey Berenbrock won the Standale Lumber Pro Stock Championship and Terry Bockheim won the Standale Interiors championship. Congratulations to you and your teams!  (10-01-05)

Trucks Back at Vegas in 2006
Las Vegas Motor Speedway will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2006 with a return engagement by the first major NASCAR series to compete at LVMS. Speedway officials announced Saturday that the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will return to the 1.5-mile superspeedway on Sept. 23, 2006. The Truck Series was the first major NASCAR-sanctioned series to race at LVMS. Jack Sprague won the inaugural event on Nov. 3, 1996. The 2005 event will mark the 10th visit by the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to LVMS. The Truck Series event will be 350 kilometers (146 laps). Ticket information will be announced at a later date. The NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Series event will be the second major event weekend on the superspeedway in 2005. The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 and Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series events are scheduled for March 10-12, 2005.  (09-27-05)

MIS CUP Photos:  By Barb Benson
Here is the last installment of my photos of Johnny racing at MIS.  I hope that you enjoyed viewing them as much as I did taking them!  

John Sr, Johnny and Judy Benson.   In order to beat the traffic, the  drivers and the teams need to  arrive at MIS early.  Not much  to do before the driver's meeting.	Johnny, Dale Jarrett and Kenny  Schrader talk as they wait their  turn to be introduced to the crowd.  During qualifications, Kenny was concerned about Johnny's qualifying  lap and was glad to see him make the race.
Macy Waltrip (on the right) and her friend stopped by to  wish Johnny a good race.	Jimmy Spencer and Johnny  talk about the start of the race. Jimmy started in front of Johnny and told him that  was going to  stay out of the way of the "Chase" cars
Johnny's car owner, Buffy Waltrip,  stopped by to wish Johnny good luck in the race.	Jimmy Penland, crew chief for the MIS race, speaks with Johnny as he gets buckled in for the race.

Best Wishes

Waltrip and NAPA Head to Bill Davis Racing
NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip and NAPA AUTO PARTS announced today they have entered into a partnership with Bill Davis Racing (BDR) for the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season.  Nine victories and eight poles are shared between the parties including three Daytona 500 rings and a Southern 500 victory.  Bill Davis Racing’s achievements lured Waltrip to their High Point, N.C. race shop.  “I like the way Bill does business and he has created a strong organization,” Waltrip explained.  “NAPA and I look forward to continuing our winning ways at Bill Davis Racing on the track, as well as extending our successful marketing efforts off the track.”

Waltrip and NAPA were teamed up by the late Dale Earnhardt in 2001 when their initial race together put them in victory lane at the Daytona 500.  Since then, the pair has taken advantage of their union to create one of the strongest partnerships in the sport.  “Teaming with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. for the past five years has been the highlight of my NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career to date,” continued Waltrip.  “I look toward my future with NAPA and BDR with gratitude to DEI for the memories and friendships I have formed.”

“It is no secret that our association with Michael has been a key ingredient of our marketing efforts,” said Bob Susor, president of NAPA AUTO PARTS. “Race fans associate NAPA AUTO PARTS with Michael Waltrip and vice versa.  Michael has promoted our brand in his own unique style.  Moving forward, we are pleased to announce our continued support of Michael Waltrip and a new partnership with Bill Davis Racing.  This begins a new chapter in NASCAR team sponsorship for NAPA.  We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for the many successes NAPA has enjoyed during our tenure with DEI such as two NASCAR Truck Series Championships and two Daytona 500 victories.  We will value our DEI association and wish them nothing but the best in their future efforts.”

Next year will be Bill Davis Racing’s 14th year of competition on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series level, the team’s 19th year in NASCAR competition.  As a NASCAR team owner, Davis has worked with some of the sport’s top drivers achieving wins in all three premier divisions of NASCAR, totaling 18 victories, 100 top-five finishes and 250 top-10 finishes.

Davis currently fields one full-time NEXTEL Cup Series team with Scott Wimmer driving the No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Charger.  In 2004, Davis expanded his operations to house three full-time truck teams in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.  The teams include Mike Skinner in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra, Bill Lester in the No. 22 Toyota Tundra, and Johnny Benson in the No. 23 Toyota Tundra.

“NAPA and Michael Waltrip are the perfect combination to re-establish our two-car Cup team in 2006,” said Davis.  “NAPA and Michael are held in high regard in our sport and have been successful in each Series they have competed.  We plan to build on their success and create a very competitive team next year and beyond.”  (09-25-05)