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Tuesday, December 7,2010 -Thomasville Times - 9’ SPORTS Hendrick hits his marks off track just like he does on it ISI1I3I m FlilPIRin m ON NASCAR CATHY ELLIOn NASCAR Columnist “Have you even been able to leave this hotel?” This was the question posed to championship team owner Rick Hen drick when he showed up in one of NASCAR’s many workrooms at the Wynn Hotel to rehearse his speech. From the outside looking in, Champion’s Week in Las Vegas is a veritable festival of fun, a continuous string of luncheons, parties and other events cel ebrating the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, all leading up to the red carpet awards ceremony on Friday evening. Everywhere you look, something is happening. On Thursday afternoon, stock cars roared their way down the fabled Strip and back - with the notable exception of Kevin Harvick, who just a couple of hours after winning the O’Reilly Auto Parts Position Improvement award managed to blow a tire during the Victory Lap. Oops. Carrot Top showed up unexpectedly for an impromptu perfor mance at the “After the Lap” fan forum event hosted by the Hard Rock Hotel, but the visit was almost redundant, as aspiring standup comic Tony Stewart already had the crowd rolling in the aisles. But from the inside looking out, aU that fun is a lot of work. Drivers, sponsors and team owners are moved around like chess pieces from one obligation to the next, spread so thinly it’s a miracle there’s anything left by the end of the week. The speeches they wiU smoothly present at the awards ceremony are drafted, tweaked and yes, practiced before the big night. For some, this is a painstaking pro cess akin to a pit stop, with each gesture and inflection timed down' to the second. You only have one chance to get it right, and you don’t want to mess it up. Mr. Hendrick, how ever, seems not at all concerned about where to pause, or which phrases to emphasize. He just wants to give credit where it is due. “We start out with these great, entertain ing speeches, but in the end what is re ally Important to him is just making sure he thanks everyone,” says . Jesse Essex, manager of media relations for Hendrick Motorsports. Mr. Hendrick is precisely on time for his speech rehearsal. He doesn’t seem to be in a mad rush to get it over with, but instead takes time to chat with the handful of people in AREA SPORTS BRIEFS BASKETBALL Anna Freeman Appreciation Night East Davidson High School will hold an apprecia tion night for former star Anna Freeman Friday eve ning as the Golden Eagles play host to Trinity. Festivi- See BRIEFS, Page 12 8 8 6 8 8 8 8 4 9 L 1 £ 6 8 9 Z P i7 6 e £ Z 1 L 9 8 Z 8 s 9 P L 1 6 £ L 9 z P £ 6 8 1 £ 1 9 6 8 L Z. P e 9 e P 8 1 9 9 6 Lf Z s Z 9 6 1 P e 8 L 6 £ L 8 9 z 1 8 1 L z 9 e 9 6 the room before getting started. He is mea sured and deliberate, removing his jacket and quietly reading through the text before deliver ing the speech aloud. Granted, he’s been making this speech rather often lately - ev ery year since 2006 - but he isn’t doing it by rote. You actually feel as if he is speaking to you, not just reading words plas tered on a teleprompter. He is truly appreciative of the many individuals and organizations that go into the building of Jimmie Johnson’s cham pionship team, what is now being referred to as a dynasty, and he wants to make sure they know it. His speech is heartfelt and genuine. • It is also flawless. He nails it in one take. Sloppy work doesn’t earn a team five consec utive NASCAR Sprint Cup Cup Series titles. It’s all about efficiency and precision, and at Hendrick Motorsports, it starts at the top. When asked if he needs to run through it one more time, Mr. Hendrick responds, “No, thanks. I’m good.” That may be the understatement of the year. On the question of leaving the hotel, those opportunities are rare, indeed. But Mr. Hendrick does confess to one thing. “Well, I did go out and look at some cars,” he says. Imagine that. Contact Cathy El liott @ cathyelliott® hotmail.com. Got Sports? Get it in the Times TODAY! 888-3631 U N IlMOl I MO 1 V i V Ol S 3 SX| md LA a I m Ml ■ A IN A IN 1 a 3 A 3 1 V H V H 1 s 1 N V s ■ ■ ■ V 3 U s ii 0 3 U 3 s 3 )l V IN N 0 d n s U V d V S JL V H 3 s iT 1 y/ u 1 m U O 0 s a V 1 V s Newsday Crossword PAYDAY by Sally R. Stein Edited by Stanley Newman www.stanxwords.com ACROSS 1 Soup alternative 6 Finds a sum 10 Lost traction 14 Make a touchdown 15 Offend the nose 16 Traveler’s Web connection, for short 17 Bloodhound’s path 18Jai_ 19 Two-band, as a radio 20 Something filibustered in Congress 22 Playthings 23 Jazz instrument 24 Wooden strip 26 Remote 29 Octagonal traffic sign 32 Mexican snooze 36 Fairy-tale second word 38 Regretted 40 Library stamp 41 Talks to the press 44 Standing tall 45 Patting word 46 Backtalk 47 Steady flow of water 49 Tra__ {singing syllables) 51 Door opener 52 Rough estimate 54 Peculiar 56 Picnic spoilers 59 Like a bass singer 65 “Very funny!” 66 British baron’s title 67 Be a benefactor 68 At any time 69 And others: Abbr. 70 Admirable 71 “You don’t say!” 72 Classification 73 Pines and palms DOWN 1 Former fast planes: Abbr, 2 Farmland unit 3 Mortgage, for example 4 Opera solos 5 River mouths 6 Saudi or Omani 7 Sandwich shop 8 Distributes the 35 Pretentious cards 37 Not optional 9 Talents 39 Numerical 10 Police crisis information crews 42 Unit of 39 Down 11 VIP’s auto 43 Eagle’s claw 12 Far from 48 Hammerlike tool certain 50 Onset 13 Grows faint S3 Ill-gotten gains 21 Crowd-scene 55 Generous one actor 56 Throat-clearing 25 Assistant sound 26 Shows anger 57 Maritime force 27 In two different 58 The folks places yonder 28 TV weatherman 60 Prepare Al presents 30 Depose 61 Doing nothing 31 Flower part 62 delighted!” 33 Porterhouse, (“Sure!”) for one 63 “Old King” of 34 Feeling rhyme nervous 64 Lambs’ mothers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 IS IS 20 21 22 24 25 ' 3^ 32 35 36 37 ^■38 39 40 41 42 4^ 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 H52 53 54 56 ST 58 60 61 62 63 64 6d 67 68 H69~ 70 71 mr 73 CREATORS SYNDICATE ©2010 STANLEY NEWMAN STANXWORDSeAOLCOM 12/7/10 DADDY'S HOME ' HEY, GO EASY on THE PINKcNK. THIN&S’ PCH'TfiS:^ ON -n?Eg$,YAKMCW! BY TONY RUBINO AND GARY MARKSTEIN MOMMA BY MELL LAZARUS OUTSKIRTZ BY DAVID AND DOREEN DOTSON I'M SOIN6 TO Y A HAMBURSER IS the TACO SHOP. I REAaVJUSTAN WHY WOULD YOU I AMERICAN VERSION ASK FOR A k OF THE TACO.
The Thomasville Times (Thomasville, N.C.)
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Dec. 7, 2010, edition 1
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