Jerry Bonkowski Posts

Being the boss and racetrack owner may give him a leg up, but it was Tony Stewart's talented right foot that once again proved to be the difference in Wednesday's Gillette Young Guns' Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

For the third time in the Prelude's five-year history, Stewart won on his home turf in front of a standing room only crowd of more than 23,000, as well as a national pay-per-view audience.

Stewart's other Prelude wins came in 2006 and last year.

A rather compelling story comes to us from the Orlando Sentinel about former Sprints, Midgets and Karts racer J.T. Hayes, who in the early 1990s was a rather prolific driver and winner of over 500 races across those categories and others. He was also a hermaphrodite, a person born with reproductive organs of both a man and woman.

But just when J.T. was ready to make the big jump up to NASCAR's Cup level, his career ended before it barely began. After just one start at North Carolina International Speedway (more commonly known as Rockingham) in March 1990 -- he started last and finished last in the 38-car field, completing just 10 of the scheduled 492 laps -- Hayes' Cup career was over.

Four years later, Hayes had sexual realignment surgery and became a woman, changing her name to Terri O'Connell.

NASCAR fans, join us here at FanHouse.com as we chat with Ryan Newman on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 4:15PM ET.

Ryan will be joining us from Eldora Raceway, site of Tony Stewart's rescheduled (rained out in June) Gillette Young Guns Prelude to the Dream race featuring nearly two dozen NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, as well as racers from other series including the NHRA and World of Outlaws.

If you can't be there, catch "The Prelude" on HBO pay-per-view at 7PM ET.

NASCAR statisticians have some newly-released numbers that are guaranteed to get die-hard race fans talking.

Those numbers concern the sport's top drivers and how many all-time combined wins they have across the three major racing series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Trucks).

At first glance, the list looks rather typical. The usual names – Petty, Allison, Yarborough, Pearson, Waltrip, etc., are on it. That's not surprising, given their prowess in the Cup Series, where they all earned most of their career triumphs.

But as you work your way down the list, one name and statistic hits you straight in the eyeballs like running head-on into the first turn at Darlington Raceway. We all know Richard Petty won 200 races (all Sprint Cup events) in his career. But look at who is No. 9 on the all-time combined wins list: Kyle Busch.